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TOBuilt

A

Archivistower

Guest
Some of you may know that I like to take photos of buildings and compile data about them. I've finally managed to get it together enough to make a searchable website for my data. It's not exactly done, yet, but it's more or less there and so I've decided to introduce the forum to it.

TOBuilt

There are 7,286 buildings in Toronto described on the site, all but 100 or so with photos or other images. The buildings are searchable by a wide variety of criteria (building type, floors, status, date ranges, etc.). A few images are not showing up, I'll be fixing those as I find them.

There are also just short of 3000 companies (mostly architects) linked to the buildings, and you can search for buildings by architect's name.

Also, you can search by awards, for instance, for buildings in the database that won Masseys or Canadian Architect awards.

There is also a browsable neighbourhoods map that is a cool feature.

Of course, the data is only as complete as my photography, but there's enough there I think to promote interest.

What is incomplete still is the "Building Details" page. I want this to show the companies associated with a building on the same page as the details, but I haven't gotten it together yet. If you are on the site and something isn't working, I'm likely developing it. I also have someone editing the text of my static pages, so they will be updated one more time. Some of the info about awards is incomplete.

I hope you enjoy the site, and that it supports the discussions we have here.
 
We should talk. I'd like to integrate this into the new UT somehow.
 
Great job Bob. This should definitely be part of the new UT.
 
Excellent work on such an awesome undertaking! Are you taking suggestions?

This could be also be a good vehicle for watching the evolution of a building. Example: Your picture of 56 Blue Jays Way predates its transformation into the Diesel Playhouse. You could add a new picture to show this, but keep the old one too so that the 'life' of the building is documented.
 
Bob,

Stunning database. The feature on building/project sources is particularly nice since it provides a wonderful way to keep track of the literature for each project.

Are you looking for additional articles for some of the projects? I wouldn't mind helping to provide some additional sources if you'd like.

AoD
 
Yes, I am open to the site being aligned with UrbanToronto - so let's talk this weekend. You can e-mail me from the site or I'm in the book and it's obvious who I am. My bottom line is control over the content/look & feel of TOBuilt, but within that limitation I'm happy.

Tuder, yes, I am open to tracking over time, though my focus has been getting photos of buildings I don't have before. I do do re-takes from time to time when I think my original photo sucks, and so inadvertantly I do capture some movement over time.

Alvin, please! It's not a lot of work for me to add sources, and anything that helps is good. I'm not sure in what format you have the sources, but they are welcome.

Mark Simpson, if you see this, your name appears as a sources on some of the data on the site. This is a holdover which dates from when you gave me data for S.Com a long time ago. If you want me to remove this, I will. Just let me know.
 
Bob,

I could provide info in a manner (like a spreadsheet) that would correspond to elements that are on your building/project lit. sources. Looking at the entry for CCBR, for example, there are a few journal/mag/web articles that could provide useful to have in the list as well.

A.
 
Alvin, that sounds good. One of my goals is to consolidate the building/project source thing so that there's only one link, also to show when there are sources before you click.

I bet you could help me with international awards, too. I haven't done any research at all on that (where would you start?) so the number of buildings that won international awards (which is searchable under "jurisdiction") is quite small currently.
 
Amazing job Bob! TOBuilt is now happily bookmarked in my browser.
 
Congratulations! What a tremendous new resource. Now I know why you have been keeping such a low profile lately.
 
This is a great website... keep up the good work.

I'm tempted to ask... is it possible to convert the site to a "wiki"?
 
Bob - stunning work. I hope you and Ed work out a way to integrate this into UrbanToronto somehow. Just thing of the synergy!
 
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