Toronto Sidewalk Toronto at Quayside | ?m | ?s | Sidewalk | Snøhetta

[AlvinofDiaspar]

That may have been some artistic licence on the part of the illustrator, as I haven't yet found any mention of it in the transportation section of the RFP. Though it does mention extending the 514 and 501 (?) into Quayside, plus heated sidewalks, retractable canopies for weather protection, and self-driving cars, of course.

Of course, the conceptual images are exactly that and I am not inclined to take them overly seriously.

Don't forget the LRTs that don't need overhead wires

That can be done.

AoD

 

[smably]

Note on cooperation with adjacent landholders:

THE ROLE OF QUAYSIDE AS A TESTBED for innovation will be further enhanced if the Waterfront Toronto-controlled parcels are planned in concert with the adjacent sites owned by the Great Gulf Corporation and the 3C development consortium. Given the benefits that could result from the larger scale and a coordinated approach, Sidewalk’s evaluation of the Quayside opportunity has included consideration of the broader Quayside neighbourhood.

Preliminary contact with both parties has been encouraging, and Sidewalk hopes that an initial priority will be to formally engage both in a collaborative planning process. Sidewalk’s assessment of the Quayside neighbourhood has been based on an understanding that any ideas for the broader area will require the participation and approval from other parties.

Expanding the project area from Waterfront Toronto’s 12 acres (assumed to include the two small private parcels adjacent to Parliament Slip that Waterfront Toronto has indicated will be included within its Quayside development plans) to the full 33 acres enables innovation within Quayside to expand from the building level to system and neighbourhood scale.

Potential uses for the Victory Soya Mills silos:

 

[ADRM]

This one's helpful in terms of conceptual planning context, too:

 

[bgobgo]

From Globe and Mail:

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/op...-neighbourhood-of-the-future/article36614593/

And behind paywall:

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/google-sidewalk-toronto-waterfront/article36612387/

AoD

That is a great read. Kudos to Bozikovic for the detailed review. (BTW, I was able to read the 2nd article without being a G&M subscriber.)

 

[jackass42]

The WT news release mentions that Google will be moving its Canadian HQ here. If that's the case, it's pretty huge news and could create a significant arts and tech cluster in the area. We already have Artscape, OCAD and Georgebrown at Daniels. Add in the Waterfront Innovation Centre and Google to the existing organizations (Corus, Georgebrown) and there's a potent mix right there

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

The WT news release mentions that Google will be moving its Canadian HQ here. If that's the case, it's pretty huge news and could create a significant arts and tech cluster in the area. We already have Artscape, OCAD and Georgebrown at Daniels. Add in the Waterfront Innovation Centre and Google to the existing organizations (Corus, Georgebrown) and there's a potent mix right there

Yep, and it is good timing for Amazon HQ2 discussion relative to the East Harbour site. The proposals are due on the 19th.

I would be slightly more cautious on this vision/proposal itself - it seeks to reinvent the notion of a city beyond some well honed, tried and true boundaries. Experiments are well and good - but they don't always work.

AoD

 

[innsertnamehere]

Doesn't another private landholder own the LeafsTV building on the triangular part of land beside the Parliament Strip? And that sits right in the middle of the Quayside area?

 

[Irishmonk]

That may have been some artistic licence on the part of the illustrator, as I haven't yet found any mention of it in the transportation section of the RFP. Though it does mention extending the 514 and 501 (?) into Quayside, plus heated sidewalks, retractable canopies for weather protection, and self-driving cars, of course.

Those self-driving cars better be self-driving flying cars.

 

[smably]

Doesn't another private landholder own the LeafsTV building on the triangular part of land beside the Parliament Strip? And that sits right in the middle of the Quayside area?

Maybe that's what the highlighted passage below is referring to?

I'll admit I'm not intimately familiar with this parcel, so I'm not sure.

 

[clarkburglar]

In one of the planning documents they thank the designer Thomas Heatherwicks studio. Could he have been involved with some of the conceptual architectural ideas? He has worked with Bjarke Ingles in designing other google projects.

"Sidewalk would like to acknowledge the contributions of Beyer Blinder and Belle Architects & Planners (BBB), Brookfield Financial Real Estate Group, BuroHappold, Deloitte, Heatherwick Studio, Partnership for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), Waterstudio, Jason Polan and Mark Wickens."

 

[allabootmatt]

So...this has to mean Union gets a proper LRT connection for the eastern extension, right? Right?

 

[ADRM]

lol Google hates the Gardiner East, too:

 

[A Torontonian Now]

I'm impressed that Eric Schmidt attended today's press conference. One would expect the higher-ups of Sidewalk Labs to attend for an announcement of this sort, but for the Alphabet chairperson to come to Toronto for it suggests that a lot of resources are going to be invested to ensure this is a success.

In fact, everything about this announcement, from the ready-to-go website to the detailed and now public proposal documents has been extremely carefully crafted. There seems to be no expenses spared.

 

[44 North]

Some cool conceptual visualizations on the Sidewalk TO site: https://sidewalktoronto.ca/#documents

Housing Vision:

Mixed-use vision:

Sustainability vision:

Mobility vision:

+ a couple more that I was too lazy to resize, but download the zip at the link above if you're interested!

I'm keen on what can be done with modular housing, particularly with a major timber component. This is Canada - we got lots of wood, pulp, and it's renewable. Somewhat related to the modular aspect, but I've personally wanted to see something whereby an exterior wall could be opened for when people move. Load up all your belonging onto a tracked pallet, and a hoist would bring it in/out of the unit. No more hogging one of the few elevators for 10hrs during a move.

Also with the subgrade solid waste/postal utilidor aspect, I'm wondering if we could expand on it by having the streetcar below grade. And keep it that way all the way to Union. Or to add on to the cable car zip lines idea and have the streetcar elevated. If we want to innovate things, having transportation be quick and with enough capacity should be included.

 

[am29]

Some cool conceptual visualizations on the Sidewalk TO site: https://sidewalktoronto.ca/#documents

View attachment 124379

Is that a subway for garbage? Rob Ford's dream.