Re: Waterfront winner chosen
From the Post:
'Bold, simple' waterfront design wins
Boardwalk, floating docks will link 'water with people of Toronto'
James Cowan, National Post
Published: Saturday, June 03, 2006
The winner of an international design competition to rejuvenate Toronto's waterfront wants to transform a muddle of shabby sidewalks and concrete boat slips into a three-kilometre promenade with a wooden boardwalk, pedestrian bridges and lots of trees.
The Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation (TWRC) yesterday unveiled the winning entrant in its search for a new vision for the water's edge between Bathurst and Parliament streets.
The plan presented by West 8, a Dutch architectural firm, will create an 18-metre wide walkway across the waterfront, lined with trees and dotted with floating docks.
"It's connecting the water's edge to the people of Toronto," said Mayor David Miller. "This is about Torontonians taking back their waterfront, having the right and the ability to access the entire water's edge in a way that encourages people to come down to the waterfront."
Officials yesterday said work will begin before year's end. The federal, provincial and municipal governments have already committed a total of $20.1-million toward the first phase, which will likely involve construction of the promenade between Spadina Avenue and York Street.
"The fear of the growing wall of condos is being replaced by three great words: continuous public access," said John Baird, Treasury Board President.
While the proposal calls for the closing of two lanes of Queen's Quay Boulevard to create a pedestrian right-of-way, it does not require existing streetcar tracks to be moved. This will expedite the implementation of West 8's plan, according to principal architect Adriaan Geuze.
"The design we proposed does not change the infrastructure, it only adds stuff .... I think the first project can start in five or six months," he said.
Mr. Geuze, who collaborated with local firms, said his proposal was inspired by his idealized understanding of Canadian cottage country.
"When I asked my father, who is Dutch, what he thought a Canadian lakefront was like, he answered 'timber decks and beautiful lake views and forest and trees above you," Mr. Geuze said. "If you're standing here now, in one of the biggest Canadian cities, the waterfront doesn't look Canadian at all."
West 8's plan also calls for the redevelopment of the eight slips along the waterfront. They have proposed moving the city's ferry terminal to the foot of Yonge Street, converting the Canada Malting Silos at Portland Street into a water filtration plant and building a canoe and kayaking basin at Rees Street. None of these projects will receive funding during the first phase. Mr. Baird said the federal government will "wait and see" on additional requests from the TWRC.
Thirty-eight teams from 15 countries submitted proposals. The five teams that made the shortlist had members from the United Kingdom, United States, the Netherlands, Germany and Canada. Among the competing visions were proposals for 16-storey raindrop-shaped towers, illuminated weather masts and a new island that would be home to a fish hatchery and native cultural centre.
Finalists were judged by a panel chaired by architect Brigitte Shim and included filmmaker Atom Egoyan. The jury was asked to focus on key elements of the designs, including the creation of a promenade across the central waterfront and improvements to Queens Quay Boulevard.
Ms. Shim and her panel unanimously endorsed West 8's proposal as a "bold and unifying design."
"This team proposed a clear, simple and strong idea that can be implemented in the near future," says the jury report.
But Ms. Shim cautioned the jury was not endorsing all of West 8's plan. She dismissed certain elements, such as the construction of floating island in the shape of a maple leaf and the construction of Chinese dragons at the foot of Spadina, as "kitschy."
"We felt they needed to focus their efforts on the key pieces of the project and make sure they didn't get sidetracked," Mr. Shim said.
For his part, Mr. Miller said he liked the idea of the giant floating maple leaf.
"I thought it was kind of fun," he said. "We can let loose occasionally."
jcowan@nationalpost.com
THE JURY
The Design Competition for Toronto's Central Waterfront was decided by a six-member jury:
BRIGITTE SHIM (chairwoman) A principal at the Toronto architectural firm of Shim-Sutcliffe and a professor at the University of Toronto.
CLAUDE CORMIER A Montreal landscape architect who designed Toronto's HtO Park and the landscaping for the proposed new Four Seasons Hotel.
KEN GREENBERG A Toronto-based urban designer who worked on Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York, the Fan Pier in Boston and the implementation of the Regent Park master plan in his home city.
LISE ANNE COUTURE A principal at the New York architectural firm of Asymptote Architecture. Her projects have included the Guggenheim Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Carlos Miele flagship store in New York.
ATOM EGOYAN Toronto filmmaker known for such movies as The Adjuster, Exotica and Where the Truth Lies. He is the recipient of two Academy Award nominations, both for The Sweet Hereafter.
BRUCE MAU Creative director of his own Toronto-based design firm and the creator of the Massive Change exhibit, which appeared last year at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
© National Post 2006
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