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

The WW Museum at Ontario Place would be placed within the existing Pods/Cinesphere and would work well with the surrounding aquatic attractions and waterpark venues.

As I read the posts, the term "museum" may be causing concern about nature and "draw" of such a complex. In fact, modern museums can and should be interactive places - centres of "soft power" - as this would be on all things water and waterfront related.

The Water Status Hall would invite people not only to consider overall water status around the globe, in an amazing display of sculpted glass tubing/containers, but also check and compare their local water status - all with updated water samples from around the world. The Water in Life Hall would not only display water artifacts, but also provide spaces for various groups to conduct water ceremonies. The Water Gaming Hall would be entirely interactive - teams on-site and on-line playing water strategy games on a world games platform developed out of Toronto. The total draw, with surrounding aquatic uses could be exactly what Ontario Place needs, given its future in overall mixed use development.
 
That's pretty much a word for word from this:

http://thebulletin.ca/water-museum-for-toronto/

It sounds more like a prospectus than a business case. In any case, the Star had a piece prior:

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2010/07/25/10_visions_of_a_new_ontario_place.html

Note it is less important to think about what Ontario Place should become, but more important to think about how Ontario Place can be knitted back to the city so that it will be successful at whatever it chose to become.

AoD
 
vz64 said:
A few years ago I attended a Water Musium in Kiev, it was both informative and fun. The museum is well-attended, 1.4 m visitors in 2014. Something similar might as well work in Toronto.
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It's 1.4M visitors since opening in 2003 - the annual attendance is 100K. To put it in perspective, OP has about 1M visitors per year in the years before closure, ditto the Science Centre.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
It's 1.4M visitors since opening in 2003 - the annual attendance is 100K. To put it in perspective, OP has about 1M visitors per year in the years before closure.

AoD
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I see, I thought it was 1.4m a year... Well, the one in Kiev is quite small, still there was a line-up at the counters and the displays were intersting and creative. Some ideas might be used here... Maybe we can get a tour on a little yellow sub... :) Most of Kiev's museum exhibits are subterranean.
 
Even if the idea of a water centre is sound, the choice of OP as the location is odd - there is no history of water infrastructure on site, nor any significant ecological heritage of interest. The Victory Silos at the foot of Parliament might be a far more logical choice, given proximity to Don River and the soon to be reconstructed riparian/lacustrine ecology.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Even if the idea of a water centre is sound, the choice of OP as the location is odd - there is no history of water infrastructure on site, nor any significant ecological heritage of interest. The Victory Silos at the foot of Parliament might be a far more logical choice, given proximity to Don River and the soon to be reconstructed riparian/lacustrine ecology.

AoD
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Yes, there are other possible sites along the waterfront...

Yes, the concepot is at the propspectus stage. Next stage, initial feasibility and business case, for a site...
 
Not saying a world water museum wouldn't be cool. But I'd personally like to see this be an ever green project like brick works or the artscape wychwood barns. Artist studios, galleries cafes, small theatre production stages. Basically In future but on a permanent basis. I would really love to see a biosphere here, or pods for various climate regions. Kind of like Muttart gardens in Edmonton.
 
stjames2queenwest said:
Not saying a world water museum wouldn't be cool. But I'd personally like to see this be an ever green project like brick works or the artscape wychwood barns. Artist studios, galleries cafes, small theatre production stages. Basically In future but on a permanent basis. I would really love to see a biosphere here, or pods for various climate regions. Kind of like Muttart gardens in Edmonton.
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I wonder if making all our attractions so multi-purpose is the way to go? Going to Ontario Place, you get water. With a WWM, you get water big time and lots of art and interactivity to go with it. Mind you, your description of some kind of Muttart in Edmonton is very beguiling. It seems to me though at a WWM fully conceived, you would indeed have artistic activity (esp glass art) a fun café, and a production stage in the Water in Life hall for theatrical productions about water, a huge human issue, as well as live ceremonies. making use of water and symbolizing the importance of water. As for the science museum and brick works et al: I see a very active partnership between water and land use issues.
 
Now that you're saying "theatrical productions about water", I'm starting to get a Simpsons feel here, where the family visits an attraction that's been built with the best of intentions by overly earnest pedagogues, but which pushes the viewers away because the presentations come over like a sledge hammer where a velvet glove (preferably worn with a joy buzzer) would have been more effective.

