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Advisory/Photo Opportunity - Toronto Waterfront Embarks on Design Competition

Join design team finalists on boat tour of key locations on waterfront

TORONTO, March 28 /CNW/ - Join five of the world's leading urban and
architectural design teams, Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp's
Waterfront Design Review Panel Member Paul Bedford and Vice President of
Planning and Design Christopher Glaisek on a guided boat tour of Toronto's
waterfront on March 30.
The Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation (TWRC) selected the
five international design teams to take part in the competition to provide a
conceptual master plan for the Central Waterfront Esplanade and Boulevard,
which provides continuous public access across central waterfront and creates
a bold and innovative waterfront identity. Construction of the concepts from
the winning design is set to begin in fall 2006.

WHO Paul Bedford, Member, TWRC Waterfront Design Review Panel
Christopher Glaisek, Vice President Planning and Design,
TWRC
Representatives from all five finalists:
- Foster and Partners and Atelier Dreiseitl
- Stan Allen Architects and Sarah Whiting and Ron Witte
Architects
- Tod Williams Billie Tsien and Martinez Lapena-Torres
Architects
- West 8 and du Toit Allsopp Hillier
- Snohetta, Sasaki Associates, nARCHITECTS, Weisz + Yoes
Architecture, H3, Balmori Associates and Halcrow Yolles
HPA

WHAT Boat tour and briefing along Toronto's central waterfront
with the five international teams competing to design the
Central Waterfront Esplanade and Boulevard

Detailed design competition briefing book to be provided

PHOTO Design teams
Paul Bedford, Member, TWRC Waterfront Design Review Panel
Christopher Glaisek, Vice President Planning and Design, TWRC

WHEN Thursday, March 30, 2006
11:15 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.(*) (lunch included)

WHERE Wayward Princess cruise boat
Lower Spadina & Queen's Quay
(cell phone on site: 416-520-9381)

(*) Note: There will not be an opportunity to board or disembark at
times other than above.



For further information: Myra Reisler, Susanne Gossage, (416) 504-8464
or myra@mediaprofile.com, susanne@mediaprofile.com
 
I wonder if I can get a free lunch and an autograph from Norman Foster. :)
 
It doesn't say Foster will be there. It'll probably be one of his representatives on earth.

I had a two degrees of Norman Foster experience last week, chatting to Charles Simon, who used to work for John Andrews and almost taught the young Normie. That, and a chat at a wedding with a Foster architect last year is probably as close to the Great Man that I'll ever get.
 
By Hume in the Star:

Mission impossible on the waterfront
Mar. 31, 2006. 06:16 AM
CHRISTOPHER HUME

They came, they saw, now they must conquer.

A gaggle of five international design teams arrived in town yesterday to look at Toronto's waterfront and figure out how to deal with its many problems.

They are the finalists in an international competition organized by the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. The expectation is that the winning group will be able to devise ways of knitting the water's edge into a single coherent feature that runs from Parliament to Bathurst Sts. and beyond.

It's a tall order, perhaps too tall and verging on vagueness.

That didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the visiting designers. As members of the various teams made clear, however, the single greatest question they face is how to bring a sense of connection to the waterfront. As it exists, this vast swath of land is not only cut off from the city; it encompasses a dizzying array of uses ranging from residential to industrial to leisure.

"Nothing adds up," said Claire Weisz, a New York-based architect who hails from Edmonton. "There's a big disconnection problem, but we also need to make places and spaces that are memorable and unique to this environment.... There's a huge potential here, but mostly it needs some element that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world."

According to architect Stan Allen of Princeton, N.J., "The key is to calibrate the long-term vision with more immediate projects. We want to intensify the emotional and psychic connection people have with the waterfront, preserve its diversity and avoid sanitizing it."

Surveying the area from a tour boat, Rotterdam landscape architect Adriaan Geuze shook his head in bewilderment.

"The easiest thing would be to just take down the barriers such as the Gardiner Expressway, but that's not part of the brief. Toronto's waterfront is extremely disconnected; people need to be able to identify with it. You need people living down here. You need to build communities."

What struck Londoner Owen Jones, of Foster & Partners, the U.K.'s most successful architectural firm, was Toronto's devotion to the car.

