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Nathan Phillips Square Design Competition

From The City of Toronto Web Site

Get Involved

Imagine 40 years from now. How does Nathan Phillips Square fit into your vision of the City of Toronto? What key functions will it perform?

What do you like about it now? What must stay?

What would you change?

The design competition process will be discussed at two information workshops that will also provide Torontonians an opportunity to voice ideas and concerns in small, facilitated group discussions. Concepts and ideas brought forward during these consultations will contribute to forming the design competition’s terms of reference. You are invited to contribute your ideas.



What: Public Information Workshop


When: Monday, May 9, 2005 or
Wednesday, May 25, 2005


Where: City Hall, Council Chamber and Members’ Lounge
100 Queen St. W.


Time: 6:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Details about further public consultations in the form of a creative workshop to be held on June 4, 2005 and town hall meeting scheduled for June 22, 2005 will be announced in the near future.
 
From today's Star:

May 10, 2005. 01:00 AM
Sprucing up the Square
Nathan Phillips' public spaces to get makeover

City launching redesign contest as it turns 40
GABE GONDA
CITY HALL BUREAU

Consider Nathan Phillips Square, that mixed metaphor for civic pride and confusion.
It's a wide-open public space that beckons to pedestrians, then deters them with squat bunkers and a stolid concrete border.
It's the home of a bronze Henry Moore masterwork and a kitschy animal-coded underground parking system.
It offers visitors a quote-laden tribute to warrior-statesman Winston Churchill, as well as a generic monument to peace.
Toronto's signature piazza, mixed up as it is, turns 40 this fall, a milestone the city will mark with a makeover. Last night, citizens offered their views on the square in the first of two meetings at city hall, consultations that could help resolve, or deepen, Nathan Phillips' identity crisis.
"I regard this as a visionary exercise," said Sheila Glazer, the city manager in charge of the project in which everything — from esthetics to wireless Internet access to providing more shade — will be on the table.
To critics, the design problem begins at the edge of the 4.9-hectare space, with a two-storey concrete walkway that follows the borders of the square along Bay and Queen Sts. and up its western flank.
The pedestrian path, which has been closed for years, was intended to define the area around Finnish architect Viljo Revell's bold new city hall, which opened in 1965.
Some argue its job has been made redundant in intervening years by development downtown: Tall buildings now form the visual boundary the walkway was intended to create, while the path blocks sightlines and keeps walkers at bay.
"(The square) is cut off from the rest of the city," said Councillor Peter Milczyn (Ward 5, Etobicoke-Lakeshore), who wants the walkway torn down.
Not everyone agrees.
"You still need some containment," said Larry Wayne Richards, a professor at the University of Toronto's school of architecture. "I've always found the walkway to be an interesting element and such a strong part of the original conception."
That conception, according to Richards, represented a pivotal moment in Toronto's history, when the city bought into a modernist agenda and shook off its parochial history — but it was a hard-fought step forward.
The square's best-known work of art, Henry Moore's Three Way Piece No. 2, an abstract sculpture also known as The Archer, almost never made it to Toronto. City councillors voted 13-10 against paying for the sculpture.
Progressive mayor Philip Givens was determined to snag the piece and raised the $100,000 to pay Moore. The British sculptor thanked the city in the early 1970s by choosing the AGO as the site for a major permanent collection of his works.
Not all the public art in Nathan Phillips Square is as highly regarded as Moore's. The Peace Garden, anchored by a small stone structure in the northeast corner of the square, has been derided by some critics as out of place. "I don't think it was a good idea," Richards said.
And other design elements are just goofy, such as the animal signs in the parking lot.
At last night's meeting, suggestions included removing or relocating the Peace Garden, reopening or removing the elevated walkway, adding more outdoor seating and a permanent stage, even relocating the pool onto the podium and building a running track around it.
"This is like the living room of the city," said Peter Ortved of Carruthers Shaw and Partners Ltd Architects, who's been hired to run the design competition.
"Tourists are always ... taking pictures of this building. This is an image of Toronto that is known throughout the world."
 
The walkway doesn't just define the boundary of the square visually. As you walk under it and into the square it has a subtle emotional and inclusive effect; it changes your sense of being outside and apart from the space to being a part of something that is collectively "us".
 
While I usually do not dive into postings about specific design issues, several of the posts on the Star's website concern me. Whatever they do to the square, they need to enhance its urban qualities and make it an 'urban space'. Thus the longings for wide grassy spaces and tons of greenspace are misguided; an attempt to do that would end in failure because surburban style park developments in high traffic areas result in dry, compacted dirt baking in the sun or mud when it rains. The reason Osgoode Hall has such immacculate grounds is because they are surrounded by a 10' wrought iron fence and the Law Society pays a fortune on lawn maintenance.

