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Toronto building boom

... and on that last point I think we've got a pretty good local design culture that's getting plenty of local work and expressing itself at a time when there's a huge boom going on. To give but one example, I know that to some folks the Hudson and Charlie may not be Big Hair enough, and maybe the eyes of the world aren't on us as a result of them, but they spoon delightfully together; and the renewed Regent Park strikes me as a similarly liveable and low-key success.
 
I can't see anything particularly homage-to-Vancouver-ish in what we're building here, though I'd be interested to learn of it.
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Vancouver didn't invent the glass point tower...it just transformed itself using them. No matter how many of these Toronto has, it isn't going to transform Toronto. Cityplace is a small example of Vancouver perhaps, because it's the same developer doing the same thing on a smaller and less glamorous site. And Toronto's may not have the overall quality of design or public realm features that Vancouver's has, but Toronto doesn't live and die by them....Vancouver does. And the big downside for Vancouver is, that while their glass point towers are "pleasant", none of them are really great. I mean, while I can point out some buildings I like, I just don't associate Vancouver with great architecture.


“Montreal was seizing the day, and there was some very
exciting stuff going on. I just became fascinated with the craft
and art of building. I remember my father taking me down to
La Tour CIBC by Peter Dickinson. I was amazed, though I didn’t
know why. But it was, in its day, an expression of the kind of
economic power that Canada and Montreal had attained. It was
a proud, self-assured building, a celebration.”
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It's funny how people talk about the "dream" of Montreal, yet it was never attained. There are just vestiges of the "dream" that never materialized in the form of single buildings or events (Expo, Olympics). People instead came to Toronto, where the dream actually took place, even though it doesn't get acknowledged.
 
freshcutgrass said:
.... And Toronto's may not have the overall quality of design or public realm features that Vancouver's has, but Toronto doesn't live and die by them....Vancouver does. ....
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That's a good point. We're rather messy and diverse. A bit like England in the Baroque age with Wren and Hawksmoor on the loose, compared to France where the academies were controlled by Colbert for the glory of the Sun King, or to the Catholic Church controlled Baroque in Italy.
 
We're rather messy and diverse. A bit like England in the Baroque age with Wren and Hawksmoor on the loose, compared to France where the academies were controlled by Colbert for the glory of the Sun King, or to the Catholic Church controlled Baroque in Italy.
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Yea well...the Baroque period didn't have a Jane Jacobs. ha

But then again, they didn't need one, as the big difference is that what's going on now is for the "every man". The average working stiff of the Baroque period wasn't enjoying much of the results of Wren or Hawksmoor (far as I know).
 
freshcutgrass said:
Vancouver didn't invent the glass point tower...it just transformed itself using them. No matter how many of these Toronto has, it isn't going to transform Toronto.
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The transformation in Toronto is happening in a different way. On the one hand the point towers, podiums and midrise in-fill are building the city upwards and outwards, creating density and transforming the city from what was essentially a small cluster of highrises surrounded by two-storey arterials into a more expansive urban form. On the other hand - and in a way similar to Vancouver - the new condo neighbourhoods are filling in the urban gaps, developing under-utilized lands. The net result of all of this is indeed transformative.



freshcutgrass said:
It's funny how people talk about the "dream" of Montreal, yet it was never attained. There are just vestiges of the "dream" that never materialized in the form of single buildings or events (Expo, Olympics). People instead came to Toronto, where the dream actually took place, even though it doesn't get acknowledged.
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I guess there was another dream for Montreal, one that was/is tied into the whole language/sovereignty issue. It sort of ended up trumping other aspirations.
 
in a way similar to Vancouver - the new condo neighbourhoods are filling in the urban gaps, developing under-utilized lands. The net result of all of this is indeed transformative.
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In terms of the context of the discussion, Toronto is not being transformed by "Vancouver-style" glass towers. Look at a 1980 aerial of downtown Vancouver vs a current one, and the transformation is huge, and the consistent vernacular is very apparent. Vancouver is a small city, so it was more noticeable. Also, there was a hype surrounding Vancouver, as all that development followed on the heels of an Expo. Vancouver caught the attention of the world and created a certain dialogue that created an image of the city that didn't exist before. Things like Douglas Coupland's book "City of Glass" are one small example.


I guess there was another dream for Montreal, one that was/is tied into the whole language/sovereignty issue. It sort of ended up trumping other aspirations.
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I think that is more of a "Quebec" issue....not a Montreal issue. And one most Montrealer's would have preferred to skip. A lot of them like to think it was a major reason the "dream" was killed (ie...business moving down the 401 to Toronto).
 
freshcutgrass said:
I think that is more of a "Quebec" issue....not a Montreal issue. And one most Montrealer's would have preferred to skip. A lot of them like to think it was a major reason the "dream" was killed (ie...business moving down the 401 to Toronto).
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Not just businesses, I have lost count of how many people I know who had moved from Montreal to Toronto in the wake of Bill 101.
 
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Although at that time, Toronto was already rapidly gaining in stature - and in some instances surpassing Montreal in some instances - without taking into account the exodus from Montreal.
 
Bill 101 had little, if anything to do with Toronto's long-standing growth to be Canada's #1 city. This destiny was evident 100 years ago. It hurt Montreal, but didn't have as much effect on Toronto as people like to pretend. As a percentage, the exodus (be it people of business) represents a drop in the bucket for Toronto's (and really Southern Ontario's) overall growth. Quebec was simply no match for Ontario.
 
Yeah. Plus I sighed a little at the reference to Millenium Park at the end: a) can we ever talk about TO positivly without referring to another city and b) as if building one of those is so easy

Still, decent enough piece into an integral part of TO's future. I both live and work in the area and I love it
 
Interesting that the term 'Southcore' seems to be have become established.
 
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