Say what you will about the juxtaposition of this fascinating fountain and the New Modern architecture of the towers, but Claude Cormier has once again produced a spectacular landscape design following his sublime Sugar Beach. He may be Canada's best landscape architect at the moment, and I hope he gets even bigger commissions in Toronto and abroad. Like Stephen Teeple with buildings, I can't wait to see what projects he'll be involved with next.

Aside from the fountain, Cormier's ornamental paving designs are even more elaborate at the Four Seasons than many of those beautiful granite mosaics becoming common in the public spaces of cities throughout Europe seen in this blog's imagery of paving designs in Portuguese cities. It's a refreshing break from what's still too common in Canadian landscape and urban design: generic poured concrete that looks good in the first couple of years when clean and white, and then looks rather dull when it quickly fades to a dull mass of grey with random stains everywhere.
 
Interesting that they're letting the one guy stand in the fountain without any kind of fall restraint system in place. I guess safety is only important when they're not desperately trying to get something done in time for an opening.
 
If you look carefully about 2/3rds of the way up the picture behind the flatbed you can see some of the brickwork has been coloured red.

androiduk said:
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Urban Shocker said:
Yes - don't know where it ended up. There's a mini version in St. James' Park.
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Will the Allan Gardens revitalization include a new fountain? It would be nice if a replica was incorporated.

caltrane74 said:
from about the same time

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It would have been nice if the fountain was centered between the two buildings; regardless, this is looking amazing.

Is that cement wall, adjacent to the fire hall to become a waterfall feature?
 
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Getting the final piece ready. After 20 minutes of waiting for them to install the final piece, I gave up. It seems they have a lot of tinkering to do before assembly.

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awesome! thanks androiduk :)

I already loved the buildings themselves, but after seeing the developing courtyard and fountain + plans for the green space, I'm genuinely stunned with the quality being delivered here
 
k10ery said:
As Victorian kitsch goes, this is pretty restrained. At least it's not the Albert memorial. But U. Shocker aren't you disappointed that the Great Man would compromise his modernist vision in this way?
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No, a flamboyant, fire-engine-red fountain is the perfect sort of transitional gesture ( not just because of the colour, but because it's a water feature ... ) between his towers and the Victorian fire hall. The grisaille paved area, in a design that includes several subtle tones of red, and the blooming-rose-shaped shrubbery to the east of it, make the transition great fun. Taken as a whole, with Janet Rosenberg's parterre garden providing a similarly imaginative link between 18 Yorkville and the Library, the greater Clewes Block is set off at an appropriately high level of artistry. I think that it's one of the best sequences of buildings and parks that we've seen built recently in our city - on a par with the Pier 27/Redpath refinery/Sugar Beach/Corus/George Brown/Sherbourne Commons sequence, for instance.
 
I thought in the plans it showed a large pool at the base of the fountain, is that still happening? or is the biggest red basin the bottom of the fountain? It would be quite a shame if they didn't allow for pedestrian experiences with the cascading water at ground level.
 
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