NPS should be reconfigured in a way that extends the space to the walls of the surrounding buildings. For example, a single surface across NPS, Bay and Queen to the opposite sides, as seen in Poternaster Square in London, might work. As well, vastly increasing the seating is a must. Whatever configuration they opt for, I plead for very durable materials such as granite or marble; ReadyMix concrete just won't do. For all the short-sighted bickering about Dundas Square, the quality of the paving materials appear to be one of it's virtues.

Finally, I would really like to see a lot of thought go into the pedestrian flow patterns. There is a lot of traffic that goes (or tries to go) east-west through NPS from the Eaton Centre towards the Courthouse opening onto University. Another rationalization I would like to see is more access through the building to the north (Elizabeth Street) though this may be difficult due to security concerns.

This is a tremendous occassion to update a very important and well loved public space. This is a once in a generation oppurtunity.
 
All good points rdaner. I want the elevated walkway removed! I think it's imperative that the square be opened up to its surroundings. The elevated walkway that runs over Queen Street to the Sheraton Centre is particularly ugly. I love your suggestion of a single surface across NPS, Bay and Queen to the opposite sides. I may suggest it at the May 25 forum.
 
The walkway doesn't just define the boundary of the square visually. As you walk under it and into the square it has a subtle emotional and inclusive effect; it changes your sense of being outside and apart from the space to being a part of something that is collectively "us".
Click to expand...

Some would argue it has more of a shutting out effect.
 
Some time ago, I offered a suggestion on this forum for maintaining the walkways, but making them much more open and inviting. Specifically, I would like to see the pilliars made thinner and perhaps doubled-up both to provide adequate support, and to create an arcade effect under the walkway. The walkway itself could be reconfigured as a series of interconnected stone slabs (ideally, fritted glass or the glass blocks used in BCE place, but the maintenace/safety costs could be prohibitive), with the walls replaced with glass panels reinforced with steel. I think this look would be clean and modernist - in perfect keeping with City Hall. In addition, they would serve to both enclose the space, and open it to its surroundings. And actually OPEN them to the public.

Other ideas:
1. Replace the bunkers with cantilevered slabs a la the War Museum in Ottawa - the slope could face the Hall and serve as seating for concerts etc., while the opposite face could house the skate rental shope, washrooms, etc.

2. Move the Peace Garden to the parkette adjacent to Osgoode, or remove it altogether (the waterfront might make a good spot for it...)

3. Get rid of those awful grates between Queen Street and the walkway - Pompidou Centre-style vents could be used if something HAS to be there.

4. As rdaner points out, replace the concrete with granite. Marble might be too pricey, and might stain over time.

5. I would also get rid of the portion of the elevated walkway running across Queen. The "sky-city" idea never got off the ground, and never will. Let the poor thing die.

6. Find some way to get rid of most of the entrances to the parking garage - especially the one in front of the Sheraton. Why can't just one or two entrances be used - off of Armoury/Elizabeth/Hagerman? The others all seem to kill the street.
 
I'd like to see the grassy areas along the Queen St side to be converted to ponds/fountains. And the entrance along Queen to the PATH redeveloped.
 
"Please don't pimp our square"

John Barber in the G&M today, stopping all youse Cletuses in your tracks...

---------------

Changing Nathan Phillips Square? If it ain't broke...


City Hall wants to know what Torontonians would do to "revitalize" Nathan Phillips Square, the iconic heart of their city.

What a mistake!

Left to their own primitive devices, Torontonians would only ruin their chaste and noble civic square, bequeathed to them more than 40 years ago by Finnish architect (and consummate place-maker) Viljo Revell. They would plant trees and grass all over the square, despoiling its monumental emptiness, and sprinkle the amputated bits of leftover space with "features" and bric-a-brac such as the Peace Garden, the original well-intentioned desecration.

Before you know it, Debbie Travis would be doing window treatments.

Therefore a solemn plea to those equally well-intentioned but fatally Torontonian worthies who seek to renovate perfection: Please don't pimp our square.

The good news is that the community consultation is just the usual charade, and said worthies are wisely staging an international competition, just as their forebears did a half-century ago, to solicit real ideas for major changes.

But even the best architects will excuse themselves for stomping all over a masterwork. Few will appreciate a competition brief that says, in its first words, "Let it be."

Granted, even letting Nathan Phillips Square be itself would take some doing. You would have to move the Peace Garden off the square and onto the neglected lawn beside Osgoode Hall, reopen the ramp to the roof of the podium and remove the piles of clutter--movable steel barriers, fences, solar panels, electrical boxes, hideous plastic bicycle lockers--that despoil every view. Then you would actually have to maintain the place.

