Was down by the Waterfront last night and the LED lights at the CN Tower coupled with the Luminato light sculpture made for a spectacular show. Makes you appreciate how beautiful this City is becoming
 
Look for more news about the CN Tower later in in 2007 or early 2008. There's rumours for a new "mixed use" 2 floor retail podium (including a partially enclosed "public square") of over 70,000 sq. ft, not including additional space for a possible aquarium. That's all I know, but I have seen something that points in this direction.
 
SeanTrans said:
Look for more news about the CN Tower later in in 2007 or early 2008. There's rumours for a new "mixed use" 2 floor retail podium (including a partially enclosed "public square") of over 70,000 sq. ft, not including additional space for a possible aquarium. That's all I know, but I have seen something that points in this direction.
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Wow! That's great to know, even if it is a rumour! They've finally realized that shopping = customers no matter what. The aquarium would be another boon to the area. Anyway, good news all around - I just hope they tidy up the tower itself then. (Btw, Does anyone remember the old pre-Trizec CN Tower? Pretty dumpy...)
 
It would be nice if they gave the base a nice re-do. All around.
Personally, I'd like to see the existing 'reception' structures along the north side of the base removed, and the reflecting pool restored.
A spacious new building - connected to the Skywalk to boot, and with direct street access - could be built on the rather large and shabby bit of lawn at the base. I figure they could move some broadcast facilities out of the top of the tower into this building as well, which would enliven it as well. Who knows? - that could even open up an extra floor or two in the tower for observation or functions.
IMO, the indoor observation deck would make a good stationary restaurant, the current revolving restaurant would make an amazing indoor observation deck, and a new rooftop outdoor observation area would gloriously make up for screening in the lower one.

Perhaps we could welcome Zaha Hadid to Toronto with a suitably dramatic project...Price Tower and then some.

zahaprice.jpg
 
Growing up in Ottawa, I remember our one family trip to Toronto (late 1970s) involved rollerskating around the base of the CN Tower. I was the envy of the other kids in my Grade 4 class back home.

Bring back the rollerskating!
 
There's rumours for a new "mixed use" 2 floor retail podium (including a partially enclosed "public square") of over 70,000 sq. ft, not including additional space for a possible aquarium.
Click to expand...

Looks like a formula tested at the Tokyo Tower in Japan. On the first floor of the Tokyo Tower is "an aquarium, home to 50,000 fish, the third floor is a wax museum and an attraction called the Mysterious Walking Zone, and the fourth floor a Trick Art Gallery."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Tower

It would be nice if they gave the base a nice re-do. All around.
Click to expand...

I was thinking we can wrap the concrete base all the way up to the Skypod with floors (hotel rooms, offices, condos), and then try to apply to have the CN Tower recognized as the world's tallest skyscraper.
 
wyliepoon said:
. On the first floor is "an aquarium, home to 50,000 fish,
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I hope there are no "performing aquatic mamals" as part of this plan
 
I agree that the lawn at the base of the CN Tower/Skywalk needs a drastic make-over, and a 2 or 3 floor tourist attraction would work well. The plaza in front of the CN Tower could use a little sprucing up, with something to make visitors more inclined to walk towards the Tower entrance.

I still have this (unrealistic) dream that one day the railway tracks will be decked over for a sculpture garden between Union and Spadina.... this would work well with a building and public plaza going there. Maybe the design for a building and public plaza could serve as a deck over the railway, making the southern half of the skywalk obsolete, whereas the "techno hotel" on Front/University/Simcoe would engulf the northern half.
 
That would be awesome if they ad the stuff to the base. It could really help attract more business.

How about a rollercoaster at the top like the Statosphere? Can you imagine? Diapers
 
Adding more stuff to the base of the building is not a good idea, not yet at least- I think money should be spent cleaning the concrete on the structure first and updating the present facilities. The LED's are a great start and I am completely overwhelmed at how well they work, but I would like to see some more attention given to the actual structure-it needs it.

Once these things have been covered, then we can start to think about the next steps of adding new facilities to the base- an aquarium? no, that is a bad idea, and detracts from the actual tourist attraction, which is the tower. Maximizing tourist dollars doesn't mean watering down the experience by adding more attractions; the attraction itself should be enough, and in my honest opinion, it is.

p5
 
^I agree. Why not take the existing park area around the tower and improve on that?
 
The base of the tower and the Rogers Centre area is pretty shabby. It should be a place of beauty. I wouldn't mind more stuff at the base, but I agree with p5. They need to work on the tower, then focus on the base. I also agree with you Hydrogen...the park at the base could use a serious improvement.
 
Considering the fact that lying on the grass below and looking up at the CN Tower's new nightly dance will become more popular, we should indeed invest more into that park. It really should be our Parc du Champ de Mars!
 
it's an amazing view. looking up is quite an experience from the base. the only thing i'm worried about is beavers. once they figure out how to diamond tip their teeth, we're screwed!
 
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Here's an extremely rough idea of how I would go about fixing up the place.

-First, I'd deck over the tracks all the way back to the Convention Centre and make it parkland, with amenity buildings and small cultural pavilions.

-The John Street bridge would become the main access to the north end of the site, as it is now by default, and this would be accentuated. The old tower walkway to Front Street would go and the entry address of the tower would be shifted to Bremner, The closing of the old narrow Front Street entrance would allow the base of the office building there to be renovated and aesthetically improved.

-The reflecting pool would be restored and enlarged all around the base. Walkways would encircle it. It would have a glass floor that forms a continuous skylit ceiling for the new below-grade lobby level of the elevators.

-The new Bremner entrance building would be attached to the PATH system. Meant to provide a spacious, light and architecturally exciting entry to the tower, it would be free of 'attractions' that compete with the tower for attention. Broadcast facilities would be located here, and highly visible.

-People would enter and the tower elevators just below grade, in high-ceilinged floors with ample natural daylight. This would assure the tower will stand alone in the reflecting pool, uncompromised as a sculptural object by competing architecture. It will also assure more space for lineups, entering and exiting the structure.

and

-The tower's profile would be cleaned up as part of the renovation, with the mess of communications equipment attached to the concrete mast and elevator machine rooms relocated.
 
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