Preferred choice for the St. Lawrence Centre Redevelopment Competition

  • Brook McIlroy, Trahan Architects, and Hood Design Studio

    Votes: 11 13.9%
  • Diamond Schmitt, Smoke Architecture, and MVVA

    Votes: 12 15.2%
  • Hariri Pontarini, LMN Architects, Tawaw Collective, Smoke Architecture, and SLA

    Votes: 39 49.4%
  • RDHA, Mecanoo, Two Row Architect, and NAK Design Strategies

    Votes: 16 20.3%
  • Zeidler Architecture, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Two Row Architect, and PLANT Architect

    Votes: 1 1.3%

  • Total voters
    79
  • Poll closed .
i dont get these 'outdoor theatre plazas'. when complete, they almost never have outdoor performances of any kind, leaving them barren in use. And there is never enough public activation (ie. an adjacent cafe or retail in the cultural building) to help promote their use when there is not a performance going on inside. So they end up just being empty and sterile. Re-render that first image without the performance and you'll get an entirely different result. If Scott St will be closed, make it worthwhile and a playful extension of Berczy Park

The Julliard School in NYC is actually one of the better ones of these, but still each time i'm there, it's almost always empty. View attachment 551491
Can we move that building here? I know of a spot where Hooters currently sits…so we can stick it there! <3
 
Did they not learn anything from Social?

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Like the Four Seasons Centre, the exterior is unspectacular but the interior is top shelf. That's far better than the other way around, but Toronto should stop thinking of itself as a giant Oshawa and start building things that are more in line with its position as a big global city.
 
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Like the Four Seasons Centre, the exterior is unspectacular but the interior is top shelf. That's far better than the other way around, but Toronto should stop thinking of itself as a giant Oshawa and start building things that are more in line with its position as a big global city.
Why can't we have both?
 


The new STLC will be one of the first certified net zero performing art centres in Canada that will combine a high-performance façade with efficient systems and on-site energy generation.

It will feature four floors that will function as a cultural ecosystem aiming to embrace the entire process of performing arts. The ground floor, which has an L-shaped area, will feature large doors to invite performances. The main ground-level Main Hall will be equipped to accomodate various configurations for programming and the 650 to 1,000-seat theatre can be reconfigured to suit several performance styles.

The second and third floors will provide an experience that acts as an interlude between the Main Hall and Acoustic Hall. This “messy middle ground” aims to celebrate the process of production.

The second floor will house studios, rehearsal rooms and informal performance spaces. While the third floor will contain additional studios, it will also feature a KidZone with its own separate entrance.

The fourth floor will prioritize performance, events and views with its jewel being the 300-seat Acoustic Hall designed for unamplified music and performance. This hall is oriented to the building’s main axis facing west to overlook Scott Street Plaza, and will offer guests views of the CN Tower.

“At the current STLC, everything is hidden inside. You can’t see anything from the street,” said Siamak Hariri in a conversation with Wagner. “When you take an orange, slice it, go like this and the whole fruit comes out. That’s how we approached this project. That led to this bigger idea coming from this quote I love from Susan Sontag, which is about transparency— what you see is what you get.”

“I think there’s something beautiful about that in the way that we are one thing on the inside sometimes and one thing on the outside.”

TO Live anticipates breaking ground on this project in 2026 and opening the doors to the new STLC in 2030.
 

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