Here's news from the Grange Park Advisory committee from late last week:

Contractor selected for the Grange Park revitalization project:


The contract for the Grange Park revitalization project has been awarded to Aldershot Landscape Contractors LP (www.aldershotlandscape.com). Aldershot has a stellar record and is very experienced at delivering great results on high-level civic projects. Their most recent achievements include Sugar Beach, Corktown Common and Queen’s Quay.


The project went out for public bid on December 9 and the deadline for submissions was January 20. All submissions received were assessed through a technical evaluation by a weighted scorecard. The selection committee – composed of representatives from PFS Studios, design architect for the project; Thinc Design, executive architect for the project; City of Toronto Parks Department; and the Art Gallery of Ontario – agreed that Aldershot most ably fulfilled the project’s requirements at the most effective cost. This decision received the full support of the Grange Park Advisory Committee.



Project signs


Project signs have been posted at three locations around the perimeter of Grange Park – at the south side near Stephanie Street; at the east side near Grange Road; and at the west side near Beverley Street . The signs highlight the key features of the project:


·More trees

·More grass and flowers

·Larger playground for kids

·New play area for dogs

·Henry Moore sculpture

·New seating

·New paths

·New lighting

·New washrooms
​


Construction timeline


Over the next few weeks, weather permitting, there will be some activity to prepare the park for construction. We will share more information about the first construction activities as soon as this schedule is set. The project is still on track to be completed for July 2017.​
 
Here's the latest from the Grange Park Advisory Committee:

We will start to see preparations for construction activity begin this week, with the following initiatives:

·Aldershot Landscape, the contractors engaged for the project, will set up their site office at the north west corner of the park. The north entrance to the park from Beverley Street will be closed to the public. It will be used by Aldershot to move materials and equipment on and off the site.

·Construction fencing will be installed to ensure the safety of visitors and enable the work of the construction crews. Aldershot is currently reviewing where this fencing will go as they finalize the construction schedule. We will endeavour to keep a portion of the park open to the public during the entire construction period.

·Fencing will also be put around trees to protect them from construction activity.

·Work will proceed quickly over the next several weeks.​
 
Just to chime in here, as an adjunct to the Allan Gardens discussion...

First of all - before Skeezix starts sharpening the tines on his pitchfork - let me state clearly that this project is a huge improvement, and a community benefit and awesome in many many ways...

However, I do feel it is a slightly missed opportunity in terms of making the Grange more of a city-wide/tourist draw of a park. I single out The Grange, as I do Allan Gardens, because they have unique locations/features/potential that elevates them over other standard community parks. The missed opportunity in both cases then is that these features aren't really being maximized/highlighted in the respective revitalization designs.

Yes, this improvement will definitely result in a significantly better version of a standard community park . I just don't feel it truly capitalizes on its proximity to what is arguably the premier art institution of our province. The building - its interior and exterior architecture - and the building's displays/collections and programming all feature and celebrate artistic expression, and the very best of artistic expression. I just cannot comprehend why the park design wouldn't continue this mandate, why the park in its conception wouldn't be an art exhibit itself, celebrating the same degree of artistic expressions, only 'open air'. Dog runs and playgrounds are great assets to any community but is this the right place for them?

Again, I intend this in the spirit of a higher level of design discussion regarding this park and not to criticize the genuine and sincere need for community park spaces offering facilities for local residents!!
 
Another update from the Grange Park Advisory Committee:

The following is an update on construction activity:

Demolition work will begin the week of March 28, including the removal of the field house and wading pool. To safely achieve this work, the park area will beclosednorth of the east-west path running from Grange Road, except for the children’s playground, which will remain open until this work is complete (estimated to be 3 days).

