Toronto Forma | 308m | 84s | Great Gulf | Gehry Partners

its role (and appropriately "theatrical", as far as Mirvish is concerned) as a continuous urban backdrop. As an Edwardian-warehousey solid confronting a void--the successive void of rail yards, of parking, of Pecaut.
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I agree that in the past, this stretch was indeed a sort of demarcation point...here's where the city begins..

But that was a long time ago. What has happened to the "wasteland" is now what dominates the nature of this stretch. It has a certain ceremonial flair to it. It's too bad we couldn't use University Ave for the arts & entertainment ceremonial street, rather than the staid institutional nature of what's there. This stretch needs something to elevate this, and what's proposed does that job...in spades.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
rpeters:

Personally I would be very careful not to attach unrealistic expectations on architecture - skilled immigrants do not make locational decisions on the basis of mega projects per se. Ditto outshining other cities - it will again take more than 3 condo towers by Gehry to do so...

AoD
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no ...but it is the collection of them with in the city that will make toronto stand out. certainly there are many projects on the go and preposed that will together make it stand out against other cities. with market warf shangrila one bloor aura, parade 1&2, ice and so many more to come.. for lack of better words toronto is looking very "cool" also the smaller projects throu out the city like mars and others.
 
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Nobody but a select group of nerds comes to Toronto to gawk at tall towers. People do come to Toronto to experience vibrant streets and neighbourhoods. In this sense King west here isn't lacking anything that some upgraded tenants and better theatre programming wouldn't fix. Even at its worst, the Royal Alex, The POW, RTH, the Festival Tower, Restaurant Row etc make this a very dynamic and successfully urban area. Towers overhead will not hurt this, to be sure, but busting a block just may (quibble over your own effin' definitions, by the way, I get what Neubilder means!).

Mirvish the reluctant impresario with a daddy complexe wants to build statues and show off his art? Fine, but why not do it in a way that sympathetically adds to what already exists, a strategy that is working very well all over Toronto? Other than selfishly wanting a 'pure' Gehry is there any single credible reason why integration wouldn't be preferred to destruction?
 
Tewder said:
Nobody but a select group of nerds comes to Toronto to gawk at tall towers. People do come to Toronto to experience vibrant streets and neighbourhoods. In this sense King west here isn't lacking anything that some upgraded tenants and better theatre programming wouldn't fix. Even at its worst, the Royal Alex, The POW, RTH, the Festival Tower, Restaurant Row etc make this a very dynamic and successfully urban area. Towers overhead will not hurt this, to be sure, but busting a block just may (quibble over your own effin' definitions, by the way, I get what Neubilder means!).

Mirvish the reluctant impresario with a daddy complexe wants to build statues and show off his art? Fine, but why not do it in a way that sympathetically adds to what already exists, a strategy that is working very well all over Toronto? Other than selfishly wanting a 'pure' Gehry is there any single credible reason why integration wouldn't be preferred to destruction?
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I agree with that. King West is not perfect, but it is a perfectly fine neighbourhood that is highly desirable and is working.

If Mirvish and Gehry really WANT to do something good for Toronto, why not erect those towers and gallaries on the othe side of Yonge st, for example, Queen E, or Dundas E somewhere between Yonge and Jarvis? That is an area desperate needing some improvement, and guess what, you don't have to demolish any restaurants or theatres. All they have to do is not buy some surface lots and horribly maintained shacks at a good price. I am sure Toronto will be grateful for them forever, and I doubt anyone on this forum will object to that.
 
When will people get the concept that people can only build on land they own? The reason Mirvish proposed this here is simple, and that is the fact that he owns this land.
 
innsertnamehere said:
When will people get the concept that people can only build on land they own? The reason Mirvish proposed this here is simple, and that is the fact that he owns this land.
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I think people get the idea. If you don't own the land, you cannot build anything there.

Most have issue with demolishing perfectly fine buildings to build something "iconic" while drastically changing the neighbourhood while it is not necessary just due to some personal ambition.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for great super towers - I only regret we don't have enogh of them. Just hope they are built somewhere else, where drastic change IS needed. Don't own the land? why not try to acquire some? Isn't it how other builders get land to build condos? It is not like the land on King West is fast depreciating.
 
