Yonge-Dundas Square/Sankofa Square (Brown + Storey Architects)

[MetroMan]

It’s definitely not finished. Exposed sensitive wires are routed through the outside of the pillars in a permanent manner. There are likely panels coming. The site is still fenced off and there is still a cherry picker and other equipment on location.

 

[MetroMan]

Call me a conspiracy theorist but it does seem like they went out of their way to cover existing ads surrounding the square.

I mean, what other purpose does this serve?

 

[Torontovibe]

It does look super cheap. Especially the columns.
1W2A0053 by Clement Lo, on Flickr

And speaking of signs, why is the top 25% of the media tower on the Eaton Centre left empty? I assumed that they left that area empty so they could put another sign up there but it's been finished for a while and nothing, so what's up? If there is no other sign to come, why not just make the other signs 25% taller so they cover the whole media tower? Toronto seems to do signage so badly compared to NYC and other major cities! Look how unpolished the media tower on Atrium On Bay is, with it's exposed clutter.

 

[Koops65]

From today by me:

 

[Logan]

More junk added. I don't understand why they chose to abbreviate 'square' when clearly there's room to spell it out. Side note, the Sam sign looks horrible during the day!
Toronto - Day3 by armeniopoesia, on Flickr

 

[Contra]

This is like when you have a full boardroom each get to decide a feature and then they all draw it but none of them are designers or architects and then you get this mess. What in the hell...

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

This is like when you have a full boardroom each get to decide a feature and then they all draw it but none of them are designers or architects and then you get this mess. What in the hell...

You look at this - and then you look at Berczy Park. You wonder how Dundas Square have fallen so low - and will fall even lower. It is downright embarrassing to bring out of towners to this corner of hot garbage.

AoD

 

[Gido]

You look at this - and then you look at Berczy Park. You wonder how Dundas Square have fallen so low - and will fall even lower. It is downright embarrassing to bring out of towners to this corner of hot garbage.

AoD

Hot garbage is right. Why couldn't this four screen abomination have at least been one cylinder shaped screen? I would imagine the applications of having 360 would have been a bigger draw for advertisers. It's hard doing the thinking for people in charge who didn't in the first place.

 

[Torontovibe]

A non-professional, giving it 5 minutes of thought, could have done a better job! It's hard to believe that someone with a degree in design, had a hand in creating this!

 

[Gphorce]

Yikes! Did G&C develop this? This is the Aura of public spaces.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

It is what happens when you have a board that is more interested in having the dough rolling in, a private sector partner that is eager to step in, one of the most talentless firms around (the same ones that gave us those grotesque and comically non-functional garbage bins, bus shelters and information kiosks) working on it and a city that is too cheap to have a vision for that space.

Like really, who comes up with this ****?

(UT)

Because apparently the only way to draw more people to a square losing luster is more screens where there are already plenty.

http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2017/01/private-sector-upgrade-proposed-yonge-dundas-square

AoD

 

[Amare]

The more garbage this city puts up at Yonge-Dundas Square, the less inclined I am to show visitors this site just to avoid the embarrassment. We try so hard to compete with Times Square, but yet something as simple as Picadilly Circus gets way more attention for its simple and elegant design. These are photos I took while I was there earlier this year:

 

[Filip]

One day all that crap will come down, mark my words. There is no way something this grotesque will survive another decade. I’m talking about everything around the square and not just the square itself.

 

[Skeezix]

One day all that crap will come down, mark my words. There is no way something this grotesque will survive another decade. I’m talking about everything around the square and not just the square itself.

That is the one upside to cheap construction.

 

[Bogtrotter]

They did come to their senses in London because this area was once pretty awful too- 1962:

Andrew Eick


Unfortunately we don't have beautiful architecture underneath the tacky signage. But the real embarrassment is we started with practically a blank slate.