Toronto 88 Queen | 167.35m | 52s | St Thomas Dev | Hariri Pontarini

Northern Light said:
You can see in this pic from @bilked the attention to detail; and quality material palate.

In this one photo you can see illustrated many of the issues I raised in the Problematic Park Design thread, handled properly.

View attachment 303085

Note the the use of clear pathways for areas that Cormier wants you to come look at.........

Note the use of a practical and aesthetically pleasing surface making it easy to get to the highly visible seating.

Notice how there is nothing blocking your view of the central feature from the seating. The seats are not behind the trees, nor are there light standards in your line of sight, relative to the seating placement.

See also that the seating has been arranged to allow views of the centre, but also animation of the space facing outwards.

Finally, note the little mini-fence, that borders the planting bed, clearly identifying where you aren't supposed to walk.

Simple, straight-forward execution of basic design.
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On further examination, I do have one question mark on this space; the tree choice.

These look to be Birches, not sure which species w/o looking more closely.

But any which way, Birches tend to require about 6 hours of sunlight each day. (during the growing season)

I'm wondering if that will be feasible at this spot.

Seems ambitious.
 
Northern Light said:
You can see in this pic from @bilked the attention to detail; and quality material palate.

In this one photo you can see illustrated many of the issues I raised in the Problematic Park Design thread, handled properly.

View attachment 303085

Note the the use of clear pathways for areas that Cormier wants you to come look at.........

Note the use of a practical and aesthetically pleasing surface making it easy to get to the highly visible seating.

Notice how there is nothing blocking your view of the central feature from the seating. The seats are not behind the trees, nor are there light standards in your line of sight, relative to the seating placement.

See also that the seating has been arranged to allow views of the centre, but also animation of the space facing outwards.

Finally, note the little mini-fence, that borders the planting bed, clearly identifying where you aren't supposed to walk.

Simple, straight-forward execution of basic design.
Click to expand...
All good but what's in the centre? What's the focal point? What are we supposed to be looking at?
 
evandyk said:
All it needs is a King Kong statue!
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Thanks to the late John Kirby who represented Nintendo in a very famous court case of King Kong vs. Donkey Kong, King Kong has been established as being in the public domain:

en.wikipedia.org

Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd. - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

As a sign of gratitude, Nintendo gave John Kirby a sailboat named Donkey Kong (as well as perpetual rights to the Donkey Kong name for watercraft).

Most importantly, Nintendo named the Kirby character after John Kirby as the greatest sign of gratitude. The lawyer was even given a copy of Kirby's Dream Land and he was deeply flattered.

Therefore, it is legally possible to create a giant gorilla statue and Universal can't do anything about it.
 
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condovo said:
All good but what's in the centre? What's the focal point? What are we supposed to be looking at?
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I haven't seen the planting plan for this one; but I would certainly take it to be floral display of some kind.
 
condovo said:
Guess so. Toronto doesn't do water features. :rolleyes:
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While I would certainly like to see more; particularly of the grand sort; I don't think that's quite fair.

Berczy, of course, has the Dog Fountain.

Sherbourne Common north and south have water features.

Water was designed into Corktown Common (mostly in the form of wetlands)

Grange Park has a water feature

The new Love Park by Cormier at York and Queen's Quay will have yet another.

One is contemplated for Rees Park, if it survives the budget reductions

There's one in Taddle Creek Park in the Annex too, and water features in Village of Yorkville Park.

Not to mention (the less than ideally maintained) University Avenue fountains.

****

I expect you'll see a few more yet, in the downtown area.

There's a fairly solid commitment to bring back a grand fountain to Allan Gardens.

And there's a couple more being mused about.

****

There are also several in POP spaces across the City.

From First Canadian Place to the Four Seasons

And

Public Squares (Nathan Phillips) but also just outside downtown in Greektown; and on the west side at Bloor and Jane.
 
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Northern Light said:
While I would certainly like to see more; particularly of the grand sort; I don't think that's quite fair.

Berczy, of course, has the Dog Fountain.

Sherbourne Common north and south have water features.

Water was designed into Corktown Common (mostly in the form of wetlands)

Grange Park has a water feature

The new Love Park by Cormier at York and Queen's Quay will have yet another.

One is contemplated for Rees Park, if it survives the budget reductions

There's one in Taddle Creek Park in the Annex too, and water features in Village of Yorkville Park.

Not to mention (the less than ideally maintained) University Avenue fountains.

****

I expect you'll see a few more yet, in the downtown area.

There's a fairly solid commitment to bring back a grand fountain to Allan Gardens.

And there's a couple more being mused about.

****

There are also several in POP spaces across the City.

From First Canadian Place to the Four Seasons

And

Public Squares (Nathan Phillips) but also just outside downtown in Greektown; and on the west side at Bloor and Jane.
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Okay. I stand corrected.
 
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The quality between the sidewalk and the parkette is jarring. Concrete (primitive & depressing), at least 6 feet too narrow, and no green buffer between it and the road whatsoever? For heaven's sake Toronto. It would be nice, and cheaper, if we did it all properly the first time around. I suppose we'll have to wait another 20-25 years before they put in a proper sidewalk.
 
isaidso said:
The quality between the sidewalk and the parkette is jarring. Concrete (primitive & depressing), at least 6 feet too narrow, and no green buffer between it and the road whatsoever? For heaven's sake Toronto. It would be nice, and cheaper, if we did it all properly the first time around. I suppose we'll have to wait another 20-25 years before they put in a proper sidewalk.
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I mean Dalhousie is basically a laneway.. it has like a 12 metre right of way. You just can’t expect that much from it.
 
innsertnamehere said:
I mean Dalhousie is basically a laneway.. it has like a 12 metre right of way. You just can’t expect that much from it.
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There are still a variety of aesthetic enhancements that could be made.

The road itself and/or the sidewalks could have been done in interlocking pavers or stone.

The paved area of the road, south of Shuter is ~8m wide. The functional minimum is about 7M.

Narrowing that could allow for some streetscaping on one side of the road.

Given a new development fronting the entire block, a modest additional setback of 0.5M (if you're willing to pinch from the roadway) or 1.0M elsewise was certainly plausible.
 
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