Toronto TYSSE: Downsview Park Station | ?m | ?s | TTC | AECOM

[nfitz]

Yes it will. According to the most recent RER progress report:

If the GO Station doesn't open until 2017, and TTC opens as currently scheduled in late 2016, it may well not be connected to the GO line from the start!

But it looks as though it's better off than GO's promise to move Oriole station to connect to Leslie station when the Sheppard line opens.

 

[Momin]

UT was inside the station yesterday for a press tour, here's our write-up: http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2017/01/look-inside-ttcs-downsview-park-station

 

[someMidTowner]

Bonus photos from the story linked above!

Pt 1 of 3:

 

[someMidTowner]

Pt 2:

 

[someMidTowner]

Pt 3:

 

[PMT]

I know payphones are still necessary, but it's weird for me to see new ones installed nowadays.

So the station names are glued onto the walls, not carved?

 

[Avenue]

Made me smile first time I saw this.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Have to say I prefer ceiling slats (not necessarily the type used by TTC) over the new ceiling tiles - it doesn't have the exactedness of the slats and always look a little puffed up.

The entrance signage looks rather off - awkward split with uneven weight on either side.

AoD

 

[crs1026]

Nice photos - I have to say it's an impressive station.

Can't wait to see what it looks like at night, too....it will be a very different look without the natural daylight.

My one reaction was the shot of the fare booth....wonder how long before that clean, elegant look is hidden behind taped up notices and signage. Show me a ticket booth on TTC or Go that isn't papered with ad hoc notices.

- Paul

 

[salsa]

Great pics, but I'm trying to find something positive to say about the looks of what must have cost a bundle. Ummm...a tribute to the 60s perhaps? A tribune to airport hangars? Tractors in the modern age, and where to house them? Soviet Celebration?

I would say the inside of the station is a tribute to the 60s, while the outside is a tribute to the condo spandrel fest from the last few years.

 

[blur]

Oh Man, those bare concrete walls at the platform level look horrible and perpetually dirty and unfinished. I wish they would cover them with the tile.

 

[steveintoronto]

I'm just as unimpressed today as yesterday. Some of the stairwells are great design in terms of the structure, it's the finish that's like a...well...it's been said many times in the past of TTC stations...a giant washroom.

Wipes clean with a damp cloth...or as my Dutch photo arts instructor said years ago in college: "It don't says me nothing". The general structure and finish are a stark reminder of why I'm glad I don't live in the burbs.

Then again, I think that the OCAD building on 'pencils' also looks awful. I'm probably the one out of step, and yet there's architecture that stuns me with its form and beauty. This ain't one. Compared to the stations just opened on NYC's second avenue subway, or even the new extension on the 7th line, or Crossrail stations....now I remember, I'm in Toronto. Hopefully they heat the place sufficiently.

Edit: Even by Toronto standards, this is garish. There's some soft, welcoming stations, like Dupont, for instance. Nothing fancy, and yet warm and welcoming. Montreal is far ahead, albeit it's much easier to build something interesting when blasting it out of rock.

 

[steveintoronto]

Oh Man, those bare concrete walls at the platform level look horrible and perpetually dirty and unfinished. I wish they would cover them with the tile.

Finish them with something, but not more tile. Please, not more tile....terrazzo stones or the like would be great. I don't know why Toronto is so afraid of tinting concrete pours. Take a look at how awful the Dome is, all they had to do was add tint to the concrete to make it look like they actually cared.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Oh gawd, not tinting concrete please. Toronto isn't afraid about doing it (see Sheppard Line Don Mills bus terminal), Toronto is afraid of the outcome (it's invariably some ugly shade like Salmon or Vomit Green).

The problem isn't using concrete - the problem is the finish - see Bilbao Metro for example:

http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/bilbao-metro/

It's a lovely, satiny finish - not raw, pockmarked, uneven and stained.

AoD

 

[steveintoronto]

Oh gawd, not tinting concrete please. Toronto isn't afraid about doing it (see Sheppard Line Don Mills bus terminal), Toronto is afraid of the outcome (it's invariably some ugly shade like Salmon or Vomit Green).

The problem isn't using concrete - the problem is the finish - see Bilbao Metro for example:

http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/bilbao-metro/

It's a lovely, satiny finish - not raw, pockmarked, uneven and stained.

AoD

That's a big improvement over your original post. I was going to state: "Oh gawd, not lipstick again!". It all depends who it is, how they do it, and what there is to work with in the first place.

Checked your link, looks incredible, albeit no pics of the actual finished concrete. I'll dig later, I've seen some stunning tinted concrete work in the US and in Europe, but again, it's not the medium, it's what you do with it.