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

[k10ery]

Nice. Or Indiana Jones, with giant boulders rolling down the ramp from the roof garden.

The Fords could surely get behind this one.

(BTW I think the canopy has changed since the render I posted.)

 

[rdaner]

11 May 2012

 

[Torontovibe]

What a grand entrance one could make on that stage. (with all those steps)

 

[k10ery]

Nice pics. They should have aligned the stage onto the view of Sun Life.

 

[AHK]

Nice pics. They should have aligned the stage onto the view of Sun Life.

Perhaps you mean the Canada Life building and beacon tower?

 

[k10ery]

Oops, yes.

 

[someMidTowner]

Dated or Timeless?

In the 50's and 60's countless art deco structures were demolished because they were viewed as outdated vestiges of another era. Brutalist architecture is due to suffer the same fate if action isnt taken to prevent it. If our entire City Hall district is preserved to the same degree as NPS, maybe one day this neighbourhood will be a snapshot of a better time. As i was taking this photo, bus after bus full of tourists unloaded behind me. All of the tourists poured out with their digital cameras and set in on NPS. If tourists from around the globe come to see the City Hall district, why are all us forumers so anti-brutalism? I re-assessed my take on it all today. When I arrived there I told my friend about the Temple Building and pointed out its former location and we both proceeded to question it's replacement. After taking some photos and watching tourists enjoying themselves and the square, the bitterness wore off and it dawned on me: Standing at Bay and Queen perfectly depicts the optimism of the late 60's/early 70's. And the true magic lies in looking both south and north and seeing how far we have come since then. My hatred for brutalism ended today.

 

[Towered]

I wouldn't call city hall brutalist.

 

[someMidTowner]

I was referring to the surrounding block although city hall itself does have some brutalist elements to it

 

[khris]

The whole thing is definitely brutalist. It's very awesome, and I loved that post someMidTowner.

 

[4grand]

Dated or Timeless?

In the 50's and 60's countless art deco structures were demolished because they were viewed as outdated vestiges of another era. Brutalist architecture is due to suffer the same fate if action isnt taken to prevent it. If our entire City Hall district is preserved to the same degree as NPS, maybe one day this neighbourhood will be a snapshot of a better time. As i was taking this photo, bus after bus full of tourists unloaded behind me. All of the tourists poured out with their digital cameras and set in on NPS. If tourists from around the globe come to see the City Hall district, why are all us forumers so anti-brutalism? I re-assessed my take on it all today. When I arrived there I told my friend about the Temple Building and pointed out its former location and we both proceeded to question it's replacement. After taking some photos and watching tourists enjoying themselves and the square, the bitterness wore off and it dawned on me: Standing at Bay and Queen perfectly depicts the optimism of the late 60's/early 70's. And the true magic lies in looking both south and north and seeing how far we have come since then. My hatred for brutalism ended today.

I stopped and took a picture of Boston City Hall when I was there, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make me want to vomit.

It's too bad about the Art Deco statues, it really is, but conserving Brutalism? Really? Sure, maybe City Hall and Robarts (vomit) just for nostalgia sake, but I have trouble correlating lost art-deco with potentially disposable Brutalism.

One is art, the other is concrete slabs...

 

[coolcanadian]

I stopped and took a picture of Boston City Hall when I was there, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make me want to vomit.

It's too bad about the Art Deco statues, it really is, but conserving Brutalism? Really? Sure, maybe City Hall and Robarts (vomit) just for nostalgia sake, but I have trouble correlating lost art-deco with potentially disposable Brutalism.

One is art, the other is concrete slabs...

at the time, we did not think our art deco buildings were worth keeping...

 

[someMidTowner]

I stopped and took a picture of Boston City Hall when I was there, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make me want to vomit.

It's too bad about the Art Deco statues, it really is, but conserving Brutalism? Really? Sure, maybe City Hall and Robarts (vomit) just for nostalgia sake, but I have trouble correlating lost art-deco with potentially disposable Brutalism.

One is art, the other is concrete slabs...

Hey, cant convince everyone. opinions are opinions. I think my paragraph long rant was enough to state my views and arguing or trying to defend my views at this point seems like overkill. so we can always agree to disagree

 

[adma]

If tourists from around the globe come to see the City Hall district, why are all us forumers so anti-brutalism?

Actually, you'll find that we UTers are probably less anti-Brutalist than the norm--and the "tourists from around the globe" have come to see it are probably, more often than not, blissfully absent-minded about its supposed defects. It's a "landmark", and that's sufficient.

(And there's a lesson in the semiotics of architectural tourism. An "ugly" building is only ugly insofar as it's remained untouched by Doors Open or Chicago Architectural Foundation-esque contextualization--or even the more passive norms by which Toronto City Hall has remained a tourist draw.)

 

[ladyscraper]

City Hall is a really impressive and important looking building.. Aside from the CN Tower, it was the building my wife noticed most on her first trip to Toronto. She had never heard of it or seen it beforehand but noticed it and loved it immediately when we walked past it.