Toronto Hotel X (was Hotel in the Garden) | ?m | 27s | Exhibition Place | NORR

CityStay said:
This thing must be event driven. I can't see anyone wanting to stay in the middle of a wasteland unless they were attending a nearby function.
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You would be wrong judging from my instagram feed.

It seems that people (largely women) like to stay here with their friends for a weekend, go to the spa, and take many pictures of the view from this tower for the gram. An expensive habit that I can't particularly relate to, but is something I see at least once a week.
 
Sub_Human said:
I do not understand why this hotel had to be given what amounts to its own private fenced-in enormous backyard. Why is the fence there? (the black fence that can be seen in the aerial photo back in this post)
I don't recall seeing it in the renderings before it was built. And from what I can tell, they don't seem to use it for much except this annual "Rosé Picnic". (From their video and photos, apparently it's a great event for people who want group photos of themselves holding up wine glasses, while overdressed and pretending to look inexplicably happy -- or maybe the wine could explain the last part.)
There's an area outside of the fence, north of the Stanley Barracks, fountains, and new gates, and on the south side of Princes' Boulevard, that is still just pavement and overly large sidewalks, now with a few superfluous tree gardens that appear to have been placed there for no reason other than to prevent the once-a-year Indy race from continuing to use it for their pit lane as had been done for the preceding 30 years. Couldn't they have put some movable concrete tree planters there instead?
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I asked, and the City is looking into the fence. This looks like a case of overstepping, like where some of the patio at Pinnacle Adelaide was cordoned off for the taco joint one summer before the City made them remove it.

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Red Mars said:
From June 26, 2019


My battery died....
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From link.

Couldn't resist.
 
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The building may be aesthetically challenged, but the views from the top are among the best in the city. Here’s a panoramic view of the Ex from the rooftop pool. Unlike other places of its kind, they seem to welcome everyone - no snooty attitude here (I was in shorts). Although the west-facing pool area is supposed to be for hotel guests only, the staff let us take a peek.

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MetroMan said:
Jeez... what a disaster. Now, I'm hoping for the area around it to be developed to cover this eyesore. Put a couple of towers on top of the Automotive building and develop the Ontario Place parking lot. Whatever it takes to cover this up.
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No thanks- Exhibition Place should envision itself as a public exhibition grounds/park and a rare (!) living remnant of the old World's Expositions, less so another Lansdowne Park to be permanently lost to the private realm. In its current state, it's an underdefined space ravaged by a half-century of architectural loss and urban mediocrity.

It should be envisioned along the lines as an equivalent of Balboa Park in San Diego, or the Plaça d'Espanya in Barcelona- a good start would be to expand or move some civic institutions to the area- a museum or art gallery could do well here as a magnet. Later moves should reinforce its historic character, improve the public realm, and possibly begin to integrate the surrounding green spaces together into one gigantic urban park.

On the other hand I personally think there is an excellent opportunity to redevelop Ontario Place's parking lots as a mixed-use midrise community, and to redesign that stretch of Lake Shore Boulevard as an urban avenue, rather than its current state as a quasi-parkway at the moment.
 
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jje1000 said:
No thanks- Exhibition Place should envision itself as a public exhibition grounds/park and a rare (!) living remnant of the old World's Expositions, less so another Lansdowne Park to be permanently lost to the private realm, or in its current state as an underdefined space ravaged by a half-century of architectural loss and urban mediocrity.

It should be envisioned along the lines as an equivalent of Balboa Park in San Diego, or the Plaça d'Espanya in Barcelona- a good start would be to expand or move some civic institutions to the area- a museum or art gallery would do well here as a magnet. Later moves should reinforce its character, improving the public realm, and possibly even integrate the surrounding green spaces together into one gigantic urban park.

On the other hand I personally think there is an excellent opportunity to redevelop Ontario Place's parking lots as a mixed-use midrises, and reintegrating Lake Shore Boulevard as an urban avenue- it's an urbanistically bad space at this moment.
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I don't think it is an "either or" - and there is merit to some level of development/intensification as a way to revitalize the Ex. (though not by propping towers on Beanfield- that's really crude). Personally I find Plaça d'Espanya proper a relatively unpleasant part of Barcelona to model after. Sure, the axis down from Montjuïc/MNAC/Font Magica past Fira is nice - but the roundabout and the urban landscape immediately around it is wanting in a major way (even Richard Rogers' refit of the bullfighting arena didn't help that much). I don't think they have quite a good mix of uses for the area either, though being an open space and having Font Magica helps draws a crowd in a fairly green space starved city.

Also, the ceremonial axis of the Ex is damaged by Hotel X (didn't provide any balance against Enercare) and the positioning of BMO Field as well.

AoD
 
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AlvinofDiaspar said:
I don't think it is an "either or" - and there is merit to some level of development/intensification as a way to revitalize the Ex. Personally I find Plaça d'Espanya proper a relatively unpleasant part of Barcelona to model after. Sure, the axis down from Montjuïc/MNAC/Font Magica and past Fira is nice - but the roundabout and the urban landscape at the end of that is wanting in a major way.

AoD
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Fine, maybe more the area south around the north slopes of Montjuïc, which has a nice mixture of urban institutions and parkland (and an ceremonial axis not dissimilar to Prince's Boulevard).

The problem with the EX at the moment is that it's marooned in a rather unforgiving tangle of roadways, back-of-house space (mostly to the North), and undefined 'green' space (really more the shards left behind from Lake Shore and the Gardiner)- which physically and psychologically isolates the Ex from the rest of the city.

I would say that redevelopment could be useful as a ways of knitting together the city and the Ex back together, and that some level of redesign of Lake Shore could be done to free up some space for redevelopment (possibly even over the Gardiner in the west). Ontario Place's parking lots, as suggested before, are also a good candidate for redevelopment.

However, I personally would stop short of redeveloping fully inside the Ex proper; to do so would (IMO) surrender what could be a good civic space to the private realm.

Redevelopment.JPG


Just a quick mockup off the top of my head of where I think possible areas of redevelopment (red) and redesign (yellow) could occur, that would retain most of the integrity of the Exhibition Grounds.

To the West- I wonder if the ugly anti-urban tangle of the Gardiner and the Lake Shore could be redesigned like at Six Points- though it may be difficult due to the ramps. This may also offer the opportunity to create a new gateway to define the Ex's eastern boundaries.
To the South- Redevelopment of the Ontario Place and some of the Ex's parking lots as a mid-rise mixed-used community; transformation of Lake Shore into an urban boulevard.
To the East- The slivers of land around the Gore Pumping Plant and the Lighthouse are too small and fragmented to be successful parks. I would redevelop the spaces to better define the urban edge, while also improving connections to Coronation Park. The Armory presumably stays in place for now.

Yellow spaces could potentially be redesigned/redeveloped as parkland/parkades (to reduce the surface parking), with potential space for future institutions.

Blue spaces could be improved pedestrian crossings/intersections stemming from a slowed Lake Shore.
 
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jje1000 said:
View attachment 232288
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This map is close to what I meant by covering up the Hotel X mistake with other buildings. Leaving it standing there all by itself is an unmissable thorn in the area. Developing on both sides of Lake Shore would turn it into a true urban boulevard with high rises on the north side, and mid rises tapering down to low rises towards the lake. Hotel X would largely disappear, diluted into the more interesting mass of buildings around it.

The Fair Grounds should remain flexible open space, though definitely not surface parking lots. I’d even call for permanent yearlong features like a Ferris wheel and cable car and then have the midway rides, food and Exhibition shows augmenting the permanent rides during the CNE each end of summer.
 
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