"The whole area is dominated by the vehicle," he noted. "It doesn't have a human scale, but what it's about is people and how they interact. The water's edge has fantastic potential, but it's seriously underused. And so many of your new buildings turn their back on the city."

New York architect William Vincent said overcoming the barriers will be a huge task.

"There are pockets of interest, but they need to be linked together," he said. "There's a lot of infrastructure that has to be overcome — the Gardiner, the railway embankment and even the proposed light-rail line. Not only do we have to strengthen the east-west connections ... but also the north-south connections back to the city. "

But as Paul Bedford, tour leader and former chief planner of Toronto, pointed out, waterfront development has been piecemeal, each conceived in isolation without regard to the larger context.

He also lamented the city's history of giving priority to private waterfront development over the public realm. He pointed to the parking lot at the foot of Yonge St., which, he rightly noted, has enormous symbolic value. Though the land was originally publicly owned, the city sold to a developer, then approved a highrise condo project for the property. Though nothing has appeared yet, the owners can do what they want.

"If it goes to highrise condos," Bedford told the visitors, "I think public faith in waterfront revitalization would be eroded."

That's assuming such faith existed in the first place.

The teams will make their final presentations on May 11, and after that, a winner chosen.

AoD
 
Central Waterfront Innovative Design Competition Exhibition Launch and Public Forum

May 15, 2006 6:30 – 9:00

The Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation (TWRC) has launched an Innovative Design Competition to bring a fresh new perspective to the 3.5 kilometre-long Central Waterfront. Five teams from around the world have been selected to participate in this six-week long design competition. The result of this competition including design proposals and models will be presented in a series of public exhibitions and a presentation from each of the design team.

Please come and join TWRC and the five design teams for this exciting event.

Central Waterfront Innovative Design Competition Exhibition Launch and Public Forum
May 15, 2006 6:30 – 9:00
BCE Place, Allen Lambert Galleria, 181 Bay Street

Exhibitions will run from May 15, 2006 – May 26, 2006 at BCE Place, Harbourfront Centre and selected shopping centres in Toronto. More details will follow.

This project is anticipated to result in both a vision for the length of the water’s edge promenade and Queen’s Quay Boulevard from Stadium Road to Parliament Street as well as detailed designs for the Heads of the Slips. The purpose of the exhibitions is to obtain public responses to the five designs before the Jury convenes to select a winning proposal. The implementation of the winning scheme will initiate with the construction of the Heads of the Slips which is anticipated to have a groundbreaking in the fall of 2006.

If you have any questions please visit our website at www.towaterfront.ca or contact TWRC at central@towaterfront.ca or 416-214-1344

Check out city press release for more information on this exciting competition.
 
cool! can't wait to see what Foster will design.. glad he's on the shortlist!
 
Brilliant! I'm there for sure!

Can't wait to see what they have proposed!

Louroz
 
from the press release:

Thirty-eight design teams from 15 countries on four continents submitted proposals for the competition. The five teams selected to compete are:

Foster and Partners, London UK and Atelier Dreiseitl, Uberlingen, Germany
Stan Allen Architects, Princeton and Sarah Whiting and Ron Witte Architects, Princeton
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, New York and Martmnez Lapena-Torres Architects, Barcelona
West 8, Rotterdam and du Toit Allsopp Hillier, Toronto
Snxhetta, Norway, Sasaki Associates, New York, ARCHITECTS, New York, Weisz + Yoes Architecture, New York, H3, New York, Balmori Associates, New York and Halcrow Yolles HPA, New York

very exciting news!
 
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, construction of the perfectly fine, spacious, and treed waterfront promenade at John Quay continues. The design is the same as the promenade that was completed last year to the east of it, which is intended to be the basis for an extension of the promenade all along the edge of the water.
 
Robert Fung Gone/Waterfront Designs/Winner - West 8

From the Globe:

Waterfront renewal chairman to be cut loose
Robert Fung called 'tenacious, visionary'

OLIVER MOORE

Robert Fung's role as leader of Toronto's waterfront renewal will not be extended when it expires Monday, a government source said yesterday.

The move to cut Mr. Fung loose is being made amid visible progress on several waterfront projects, including mixed-use development in the West Don Lands and recreational facilities at the western beaches.

The decision will be officially announced this morning, insiders said, which is also the day a shortlist of competitors will unveil their proposals for opening up the waterfront to better public use.

