Toronto Bloor Street Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Bloor-Yorkville BIA | architectsAlliance

Northern Magus said:
One last comment about Chinatown: it could definitely use some grand, spectacular, photogenic gates.
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Please no -- that is kitsch of the highest order, and attempts to freeze the area into a particular character, rather than having it evolve naturally (our current "Chinatown" would look pretty silly with some sort of grand gates celebrating the rag trade, as the area was used 60 years ago). And Spadina already has public art projects along the esplanade that celebrate its various cultural elements. Chinatown shouldn't be set aside as a theme-park enclave, but instead be integrated into the living city, as it is now.
 
Tulse said:
Please no -- that is kitsch of the highest order, and attempts to freeze the area into a particular character, rather than having it evolve naturally (our current "Chinatown" would look pretty silly with some sort of grand gates celebrating the rag trade, as the area was used 60 years ago). And Spadina already has public art projects along the esplanade that celebrate its various cultural elements. Chinatown shouldn't be set aside as a theme-park enclave, but instead be integrated into the living city, as it is now.
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Yawn. "Kitch of the highest order", huh? You clearly don't get out much.

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Apparently, no self-respecting Chinatown is complete without them.
 
I wouldnt mind having similar gates in our Chinatown, though the placement of them might be difficult as it is centered on 2 major streets. Certainly hard to do over 8 lanes on Spadina...
 
Which of those do you see fitting across Spadina?

And yes, they do seem kitschy to me.

(To be fair, it should also be noted that "other" Chinatown at Gerrard and Broadview does have a "gate", although it is not actually across a road.)
 
I'd imagine the Chinatown BIA would have their own ideas, and the sheer size of running two over Spadina would allow for something larger and grander than in other Chinatowns.

Structurally, a support scheme similar to one of these would probably have to be used:

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Incidentally, the use of arches in cities is neither novel nor kitschy. To be fair, there will always be some who just aren't into them. But I would argue that they always liven up an area, transform a street into an experience, and are always snapped by tourists and part of a city's must see list.
 
Northern Magus said:
the use of arches in cities is neither novel nor kitschy
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Not necessarily, true (there is the homegrown example of the Princes' Gates at the Ex), but the use of an arch to delineate a urban Chinatown seems to me very much a tourist ploy, and not something that one would propose today for a modern urban Chinatown. It also has the sense (at least to me) of setting off the area from the rest of the city, containing it, as if it and its residents are not part of the rest of the city. After all, this is not a mall or shopping area we're talking about, but a full neighbourhood, and I think an arch would seem as odd and kitschy here as having blue-and-white stucco gates at the Broadview end of Greektown, or building faux Roman pillars at one end of the Corso Italia on St. Clair.
 
Tulse said:
It also has the sense (at least to me) of setting off the area from the rest of the city, containing it, as if it and its residents are not part of the rest of the city. After all, this is not a mall or shopping area we're talking about, but a full neighbourhood, and I think an arch would seem as odd and kitschy here as having blue-and-white stucco gates at the Broadview end of Greektown, or building faux Roman pillars at one end of the Corso Italia on St. Clair.
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Ah, you're building straw men in the latter sentence. None of those has the cultural tradition and contemporary usage of Chinese Gates.

Regarding the former sentence, the same objections you invoke could all apply equally to the Distillery District. After all, it' an example of a specifically delineated area that is set off from the city, contained, and attempts to freeze the area into a specific character. In fact, there are parts of every major city that attempts to freeze certain areas into a specific character. Nothing wrong with that at all.

And for the record, Spadina south of College and north of Queen is essentially a shopping and eating area. And improving the city's appeal to tourists is never a bad idea.
 
There are no gates in the Manhattan Chinatown, which is pretty authentic and integrates well into that urban fabric, (like Toronto's) - however, if a gate were added on Dundas (East) at Spadina, that might work... its not as wide as Spadina, and has a bit more of a villagy feel to it.
 
I'd love to see those at Chinatown. We have a couple of them in Mississauga that I know of, on Dundas and at the Chinese plaza on Central Pkwy.
 
If you guys remember, the Waterfront revitilization project is supposed to include some monument/structure/statue/thing in the water at the foot of Spadina in honour of Toronto's Chinese population. No official design has been released, but this render, released by West 8, DTAH and company, gives an impression of what they are trying to accomplish. If you have any sense of Toronto geography, and/or know how to use Photoshop, this picture is mildly ridiculous. However, I eagerly await an updated render.

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