MetroMan said:
The stage itself is set for a pour in the next couple of days. Rebar is set:

Photo
The plans on the Plant website have since changed for several elements.

According to Krysten Wong-Tam's staff:

- the Queen Street entrance pavillion will be kept but will be clad in stone and glass identical to the new skating rental building.

- The stage canopy has been altered from the one in the design competition.

- The walkways will be more extensively clad in the same striped glass as the skate rental building.

- stone benches will be coming in to replace the variety of benches now in place. Other furniture such as trash/recycling will also be coming.

- Entrances to the underground parking will be redone. The same striped glass will be brought here which will bring a consistent look to the overall appearance of the square.
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sounds great, does anyone know if they will finally find somewhere to store the crowd barriers and other junk?
 
Alvin, it was cut. It won't be a bike kiosk. It won't even be an info booth as originally planned either I think. It'll remain just an entrance with an elevator to the garage. They're simply going to clad it to fit in with the rest of the redevelopment.

The restaurant is going ahead. The last I heard they had a few interested parties and the city was reviewing the proposals to select a winning bid.
 
MetroMan:

No big deal - I wasn't expecting them to do anything with that entrance so it was a very pleasant surprise to hear them reskinning it. From what you've posted it seems that a good chunk of the original proposal survived the process. Great news re: restaurant as well. Any word of when they are going to redo the Queen Street forecourt/lawn with the new paving? As to the skating rink and the associated improvements (e.g. lighting)- was that part of the programme?

AoD
 
a0th said:
sounds great, does anyone know if they will finally find somewhere to store the crowd barriers and other junk?
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Event support infrastructure will be stored under the stage. As you can see in the photo, there will be stairs from the square to the stage and then again stairs up to the walkway. It's behind that second set of stairs that there will be a locker for barricades, chairs, etc.

This is very far along. Once the next pour takes place, the stage itself will be essentially done. They'll be building both stairs and cladding the stage then they'll move on to the canopy.

Another item worth of mentioning. The Archer had a close call. That missing chunk of concrete at its base isn't an indication that they're moving the sculpture -- they're not. A bulldozer nipped it narrowly missing the Henry Moore. That's why there's a set of barricades around it now. I guess they're going to have to redo the base but the Archer is staying put.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
MetroMan:

No big deal - I wasn't expecting them to do anything with that entrance so it was a very pleasant surprise to hear them reskinning it. From what you've posted it seems that a good chunk of the original proposal survived the process. Great news re: restaurant as well. Any word of when they are going to redo the Queen Street forecourt/lawn with the new paving? As to the skating rink and the associated improvements (e.g. lighting)- was that part of the programme?

AoD
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The skating rink is undergoing another reno. What they did before this past skating season was just temporary. A more extensive replacement of the rink is going to take place. I don't know many details but I believe parts of the plan involved fixing up the arches and installing lighting under the ice surface.

The Queen St forecourt is unfortunately the last of the improvements. 2013 around the same time as the restaurant is being built. It's an eyesore right now. I can't wait for that to be finished. Once done, it's going to be a lot more welcoming. The new paving will create a welcome mat into the square and the walkways facing Queen St. are going to be transparent giving the entrance a much lighter appearance.

I don't think anything substantial was cut. The tourist desk was a nice touch and it still might make it in. The building is there after all. What I dont think made it was extending that elevator to the walkways to make it wheel chair accessible. Nonetheless, there is an elevator at the skating pavilion that already allows wheelchairs access to the walkways from there so not much was lost.
 
Very nice indeed - the work with the rink was unexpected so that was an added bonus. Quite right re: Queen - it's absolutely atrocious but at least the end to that one is in sight. Thanks for the update again.

AoD
 
Work on the Queen Street forecourt can't happen quickly enough, too bad it's still a year away yet. This will be a very dramatic improvement approaching, and entering NPS.
DSC posted many details of what is happening with the rink via a tender announcement - http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showth...ization-(PLANT-Architect-Perkins-Will)/page81 post #1212.
Does anyone have any idea of how the canape on the stage is being modified?
 
cassius said:
I don't understand why we need a new fountain here when we have a perfectly functional one just a block west of here on University Ave.
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The_Architect said:
Did I miss something? Or is my sarcasm detector on the fritz again..
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Nope, your sarcasm detector is functioning fine. My point was that it seems like we're spending money on a new water feature at City Hall when it already has one, although for a different purpose, and that it's too bad we can't keep the fountains on University at Queen in decent condition or functional. Water park fun for the kids does sound like a good idea and I look forward to seeing it. Who's to say the same won't happen here as has on University Aveneu? For the love of god, can't we spend $10-$20m to fix that up? Then the City could promptly forget it again for another 30 years. What an embarassment that spot is for such a high-traffic intersection.
 
cassius said:
Nope, your sarcasm detector is functioning fine. My point was that it seems like we're spending money on a new water feature at City Hall when it already has one, although for a different purpose, and that it's too bad we can't keep the fountains on University at Queen in decent condition or functional. Water park fun for the kids does sound like a good idea and I look forward to seeing it. Who's to say the same won't happen here as has on University Aveneu? For the love of god, can't we spend $10-$20m to fix that up? Then the City could promptly forget it again for another 30 years. What an embarassment that spot is for such a high-traffic intersection.
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The City had a tender call about a month ago to repair the University Avenue fountain - it will be fixed in next few months. Apparently the damage was quite major and hard to repair as it is on top of the subway an the original stone is hard to find.
 
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DSC said:
The City had a tender call about a month ago to repair the University Avenue fountain - it will be fixed in next few months. Apparently the damage was quite major and hard to repair as it is on top of the subway an the original stone is hard to find.
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I know this is off topic, but thanks for that DSC. I was unaware and am very happy to hear this great news!
 
DSC said:
The City had a tender call about a month ago to repair the University Avenue fountain - it will be fixed in next few months. Apparently the damage was quite major and hard to repair as it is on top of the subway an the original stone is hard to find.
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That's great news! Here's a good Torontoist article that goes into detail on the problems facing the repair of this fountain: http://torontoist.com/2010/08/for_a_water_feature_situated/
 
dt_toronto_geek:

I think the original proposal have it standing on thin vertical columns instead of the V support we have in the most recent renderings.

AoD
 
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