This is the first phase of the construction period. The construction program is being divided into four phases. In order to maintain our commitment to keep a portion of the park available to the public during construction, 22,000-37,000 square feet (12-20%) of the park will be open to the public during each phase. In determining the areas to be available to the public during the construction period, we had the following priorities:

·Ensuring the safety of visitors

·Allowing adequate time for new trees, grass and other foliage to take root in their new environment

·Maintaining our commitment to have the park ready for public use by Summer 2017

·Maintaining expenditures within the project budget
​
The areas available to the public will change with each phase. Please visit the Grange Park website (www.grangeparktoronto.ca)to view the four construction phases and see what’s open, what’s closed and what’s happening in each phase.

Please note that the playground is scheduled to close on March 31 and will remain closed until the end of the project in Summer 2017. We investigated temporarily relocating the playground during the construction period; however, for safety reasons this was not possible.​
 
Tewder said:
Just to chime in here, as an adjunct to the Allan Gardens discussion...

First of all - before Skeezix starts sharpening the tines on his pitchfork - let me state clearly that this project is a huge improvement, and a community benefit and awesome in many many ways...

However, I do feel it is a slightly missed opportunity in terms of making the Grange more of a city-wide/tourist draw of a park. I single out The Grange, as I do Allan Gardens, because they have unique locations/features/potential that elevates them over other standard community parks. The missed opportunity in both cases then is that these features aren't really being maximized/highlighted in the respective revitalization designs.

Yes, this improvement will definitely result in a significantly better version of a standard community park . I just don't feel it truly capitalizes on its proximity to what is arguably the premier art institution of our province. The building - its interior and exterior architecture - and the building's displays/collections and programming all feature and celebrate artistic expression, and the very best of artistic expression. I just cannot comprehend why the park design wouldn't continue this mandate, why the park in its conception wouldn't be an art exhibit itself, celebrating the same degree of artistic expressions, only 'open air'. Dog runs and playgrounds are great assets to any community but is this the right place for them?

Again, I intend this in the spirit of a higher level of design discussion regarding this park and not to criticize the genuine and sincere need for community park spaces offering facilities for local residents!!
Click to expand...

I think some great points are made here. Both Allan Gardens and Grange Park are strategically and psychologically important, for similar and different reasons. The Grange Park proposal is nice, and will be a huge improvement over the status quo, to be sure, but I also agree that the lack of ambition in the design is unbecoming of the stature of the site and its neighbours (AGO/Gehry and OCAD/Alsop). Too often in this city, we (the collective "we") propose and ultimately accept a big improvement in the status quo, but that's greatly obscured by the fact that the status quo is as it is due to years of neglect and underfunding.

We need to take a much more opportunistic and strategic approach to places of this stature. Let's opt not to make "nice" parks, but instead aim for the grand (and that doesn't necessarily mean extravagantly expensive). Let's aim for parks that become new destinations for residents and tourists alike—think the creation of a park that winds up on the top-5 TripAdvisor list of tourist destinations in the city, or featured in a Conde Nast article highlighting the best in new urban parks around the world. There's no good reason to hold ourselves to any lower standard.

I don't want ferris wheels or flashy McDonald's—I'm talking about the creation of wonderful public spaces that stand up to those anywhere in the world. The standard Toronto parks upgrades: New lamp standards, some nice new seating areas, a new splash pad, a new climber, and some landscaping—all nice and welcome, but representative of an acceptance of a standard of only minor improvements over more ambitious goals.
 
I think the Toronto Islands have the best potential for achieving the iconic park status - given its' unique settings and the sheer amount of space available (and the amount of redevelopable space it can connect to - structurally and visually). Think of it as having the potential as Sentosa Island in Singapore - less commercialized, but no less intensely used.

AoD
 
Oh I agree there's loads of potential there, but I think it's also important to avoid a "this or that" discussion. In a metropolitan area of 6+ million people, we should be able to pursue numerous projects of enhanced value simultaneously. Yes, there are funding limitations but, again, other cities all over the world manage to find ways to walk and chew gum.

