Toronto Love Park | 3m | 1s | City of Toronto | CCxA

[MetroMan]

Hopefully these spectacular parks will draw some pedestrian tourists off of the bike lanes.

They’re not “bike paths”. They’re also not bike highways.

The proposal has suggested scope for value engineering - removal of the pond/pavilion. I think it would be a mistake to remove the water feature though. The pavilion can be replaced by public art instead (though you're still need to put the mechanicals somewhere).

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(CCA)

AoD

Yikes. Good to see them thinking ahead but removing the pond would ruin the entire intended atmosphere of the park. I’m not married to the mirror pavilion and would actually prefer if it were gone but killing the water feature should be non negotiable.

Is there a similar provision for Rees Ridge?

 

[bgobgo]

There seems to be additional renderings of this park on Claude Cormier's website (https://www.claudecormier.com/en/projet/love-park/). I like the image below in particular. It would be cool that in addition to the 'pool' being heart shaped that there be a small red heart shaped art piece of some kind in the middle of the 'pool' similar to the small one depicted in this image...

 

[smnlng]

Thats the overhead floating heart. There's a whole page about it in the proposal...

 

[bgobgo]

Thanks @smnlng - I'd seen that heart before but wasn't clear what it was. Here is an image of the 'floating heart' suspended over the pool....

 

[UrbanAffair]

This looks stunning to me. Simple, elegant, locationally appropriate.

 

[koogle]

when is this park supposed to be open to the public, 2020?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

This looks stunning to me. Simple, elegant, locationally appropriate.

The only thing that is slightly unconvincing to me is how the edge along York Street is handled - specifically the direct interface from roadway to uninterrupted softscape reads rather suburban.

AoD

 

[ADRM]

The only thing that is slightly unconvincing to me is how the edge along York Street is handled - specifically the direct interface from roadway to uninterrupted softscape reads rather suburban.

AoD

That, and I dislike that there's no interaction with the water proposed -- it's across the street from one of the biggest lakes in the world (which is also inaccessible), and the lack of interactivity seems like a miss to me, and a bit of a waste of space.

Seems like there's an opportunity to encourage people to sit on the edge and deep their feet in, a la the V&A courtyard/splash pad thingy:

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

That, and I dislike that there's no interaction with the water proposed -- it's across the street from one of the biggest lakes in the world (which is also inaccessible), and the lack of interactivity seems like a miss to me, and a bit of a waste of space.

Seems like there's an opportunity to encourage people to sit on the edge and deep their feet in, a la the V&A courtyard/splash pad thingy:

View attachment 160973 View attachment 160974

Having said that, not that the lack of proposal for interaction is water ever stopped anyone from interacting with it. I think the intent was more for the picturesque effect more than anything.

AoD

 

[LUVIT!]

Perhaps the 'Heart' water /pond/fountain can be smaller in scale. As designed the pond seems around 30% of the space. If our climate was more temperate perhaps it could be better used for longer periods.

 

[condovo]

There's no way they can build this with a budget of $7 million.

 

[Copper1212]

Not thrilled with this one. As mentioned the heart will be empty half the year collecting garbage and who knows what not all. The heart also takes up too much of the space. Beyond that why sit and look at this little heart when you can sit and look at one of the largest lakes in the world across the street?

I personally liked the York Forest proposal. It was a unique opportunity to create a soaring forest for quiet reflection within the hussle and bustle of the city. The non-compacted soil of the site is very conducive to growing large trees which will now be somewhat wasted.

Ah well, we'll see how it turns out. A good problem to have I suppose.

 

[Jacob Lisgar]

Not thrilled with this one. As mentioned the heart will be empty half the year collecting garbage and who knows what not all. The heart also takes up too much of the space. Beyond that why sit and look at this little heart when you can sit and look at one of the largest lakes in the world across the street?

I personally liked the York Forest proposal. It was a unique opportunity to create a soaring forest for quiet reflection within the hussle and bustle of the city. The non-compacted soil of the site is very conducive to growing large trees which will now be somewhat wasted.

Ah well, we'll see how it turns out. A good problem to have I suppose.

To add, there is also a man made pond across the street at harbourfront as well that has the added benefit of being an ice rink during the winter. This one would be empty at least 6-8 months of the year and a frozen garbage ice patch during the winter.

 

[Razz]

York Street Park as it looks today, November 3, 2018. A year from now, Claude Cormier's creation should be complete.

 

[Razz]

Taken November 15, 2018:
Delivering clean topsoil to the east half of the park in preparation for laying down sod. It makes you wonder why they would bother to do that when the sod will be ripped up in a few months time? I asked a site worker that question and he told me it was a requirement of the contract to return the park to the condition it was in before the ramp was dismantled, which makes sense. I suppose they never intended it to take this long to get to this stage, but so be it. Once the new sod is laid, I presume the temporary chain link fence will come down so that pedestrians can once again traverse the park and the neighbourhood pooches can relieve themselves.