Toronto Ontario Court of Justice Toronto | 95.7m | 17s | Infrastructure ON | Renzo Piano

[MetroMan]

I'd like to see a throwback to brutalism, but done in a contemporary style. Either that, or lots of stone cladding. Pink granite, white marble, yellow limestone, all of the above. Have there been any large buildings clad in stone in the last few years? Time for it to return.

I can see that working for a courthouse but I’d rather they use warm materials that blend it into the natural background established by Plant Architect’s Nathan Phillips Square redesign.

Extensive use of wood, bronze windows and a terraced design with trees would be my choice.

Peek & Cloppenburg Department Store in Cologne, Germany - Renzo Piano

 

[ADRM]

I'd like to see a throwback to brutalism, but done in a contemporary style. Either that, or lots of stone cladding. Pink granite, white marble, yellow limestone, all of the above. Have there been any large buildings clad in stone in the last few years? Time for it to return.

I think I'd rather stray right away from anything that tracks too closely in style to City Hall, and most of RPBW's projects lean more towards glass and/or metal as the primary materials, so if I were a betting man I'd think we likely won't see something NPS-esque here.

That said, it will be interesting to see what materials they opt for here; Athens' recently completed (and thoroughly excellent) Stavros Niachros Cultural Centre offers a greater diversity in materiality than some of their other recent work (setting aside some of their additions to existing buildings), though it's of course worth noting that that project was made possible by a half-billion dollar donation. There's also the Valletta City Gate project, but that's just a vastly different context than we have here.

What I'm most interested to see is what direction they take with the built form; this project has something of an array of limitations, and I can't wait to see how they're tackled.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I think I'd rather stray right away from anything that tracks too closely in style to City Hall, and most of RPBW's projects lean more towards glass and/or metal as the primary materials, so if I were a betting man I'd think we likely won't see something NPS-esque here.

That said, it will be interesting to see what materials they opt for here; Athens' recently completed (and thoroughly excellent) Stavros Niachros Cultural Centre offers a greater diversity in materiality than some of their other recent work (setting aside some of their additions to existing buildings), though it's of course worth noting that that project was made possible by a half-billion dollar donation. There's also the Valletta City Gate project, but that's just a vastly different context than we have here.

What I'm most interested to see is what direction they take with the built form; this project has something of an array of limitations, and I can't wait to see how they're tackled.

According to the reports this project will be close to 1B, so hopefully it won’t be a slouch! I am very curious to see how the firm will approach the symbolic values around this instance of courthouse architecture (transparency, dignity, fairness, security, severity, etc)

AoD

 

[ADRM]

According to the reports this project will be close to 1B, so hopefully it won’t be a slouch! I am very curious to see how the firm will approach the symbolic values around this instance of courthouse architecture (transparency, dignity, fairness, security, severity, etc)

AoD

It's a big number, but presumably at least a solid chunk of that will be going to un-exciting stuff, like state-of-the-art video conferencing solutions, physical containment infrastructure, etc.

I don't think we'll get something skimpy (and I'm thrilled we're getting RPBW to do anything at all), but I'm also not expecting a foundation-type splurge.

(Which also reminds me of my frequent bemoaning of the fact that we still haven't had a wealthy benefactor bequeath a foundation to our city.)

 

[Bayer]

Call me cynical, but in a penny-pinching province where the Health minister once railed against "Taj Mahal" hospitals, and with the election a few months away, I will be surprised if we get anything else than a basic, utilitarian building.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Call me cynical, but in a penny-pinching province where the Health minister once railed against "Taj Mahal" hospitals, and with the election a few months away, I will be surprised if we get anything else than a basic, utilitarian building.

It is a P3 afterall - I am expecting the Parisian palais de justice level of luxe (i.e. not very).

AoD

 

[innsertnamehere]

^Not Brussels Palais De Justice levels? Shame.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

^Not Brussels Palais De Justice levels? Shame.

I don't think that's Piano's style.

AoD

 

[Contra]

What I love most about Piano is his careful attention to details...he even makes the placement of bolts or exposed beams feel purposeful yet tasteful. I particularly loved his red blinds tubes on the Shard, did a great job of breaking up some of the blue glass monotony.

 

[ProjectEnd]

A small reminder that while a single man's name titles the firm, it's not 'he' who designs. It's teams of people (both literally and figuratively), so saying "Renzo is doing this" or "he's designing that" certainly isn't accurate.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

A small reminder that while a single man's name titles the firm, it's not 'he' who designs. It's teams of people (both literally and figuratively), so saying "Renzo is doing this" or "he's designing that" certainly isn't accurate.

I am curious as to how much involvement he will have in this project. My impression is that his firm isn't anywhere as large as F+P.

AoD

 

[old boy]

As a starting point, this needs to be done very, very well because it is so closely adjacent to our unique City Hall and square. Anything less than superb in this spot should be unacceptable in the burgeoning cluster of civic buildings, and don't forget the old city hall building sits on the south east corner of this precinct. This is a job for a talented architectural firm no doubt.

 

[Contra]

From what I've seen of interviews with him he's quite involved in all projects. Yes there is a team that work tirelessly to design and realize a creation but it is under the guidance of Renzo and within the limitations of the ethos that he has set upon his practice.

 

[ADRM]

From what I've seen of interviews with him he's quite involved in all projects. Yes there is a team that work tirelessly to design and realize a creation but it is under the guidance of Renzo and within the limitations of the ethos that he has set upon his practice.

I saw an interview with RP semi-recently in which he noted that RPBW has only 11 partners; by comparison, F+P lists more than 100 partners on its site.

 

[Contra]

I saw an interview with RP semi-recently in which he noted that RPBW has only 11 partners; by comparison, F+P lists more than 100 partners on its site.

Yeah, it's an incredibly small studio comparatively. Foster and Partners, though still one of my favourites, is quite the production house these days, pumping out tons of stuff (small things like York University Station to big things like The One). Piano's practice seems to have a lot fewer projects on the go and I feel you can tell in the impressive attention to details in each new building - big reason I'm excited for this! Doesn't need to be a big building but it should be a stunner.