Even at its worst, the Royal Alex, The POW, RTH, the Festival Tower, Restaurant Row etc make this a very dynamic and successfully urban area. Towers overhead will not hurt this, to be sure, but busting a block just may
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Which is why the proposal adds another layer of ceremony that will solidify this stretch as a major cultural/entertainment destination, that the status quo doesn't do (underachieving POW Theatre notwithstanding).


Mirvish the reluctant impresario with a daddy complexe wants to build statues and show off his art?
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If this is how you are going to sum up David Mirvish, then it does not deserve to be dignified with a response. In a city that elects as its mayor a human being as DISGUSTING as Rob Ford, to then characterize the likes of David Mirvish as some kind of repugnant person makes me sick.
 
If Mirvish and Gehry really WANT to do something good for Toronto, why not erect those towers and gallaries on the othe side of Yonge st, for example, Queen E, or Dundas E somewhere between Yonge and Jarvis?
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Every time I hear someone use this line of reasoning (which is alarmingly far too often), I want to stab my eyes with a fork.
 
freshcutgrass said:
If this is how you are going to sum up David Mirvish, then it does not deserve to be dignified with a response. In a city that elects as its mayor a human being as DISGUSTING as Rob Ford, to then characterize the likes of David Mirvish as some kind of repugnant person makes me sick.
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Woah, drop the fork dude! I didn't call him 'repugnant'. In fact, I was sort of agreeing with an earlier post of yours:

freshcutgrass said:
But I don't think David Mirvish is looking to do just "fine". It's pretty obvious that he has decided it's time to create his "legacy"...and he's looking to go big. David Mirvish isn't really about real estate development....he's not really about discount stores and restaurants. He's not even really all about theatre. First and foremost, he's about art....always has been.
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I agree. He doesn't care about the theatrical arts (beyond making lots of money) so he is pulling down a theatre. He does care (a lot) about modern art so he is building a gallery. It's not like it's Sophie's Choice here for gawd's sake! He could have his gallery and keep the theatre, which considering that this is supposedly the 'entertainment' district seems fitting.

... and I can't say I'm against this proposal with every fibre of my being. Not at all, the towers are exciting! Only, I will repeat my earlier question as I still don't think there is an adequate response (yet?):

Tewder said:
Other than selfishly wanting a 'pure' Gehry is there any single credible reason why integration wouldn't be preferred to destruction?
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It's not like the integration of towers here, along with the superimposing of Gehry to the site, and the addition of new gallery/OCAD space into the existing fabric of buildings wouldn't add all kinds of 'cermonial layers', right? ... and very interesting ones at that!!
 
Some people on here are getting pretty excited about a project that hasn't even been given the go ahead. Although the posts are interesting, as is the project, it might be time to take a deep breath, and give the personal attacks a rest for now. If this proposal is ever approved, we can all get back to it,but that may never happen.
This is only my personal take, and does not necessarily represent the mods on this forum.

Everybody have fun tonight, everybody Wang Chung tonight.
 
Like many first-time posters, I've been lurking on this forum for years but have never felt the need to get involved in these discussions. I was rather content with observing what others had to say, and learning a great deal. I am not from Toronto, but I love Toronto very much and am extremely excited to see this city progress at such an exceptional rate over such a small period of time. Having just come back from living in Brussels for a year, I am astounded at how magnificent this city has become and what it could potentially be. I've brought over friends from Paris and London to visit Toronto and they all fell in love with it. I think that this Ghery proposal is a turning point in Toronto's history and will do wonders for it. It is a shame that we are losing these brick warehouses, but what this block is currently doing for Toronto, is vastly inferior to what Ghery's proposal could do for Toronto. If this were a perfect world, I would love to see these brick buildings deconstructed and rebuilt in the distillery district where they could contribute to the overall size of the district, and would fit in quite well in terms of context. But this will never happen...
 
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