Toronto Berczy Park Revitalization | ?m | ?s

[taal]

That word doesn't come to mind at all. How about playful or energetic?

Right I could see that, but not here ! At least I don't think so, this concept would work great on the Toronto Islands Franklin Children's Garden (which is great btw). Actually many of Toronto's new splash pads feature some sort of animal shooting out water. But it doesn't seem fitting of the St. Lawrence market area whatsoever ! That's my largest issue here. Someone mentioned 'whoofstock' ... give me a break that's been going on for the last few years, this is an area with a 100+ year history ...

 

[interchange42]

It'll all depend on the execution. It could be excellent.

I wouldn't be against one of the dogs lifting a leg for a whizz in the fountain. That could be a laugh.

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[taal]

It'll all depend on the execution. It could be excellent.

I wouldn't be against one of the dogs lifting a leg for a whizz in the fountain. That could be a laugh.

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Tongue-in-cheek I'll amuse ? That's fairly grotesque otherwise, again, yes I see the artistic merit, but you need to remember context, and where this is located, this is a prominent park in 'old Toronto' I do not at all see the correlation to 'dogs' ... heck I think I'd be a little more accepting if the sculptures were of various animals, no cat lovers out there ? Toronto doesn't exactly have a plethora of fountains, why not go for something grand here, and prominent, if there needs to be change at all, the existing fountain is fairly decent (if cleaned up).

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

Do you ever visit that park taal?

There's dogs there every hour of the day

 

[Ryan_T]

Tongue-in-cheek I'll amuse ? That's fairly grotesque otherwise, again, yes I see the artistic merit, but you need to remember context, and where this is located, this is a prominent park in 'old Toronto' I do not at all see the correlation to 'dogs' ... heck I think I'd be a little more accepting if the sculptures were of various animals, no cat lovers out there ? Toronto doesn't exactly have a plethora of fountains, why not go for something grand here, and prominent, if there needs to be change at all, the existing fountain is fairly decent (if cleaned up).

I find one of the best de-stressors is when we tap into our inner child. This seems like an excellent way of doing it.

Many people could do with taking themselves less seriously.

 

[interchange42]

Tongue-in-cheek I'll [assume]?

No, not tongue-in-cheek. Why not have some fun with this fountain? I'm not sure what it is about this area that you think should stop the designers from playing around a bit. The [Name Brand] Centre for the Performing Arts and the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, both just across the street, mean that this area has been an entertainment area for a long time. The mural on the west wall of the Gooderham building is whimsical. This City has so little quirk to it, whenever there's a chance for a little, I'm happy to consider it. Cormier does great work; I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with, peeing dog or not.

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[taal]

Do you ever visit that park taal?

There's dogs there every hour of the day

I do and there indeed are, so why the need for more ? ; - ) ... I'm curious how they'd react to such sculptures.


I'm surprised more folks weren't a little disappointed with the proposed design of the fountain, so for that reason I'll attempt to keep a little more open mind here.

Searching around a little you'll see there are other examples:

And just for interchange, actually there are many such examples of dogs marking there territory fountains ... what an interesting world we live in ; - )

 

[khris]

I like the idea of the dog fountain, but I don't feel it suits the area.
I think a fountain like the one at Four Seasons that actually has water in it would be better. Just would need to be a bigger wider version.

 

[taal]

I like the idea of the dog fountain, but I don't feel it suits the area.
I think a fountain like the one at Four Seasons that actually has water in it would be better. Just would need to be a bigger wider version.

Right, that's was exactly my thought.

 

[Torontovibe]

^^ Right, so something that's rather conventional, trumps something that's unique and playful.

 

[interchange42]

If you guys take a look at the images, you'll see that you're getting a traditional style fountain (à la Four Seasons, but wider and with water in it) with dogs being the water spouts. You're getting traditional with some whimsy.

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[taal]

If you guys take a look at the images, you'll see that you're getting a traditional style fountain (à la Four Seasons, but wider and with water in it) with dogs being the water spouts. You're getting traditional with some whimsy.

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My issue being the 'amount of whimsy' ... sure 1 or 2 dog sculptures is okay and playful, but the entire fountain, I think the end result will be cheesy for this reason. Anyway, I'll try to keep an open mind, a better rendering will help.

 

[DSC]

My issue being the 'amount of whimsy' ... sure 1 or 2 dog sculptures is okay and playful, but the entire fountain, I think the end result will be cheesy for this reason. Anyway, I'll try to keep an open mind, a better rendering will help.

At the public meeting last week the quantity of dogs was the subject of discussion and I think the final plan WILL have a few fewer. I think the most recent rendering still has the initial (somewhat excessive) number and these were reduced just before the public meeting and may be reduced further.

 

[Torontovibe]

^^ Why must everything be watered down in this city? Can we never build an original plan, without looking to tone it down and make it ordinary? It's death by a thousand cuts.

 

[interchange42]

Who gets to be the final arbiter on what number of dogs is the right number? "The neighbourhood says six dogs! Seven dogs would be cheesy! Eight would be certifiable!" A year later, when it's being built, people may stand around saying "we voted for one dog too few, we wish it had more dog".

The public is fickle, and to my mind it's absurd to leave this kind of thing up to a vote. Let the designer figure out how many dogs, and move on. Allowing neighbourhood associations to micro-manage these kind of things is idiotic.

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