It's pretty easy to get cost overruns when you are A) spending the province's money; and B) hate subways and want to make them appear as expensive as possible.
 
Even though the stations will be wildly overbuilt, I'm sure they'll manage to get every staircase/escalator/elevator location hilariously wrong, resulting in bizarre pedestrian paths and flows.
 
Spadina Subway Extension Station Update:

Designers for the six new subway stations along the Spadina subway extension have been approved by the TTC. Three contracts worth $70 million have been awarded. The design teams were chosen out of 14 proposals and approved at the October 23 TTC meeting.

The Spadina Group Associates—a joint venture of Alsop Architects from the United Kingdom and local Stevens Group Architects Inc.—was awarded the Steeles West station with a budget of $15 million. Alsop is responsible for OCAD in Toronto. The Stevens Group has since worked on a few TTC stations including Eglinton, Don Mills and Downsview. The firm is also the lead architect on the platform and concourse improvements proposed for Union Station.

The Spadina Group Associates was also awarded Finch West station with a budget of $12 million. On Finch West, Stevens Group will be the lead designer and the team will include Halsall Associates and Lea Engineering.

For the Vaughan Corporate Centre station, Arup Canada Inc. was awarded the contract valued at $12 million. The global firm of designers, engineers, planners and business consultants developed the master plan for Terminal 3 at Toronto’s Lester B Pearson International Airport.

Arup has also been awarded the York University station with a budget of $11 million.

Earth Tech Canada Inc. has been awarded the Highway 407 station with a budget of $12 million and the Sheppard West station valued at $8 million.
 
Building Design: Toronto Picks Top UK Firms

Toronto_station_sket_18F81D.jpg


This station design by Alsop is included in the article, but it's not clear to me whether it's proposed for Toronto or it's an existing design for London.
 
Spadina Subway Extension Station Update:

Designers for the six new subway stations along the Spadina subway extension have been approved by the TTC. Three contracts worth $70 million have been awarded. The design teams were chosen out of 14 proposals and approved at the October 23 TTC meeting.

The Spadina Group Associates—a joint venture of Alsop Architects from the United Kingdom and local Stevens Group Architects Inc.—was awarded the Steeles West station with a budget of $15 million. Alsop is responsible for OCAD in Toronto. The Stevens Group has since worked on a few TTC stations including Eglinton, Don Mills and Downsview. The firm is also the lead architect on the platform and concourse improvements proposed for Union Station.

The Spadina Group Associates was also awarded Finch West station with a budget of $12 million. On Finch West, Stevens Group will be the lead designer and the team will include Halsall Associates and Lea Engineering.

For the Vaughan Corporate Centre station, Arup Canada Inc. was awarded the contract valued at $12 million. The global firm of designers, engineers, planners and business consultants developed the master plan for Terminal 3 at Toronto’s Lester B Pearson International Airport.

Arup has also been awarded the York University station with a budget of $11 million.

Earth Tech Canada Inc. has been awarded the Highway 407 station with a budget of $12 million and the Sheppard West station valued at $8 million.

Have these been made available for the public to see?
 
Are all the details somewhere on the TTC site?

And I presume they don't have finished designs yet. So that sun thing is probably a concept they intend to use (and perhaps have already used) but it's not final...
 
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My guess is that we'll have to wait a little bit for some designs. Shouldn't be too long though.
 
Some decent news- I noticed that the information I have seen is a little different than that which is posted above- here is the other version: (courtesy of BD Magazine:
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/section.asp?navcode=2061

Toronto picks top UK firms

07 November 2008

By Will Henley

Alsop, Foster, Grimshaw and Aedas to design new subway stations

British architects Will Alsop, Norman Foster, Grimshaw and Aedas have made it to the final four teams selected to produce “signature†designs for one of Canada’s largest transport projects.

Following an international competition, the firms will design stations as part of Toronto’s £1.4 billion Spadina subway extension, a job which also attracted unsuccessful bids from HOK, MacCormac Jamieson Prichard and Weston Williamson.

Working with local firms, Aedas and SMC Alsop will design two stations apiece, while Grimshaw and Foster’s will each design a single station as part of a £38 million element of the wider project, due for completion in 2015.

Alsop — who cited London’s Jubilee line extension in his submission — called for those behind London’s Crossrail project to take note.

“What the [Toronto Transit Commission] has done is commission some really interesting different architects to do different station designs,†he said. “Crossrail should do it [too].â€

This week, airports operator BAA announced it would contribute £230 million to Crossrail’s estimated £15.9 billion cost.

Grimshaw managing partner Andrew Whalley called the result a “great endorsement of the quality of British architecture.â€

“These are teams of architects and engineers, and I am sure one of the reasons they were selected was their depth of experience on a range of transport and transit projects — not just in the UK, but around the world,†he said.

