Make the CNE into a mixed use area with new cultural institutions as I said earlier that's better connected with Liberty (Village). It's the best hope for ending the dead zone syndrome. Just keep the urban design and architectural standards high because this is the Exhibition grounds. Maybe run a canal through the grounds to make it more scenic. (Picture those historic landmarks around a canal.) Every area should be vibrant so long if there's high density and decent transit.
 
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W. K. Lis said:
An Aquarium that would reuse the pods as exhibits along with expanding the Aquarium to take over the parking lot could be a good use the the space over the water and asphalt. And speaking of space, turning the Cinisphere into a Planetarium would be a good reuse of the sphere, since they closed the one next to the ROM years ago. Great coverage over the two frontiers.
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I'm not sure how well an Aquarium would work into the pods. It'd be cool to somehow incorporate them into the design though. And I like turning the cinesphere into a Planetarium, but I think it'd be fine just to be a large movie theatre too, definitely if it was incorporated into a Port Vell-like complex. A planetarium would be cool though.
 
Zeidler chimes in with his thoughts on Ontario Place.
 
[video=youtube;5kZuw5UEKIE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kZuw5UEKIE[/video]

Don't touch the pods, the Cinesphere, and bring back some of that disco funk to our Ontario Place!
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
Zeidler chimes in with his thoughts on Ontario Place.
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What I didn't realize was how contrary the Ontario North Now silos were to Zeidler's vision--between the original programmatic intent (maybe Ontario Place's last "Expo-like" gesture) and the visual echo of the CNE's former Ontario Government Pavilion, I'd have casually assumed it was a "last puzzle piece". Instead, it might have highlighted the terminal corrosion of such Expoesque idealism.

And when it comes to the chequered later history of Ontario Place, one mustn't forget how its chair fron 1987 to 1989 was the scandal-ridden Patti Starr...
 
Maybe an aquarium should be just one part of a bigger complex that not only looks at the oceans/seas of the earth but also at the earth itself and at the universe in a sort of aquarium/planetarium/earth biosphere kind of way, the whole site being an eco-friendly microcosm of earth and cosmos? Toronto already has such a diverse and multicultural population that it almost makes poetic sense to build a project of such magnitude here. It could also include a centre for international learning, and yes lets bid to move the United Nations!
 
Tewder said:
It could also include a centre for international learning, and yes lets bid to move the United Nations!
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After experiencing just a few days of visiting world leaders at the G20, I think I'm good with the UN remaining in New York.
 
Yeah. Let's literally move the United Nations. The Secretariat slab would make neat counterpoint w/Zeidler's pods and Cinesphere
 
adma said:
Yeah. Let's literally move the United Nations. The Secretariat slab would make neat counterpoint w/Zeidler's pods and Cinesphere
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The math is nice: each of the five permanent members of the Security Council would get their own pod.
 
^^^ Could be a good opportunity to fill the suggestion boxes with notes that say, "Please don't meddle with Atlantis or the Cinesphere," or something to that effect.
 
Ontario Place's website for taking your comments and suggestions about the revitalization, as well as your memories and photos, is http://www.myontarioplace.com/.

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Great ideas from the Star, by Ken Greenberg:

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/edit...e-and-ontario-place-urban-renewal-on-the-lake

Some dos and don’ts:

Do:
  • Build creatively on what already works
  • Preserve cultural memories and what is already special and popular — there is still real attachment to these places
  • But look also to all the new things that could come here — there is no shortage of ideas — from the Science Centre, a university or college, music venues, popular festivals like Pride, Caribana and Luminato, year-round active sports and beaches and cafes on the water’s edge
  • Think long term but advance incrementally
  • See this as an economic development opportunity but with the benefits accruing much more broadly than just on the site
  • Develop a sophisticated financial model that allows for things that pay but within a “free setting†(think of the Tavern on the Green in Central Park) and make sure there are lots of inexpensive things to do in the spirit of Toronto’s numerous street fairs and festivals
  • Work creatively with existing features, landmarks and heritage features but allow this to be a place that experiments with new ideas and welcomes versatility and change
  • Think of the role that new 21st century technology can play in reinvigorating these sites, including the pods and the Cinesphere
  • Look outward from the combined site to the remarkable changes surrounding it in Liberty Village, around Fort York and in the western beaches — and make connections
  • Tap into the thousands cycling and jogging along the Martin Goodman Trail who slide by Ontario Place and Exhibition Place in the Lake Shore “trench,†without ever experiencing either; let them get into the site including the lake side of Ontario Place
  • Incorporate new green approaches to storm water management, waste management, energy use and sustainable buildings
  • Leave a place for nature in this picture
  • Give more opportunities for people to get out on the water and in the water
  • Develop strategies to incrementally invest public money resourcefully in the things the private sector cannot do alone — better integration of TTC, GO, new on-site transit, new and improved bridges over the rail corridor and the water, a generous land bridge over Lake Shore Blvd. connecting the two sites, new and improved streets and trails, shoreline modifications and structured parking — and then invite the private sector to participate
  • Set the bar high for design excellence in building, landscape and engineering
  • Create a responsive governance model that can pull this off

Do Not:
  • Throw the baby out with the bathwater
  • Be seduced by a casino on the waterfront
  • Let turf issues get in the way of doing the right thing
  • Succumb to the fantasy that the private sector can do anything like this on its own
  • Give up public ownership

AoD
 
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