Toronto U of T: Landscape of Landmark Quality | ?m | 1s | U of T | MVVA

Photos for August 9th, 2022 con't:

So now we're going to head along the north side of University College, between the building and back campus:

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Now we're round the corner and south a bit, approaching King's College Circle, and we can see some of big changes to the landscape of the n/w corner of same beginning to take shape:

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We now turn to the Front Campus/Geothermal/Parking garage bit: (some active concrete pouring to kick us off)

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On our way round the circle, we have a look-see at the new Med Sci entrance.......(I don't think students will be using it come September)

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Now, back to Hart House Circle, this time from the south side:

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I had to laugh, one of the trees I identified for removal in a post above.........is removed..........and they did the oddest little thing with it, a series of small woodland plants, surround the stump:

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Finally a quick look over at the Queen's Park side of Med. Sci, as shot from the front lawn of the legislature:

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anyone know why the ceiling heights are so large for the parking garage? It looks well above the typical 2.8-3 metres for a parking level.
 
Not liking the large donor names everywhere in the landscape now. If you want to donate, great, but when did it become so commonplace to put up monuments for those that donate money?
In a broader context, it bothers me in terms of building naming, academic and social contributions are now overshadowed by financial contributions. For instance the Best Building was torn down, and the Banting building will soon too, but neither of the replacements will bear their names.
 


Could they not move that fire hydrant to somewhere more functional and less obstructive?


Kind of disappointed at the large expansion of gardens around back campus. While I do like gardens, the loss of the grass space from the pan am field, and now this landmark renovation, means less space to casually play frisbee (the new playing "fields" are often booked through U of T's Phys Ed dept), or sit in the grass with friends or have a picnic. The little grass left will no doubt become hot spots for dogs to relieve themselves and ultimately not be great for casual human enjoyment. Not to mention, U of T doesn't have enough manpower as it is to properly weed their existing gardens regularly.
 
Maybe it's me...but they seem to be taking a long time with that single level UG parking lot. Is there some sorta special construction considerations for this project? Or are they just being slow because sometimes they are?
 
Maybe it's me...but they seem to be taking a long time with that single level UG parking lot. Is there some sorta special construction considerations for this project? Or are they just being slow because sometimes they are?

Can I choose 'Both'?

There is a large installation of Geo-Thermal infra associated with the garage, and the central plant for it, is also set to be a teaching facility on geo-thermal for the Engineering folks.

So it is a bit more complicated than your typical parking garage.

That said, I've seen my share of GT installations.............and I still think they're taking a long time here; but that could also be said of other facets of the project.

The stairs removal at Med Sci on the Queen's Park side took extraordinarily long for what was really a pretty basic demo, re-grade, re-landscape project.

I think they must be light on people to get the job done faster.....

That said, I also asked a worker on my walk if they thought they would have the Hart House Circle section done for student return in September.

I got a shrug and this answer " I dunno man, they change the plans every single day; and we often have to go back and un-do what we did and re-do it again"

Which sounds to me like some pretty problematic project management. I hope the re-dos are on the GC's dime.
 
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Can I choose 'Both'?

There is a large installation of Geo-Thermal infra associated with garage, and the central plant for it, is also set to be a teaching facility on geo-thermal for the Engineering folks.

So it is a bit more complicated than your typical parking garage.

That said, I've seen my share of GT installations.............and I still think they're taking a long time here; but that could also be said of other facets of the project.

The stairs removal at Med Sci on the Queen's Park side took extraordinarily long for what was really a pretty basic demo, re-grade, re-landscape project.

I think they must be light on people to get the job done faster.....

That said, I also asked a worker on my walk if they thought they would have the Hart House Circle section done for student return in September.

I got a shrug and this answer " I dunno man, they change the plans every single day; and we often have to go back and un-do what we did and re-do it again"

Which sounds to me like some pretty problematic project management. I hope the re-dos are on the GC's dime.
...or worse, making things up as they go along. And having to go back because what they thought got along, didn't. >.<

Either way, thanks for explaining all that. /bows
 
They have dont seem to be using a tower crane. This large area without the use of a tower crane is also likely a major reason why.
 
13 days later...............photos taken August 25th, 2022:

The big news here is that the archway has reopened, along with the remainder of Hart House Circle/Tower Road:

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Walkway in front of Hart House:

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Granite seat wall:

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Landscaping has begun in front of the old Stewart Observatory:

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Now onto the parking garage and King's College Circle:

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Update: I was able to walk the full route around from the Tower Road: to Queen's Park, which I haven't been able to do for the last year plus due to the ongoing works. However, there still appears work to be done on the road leading out to that underpass to QP...as I am sure it will be all closed up again so they can finish that off.
 

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