I'll admit I'm wondering if you're going down that road. It's great to be enthusiastic—of course it's a must when you want to accomplish anything significant—but are you getting enough support? Are people generally excited by your plans? Or are you getting feedback that you might be going a bit OTT? Don't dismiss feedback which will help you accurately gauge the temperature of the room, so to speak…

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AlvinofDiaspar said:
Even if the idea of a water centre is sound, the choice of OP as the location is odd - there is no history of water infrastructure on site, nor any significant ecological heritage of interest. The Victory Silos at the foot of Parliament might be a far more logical choice, given proximity to Don River and the soon to be reconstructed riparian/lacustrine ecology.

AoD
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We need more destination type attractions in Toronto. 20 years ago Ontario Place attracted families from outside the GTA and gave them an activity to do while in Toronto. I remember as a kid in the summer coming in to Toronto to see the ROM, Science Center, the zoo, Ontario Place and the CN Tower. A great 3 day vacation that certainly helped the hotels and restaurants. Ontario Place allowed for a quasi-educational, quasi-fun thing after the parents forced you through the ROM.

We need more of these. Toronto was very fortunate that we now have the aquarium to replace Ontario Place. But it would be great to have another quasi-educational space.

Having a naturalized area on the east end. Great idea.

Using the East Island for music. Another great idea that we should maximize (wintertime enclosure of the Amphitheater via a tent, a smaller indoor music venue/club where the water slides are, etc). Go all in or all out...don't do things 1/2 way

Using the West end for something that will bring families to Toronto. Another good idea. But kids are not interested in boring museums. How about a modern Coney Island Boardwalk type experience with food, rides, games, etc? Both on the Lake Ontario side and the West Channel side (the vibrancy will attract people that drive along Lakeshore.

What's not good...the marina. Water attracts people and this pushes you away from the water. Use it for public access to the water (some of it also could be infilled to create a larger boardwalk area and a swimming pool with an infinity side looking out to the lake)

Of course it would mean that private operators would rent space from Ontario...not suggesting Ontario ever gets into running it into the ground (again). Just like the Amphitheater
 
There's no reason that the marina couldn't co-exist with any of the other water-based access that you're calling for @muller877: Ontario Place has tons of shoreline, and in fact the first change coming to the site is a linear park with pathways and lookouts across the water. To my mind the marina is an important way of animating portions of both the space where the boats are kept and the waters the boats ply, and it needs to stay.

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interchange42 said:
Now that you're saying "theatrical productions about water", I'm starting to get a Simpsons feel here, where the family visits an attraction that's been built with the best of intentions by overly earnest pedagogues, but which pushes the viewers away because the presentations come over like a sledge hammer where a velvet glove (preferably worn with a joy buzzer) would have been more effective.

I'll admit I'm wondering if you're going down that road. It's great to be enthusiastic—of course it's a must when you want to accomplish anything significant—but are you getting enough support? Are people generally excited by your plans? Or are you getting feedback that you might be going a bit OTT? Don't dismiss feedback which will help you accurately gauge the temperature of the room, so to speak…

42
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I have to admit this urban toronto thread has drawn mostly lukewarm support or criticism. Still, I regard it as a good part of the “brainstorming” stage, and both a measure of interest and sources useful comments, especially regarding the site and the current stress of some other Toronto museums and attractions. I agree – theatre productions about a water theme is a bit of a stretch, but some original IMAX production for the Cinesphere on water crisis themes would be feasible (and could help drive the water gaming).

It would be good to see some more positive stuff on this thread. I have, however, received enthusiastic direct e-mails from a few people with relevant experience wanting to join the initial work on the WWM concept. I can say support is building from a small base. I am awaiting a reply from Ontario Place as to whether that site is still available for reuse proposals re the Pods and Cinesphere. One or both sites of the remaining milling silos along the inner waterfront are also possibilities but would require more and more costly “new build.” Another site would be the east port lands. That would be entirely “new build.” (The proposal was suggested as a theme pavilion for the Expo 25 bid).
 
interchange42 said:
There's no reason that the marina couldn't co-exist with any of the other water-based access that you're calling for @muller877: Ontario Place has tons of shoreline, and in fact the first change coming to the site is a linear park with pathways and lookouts across the water. To my mind the marina is an important way of animating portions of both the space where the boats are kept and the waters the boats ply, and it needs to stay.

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I agree - Ontario Place should be a cluster of water-related uses, including marina.
 
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