[junctionist]

Good point. Usually those arrows on wayfinding signs are to tell people to walk a certain direction to get to some area.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

It look like the sign is telling us to walk down the tunnel.

 

[M II A II R II K]

After spending more time on this renovation than to build a new subway line, you would think it would look better than all that.

 

[Johnny Au]

The Dufferin station renovation is quite ridiculous for how long it takes to renovate it. Even worse, the east side entrance has only one set of escalators and at the end of the walkway is a set of stairs without any escalators. What is the point of escalators?

 

[CharmAlarm]

And the "N" in Dufferin is still upside down. This was flagged a long time ago - and still no change.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The main problem with Dufferin Station, and other stations of the same age or older as well, is the station box. There is only so much one can do within the confines. Its like trying to put in a 14' living room catherdral ceiling in a two story house that has 8' ceiling, and keeping the same bedrooms on the second floor. How much do you want to spend?

 

[junctionist]

While it's true that there's only so much you can do with the architecture, the finishes could be a lot better. It would cost more, but it's a waste of money to do a renovation that leaves the space as ugly as ever.

 

[P23]

The main problem with Dufferin Station, and other stations of the same age or older as well, is the station box. There is only so much one can do within the confines. Its like trying to put in a 14' living room catherdral ceiling in a two story house that has 8' ceiling, and keeping the same bedrooms on the second floor. How much do you want to spend?

I don't buy it. You can do a lot with even the very basic shells of stations we have here. There are many examples around the world, this is just the TTC's usual sloppy attitude. Upside down letters and randomly scattered tiles are the way they do things.

 

[Towered]

Can someone explain how it's possible that this renovation has taken this long and still isn't finished?? Plus, they shouldn't have bothered - it looks like crap.

 

[interchange42]

Why does everyone hate this reno? Riding the trains through this station is far nicer now as the colour adds a lot to the space.

The "random" placement of the coloured tiles, as someone referred to them above, are essentially photographs from the neighbourhood which have been super-pixelated, so while they are result in a random pattern, they come from the surrounding streets.

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[drum118]

Oct 12
A few weeks from completion

 

[junctionist]

Why does everyone hate this reno? Riding the trains through this station is far nicer now as the colour adds a lot to the space.

The "random" placement of the coloured tiles, as someone referred to them above, are essentially photographs from the neighbourhood which have been super-pixelated, so while they are result in a random pattern, they come from the surrounding streets.

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It's hard to tell if it's even art. The tile size is a generic square, which is the same size as the plain white tiles along the platform. The white tiles look cheap and uninspired--like what you'd see in an employee washroom in a restaurant. Immersion Land at Sheppard-Yonge is a better work of pixelated tile art in the TTC's collection.

 

[salsa]

The "random" placement of the coloured tiles, as someone referred to them above, are essentially photographs from the neighbourhood which have been super-pixelated, so while they are result in a random pattern, they come from the surrounding streets.

Someone would have to stand a mile away to see the pixelated image. I forgot that this was the idea behind the seemingly random colours.

 

[interchange42]

You're not supposed to be able to see any image in the tiles at any distance. The tiles are meant to evoke the area through the colours used, so it certainly doesn't matter if they are a 'generic' square or any particular size. I agree that therefore it's not as elegant as the Yonge-Sheppard station tiles, but I respect work that uses the mundane materials of the station to a new effect. It can be seen as a reminder that there was a method behind the colours chosen in all of the stations when they were first built, no matter how little heed most people pay to them, or how banal they are/were.

In terms of decorative effect in Dufferin station, the tile colour combos work for me better in some spots than in others, but that's the nature of a city too. Overall though, the tiles have really improved Dufferin station's spaces, bringing a brighter mood. For those investing a little time in the details, it's the more infrequent stainless steel and bronze tiles with the objects and text on them that are the only representational elements of the otherwise abstract work, still rather elemental though, prodding the viewer's memories of such things as visits to the barber, or what a picnic means to them, as per the image below.

It does seem to be taking forever. Don't know why. You can't tell how many people are working on it, or how often, as the areas being worked on are behind temporary walls. I think the stainless steel tiles will probably not get cleaned as often as they should. They are already difficult to photograph without smudges on them. I may bring a spray bottle and wipe once it's all done to document it properly.

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[Sir Novelty Fashion]

I love this project. It's a fantastic piece of design: Bright, airy, colourful, simple, functional. I say this as one who semi-regularly gets stuck there. It has improved the sticking.