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

Construction is pretty much all done.

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Merry Christmas
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Regarding the cutting of the granite and sidewalks in general for utility purposes, couldn't they build access points, like man holes, allowing workers to repair pipes, wires, etc. without having to dig up the sidewalk regularly?
 
the "benches" are better than the "nothing" that we were all expecting. there are a lot of hysterical people on this forum who doomed this project from its infancy.

"the trees are going be saplings that will die in the cold...oh wait, the trees are huge."
"why are there no bike locks?...oh wait, there are bike locks."
"why are there no places to sit?...oh wait, there are places to sit."

further, subtle, unknown additions have probably yet to be constructed/installed. when the new scrambles are in place, when the public art is installed, when One Bloor is finished. this project will look great. bloor used to be trash!
 
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androiduk said:
New benches on Bloor East. I was expecting something more substantial, not a fan of these at all.

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Wow I love these! They're actually fit in very well - saw them in person today.
 
barrytron3030 said:
the "benches" are better than the "nothing" that we were all expecting. there are a lot of hysterical people on this forum who doomed this project from its infancy.

"the trees are going be saplings that will die in the cold...oh wait, the trees are huge."
"why are there no bike locks?...oh wait, there are bike locks."
"why are there no places to sit?...oh wait, there are places to sit."

further, subtle, unknown additions have probably yet to be constructed/installed. when the new scrambles are in place, when the public art is installed, when One Bloor is finished. this project will look great. bloor used to be trash!
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The project was scaled down considerably, hence the disappointment from some forumers. We didn't get "hundreds" of trees as promised, sitting areas are very limited - far from what was planned, water-features - where'd they go?, public art - well we'll see what they come up with. There's a few rough edges in this diamond as I've noted earlier, there's no granite in front of major areas such as the Manulife Centre, The Colonnade, Club Monaco etc. as well as granite up to property lines is absent in some areas and the new street lighting just plain sucks. I'm not being hysterical, just a little disappointed from what was proposed to what we got. That said, it's a sensational improvement over what was here, it's the details which prevents true greatness from being achieved along this strip.
 
Hairy Yeti Poo Balls said:
Regarding the cutting of the granite and sidewalks in general for utility purposes, couldn't they build access points, like man holes, allowing workers to repair pipes, wires, etc. without having to dig up the sidewalk regularly?
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I think the trick is to coordinate all utility upgrades at one time, so that for several decades nothing has to be done. But with all the technological changes and the fact that many parts of the city are growing, I bet that upgrades have to be done more frequently. So that is a good idea, at least along several prominent streets like Bloor with its granite sidewalks.

No amount of street presence can improve upon the bland architecture along Bloor. That's what is really preventing this area from being stellar.
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With the public realm improvements and polished storefronts, the impression one gets is very positive. But over time, the buildings will get more attention because of the polished streetscape making the architecture more noticeable. I know that areas with great architecture in Toronto often fail to make a good impression on ordinary people when the eye is drawn to the cheapness of the public realm: overhead wires, big wooden poles, cheap-looking cobra arm street lights, concrete sidewalks everywhere, too much signage, big yellow traffic signals hung across the streets at intersections, and trees poorly growing out of small concrete planters.
 
junctionist said:
I think the trick is to coordinate all utility upgrades at one time, so that for several decades nothing has to be done. But with all the technological changes and the fact that many parts of the city are growing, I bet that upgrades have to be done more frequently. So that is a good idea, at least along several prominent streets like Bloor with its granite sidewalks.
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I don't understand why something along the lines of what I mentioned hasn't be implemented. You'd think that would be common sense and would save money in the long run. I don't think it's really possible to coordinate all utility upgrades at the simultaneously. Also, problems can arise at any time, resulting in the need for repair. My question is, would it be feasible to create these kinds of access points or are there intricacies I'm missing?
 
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i noticed yesterday they already planted seasonal flowers....looks pretty good...if i have chance i might go today again and take few pics. Holts windows is all done for Xmas too.
 
To be fair, while the benches aren't exactly blowing my socks off, I'm not sure that a more substantial or elaborate design would work within the limited space available. I was unhappy that all the benches in the first design appeared to have been left off from this one, so these are definitely a welcome addition. Hopefully they'll be installed throughout.
 
I think it is 90 Bloor that is getting a face lift. There was a design competition sent out to architecture students at Waterloo, Toronto and Ryerson.
 
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