Toronto Nathan Phillips Square + Spirit Garden | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto

[Lansdude]

They have one out in Ajax too lol

Skinheads hanging out in Ns?

 

[Torontovibe]

 

[MetroMan]

This was totally off my radar but City Council just voted unanimously to build a monument to honour residential school survivors at Nathan Phillips Square in the space fronting Queen Street that was originally planned to be a restaurant.

While I like the idea of this entire strip being dedicated to monuments with the Peace Garden at the back end, I really hope that they respect the design language established by PLANT Architect. We just spent $20M cleaning up and consolidating the design of the square. The design of this monument seems all over the place. I take it that it’s just an early idea and that the design will be fleshed out.

It would be great if they mirrored the Peace Garden by building another terraced amphitheatre with access to the walkways facing a water feature hosting the monument and lining Osgoode Lane with trees.

This is probably better than the restaurant because it creates an actual park uninterrupted from Queen Street to Armoury, from one end of the square to the other. But I hope that we take this opportunity to get it right. Providing access to the walkways was a central part of the plans.

 

[Irishmonk]

Wow, I don't usually care much for monuments, but in this case it is a very worthy and long overdue acknowledgment of a terrible injustice. Of course, it needs to be done properly, with great care and elegance--something more akin to the Vietnam War Memorial than the hodge-podge depicted in that illustration.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

The landscaping as depicted needs a lot of work, but the sculpture alone would be a very worthy addition to the Square. Having said that, I feel the space isn't high profile enough - I thought the Ontario Superior Court forecourt (now occupied by some awful "art") would be a far better place - esp. from a symbolic perspective.

AoD

 

[Longview]

Certainly approve of the underlying intent, but that illustration is scary. It's incoherent...the left hodge doesn't know what the right podge is doing

 

[pman]

We just got rid of the kitschy po-mo Peace Garden excrescence and now this. NPS will slowly return to a cluttered, incoherent mess of memorials of dubious design quality commemorating whatever causes have enough political influence to override decent design in one of our few public squares. How typically Toronto.

 

[jje1000]

Much better than trying to force a turtle statue in the place of The Archer.

I wonder if this project could be combined with some attempt to resolve the Queen Street and Bay frontages as well.

 

[jafri998]

Love the idea of building this monument here. I was never a fan of the restaurant idea and always imagined this area working well as a green space, although not a fan of the excessive pathways depicted in the drawing

 

[Bogtrotter]

I would love the sculpture as a centerpiece, and I assume the sketch is very preliminary. Certainly a significant gesture for what is Canada's worst human rights abuse, but why was this not considered when the square was recently being redesigned..?

 

[interchange42]

The square's redesign predates the current determination for reconciliation.

42

 

[old boy]

Keep it simple, - the message will be coherent and powerful, perhaps even beautiful if we're lucky.

 

[stjames2queenwest]

I like the turtle sculpture and the rock formation in the bottom right of the illustration quite a lot.

 

[someMidTowner]

I made them turn the sign around for a quick photo today. No biggie.
by Jack Landau, on Flickr

 

[salsa]

Gonna be a pretty dull event this year.


New Years at Nathan Phillips Square cut short due to extreme cold

https://www.cp24.com/news/new-years...quare-cut-short-due-to-extreme-cold-1.3739324