Toronto One Front | 170.86m | 49s | Larco | a—A

rdaner

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Is this a recent reiteration of this idea? Completely ignoring what is happening in the economy and the feasibility of this going through, does anyone know if interest in building on this site has been resurrected for the land behind the Federal Building at 1 Front Street?

Renderings available on HPA website at: http://hariripontarini.com/#project/1_front_street_concept_plan
 
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During the discussions about the proposed (and now cancelled) new HQ for GO Transit at Esplanade and Yonge there was mention of moving the Dundas Street bus station down to join the GO Bus station behind the Dominion Building. The idea appeared (appears?) to be to make the bus station a 'double decker'. This was all tied up with some sort of renovation to the Dominion Building, linking it into PATH (eventually to link through the bus station and the proposed GO HQ to the "L" (now "I") Tower. The latest plans for the "I" do provide for a PATH connection westward so ....
 
DSC - just for nitpicking sake, the "L" Tower name has been changed in the thread title to a lower case "l", not a capital "I".

In regards to this concept - WOW - it's much bigger than a mere double-decker bus terminal. While I quite like Hariri Pontarini designs normally, I wonder if this one's a little too ordinary on the outside. The second image on their webpage, however, is exactly the kind of public interior space that this area is begging for, and that gets me excited. Who is behind this? How recent are these plans? How much money is driving this? This is all very intriguing...

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Great news,I like the interior public space but its just to bad the exterior design looks like another box.Hopefully they add a cathederal roof or something intresting to the roof line to make it more iconic status within a Toronto Transit Hub."
 
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I like the idea, but I don't like the render.
Some sort of multi-use project would work really well in this spot.
 
Great news,I like the interior public space but its just to bad the exterior design looks like another box.Hopefully they add a cathederal roof or something intresting to the roof line to make it more iconic status within a Toronto Transit Hub."

A token spire isn't really enough to make it an icon. Besides, a box can easily be iconic with the right design. But if this box looks ordinary, then they haven't spent that much on exterior architecture and a spire wouldn't improve it.
 
wow this is totally a sticker shock to me ~ didn't realise this magnitude of development was gonna happen at the bus terminal ... but this is certainly exciting !! :D

if this thing gets built ... the height will be very complementary to the 'l tower' :cool:
 
Here is something that the same archeticts HP is planning for Halifax.Why is it that we get stuck with the mediocre shit and everyone gets better.This city should shoot this proposal down and ask for something better maybe even an international competition for a grand transit hub.
For gods sake Torontonians deserve better,this is Front and Yonge street and the gateway to Toronto and Canadas longest road.

250px-Modelhfx1.jpg
 
For gods sake Torontonians deserve better,

For gods sake Torontonians who belong to architecture and development forums should know this is a concept plan... little more than a stacking plan/massing study and a vague watercolour painting.

The design (it there ever is one) is very much farther down the road.

BTW, H+P often make cute little acrylic models for their project gigs (eg. 2 City Hall, their St. Nicholas Street design etc.) which are quite pretty but bear little resemblance to the "real" building (if built).
 
For gods sake Torontonians who belong to architecture and development forums should know this is a concept plan... little more than a stacking plan/massing study and a vague watercolour painting.

The design (it there ever is one) is very much farther down the road.

OK lets sit back and enjoy the ride.
 
Ironically, the Halifax project has not shown any signs of life since it was approved quite a while back and Halifax arch/dev geeks describe it as "stalled".

Though some remain hopefully as this example/quote from SSP suggests: "Bear in mind that the design we saw was nothing more than a sketch and an early conceptual model. Detailed architectural design on a project of this scale takes time. At least a year I would say... if not more. It's a long way from a few drawings and models to a full spec document (these things are like the size of phone books for a project this big) and set of finished and stamped construction drawings."

;-)
 
The tower does seem to be a bit of a bore (all the more reason to hope the Ice Condos get built close by.)

I assume that the fuzzy watercolour renders are being used to help make it look more dreamy and agreeable.
 

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