Fort York Visitor Centre open house

WHAT: Design Competition launch
WHEN:  Friday December 4, 2009 12 p.m.
WHERE: City Hall, 100 Queen St. W., Committee Room 1
ADDITIONAL VIEWING TIMES: 12-6pm Friday – Sunday

As I wrote back in February, the Fort York Historic Site is getting an overdue visitor’s centre. Currently some of the historic buildings are used for functions (administrative, etc) that are inappropriate and with the upcoming bicentennial of the War of 1812, the need for a proper interpretation centre is critical. As a volunteer member of the Fort York Management Board, I’ve seen how complex a project this is as it might just be one of the trickiest sites in the city to build something new with the Gardiner above (the centre will be outside of the Fort’s walls by the existing parking lot with a link to Fort York Boulevard) and archeological deposits below. As well, the Friends of Fort York have embarked on an ambitious fundraising campaign to ensure Toronto gets a building it can be proud of (see the “Plans for 2012” link on their site for more information). Last month former chair and co-founder of the Friends (and Spacing contributor) Stephen Otto announced at the Toronto Heritage Awards (where he was receiving a Special Achievement Award — see video here) that he was personally donating $250,000 to the campaign. So it’s off to a good start.

Now it’s the public’s chance to see the work that has been done thus far and view the proposals architecture firms have submitted. Starting with an event on Friday at noon each will be on view at City Hall throughout the weekend. Please stop by and check out the future of Toronto.

Fort York National Historic Site Visitor Centre Design Competition

Mayor David Miller will be joined by Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone (Ward 19 Trinity-Spadina) and Stephen Otto (founder of the Friends of Fort York), to officially launch the public viewing of the final designs for the Fort York National Historic Site Visitor Centre. The public is invited to view and comment on the designs submitted by the competition finalists from noon to 6 p.m., December 4 to December 6, 2009, in the Committee Room 1 at City Hall.

Fort York National Historic Site, the birthplace of urban Toronto and the site of Canada’s largest collection of 1812 era military structures, will be getting a new Visitor Centre in 2012. The Visitor Centre is key to the revitalization of the entire 43 acre (17 hectares) site, and is scheduled for completion for the Bicentennial Commemoration of the War of 1812.

Five design teams were selected from a field of 31 participants. The teams selected were: Baird Sampson Neuert Architects, Diamond and Schmitt Architects Inc., du Toit Allsopp Hillier / du Toit Architects Limited, Patkau Architects with Kearns Mancini Architects Inc., Raw Design with Gareth Hoskins Architects.

The new $18 million Visitor Centre will be designed to:

• Be a major new physical presence to capture the attention of residents and visitors by showing that there is something new at Fort York National Historic Site.
• Orient visitors and show them how best to interpret what they will see on the site through the presentation of an audio-visual program and other media.
• Provide visitors with a better facility equipped with washrooms, a gift shop, food service, multi-purpose rooms and other services to enhance the visitor experience.
• Meet broader community needs by providing space that can be used during Fort York’s non-public hours (multi-purpose space, theatre experience, community meeting room space).

Photo by Wanda G.