Toronto Cinema Tower | 142.64m | 43s | Daniels | Kirkor Architects

[Atlantis]

Talk of Artscape got me thinking of doing a little more research myself, and I came across some renders of Cinema's public art from a blog post on Kirkor's site http://www.kirkorarchitects.com/blog/2011/10/05/cinema-tower’s-innovative-public-artwork/.

STRATA takes as its inspiration a geological, archaeological concept. According to Mr. Powning, “The overall façade is meant to have the feeling of being a large core sample raised up from the earth.” The sculpture will be made of precast pigmented and stained concrete, cast bronze and slumped glass with three layers of what Mr. Powning calls ‘archeological strata’ – a bronze crust inlaid with “materials discovered during the excavation, or appropriate to the history of the site over generations.”

You can even see a quick clip of it about 50s into this video, uploaded about a dozen posts back:

Not sure if this has already been posted: http://vimeo.com/24014527

[video=vimeo;24014527]http://vimeo.com/24014527[/video]

 

[SP!RE]

I can't believe I'm saying this about a Kirkor design but I am actually quite enticed by this one.

Good find ^ ^ ^

 

[Atlantis]

This piece of public art is getting more and more interesting with each find. A quote from a yourhome.ca article. Seems like it's rooted in local archaeological context. http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/realestate/article/997687--another-condo-blockbuster


Years ago, before the Daniels Corp. began construction on Festival Tower, an archaeological assessment of the property was undertaken.

The dig found “probably a half dozen pieces of museum quality,†Haggart says, including arrow heads and a broach, and perhaps the corner of the city’s first-ever hospital (the team couldn’t explore further to make certain, Daniels’ land doesn’t extend that far).

When the time came to excavate for Cinema Tower, another archaeological assessment was done.

Not as many significant objects were found this time (a bayonet was unearthed, though, possibly dating back to the city’s early militia days).

But all that digging down got New Brunswick-born artist Peter Powning thinking. He began to formulate an idea for the public art installation for Cinema Tower.

The resulting sculpture, “Strata†— which will frame the entranceway to the condo — is based on the concept of a core sample of the earth that’s been pulled up and exposed.

Each layer of this archaeological crust references a period of history on that property and in the surrounding neighbourhood.

Strata will include bronze casts of objects that were dug up at the Cinema site, as well as items related to businesses that once operated in the area: bookkeepers, carpenters and typesetters, for example.

“It’s this notion of taking a core sample of the geology below the site and drawing it up,†Powning explains in an interview.

“It’s the strata of geological time, and on that cast-bronze strata will be bits and pieces of human material history that are related to the area or the site over time.â€

Haggart is hoping Strata will prove to be a focal point for the neighbourhood. “We know Widmer St. is not a really populated street in Toronto, so we wanted to give people a reason to go down the street and explore,†he says.

“That’s what Peter’s piece will achiev: it will give the public a reason to turn the corner.â€

 

[$watkins$]

This is a very interesting project.
Has there been any info released about the retail component here?

 

[Jasonzed]

From today

 

[wmedia]

Quite the change from a few short years ago...

 

[whatever]

Too bad they couldn't have moved that house over to John, where they're already going to have the other two heritage buildings. It would've been faux context, but it still would've been interesting to have the three structures in a row.

 

[Jasonzed]

from today

 

[someMidTowner]

google needs to up its game. either that or we need to make a thread on google street view now and thens

Comparing jasonzeds photo to googles, u can see how much toronto has grown in a few short years

 

[urbandreamer]

Did the Corned Beef place move or close for good? Their meat was awful but their waitresses were tasty.

31 Dec 2011 found me on John staring at this ugly bunker:

 

[vegeta_skyline]

31 Dec 2011 found me on John staring at this ugly bunker:

Its a construction site, what did you expect to be looking at? The second coming of the AGO or something?

 

[EnviroTO]

That concrete does look sootier than normal doesn't it?

 

[Ramako]

That concrete does look sootier than normal doesn't it?

It may look darker in that photo due to being recently drenched by rain and snow.

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

Did the Corned Beef place move or close for good? Their meat was awful but their waitresses were tasty.

They've relocated across the street to the NE corner of Adelaide + John. Their meat is hit-and-miss; it is purportedly "imported" from Montreal "daily".

 

[Red Mars]

Pic taken Jan 11, 2012