{"id":32994,"date":"2012-08-22T13:00:06","date_gmt":"2012-08-22T17:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=32994"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:35:54","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:35:54","slug":"no-mean-city-nathan-phillips-square-city-hall-and-whats-worth-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2012\/08\/22\/no-mean-city-nathan-phillips-square-city-hall-and-whats-worth-it\/","title":{"rendered":"NO MEAN CITY: Nathan Phillips Square, City Hall and what\u2019s worth it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cross-posted from\u00a0<\/em>No Mean City,<\/em><\/a>\u00a0Alex’s personal blog on architecture<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

The renovation of Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto’s most important public space,\u00a0is in the news this week<\/a>\u00a0as the city searches for a restaurant operator. Good to revisit it: it’s an excellent and very important project for this city.\u00a0I spoke with CBC Radio and TV today about it.<\/p>\n

The design team, led by\u00a0Plant Architect<\/a>, are doing a thoughtful job with\u00a0their design<\/a>\u00a0to add to the original, competition-winning square and building.\u00a0They won\u00a0a competition<\/a>\u00a0that wound up in 2007.\u00a0Here’s what I had to say about the project back in the spring.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And here’s my tour of the green roof on City Hall<\/a>, which is a spectacular success. It’s one of Toronto’s best public spaces. I’ve included it in two travel stories about the city for international publications.<\/p>\n

Predictably, this has provided another occasion for the mayor and some conservatives to\u00a0complain about the cost<\/a>\u00a0once again. Why? It’s had a cost overrun of about 25%, from about $40-million to $52-million, during construction.<\/p>\n

These attacks are frankly dishonest. What they do not mention is that most of those additional funds are going toward replacing the guts of the square: a roofing membrane and mechanicals for the enormous parking garage underneath it. This is a large public works project, most of which is invisible. The buildings and landscaping on the square are the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n

They will be an attractive tip, which will transform the square into a place to gather, eat and hang out on any day of the year. It was a good idea five years ago and it is a good idea now. And $52-million over five years is a reasonable number for this task: to fix\u00a0and improv<\/em>e the most important gathering place in a prosperous major city.<\/p>\n

When it’s done, I bet almost everyone will agree.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted from\u00a0No Mean City,\u00a0Alex’s personal blog on architecture The renovation of Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto’s most important public space,\u00a0is in the news this week\u00a0as the city searches for a restaurant operator. Good to revisit it: it’s an excellent and very important project for this city.\u00a0I spoke with CBC Radio and TV today about it. TheContinue reading “NO MEAN CITY: Nathan Phillips Square, City Hall and what\u2019s worth it”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4088,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,21759,2],"tags":[6296,1605,426,15839,115,174,4832,22085,19,20832,391],"class_list":["post-32994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-features","category-politics","tag-alex","tag-cbc-radio","tag-mayor","tag-mean-city","tag-nathan-phillips-square","tag-no-mean-city","tag-plant-architect","tag-politics","tag-toronto","tag-travel-stories","tag-usd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNO MEAN CITY: Nathan Phillips Square, City Hall and what\u2019s worth it - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2012\/08\/22\/no-mean-city-nathan-phillips-square-city-hall-and-whats-worth-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NO MEAN CITY: Nathan Phillips Square, City Hall and what\u2019s worth it - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cross-posted from\u00a0No Mean City,\u00a0Alex’s personal blog on architecture The renovation of Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto’s most important public space,\u00a0is in the news this week\u00a0as the city searches for a restaurant operator. Good to revisit it: it’s an excellent and very important project for this city.\u00a0I spoke with CBC Radio and TV today about it. 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