Mayoral Race
• Rob Ford: ‘Who do you trust?’ [ Toronto Star ]
• Mayoral candidate Sarah Thompson faced assault charge in 1999 [ Toronto Star ]
• Rob Ford no stranger to controversy [ Toronto Star ]
• ‘Go ahead take me to jail,’ Rob Ford told police [ Toronto Star ]
• Hume: Rob Ford is campaigns main attraction and sideshow all in one [ Toronto Star ]
• Rob Ford’s blind spots [ Toronto Star ]
• Ford’s drunk driving charge could steer his campaign into the ditch [ Globe & Mail ]
• Rob Ford and the ding of truth [ Globe & Mail ]
• De-amalgamation, sort of [ Toronto Sun ]
• Smitherman admits he had addiction problem [ Toronto Sun ]
City Building
• Plans revealed for new $800M waterfront neighbourhood [ Toronto Star ]
• Hume: Davenport condo won’t turn heads, but it feels at home [ Toronto Star ]
• Combining the CNE and Ontario Place: Urban renewal on the lake [ Toronto Star ]
• Developer chosen to build 1,700 waterfront condos [ Globe & Mail ]
Transit
• Subway serenade [ Toronto Star ]
• GO transit steps up service for CNE [ Toronto Sun ]
Other News
• The great kite debate: Opponents and supporters square off [ Toronto Star ]
• Demolished building was site of Toronto music history [ Toronto Star ]
• Montreal police could face G20 lawsuit [ Toronto Star ]
• The CNE’s best bet [ Toronto Star ]
• City accused of failing its fiscal requirements [ Globe & Mail ]
• Where is the monument to multiculturalism? [ National Post ]
2 comments
Odd but interesting choice of Hines for the watefront. Global, yes, but a bit from left field. These guys have done a lot of gorgeous projects in Chicago, for example, that Toronto would just kill to have, but they were all commercial. Their residential division is tiny in comparison and has done work mostly in Europe (see http://www.hinesresidential.com/). Still, their one completed North American residential building is very relevant – http://www.onejacksonsquare.com/ – and if there was ever a place to try a new model of Euro/New York style midrise buildings instead of the usual highrise/podium Vancouver-lite, this chunk of waterfront looks like a good place to give it a shot.
Let’s now take a look at the design team (which you can read more about in the design team background press release – http://bit.ly/b6EP6V):
Pelli – really? I mean, he’s terrific but this is someone I would call on for a museum, airport or sleek office tower. Not really a cuddly streetscape condo kind of guy. Are we aiming for a neighborhood that’s all white steel and glass? A very, very strange choice.
EE&K – ok, this makes more sense as these guys are known for their strong waterfront master plans. I know Stan fairly well, and he will be a good fit here. The media is talking about his work on Battery Park City, but that was a huge project from a long time ago. For a more relevant peek at what you might see from him in Toronto, take a look at Yonkers (http://bit.ly/aGjff0) near New York. EE&K is also doing all that cutesy retro work on the Buffalo waterfront (http://bit.ly/alFcgV). They also have quite a few sketches up already for Bayside (http://bit.ly/aydqJi).
Adamson – the open secret in the architectural community is that Adamson has done the construction drawings on every building you thought was designed by someone else. They do great execution of fancy buildings and are a very smart choice to see this through.
So overall I would give Hines a “whoa?”, Pelli a “huh?”, EE&K a “smart pick” and Adamson an “of course”. Love the project, interested by seeing what happens with this team. Bonus – If they can pull it off you will have a new star player hungry for more local work to compete with the usual Tridel et al, and that could be a very good thing for the fate of design and architecture in the city.
Re: Bayfront.
The plan is a waste of money! Bonnycastle St. with two floors of retail space in the city that can’t even fill up one floor of ground floor retail? Yes, that is realistic. I can’t wait to see where they are going to plant the palm trees.