The Toronto Islands have massive potential, and they do absolutely present a level of uniqueness. Stockholm—a city of islands—is I think a good example of a city (much smaller than Toronto) that's done a good job of providing great public spaces across its geography. The Jack Layton Ferry Terminal redux will help the city-side aspect of Island-related infrastructure, although it's going to be slow moving and phase 2 (the exciting stuff) is as yet unfunded, to my knowledge.

And, obviously, that completely leaves out the Islands, themselves—that's yet another area that has been chronically neglected.
 
From the Friends of Grange Park:

Below is a brief update on work scheduled for the week of April 10-16:


·South promenade: the old sidewalk has been removed. Work will continue, with the goal of having the promenade re-opened to the public by the beginning of June.

·Storm sewer: Large equipment will start to arrive in the park and excavation for the storm sewer will begin.

·Excavation will begin to dig out the foundations for the mechanical room, washrooms and maintenance building at the south east side of the park

·Demolition will continue on the wading pool and pathways


An area of the grove on the west side of the park remains open to the public. You can access this area from two temporary entrances on Beverley Street.


A reminder that the rest of Grange Park is now a construction zone and closed to the public. There is no access through the park to get to Grange Road, John Street or Beverley Street. ​
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
I think the Toronto Islands have the best potential for achieving the iconic park status - given its' unique settings and the sheer amount of space available (and the amount of redevelopable space it can connect to - structurally and visually). Think of it as having the potential as Sentosa Island in Singapore - less commercialized, but no less intensely used.

AoD
Click to expand...

Sentosa Island is a major attraction, with this and that to entertain all sorts of people. However, most people in Toronto seems to be happy with Toronto island remaining just a large green space and prefer the so called "wilderness". If I want wilderness, I will go to Rouge Park instead.
 
ADRM said:
I think some great points are made here. Both Allan Gardens and Grange Park are strategically and psychologically important, for similar and different reasons. The Grange Park proposal is nice, and will be a huge improvement over the status quo, to be sure, but I also agree that the lack of ambition in the design is unbecoming of the stature of the site and its neighbours (AGO/Gehry and OCAD/Alsop). Too often in this city, we (the collective "we") propose and ultimately accept a big improvement in the status quo, but that's greatly obscured by the fact that the status quo is as it is due to years of neglect and underfunding.

We need to take a much more opportunistic and strategic approach to places of this stature. Let's opt not to make "nice" parks, but instead aim for the grand (and that doesn't necessarily mean extravagantly expensive). Let's aim for parks that become new destinations for residents and tourists alike—think the creation of a park that winds up on the top-5 TripAdvisor list of tourist destinations in the city, or featured in a Conde Nast article highlighting the best in new urban parks around the world. There's no good reason to hold ourselves to any lower standard.

I don't want ferris wheels or flashy McDonald's—I'm talking about the creation of wonderful public spaces that stand up to those anywhere in the world. The standard Toronto parks upgrades: New lamp standards, some nice new seating areas, a new splash pad, a new climber, and some landscaping—all nice and welcome, but representative of an acceptance of a standard of only minor improvements over more ambitious goals.
Click to expand...

Lack of ambition in terms of public space, we are so used to it in Toronto. None of parks downtown is interesting or beautiful, not to mention grand or inspiring. I think people are largely stuck in the mindset that a park should be no more than a community green space for them to walk dogs or for children to play, and rarely demand more. I have no shame in wanting some grandness in Toronto. Our parks are too small, mediocre and unsophisticated. Another example is Queen's Park, which in my opinion is a total disorganized mess. I think it is better to want a giant ferris wheel or a flashy McDonald's than not wanting anything grand at all.
 
Ksun, I'm with you right up to the " giant ferris wheel..." part. " Grand " in the sense you seem to imply is probably quite beyond the reach of today's Toronto, and probably most other places's reach as well. Most big chunks of philanthropist dollars go to naming rights in museums and art galleries. Maybe, some day parks will receive the same kind of attention.
 
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