Toronto Maple Leaf Square | 185.92m | 54s | Lanterra | KPMB

Well an art component doesn't have to be a sculpture. There would be no point in just trying to cram another sculpture in. Especially when the tall rusty one looks so good in its new location, it just "works" there, IMO.

But yeah, I wonder what MLS is contributing. I've forgotten to ask!
 
1 September 2009 photo update

@7:42PM tonight:

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I haven't noticed the search lights from the roof of the ACC for quite some time. Does anyone know if they have been eliminated?
 
I haven't noticed the search lights from the roof of the ACC for quite some time. Does anyone know if they have been eliminated?

The search lights are only turn on during events - the ACC has been closed for renovations since the last concert during the spring (No Doubt on June 16) - the ACC re-opens with the Leafs first pre season game on September 16 vs Boston.
 
The search lights are only turn on during events - the ACC has been closed for renovations since the last concert during the spring (No Doubt on June 16) - the ACC re-opens with the Leafs first pre season game on September 16 vs Boston.

The search lights will then be needed as the Leafs look for talent in their line-up! ;)
 
The search lights are only turn on during events - the ACC has been closed for renovations since the last concert during the spring (No Doubt on June 16) - the ACC re-opens with the Leafs first pre season game on September 16 vs Boston.

Ah ah ah ah ahhhhhhhh

WWE RAW will be at the ACC on Monday Sept 14 and the was the cancelled Aerosmith concert that was scheduled for tomorrow (the third)
 
Anyone care to hazzard a guess as to the outcome of yet another season? Actually no one really needs to respond..........we all know.

Thank God they can build nice buildings - otherwaise they would be useless.
 
The search lights are only turn on during events - the ACC has been closed for renovations since the last concert during the spring (No Doubt on June 16) - the ACC re-opens with the Leafs first pre season game on September 16 vs Boston.

Thanks Mike, that explains why I haven't seen them on during event evenings. I thought perhaps they were eliminated or decommissioned because of light issues which may eventually affect the two new condo towers next door. I didn't even know that the ACC was closed (D'oh!).
 
How ACC square can be a winner

RICK EGLINTON/TORONTO STAR
Maple Leaf Square, under construction near the Air Canada Centre, could be the next step in Toronto's urban evolution or end up a sterile failure.

Sep 07, 2009 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume

Unlike the team for which it is named, Maple Leaf Square might turn out a winner.

The city's newest public space remains a construction site, but already it's clear the potential is enormous. The square sits at the east end of Bremner Blvd., east of York St., next to the Air Canada Centre. Across the road, an elegant twin-towered condo complex is also under construction.

Given its location next to the home of the Leafs and Toronto's premier pop/rock venue, the new plaza could mark the next step in the city's urban evolution or end up a sterile concrete space, empty except at game time.

One possibility the development raises is that of turning Bremner into a pedestrian thoroughfare extending west from Maple Leaf Square all the way to the Rogers Centre. That would be about three blocks of a road where traffic is usually light.

Given that the neighbourhood also includes an office tower now being built on the northwest corner of York and Bremner, and any number of condos, a walkway – some sort of hard-surfaced linear park – would draw from a large and growing community.

The new feature also happens to be connected to Union Station and the underground city, which makes it easily accessible.

On the other side, the obvious drawback to the square is that it's surrounded by towers. They loom over the space ominously. Though Dundas Square is also defined by (mostly) tall buildings, it works because of its connection to Yonge St. In some ways, it's little more than a viewing platform from which to watch the passing parade.

Maple Leaf Square doesn't have the luxury of such urban conditions. More people than ever now live in the vicinity, but pedestrian densities are nowhere near those of Yonge and Dundas. Except, of course, temporarily when the Leafs, Raptors, et al. are in session.

The hard part will be to attract visitors between events. On the other hand, proximity to housing, transit, hotels, shops and offices could mean instant popularity.

Interestingly, the most desirable connection of all – the one that leads to the waterfront – will never happen. Unless the city decides to rip up Lake Shore Blvd. and tear down the Gardiner Expressway, Maple Leaf Square will be naturally oriented west, not south.

Which brings us back to the Bremner pedestrian thoroughfare and why it would be such a positive addition to the emerging downtown.

Even that might not be enough to overcome the square's other great obstacle, the very corporate culture that created it. Without any natural or urban features to distinguish the place or make it engaging, there's a danger it will end up offering little more than the usual franchise suspects, the same bars and restaurants that already seem to occupy every corner in the city.

Meanwhile, to the west, Simcoe St. has been extended from Front St. down to Queens Quay. That means improved waterfront access, especially for cyclists and pedestrians. Until several weeks ago, when the extension opened, they had little choice but to use one of the various north-south streets that have turned into virtual highways below Front.

At some point soon, Torontonians will have to decide whether these still-unfinished neighbourhoods will be handed over to the people who inhabit them or continue to be polluted concrete islands marooned by expressways.

In typical fashion, we like to believe we can have our cake and eat it, too. Perhaps we can. But who wants to sit at some outdoor cafe in the perpetual shadow of the Gardiner Expressway?


Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/691815
 
September 7 Pictures

Further progress on the mechanical top.

Also was walking by this morning and noticed much of the fencing/hoarding around the ACC has been removed, starting around the centre of the west side of the ACC and going around the SW corner, so you can now walk under the mini-bridge and get to Lake Shore Blvd and Bay Street. I even walked on one of the giant maple leaves! Unfortunately the paving is quite a mess right now because of so much sand, but presumably will look great after a good cleaning.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/41002894@N07/3896992603/
 

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