But the movement, led by Etobicoke Councillor Peter Milczyn, is for more.

An architect with defensible views on design, Mr. Milczyn wants to tear down the elevated walkways that surround the square and create a satisfying sense of enclosure. The modernist "bold vision" of creating an elevated pedestrian realm is now a "bankrupt idea," according to Mr. Milczyn, and its last physical traces should be removed from view.

"It's just a ribbon of concrete 20 feet in the air that blocks the view," he said.

But the elevated walkways, including the dramatic curving ramp that sweeps down into the square from the formerly pedestrian podium, are also completely of a piece with the building and its square.

Taking them down would fatally undermine the unity of the original design, no matter how ingenious any new design may be.

Besides, they have every right to exist. Their uselessness is their charm. Would New Yorkers trim the tower off the Empire State Building because no dirigible ever docked there, as originally planned?

Another alleged improvement frequently discussed is a permanent stage to replace the temporary structure that appears every spring and disappears in the fall. This is the truly dangerous opening in the coming competition: a chance to make a big architectural statement in the midst of the square.

There's no question that the current arrangement is a blight. But at least it's temporary, like all the rest of the paraphernalia used for summer concerts and the like. It has the advantage of disappearing for half a year at a time.

The best solution to the problem would be a better-looking temporary structure--something light and self-effacing, something that camps out rather than moves in.

Luckily, the city has no money to do anything substantial once it spends the $250,000 slated for the competition, which is scheduled to be completed by next spring. And if the jury does its job well, the winning scheme will fail to win support because it will be so minimal.

Whatever else happend, the city must resist the urge to modernize this increasingly old-fashioned masterpiece of modern architecture.
 
Re: "Please don't pimp our square"

Well said Mr. Barber. Thank you.

I agree that the square should be returned to it's original state. Move the Peace Garden, open up the ramp and elevated sidewalk and cleaning up of the perimeter are the only things that are really needed. If something had to change, it is the section along Queen St. I would like to see the surface of the square extend under the elevated sidewalk right to the street, instead of the patch of grass and those raised vents.

The destruction of the elevated sidewalk would be a great loss. In the same way as the Shell Tower at the CNE. The sidewalk and elevated area around the towers, were unique in that they allowed users a different and interesting view of the city. They were peaceful places, away from the hustle and bustle below.

If any money is to be spent, spend it on the restoration of the Square, not it's renovation.
 
Re: "Please don't pimp our square"

I completely agree with the last two points. Spend the money restoring the square (they will never have the funds to redo the square properly...and it will take forever - witness Dundas Square), get rid of the clutter and build a decent, but quiet, permanent stage.

Why are we holding an international competition to redo what already won an international competition? Let us spend the time and money redoing waterfront parking lots.
 
Re: "Please don't pimp our square"

Check out what people are saying about the square. Not surprisingly, people don't seem to be big fans of concrete and the walkways don't have much support.

Voices: Reviving Nathan Phillips Square

Barber says if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Fine, but it is broke. It's a shabby looking public space. At the very minimum, the grass should be better maintained, the cinderblock bunkers removed (horrible eyesores) and the surface of the square redone - preferrably with granite.

The walkways seem to be a controversial issue. The question is how do you revitalise concrete? Brick and stone can be scrubbed but how do you clean a concrete structure? I'm sure the walkways looked great when first constructed, but as we're discovering 30-40 years post-concrete era, concrete doesn't age well and is difficult to maintain. I would remove the walkways and replace them with something lighter and more elegant but I understand if architectural purists would deem tampering with them as being blasphemous. I especially dislike the walkway crossing Queen St to the Sheraton. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Regardless, hopefully NPS will become attractive again.
 
Re: "Please don't pimp our square"

If you left art decisions up to such euphemistic "people", Robert Bateman would win out over Michael Snow...
 
Re: "Please don't pimp our square"

The walkways can stay but there has to be a way to enhance them. As it stands, they just haven't aged that well.
 
Re: "Please don't pimp our square"

If you left urban design decisions up to such euphemistic "architectural-minded people", Le Corbuiser would win out over Jane Jacobs...

Adma, do you really think that an art gallery would have greater attendance if it chose to fill its walls with Robert Bateman rather than individuals like Michael Snow? If not, why do you have nothing but contempt for the intelligence of the people of this city and the members of this forum? Just because something is common and comforting does not mean that people do not appreciate things that are original and daring. Otherwise how do you explain the nearly universal adoration of this city's residents for our City Hall? Why don't you stop being so ****ing arrogant and argue through points of logic rather than heavy-handed snobbish architectural puritanism? People as a whole have a wonderful ability to listen and learn the value of design and history, but also the value of change if it is needed; something that you have consistently proven yourself incapable of.
 
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