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Toronto Reference Library Renovation (Moriyama + Teshima)

Jayo: "Actually after finding some pictures online" - I would encourage you to go and view these buildings, perhaps in nicer weather, perhaps as soon as possible. Online treatments of buildings are not in any way able to convey what the buildings are actually like, any more than a fishing lure carries an indication of what salmon tastes like.

When I first relocated to Toronto in 1990, I remember whizzing past buildings all the time and thinking "what was that?", and, nine times out of ten, it was a library. Toronto libraries have a long history of architectural excellence that we can all be proud of.
 
And honestly...if it isn't "excellent enough", then neither was Yorkville Town Hall. So it was an Upper Canada Ruskinian municipal building--so what. More spectacular and architecturally rigorous stuff was being built in Britain at the time...

Well, if you *really* need to advance that argument.
 
From the TPL website:

Ontario Helps Expand Toronto Reference Library
McGuinty Government Supports Lifelong Learning
Thursday, March 27, 2008

Ontario is providing $10 million to help expand the Toronto Reference
Library, one of the world's busiest libraries:

A new event centre with capacity to seat 650 people

An expanded exhibition gallery

Expanded space for research, including freestanding study pods, 140 high-speed Internet-accessible workstations, listening and learning labs and a presentation theatre.

This investment is part of the government's commitment to training and skills development announced in the 2008 Budget earlier this week.

Quotes

"In 30 years, the Toronto Reference Library has assisted more than 33
million people to find the resources they need to excel in school, business and their communities," said Aileen Carroll, Minister of Culture. "This investment will help the library promote lifelong learning and contribute to skills development in Ontario."

"The Toronto Reference Library is an iconic landmark in the City of
Toronto, one that stands for literacy and lifelong learning," said George
Smitherman, Deputy Premier and MPP for Toronto-Centre. "The renovation will enable this outstanding library to truly stand out with a new exterior, event centre and a host of new research services that will engage learners of all ages."

"The Toronto Public Library thanks the Ontario Government for this
significant contribution to the revitalization of the Toronto Reference
Library," said Kathy Gallagher Ross, Toronto Public Library Chair. "As part of a broader partnership between the City of Toronto, the Ontario Government, and the Toronto Public Library Foundation, this investment will help achieve our shared vision of a flagship public reference library for all Ontarians."

Quick Facts

The Toronto Public Library is the world's busiest urban public library system.

Every year, more than 17 million people visit the Toronto Public
Library's 99 branches and borrow more than 30 million items.


Learn More

Find out more about programs and services at the Toronto Reference Library

For further information:
Alicia Johnston, Minister's Office, (416) 325-1676
Dayo Kefentse, Communications Branch, (416) 314-3497

Toronto Public Library is the world's busiest urban public library system. Every year, more than 17 million people visit our 99 branches and borrow more than 30 million items. To learn more about Toronto Public Library, call Answerline at 416-393-7131.

Media Contact:
Edward Karek, Communications Officer
416-397-5925 ekarek@torontopubliclibrary.ca

http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/new_arc_08mar27_ont_expands_trl.jsp

AoD
 
I passed by the back end of the Reference library and noticed they are well on their way to completing phase I of the expansion. The renovations to the Yonge Street side should be interesting. I have tried to include the rendering from M&T Architects but it isn't coming through.


source: http://www.bizbash.com/toronto/cont..._library_to_open_event_space_in_fall_2009.php

Toronto Reference Library to Open Event Space in Fall 2009
The library's second-floor event space will include two outdoor patios overlooking Rosedale Valley.
The library's second-floor event space will include two outdoor patios overlooking Rosedale Valley.
Rendering: Courtesy of Moriyama and Teshima Architects
The Toronto Public Library 's new event centre—set to open in the Toronto Reference Library in the fall of 2009—will be available for bookings in September. "As part of our culture program and city engagement we did want to create a large venue for our own use," said Linda Mackenzie, the library's director of research and reference libraries, who noted that the facility will also be available to the community. "There's not a lot of space in the Bloor and Yonge area."

The 5,000-square-foot space will be located on the second floor with views overlooking the Rosedale Valley. The event centre will be equipped with video and Web conferencing and a full-service catering kitchen. Glass walls will divide the venue into three areas, including a primary event space, a lobby, and a smaller function room. The primary space will hold 460 for lectures and 360 for seated dinners. The event centre will also have two outdoor patios. The venue is part of an ongoing renovation project designed to expand the library's exhibition gallery and research space.
—Susan O'Neill
RELATED TOPICS Toronto Public Library
 
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That looks pretty awesome!

e13676image1.jpg
 
from today's Daily Commercial News...looks like things are moving forward...

