Toronto Ontario Place | ?m | ?s | Infrastructure ON

We have a front page story up that describes all the initial plans, with a number of renderings.

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The last time I was at Ontario Place, the summer before it closed, I saw workers doing construction on a whole new area. They had the south/east section, behind the water slides fenced off and it looked like they were doing a major reconstruction, so I asked one of the construction workers what they were building and he told me, a new promenade, sunbathing/beach type area to compliment the water-play area. It looked like a large multi-million dollar project.

I would imagine this newly constructed area would be right beside the area up for redevelopment of the park. I wonder how they plan to integrate the two? This new plan shows nothing about the new sunbathing area. I'm curious about why there has been so little news about this area and how it effects redevelopment. Maybe it will be dealt with in the redevelopment of OP. I do think it's sad that the government spent multi-millions of dollars to build a whole new section of OP and nobody got to use it. That tells me, that the closing of OP was a very unplanned decision.
 
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That tells me it's government :)

After the announcement was made, they spent a couple of weeks installing a lovely new "Ontario Place" sign down near the west end of the park. Seemed silly to me.
 
If you go to 8:35 in this video, you will see a tiny portion of what I'm talking about. The area went all the way around the water slides. This area was never open to the public.

[video=youtube_share;l_Gea5pRhKk]http://youtu.be/l_Gea5pRhKk[/video]
 
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I'm actually excited about these plans. No this is no Millenium Park but I didn't expect it to be. This phase gets the ball rolling and integrates Ontario Place into a seamless path following Coronation Park. It meets the objective of making Ontario Place a part of the city rather than an isolated island you have to pay to access.

In future phases, restaurants, entertainment and cultural uses could be added using the existing pods and Cinesphere. The Ontario Science Centre is a near perfect fit for these buildings with an IMAX screen at the ready and at *Ontario* Place. Restaurants and bars with patios could be scattered amongst the grounds. On the shore side parking lots, I'm ok with midrise residential with commercial podiums as long as a wide public promenade with room for a boardwalk, bike paths and restaurant/bar patios is left. Bring in big and small outdoor art (ie Crown Fountain, Cloudgate) and unprogrammed multi use spaces and we've got a winner.

This is just the first phase and I think it's a good first move.
 
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I like it better when the context is shown.

This area could be transformed into the tourist location of Toronto if done right.
 
Torontovibe said:
Toronto Islands are nothing at all like those parks. Where do you see indoor amenities or cultural spaces in Centre Island? There are no real attractions on Centre Island besides a kiddie amusement park and it's a third rate one at that. It's funny how Toronto builds parks the same way Florida does. You would think with our cold climate we would design parks with some indoor spaces, where people could get warm. I'm sure parks would be much better used if we just put some thought into designing parks for our climate, focusing on year round use.
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What's the point in going to park if you're going to be sitting indoors? Parks are still useable in the winter; you just need to dress for the weather.
 
One Nut Kruk said:
What's the point in going to park if you're going to be sitting indoors? Parks are still useable in the winter; you just need to dress for the weather.
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The point isn't to go to a park and sit indoors. Have you never gone tobogganing, snow shoeing or cross country skiing as a kid? When you're young, you want to spend as much time as you can, tobogganing but once you get to your breaking point, (I'm so cold, my ass is gonna fall off!!!) you need some place to warm up real fast. Having indoor spaces allows people to take breaks from the cold, get warm and then get back out to having fun and more importantly, getting exercise. It also allows parents to remain inside, while keeping an eye on their children outside. (or even elderly grand parents who can't spend much time in the cold)

We live in a cold country, to build our parks the same as warm climate cities, is just silly. We could get so much better use out of parks that respond to our climate and our needs. Why not explore creative ways to design our parks to meet our specific needs? Maybe putting community centres and public buildings in parks will provide better opportunities to get kids outside during winter. It's already being done to a certain extent (Regent Park Aquatic Centre & Trinity Bellwoods Community Centre) we need to do it more often and in more creative ways.

There is no reason why this OP park can't be used for many winter activities. An indoor space would just increase its winter use by a great deal. This portion of OP is not close to the pods or other buildings, so I think they should at least consider if it's feasible to also build some sore of indoor amenity. (Cafe, sporting centre or cultural centre) I'm not saying it should be done, I'm just saying it should be explored to see if it's feasible and practical. Why not keep an open mind to exploring new and better ways of doing things? I've seen lots of great ideas used in other cities, that would work here.

I saw a great public square/park space in Manhattan, that was wide open in summer but fully enclosed during winter. It had a nice cafe/snack bar on the side with lots of public seating but it seemed like a regular public park or city square. It was located between two tall office towers but yet was designed with trees and paving stones, just like any outdoor public space. I have no idea if it was public space or privately owned but it was very cool. I'd love to see more adaptable spaces like that all over Toronto. Think of Aqulina's previous "Winter Garden" design but with a glass roof and sliding glass doors that open it up in the summer. That's what Aqulina should have provided to Sherbourne Park but I guess George Brown is better than nothing. (It does have public access)

We call ourselves "The Creative City". Why not put some of that creativity to work exploring how we could do things better? The status quo always needs to be challenged. Why are so many people unambitious in this city? You don't get to be a great city by just doing what you've always done. Sometimes you need to take risks and explore uncharted territory.
 
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Automation Gallery said:
Yeah sure, great winter to be strolling by the lake:D
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I was speaking about parks in general; not just this proposed one. Few people go for walks in the winter because they don't seem to understand the concept of layering and long underwear (or they don't want to wear big jackets because they're unfashionable). If one dresses appropriately, they can enjoy a nice walk on a cold winter's day. Our winters generally aren't that cold -- they're just cold if you wear a windbreaker and no hat or gloves. The last few days have been pretty bad, however.
 
Automation Gallery said:
Yeah sure, great winter to be strolling by the lake:D
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This is the first winter I haven't been doing my daily walk by the lake because there is so much ice in the parks and the dog park (trails and most paths are ok) and my dog is tired of slip sliding around. Otherwise, you just add more layers -- there are a few regular hardy souls that I've been seeing daily for the past few years.
 
It's a shame the park fronts a runway with jets taking off above 100m away.
 
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