Stefan Behling, a partner at Foster’s said he was delighted to be designing a stop at York University, one of Canada’s most respected institutions. “The new line... will improve access to York University and open up the institution’s opportunities for the wider community,†he added.

Toronto Transit Commission chairman Adam Giambrone, who pushed for a competition to attract international architects, said the demand for “exceptional design†was directly influenced by European projects in cities like London, Madrid and Stockholm.

He said: “Choosing the best architects working today will signal not only to the world, but to the people of Toronto, that this city cares about excellent public spaces and facilities.â€

Sorry if this is redundant, considering the previous posted link- thought people may not want to have to navigate to their page to read the article.

p5
 
Light at the end of the tunnel...

Building Design: Toronto Picks Top UK Firms

Toronto_station_sket_18F81D.jpg


This station design by Alsop is included in the article, but it's not clear to me whether it's proposed for Toronto or it's an existing design for London.

As part of the selection process, the TTC asked all proponents to submit a provisional design for the Finch West Station so that they could compare approaches and methodologies. The image published in BD is the proposal submitted by the Alsop-SGA team...
 
Service on the first section of the York University Busway has been scheduled in for operation starting January 4, 2008 and can begin earlier, if the busway is ready before then. This first section is the bus-only roadway within York University campus between York Boulevard and Murray Ross Parkway. Construction on the hydro corridor and Dufferin Street sections continues.
 
Service on the first section of the York University Busway has been scheduled in for operation starting January 4, 2008 and can begin earlier, if the busway is ready before then. This first section is the bus-only roadway within York University campus between York Boulevard and Murray Ross Parkway. Construction on the hydro corridor and Dufferin Street sections continues.

Jan 2008? :S
 
An actual story on the architect selection, from yorkregion.com...

York subway stations takes shape
David Fleischer

Published on Nov 13, 2008


It may not be as grand as Frank Gehry’s Art Gallery of Ontario renovation, but, if you’re willing to look a little deeper, world class architecture is coming to Vaughan.

The TTC has named its selected teams for the design of the Spadina subway extension stations and prominent British firms are set to design the three York Region stops.

“Choosing the best architects working today will signal not only to the world, but to the people of Toronto, that this city cares about excellent public spaces and facilities,†said TTC chairperson Adam Giambrone in a statement.

Employing “starchitects†will lead to increased up-front costs, Spadina extension committee staff said, but each UK firm is teaming with a local company to manage costs.

A better and sustainable design should also lead to long-term savings, they said.

TTC regulations have doubled the percentage of funds alotted to public art, compared to the Sheppard Subway line, from 0.5 to 1 per cent. That line’s design features were curtailed by budget cutbacks, but the goal is to create unique stations united by a “family†of TTC esthetics across the system, staff said.

Designing the Steeles West station is the Spadina Group Associates Team A, represented by Alsop Architects. The British firm is best known locally for the “table on stilts†addition to the Ontario College of Art and Design.

It will have $15 million to spend on design, the biggest budget of all six new stations, working with the local Stevens Group, which has designed other TTC stations.

The design could employ a concept using reflective surfaces to bring natural light into platform and tunnel areas.

Vaughan Corporate Centre’s $12-million design goes to Arup Canada, lead by Grimshaw & Architects.

They have worked extensively at Heathrow Airport and renovating London’s Paddington Station.

Earth Tech Canada, which has offices in Markham, will have $12 million to design the 407 Transitway stop.

Its lead architect is Aedas, whose projects include the renovation of London’s Whitechapel Station, as well as a museum at the reconstructed World Trade Center.

Earth Tech will also build Toronto’s Sheppard West station, while another Arup team works on the York University station.

While pleased with the ambition of the plan, Vaughan Councillor Sandra Yeung Racco, whose ward houses the planned stations, expressed frustration she did not know of the decision until after the process was complete.

“It’s imperative that we work together to move things along,†she said.

While TTC is in charge of station design, York Region oversees the design and construction of surface facilities and bus terminals in its territory.

Vaughan is preparing to develop a downtown style corporate centre at the terminus and Ms Racco hopes the designs ensure everything gels with what the city is trying to do.

“I hope they do actually come to us and say, ‘Here’s our design; what do you think?†she said.

The winners were selected from 14 proposals received after a request for proposals published in July.

Preliminary designs should be available for public viewing in June.

Tunnel vision:

When the Spadina Avenue and Yonge Street lines open, only about half of all trains will proceed into York Region. Spadina trains will turn around at Steeles Avenue while Yonge trains head south again at Finch station. The goal is to reduce capacity until the need is greater here, ensuring Toronto stations are not overloaded.
Regional council, along with both Richmond Hill and Markham, wants to see the Yonge subway’s Richmond Hill Centre terminal located near the current Viva and GO train faciltiies. They will negotiate with the landowner, Metrus, about future development.
Staff hopes to have the environmental assessment complete by mid-March 2009; in time for the province’s spring budget.
 

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