From the Post:
Nathan Phillips Square redesign calls for 'bold and practical'
Winner will be announced on March 8
James Cowan, National Post
Published: Wednesday, October 04, 2006
The Winston Churchill statue can go, the peace garden may be shoved aside, but the ungainly concrete walkways have got to stay. Those are the rules of an international design competition aimed at overhauling Nathan Phillips Square.
Mayor David Miller yesterday announced plans to move ahead with a $40-million makeover of the public square. The city has invited architects, engineers and other design professionals to spend the next six weeks conceiving ways to improve the five hectares of space.
"We are confident that a dramatic and bold yet -- in the Toronto tradition -- practical revitalization will be the result," Mr. Miller told reporters.
A six-member jury will review entries to the competition and select five finalists. Following public consultation, a winner will be announced on March 8.
Designers are being asked to consider how new amenities, such as a permanent stage or restaurant, could be added.
Peter Ortved, the architect advising the city during the competition, said the problems with Nathan Phillips Square's current design are numerous.
There is inadequate storage space, so chairs and fencing gets shoved under the walkways when not in use. The outdoor ramp leading to the council chambers is never utilized, nor is the open space on the podium roof. There is no continuous sidewalk along Bay Street, and pedestrians trample the grass on Queen Street. The square is also cluttered with giant knick-knacks, including a chunk of the Berlin Wall, a roman column and a sundial donated by Mayor Nathan Phillips himself.
Competitors will be encouraged to suggest new locations for many of these artifacts, but certain features must remain. The Archer, a sculpture by Henry Moore, cannot be moved. The elevated walkways and the reflecting pool must also be retained because the building is considered a heritage site.
"It's actually a tough design problem," Mr. Ortved said. "This is not a design competition where people are given an empty site and a blank sheet of paper. It will be an interesting problem to see what they can do while honouring what is already there."
Mr. Ortved said some alterations to the heritage features will be allowed, such as increasing the size of the pool, or moving the walkways closer to the street.
City Councillor Peter Milczyn, an architect, has previously argued the walkways should be demolished. He said yesterday the competition's guidelines give participants enough latitude to find other ways to improve them. "I think there's sufficient scope that creative designers can look at the walkways and see what can be done with them, what can be done to reanimate them and integrate them into the square in a different way," Mr. Milczyn said.
Mr. Milczyn also noted the square as it was built deviates from the original design created by architect Viljo Revell. The walkways were intended to be substantially higher, run the entire perimeter of the square and be closer to the street.
"Maybe someone will want to complete Revell's original vision, maybe that will be one of the options that comes out," Mr. Milczyn said.
Mr. Miller said the city will fund $16-million of the project, while the rest of the money will come from outside donors. The square's refurbishment is especially appropriate given the work already underway on attractions such as the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum, Mr. Miller said.
"If you look at the cultural renaissance that's going on in this city, this is our part," he said. "It is the most important public space in Toronto, and this is our time to ensure this public space reflects the excellence we're seeing in the rejuvenation of the cultural facilities across the city."
jcowan@nationalpost.com
THE JUDGES
DINU BUMBARU A celebrated architect and policy director for Heritage Montreal, Mr. Bumbaru holds degrees in architecture and conservation studies. He is also secretary-general of The International Council on Monuments and Sites, which is based in France.
DAVID CROMBIE A former federal Cabinet minister and mayor of Toronto from 1972-1978, Mr. Crombie is president and CEO of the non-profit Canadian Urban Institute. He has been chairman of the Waterfront Regeneration Trust.
ERIC HALDENBY Director of the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and a specialist in city design. He founded the Rome Program at the school in 1979. He was a member of the jury in the Dundas Square design competition of 1998.
FRANCES HALSBAND A former member of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Ms. Halsband runs an architecture firm, R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband, in New York. Ms. Halsband has taught at Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley.
CORNELIA HAHN OBERLANDER A Vancouver landscape architect and one of the first women to graduate from Harvard's School of Design, she helped design the Vancouver Public Library and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.
MICHAEL ONDAATJE The Sri Lankan-born author of The English Patient and Anil's Ghost has won two Governor-General Awards, and is a former English literature professor at York University.
Source: Michelle Dipardo, National Post
© National Post 2006
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