Toronto Pan Am Village in the West Don Lands | ?m | ?s | DundeeKilmer | KPMB

[Torontovibe]

Yeah but you're missing the point. This neighbourhood was designed from scratch. We had the opportunity to really be creative and build something really special. We had the opportunity to create something that's a destination and not just another residential neighbourhood. We had the opportunity to use colour and materials creatively, to excite the city and what do we get? We get a typical, grey, spandrel box neighbourhood, that needs to be fixed with trees and hopefully some retail animation. The architecture and urban design do not stand on their own, if we need trees to just make this place less depressingly grey and boring. I think the city screwed up big time and threw away a fantastic opportunity to develop a great new destination district. This is not suburbia, this is basically still downtown Toronto. It's right beside the Distillery District, yet you'd think it was Scarborough or something. Obviously, tourism and giving Torontonians a new place to enjoy, wasn't part of the plan. It's basically a shorter version of Cityplace and we all know how interesting that area is.

 

[DSC]

It looks a lot better in person, aside from the horrendous colour choice for the mechanical penthouses. I would have liked more colour, but it hardly makes this area a disaster. Once it's populated and the greenery grows in a bit, it will look a lot better.

The George Brown building is getting a band of red today above the big window wall on Cherry Street but even so it is a rather colourless area.

 

[Marcanadian]

Image by Waterfront Toronto. Even they couldn't come up with a more flattering way to present this.

I went down there yesterday and took some photos so hopefully mine are a little more flattering. But I agree, this area really is unnecessarily dreary. I appreciate the little colour they do have in the mechanical space, and it complements the greenery in the area, but just wish they would include more. I don't know why everything has to look so monotonous.

West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr

West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr

West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr

West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr

Pan Am Village by Marcanadian, on Flickr

Pan Am Village by Marcanadian, on Flickr

Pan Am Village by Marcanadian, on Flickr

Pan Am Village by Marcanadian, on Flickr

Pan Am Village by Marcanadian, on Flickr

Distillery District by Marcanadian, on Flickr

Pan Am Village by Marcanadian, on Flickr

Pan Am Village by Marcanadian, on Flickr

 

[vatche]

It doesn't look that bad, but I agree tat they could've built those buildings with different material.

 

[junctionist]

Green is a polarizing colour for architectural materials. Though some of the mechanical boxes in this area are awful, I like the rounded mechanical penthouse. It softens the rigidity of the architecture slightly.

 

[interchange42]

We will be running a story on Monday about the West Don Lands, and I'm going to be running a number of photos in advance of that to give you more to chew on.

I'll start with a few shots aimed along bits of Cherry Street and at the old Canary Restaurant building. Owned by the Province, the building is currently having its exterior restored by DundeeKilmer, but is not expected to have anything in it at the time of the Pan Am Games. I believe it is immediately south of this building where the Anishnawbe Health Centre (being designed by Douglas Cardinal) will be built, but I don't have final confirmation of exactly the parcel being transferred from the Province for that.

Looking south along the new streetcar tracks:

Looking back north along Cherry Street from Mill Street:

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[Ex-Montreal Girl]

Yeah but you're missing the point. This neighbourhood was designed from scratch. We had the opportunity to really be creative and build something really special. We had the opportunity to create something that's a destination and not just another residential neighbourhood. We had the opportunity to use colour and materials creatively, to excite the city and what do we get? We get a typical, grey, spandrel box neighbourhood, that needs to be fixed with trees and hopefully some retail animation. The architecture and urban design do not stand on their own, if we need trees to just make this place less depressingly grey and boring. I think the city screwed up big time and threw away a fantastic opportunity to develop a great new destination district. This is not suburbia, this is basically still downtown Toronto. It's right beside the Distillery District, yet you'd think it was Scarborough or something. Obviously, tourism and giving Torontonians a new place to enjoy, wasn't part of the plan. It's basically a shorter version of Cityplace and we all know how interesting that area is.

+100

 

[androiduk]

Is the Canary restaurant sign supposed to return to the building?

 

[typezed]

We had the opportunity to create something that's a destination and not just another residential neighbourhood....It's right beside the Distillery District, yet you'd think it was Scarborough or something.

I don't know where in Scarborough there are buildings of the form and plan of these. I don't know where in Scarborough you'll find a residential neighbourhood with the same concerns for the streetscape. I don't know where in Scarborough there is this mix of recreational (YMCA, the new parks), institutional (George Brown), residential and heritage elements. Not every design decision is going to prove a success and there will always be constraints, especially with public money involved, but this is far from some thoughtless, cookie-cutter undertaking, it's far from what we consider bland suburbia.

 

[James]

Well, as others have noted, the area actually looks better in person than in photos. One of the reasons I think it appears more drab than it is in the photos is that it is still under construction and, as a result, there is a lack of people on the streets. I believe that once it gets filled up and there is real human activity in and about the neighborhood, it will have a more connected feel to it.

 

[interchange42]

Agreed, no doubt you are right…

but nevertheless I am hoping that the next buildings here will not be gray. I like gray brick, a lot, and especially the ironspot gray for its sheen, but I do not want to see entire neighbourhoods of it. I don't want entire red brick neighbourhoods either. There's no reason that we cannot have gray, red, and buff brick as well in today's neighbourhoods (and come to think of it the purply-brown ironspot that was used on Paintbox is another terrific brick). It's time for Toronto architects to mix it up a bit more again with this material.

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[interchange42]

More new shots from a recent tour of the Pan Am Village, this time focusing on the new presentation centre (currently being used for Canary Park Condos), and then out on to Front Street where interlocking paving stones are being laid. You get a close-up on the interlock too, for your general edification.

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[Tewder]

I love all the pavers. How on earth are they going to control the weeds that love the little spaces between each one?

 

[DSC]

I love all the pavers. How on earth are they going to control the weeds that love the little spaces between each one?

Or, maybe worse, the City's default response to any street or sidewalk problem - more asphalt!

 

[interchange42]

This batch focuses in on the George Brown College building by architectsAlliance, and the TCHC buildings by Daoust Lestage of Montreal.

These shots (and the other recent inside-the-fence shots of recent posts including those in the Canary Park and Canary District threads) were taken when we sat down with Ken Tanenbaum of the Kilmer Group, half of the DundeeKilmer development team building the Pan Am Village. We have the interview up on the front page.

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