LIBRARY ADDN/ALTS Proj: 9106445-1

Toronto, Metro Toronto Reg ON NEGOTIATED/PLANS COMPLETE

Toronto Reference Library, Phase One, 789 Yonge St, M4W 2G8
$34,000,000 est


Start: September, 2009 Complete: December, 2010

Note: Working drawings are complete for this phase. Const Mgr is awarding Sub trades from an Invited list. Demolition is expected to begin September, 2009. Construction start is anticipated October/November, 2009. Further update October, 2009.

Project: concrete foundation, structural steel frame, fuel fired heating system, proposed redevelopment of the Toronto Reference Library. This phase will include; Stage One: Construction of a new temporary Entrance along Yonge St. Stage Two: Construction of a new main entrance at Yonge St and Asquith Ave, including construction of a glass cube entrance and atrium. Stage Three: Construction of an approximately 17,000 sq ft addition for retail space and new browsery space on the first floor.
Scope: 20,000 square feet; 5 storeys
Development: Addition/alterations
Category: Public bldgs
 
That picture doesn't look much different from what's there already. But it's a nice building and is very much of its era; it's unique and I am glad we're keeping it quite similar to the way it is; keeping it true to its original design intent which I would say has been quite successful.

If they were going to do a full-out renovation, something like Seattle's library would be cool-- the Toronto Reference Library already has the right folds and angles to do something like that.

Anyways, glad to see this is moving forward!
 
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Keep in mind that that is a rendering of the rear, along Church, and not the front, which is getting entrance-cubed to death...
 
Except for the cube

Except for the new entrance cube I like all the aspect of the enhancement, as far as they go.

The colonnade section along Yonge has never worked, and turning into interior space is a superior idea, as is adding more windows to the second and third floor fronting Yonge.

But the cube, really aggravates me, as it seems completely incongruous with the rest of the building.

I would hasten to add, that I wish the expansion were much larger. There is room to acquire some remaining land along Church in the rear of the property and to stage out every floor of the building, maybe add 1 more floor if the structural support is there.

I've been spoiled by the horrendously ugly library that is Robarts at U of T which has far a larger collection on open shelf that TRL does.

Except access is only for those than can afford it.

TRL should be, at least Toronto's largest library, and I think world's biggest has a nice ring to, when its true, unlike for our book store!
 
thought it would be nice to blow the dust off this most significant of threads.

nice to mr. robot harper do something for the city: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...-gets-3-million-federal-boost/article1327716/

Toronto Reference Library gets $3-million federal boost

Prime Minister provides stimulus funding for one of the ‘world's great public libraries'

Money to go toward second phase of expansion

Brodie Fenlon
From Saturday's Globe and Mail

Prime Minister Stephen Harper could have easily been eclipsed by his photo-op surroundings were it not for a cordon of black curtains and blue signs promoting “Canada's economic action plan.â€

There to announce a $3-million stimulus grant, the PM stood in the centre of a new 16,800-square-foot, natural light-filled “salon†designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects, replete with sleek wood-slat panelling, high-definition televisions, two outdoor terraces, full catering kitchens and a wall-mounted garden.

In Toronto, they call it the library.

The Toronto Reference Library, to be precise, the heart of a 99-branch public system that has become the world's busiest on a per-capita basis, with 16 million visitors each year, another 21 million virtual visits, and an annual circulation of 30 million items.

Only the Hong Kong library system, serving three times the population, is busier.

“The Toronto Public Library ranks with the world's great public libraries, and yet it's different and personal for every user who walks in or clicks in,†said Wendy Newman, a senior fellow at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Information.

Despite daily predictions of the death of print, Toronto's library system has thrived in the digital age, finding its niche where technology, people and conversation intersect.

It has helped that Toronto is a “city of readers,†with a healthy newspaper market and strong bookstore sector, said head librarian Jane Pyper.

The TPL has also catered to the city's surging population of immigrants, who find in its branches a safe place for their children, free access to technology, job-search resources in their own language, even a bit of quiet from what is often a full household, Ms. Pyper said.

But the TPL has also been quick to embrace technological change, from its online reservations and self-service checkout to the addition of e-books. By year's end, all branches will have wireless Internet access and double the bandwidth.

“There's a phenomenon where information goes digital and at the same time people come together,†Ms. Pyper said. “Information begets conversation which begets learning which begets more information.â€

First-class architectural renovations, like the addition Mr. Harper visited, have also been warmly received by the public.

“Those libraries have the ‘wow' factor,†Ms. Newman said. “What the Toronto Public Library does is square great design with use.â€

Matthew Church, chair of the library board, traces the TPL's success to the 1998 amalgamation of the six Toronto municipalities and Metro Toronto, which forced the merger of seven library boards. “It was a real opportunity that was seized to actually look at what a library is and does,†he said.

The forced marriage resulted in a single catalogue, which boosted circulation immediately, Ms. Pyper said. It also gave the TPL a robust inventory of established branches.

Above all else, Ms. Newman said, the library's services and strategic plans are “deeply rooted in community.†In the end, she said, €œit really is about the people.â€
 

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