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U of T: Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics (50 St George St, ?s, Morphosis/Teeple)

The Hayden Planetarium holds more than 400 people. Based on what I can find, the old McLaughlin was around 360. I believe the Adler, in Chicago, is about the same.

My point is, 200 seems like really small potatoes.
 
TJ O'Pootertoot said:
The Hayden Planetarium holds more than 400 people. Based on what I can find, the old McLaughlin was around 360. I believe the Adler, in Chicago, is about the same.

My point is, 200 seems like really small potatoes.
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Quality over quantity - I'd rather it be equipped with the very, very best in technologies than go by seat count.

adHominem said:
It was only a matter of time after the legalization of weed that someone would try to bring back the city's premier destination for Laser Floyd.
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I hope they stay away from that kind of programming!

AoD
 
I've always found 50 St. George to be a rather attractive building. Hopefully whatever replaces it will truly be "An Architectural Landmark".
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Quality over quantity - I'd rather it be equipped with the very, very best in technologies than go by seat count.
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They don't seem to be mutually exclusive, looking at New York and Chicago (the only ones I've been to recently). Obviously something good is better than something big but it still seems surprising it would be literally half the size of some of the well-known counterparts. (Just looked up the Griffith, in LA, and it's just under 300. The Miami one, the one they use as an example, is 250. So, 200 isn't crazy small, but it's clearly below average...)

Obviously, after all these years having nothing, it's certain to be an improvement no matter what.
 
50 St. George

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TJ O'Pootertoot said:
They don't seem to be mutually exclusive, looking at New York and Chicago (the only ones I've been to recently). Obviously something good is better than something big but it still seems surprising it would be literally half the size of some of the well-known counterparts. (Just looked up the Griffith, in LA, and it's just under 300. The Miami one, the one they use as an example, is 250. So, 200 isn't crazy small, but it's clearly below average...)

Obviously, after all these years having nothing, it's certain to be an improvement no matter what.
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FYI the one in Montreal seats 200 as well - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mont...m-planetarium-opens-doors-to-public-1.1395355

I think it is a reasonable size - unless you're Hayden or Adler, it is unlikely to get completely full all the time, and a bigger dome can be an issue with the site in question I think. Having said that, the site itself is bit of a mixed bag - it make sense given it is an extension of Astro; but you can also make the case of putting it at OSC or even the waterfront.

AoD
 
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All fair points - though Toronto is bigger than Montreal. I'm not upset about it or anything, just struck me as a low number.

As for the location... yeah, U of T is relatively central if slightly isolated; not necessarily a neighbourhood the general populace or tourists venture to as a matter of course. I'm a fan of the Science Centre and thematically it obviously makes sense, but it's even further off the beaten path (though, the Crosstown will help). The waterfront could have worked but it makes sense that U of T is trying to justify it by making it a classroom that's also accessible to the general public. That could be the missing factor that's kept us from having one for so long and help the project succeed where it hasn't come to fruition elsewhere.
 
TJ O'Pootertoot said:
All fair points - though Toronto is bigger than Montreal. I'm not upset about it or anything, just struck me as a low number.

As for the location... yeah, U of T is relatively central if slightly isolated; not necessarily a neighbourhood the general populace or tourists venture to as a matter of course. I'm a fan of the Science Centre and thematically it obviously makes sense, but it's even further off the beaten path (though, the Crosstown will help). The waterfront could have worked but it makes sense that U of T is trying to justify it by making it a classroom that's also accessible to the general public. That could be the missing factor that's kept us from having one for so long and help the project succeed where it hasn't come to fruition elsewhere.
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New domes tend to be more forward facing than flat so classroom maybe a possibility. Too bad Dunlap isn't close any transit - the notion of something along the lines of Griffith has a certain romance to it.

AoD
 
They're at a very conceptual stage at the moment. U of T Astronomy does not even know for certain that they'll be rebuilding at 50 St. George yet, let alone have a design for the building, so don't take 200 seats as a final number.

42
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
New domes tend to be more forward facing than flat so classroom maybe a possibility. Too bad Dunlap isn't close any transit - the notion of something along the lines of Griffith has a certain romance to it.
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:)
Indeed - imagine if U of T had thought of that and tried to create something for the future instead of trying to dump it and leverage it into a cash windfall! That's a whole other discussion. At the end of the day, number of seats and location and all that detail aside, this sounds like a project with a lot of potential.
 
Not exactly, the building hasn't been a planetarium for almost 20 years by the time U of T bought it from the ROM in 2014 - and I am pretty sure U of T didn't buy that site just so that they can reuse it for such purpose either.

Also, the original projector - nevermind being totally out of date - has also been gifted to York U and could very well have been cannabalized. So it meant that you will have to replace all of that as well.

AoD
 
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