Toronto St Lawrence Centre Redevelopment | ?m | ?s | CreateTO | Hariri Pontarini

Preferred choice for the St. Lawrence Centre Redevelopment Competition

  • Brook McIlroy, Trahan Architects, and Hood Design Studio

    Votes: 11 13.9%
  • Diamond Schmitt, Smoke Architecture, and MVVA

    Votes: 12 15.2%
  • Hariri Pontarini, LMN Architects, Tawaw Collective, Smoke Architecture, and SLA

    Votes: 39 49.4%
  • RDHA, Mecanoo, Two Row Architect, and NAK Design Strategies

    Votes: 16 20.3%
  • Zeidler Architecture, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Two Row Architect, and PLANT Architect

    Votes: 1 1.3%

  • Total voters
    79
  • Poll closed .
I like the idea of public art here, but my strong preference would be that its raised off the wall by some type of support medium, rather than directly applied to the wall.

The west elevation of building is quite attractive as is. Applying spray paint directly to the concrete may invite more public misunderstanding as to its architectural significance.
They were putting on the base (white) coat (paint, I think) last week so it will be what it will be.
 
The west side is bare concrete that is usually covered in ads, and a giant screen. How significant can it be?

The way the ads are hung ought to have been the precedent for framing the public art, in my view. Spray-painting directly to concrete treats the building in exactly the manner you’ve suggested - like it’s simply a concrete slab. But it sounds like it’s a fait accompli at this point.
 
The way the ads are hung ought to have been the precedent for framing the public art, in my view. Spray-painting directly to concrete treats the building in exactly the manner you’ve suggested - like it’s simply a concrete slab. But it sounds like it’s a fait accompli at this point.

In @mburrrrr 's post yesterday..........the art looks 'mounted' to me. Perhaps I'm incorrect in that, but it certainly doesn't appear level w/the adjacent concrete.

 
Sorry about that. I was replying to a post and pressed send by mistake before adding the picture. I then got side tracked, added the picture and deleted the reply portion. I guess it got lost in the time warp.
 
I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to post these before the artist is done but hey I guess all these buildings on UrbanToronto are art too.
98344077-DAAD-4E14-B0C9-DAEDAF2782BA.jpeg


61B50CDB-C65A-4EFE-83F8-243A148E9F04.jpeg



Early Tuesday morning.
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Colour!
I like it!
 
A Report was presented last week on the redevelopment process - it is nice and colourful but it seems to say nothing new except that they hope to present plans to Council in February 2022. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/rl/bgrd/backgroundfile-170492.pdf

The consultant's conclusion is:

"People told us they believe that culture is a requirement for living a fulfilling, healthy and productive life. People told us that the arts are a foundational component of an innovative, thriving city ready to recover from COVID-19. And, most importantly, people told us that the time is now for Toronto to boldly reimagine the STLC building and the site into an anchor in Canada’s next cultural corridor; a place that brings the arts to everyone, that builds Toronto’s creative backbone and prepares us for a future we desire."

Ah, the life of a consultant!
 
A Report was presented last week on the redevelopment process - it is nice and colourful but it seems to say nothing new except that they hope to present plans to Council in February 2022. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/rl/bgrd/backgroundfile-170492.pdf

The consultant's conclusion is:

"People told us they believe that culture is a requirement for living a fulfilling, healthy and productive life. People told us that the arts are a foundational component of an innovative, thriving city ready to recover from COVID-19. And, most importantly, people told us that the time is now for Toronto to boldly reimagine the STLC building and the site into an anchor in Canada’s next cultural corridor; a place that brings the arts to everyone, that builds Toronto’s creative backbone and prepares us for a future we desire."

Ah, the life of a consultant!

Thank goodness for the consulting industry in this province..........:rolleyes:

The combination of some outright grift......along with with staff unwilling or unable to take responsibility for decisions even when they have all the requisite facts at their disposal.......
ensures that gov't regularly wastes years of time; and millions of dollars (or more) on project after project......

The consultant enrichment industry must be brought to an end....

*****

IIRC.......... as a private citizen, I attended stakeholder meetings for a consultant-led plan that didn't need to happen.
The consultants weren't particularly knowledgeable, about the subject for which they were hired, either in the general sense or at the level of expert data.
They even got fundamental facts wrong in their slide presentations.....

We went through all the types of exercises popular with consultants these days (social pinpoint, maps with markers, brainstorming, online feedback etc.)

At the end.........The report makes several major recommendations..............which are exactly what I told the consultants at the first meeting.
I didn't even get paid! LOL

Thing is.........I had already told the relevant City staff all of this before hand.
So they had the information in hand..........but spent well into six-figures, and several meetings to get told.........'yah, that guy told you what to do already'..........(not quite the way they worded their very long, glossy report with lots of stock photos.....)

That certainly left me wanting to tell someone where to go........not just what to do........ LOL
 
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A report to the St. Lawrence Centre redevelopment Ctte meeting next week recommends moving ahead w/the project.

The next stage will be going to schematic design and finding the funding for construction. No renders in the report, but we do have some idea what they have in mind.

Lets start w/the basic report:


From the above:


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The real positive here:

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Here's a link to the heritage principles of any design:


Here's a link to the 'test fit' drawings:

 
A report to the St. Lawrence Centre redevelopment Ctte meeting next week recommends moving ahead w/the project.

The next stage will be going to schematic design and finding the funding for construction. No renders in the report, but we do have some idea what they have in mind.

Lets start w/the basic report:


From the above:


View attachment 389344
View attachment 389345


View attachment 389346

View attachment 389347

The real positive here:

View attachment 389348


Here's a link to the heritage principles of any design:


Here's a link to the 'test fit' drawings:

The outdoor public plaza with a natural outdoor "theatre" strikes me as a particularly exciting element of this. $420 million isn't cheap though, I wonder where they will find the funds.
 
The outdoor public plaza with a natural outdoor "theatre" strikes me as a particularly exciting element of this. $420 million isn't cheap though, I wonder where they will find the funds.

The funding strategy will include a significant ask of senior levels of government, (province and feds) and there seems to be some optimism that ask will be received positively.

The balance of any funds will have to be City/Debt and or philanthropy.
 
Wow, they're not messing around here. Love it.

Sounds like they want to close the portion of Scott Street between the Centre and Meridian Hall (the southern portion of the street needs to remain open to vehicles due to parking garage access of the condo and Meridian Hall, but can still reduce it to two lanes and widen the sidewalks there to remove the handful of street parking spots), and not only pedestrianize it but actually make it into an outdoor space in itself. That sounds awesome.
 

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