"I think Bob is one of the reasons we got to where we are today," said John Ronson, who sits on the board of the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp., which Mr. Fung heads until Monday. "He was tenacious, visionary. There were incredible obstacles, as one can imagine with three levels of government, and I think he's done a great job."

But the chairmanship of the TWRC is not decided by the board. Based on an agreement between the federal, provincial and municipal governments, choosing the next leader will be a political decision.

"The initiative is 10, 20, 30 years long and there're going to be many chairs of the board," the government source said.

"It's very clear the waterfront initiative is moving into a somewhat different phase. What happened over the last four years is planning and vision; we are now moving into implementation."

According to several people close to the waterfront renewal, a formal shortlist to replace Mr. Fung has not yet been drawn up. An interim chair will keep projects on track until a replacement can be chosen.

"You want someone who can inspire, who can take a project forward," Mr. Ronson said. "There's huge momentum at the moment and I don't think anyone would want to see that lost."

The TWRC was established in the fall of 2001 to lead development of the waterfront, which is mostly public land but offers only limited access to the lake.

Mr. Fung was brought on board early, well before his current term officially began.

AoD
 
Re: Robert Fung Leaving TWRC

hot off the press.......

Waterfront Corp. unveils design submissions for continuous waterfront promenade
Distinguished jury seeks public input through forum and exhibits across
GTA

TORONTO, May 12 /CNW/ - The Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation
(TWRC) today unveiled submissions by five of the world's leading urban and
architectural design firms that show their visions for a bold and innovative
promenade and boulevard along the water's edge between Bathurst and Parliament
Streets.
The jury selecting the winning design will seek public input at a public
forum and through exhibits across the City of Toronto. On Monday, May 15 at
6:30 p.m. at the Allen Lambert Galleria in BCE Place, the five teams will
present their designs to TWRC, stakeholders and Torontonians. The designs are
on display for two weeks at BCE Place Harbourfront Centre, Eaton Centre,
Sherway Gardens, Fairview Mall and Scarborough Town Centre.
The winning design will be announced on Wednesday, May 31. Construction
of the winning design is set to begin in fall 2006.
"We are thrilled with the interest in Toronto's waterfront and the
creativity and understanding the teams have shown for creating a bold and
innovative waterfront identity," said Bob Fung, chair of TWRC. "We want the
people of Toronto to tell us what they think. It's their waterfront and this
project is about providing them uninterrupted, beautifully designed access to
it."
Thirty-eight design teams from 15 countries on four continents submitted
proposals for the competition. The five teams short-listed are:
- Foster and Partners, London UK and Atelier Dreiseitl, Uberlingen,
Germany
- Stan Allen Architects, Princeton and Sarah Whiting and Ron Witte
Architects, Princeton
- Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, New York and Martinez Lapena-
Torres Architects, Barcelona
- West 8, Rotterdam and du Toit Allsopp Hillier, Toronto
- Snohetta, Norway, Sasaki Associates, New York, nARCHITECTS, New York,
Weisz + Yoes Architecture, New York, H3, New York, Balmori Associates,
New York and Halcrow Yolles HPA, New York

Brigitte Shim, of Toronto's Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, chairs the
selection jury. The other jury members are Toronto filmmaker Atom Egoyan,
Toronto urban designer Ken Greenberg, Toronto designer Bruce Mau, Montreal
landscape architect Claude Cormier and New York architect Lise Anne Couture.
The jury will also receive input from a community stakeholder committee
chaired by Vicki Barron, executive director of the Waterfront Regeneration
Trust as well as a City of Toronto staff advisory team, Harbourfront Centre
and the Toronto Port Authority.
Funding for the first phase of construction of the Central Waterfront
Esplanade and Boulevard, rebuilding the heads of the slips, is included in the
10-year waterfront funding plan approved by the three levels of government in
the fall of 2005.
General background on the competition can be found at:
www.towaterfront.ca/dbdoc...a03d60.pdf
Design competition brief can be found at:
www.towaterfront.ca/dbdoc...a21221.pdf
 
Re: Robert Fung Leaving TWRC

We already have a nicely designed continuous waterfront promenade. They've been building at Harbourfront for the past two years. How many more of these bigger-fish-swallowing-smaller-fish routines will we get?
 
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