Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
This morning, the City revealed a few models of Toronto's proposed street furniture at City Hall. Like the Nathan Phillips Square competition, the designs are being evaluated by an independent jury which will submit their evaluation to the Executive Committee on April 30. The public will not be solicited for feedback, despite the program being featured on the City's website under the "Get Involved" category. The physical prototypes are strangely only on display today until 8 p.m.
UPDATE: Torontoist reader James informed us that the City has extended the display times to 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. tomorrow and 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. from April 10–12.
Astral Media
Clear Channel Outdoor
CBS Outdoor
Photos by Marc Lostracco
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Someone's screwed up the info/map kiosk models: they have the ads pointed away from pedestrians, leaving the information accessible to just anyone who happens to walk by. Do we really want to live in a city that fails to let tourists know what sitcoms from the 80s are now playing on the Christian TV channel?
I love this tilt-shift photography thing! Makes everything look like little toys!
i'm trying to figure out what picture #2 is in the clear channel exhibit. i have no idea what it could be!
overall, i like the feel of the clear channel submission, but just need to know what that thing is with the three doors!
v.
Vils: it's a bicycle locker. Don't know how practical it is at only three spaces, but it seems they're modular and could actually be a giant round thing if they added more sections.
I like the CBS little-poles much better than the huge Info To Go monstrosities.
JEZUS CHRISE WHY ARE THERE NO EAVESTROUGHS ON THE TRANSIT SHELTERS
The little roof things over the info thing in shot 3 and 4 are way too small and won't shelter jack squat.
The roof in the first cbs shot is way too small.
Overall, pretty ugly stuff. Feels like 1992. No wait, 1995. No wait, 1989.
Hamish: "I love this tilt-shift photography thing! Makes everything look like little toys!"
Everything is little toys. They're miniatures. ;)
Feels like 1992. No wait, 1995. No wait, 1989.
Or what they thought the future would look like in 1989:)
I just checked the city's website www.toronto.ca/streetfurniture and it says the models will be up on April 5, 10, 11, 12 from 8:30am - 4:30pm.
I suppose they hired the design jury/experts to rate the bids. They better do a good job!
anyone else notice that Clear Channel and CBS' garbage bins are facing the road thereby making it potentially dangerous for pedestrians to throw their refuse out? are those like "drive-thru" garbage place kiosks????
I don't know about you guys, but this makes me want a Queen & University playset, complete with model streetcar!
Torontonians should be demanding participation in this process. This is not something that should be decided quickly behind closed doors.
You're right Chris! The little cardboard cutout people could totally get smoked by little model cars! Won't somebody think of the cardboard children!
I'm going to hold off judgement until I get to see the actual models tonight, but I'm actually quite impressed by the CBS models shown here...
The info pillars look shockingly appropriate for street use, especially compared to the other two proposals! And if they fix the transparent glass roof for the shelters, I'd actually be content with all of their designs. But I'll save any more thoughts until I've seen the whole kit and caboodle.
I'm still not content with the selection process, but the extra display days and a possibly misplaced hope that the jury will listen to public comments has me much less pessimistic about this than I've felt in a very long time.
The garbage bins on the models are only facing that way so people can see what they look like, but they would be facing inward in real life. Viewers aren't allowed to walk around the models—they're behind the ubiquitous velvet rope.
As with the Nathan Phillips Square design competition, actually seeing the models and reading the proposals carefully is extremely helpful and might set some people's minds at ease about certain things (or alarm them about others).
I must say, having just come back from Montreal where they have map/ad pillars, they really are helpful. It sounds blasphemous, I know, but I can actually remember a time when I couldn't find my way around Toronto because the streets aren't numbered.
I'm all for getting Monica Bonvicini to permanently install some of her one-way glass toilet facilities in tourist areas. Since that's pretty unlikely, I'll certainly settle for these, which I've used with much glee in Amsterdam. Yay for yet another thing that makes it that much easier for men to pee absolutely everywhere! Because it's so tough now.
I don't understand why there are seats affixed to the outside of the toilet facilities. I don't imagine many people would want to sit and relax on the edges of an outhouse.
I just received another note and saw on the city web that the displays will be at City Hall later in the evening on some days. Here's the info i got:
8:30am to 8:00pm (April 4, 2007)
8:30am to 4:30pm (April 5, 2007)
8:30am to 8:00pm (April 10, 2007)
8:30am to 8:00pm (April 11, 2007)
8:30am to 8:00pm (April 12, 2007)
I hope some designers will be around to hear my critique.
Am I the only person who gets cold just looking at the CBS design? Isn't a priority for a Toronto bus shelter keeping you warm(-ish) and dry in the winter?
At least the goalie figured out how to use the salle de bain
M: Maybe for people waiting for the washroom to become free.
Are these guys really going to put up their own phone booths to compete with the Bell booths?
I'm not crazy about the CBS designs at all. They look cold, angular, a little outdated, and they seem to be primarily designed to accommodate ads. They might look nice in an airport though.
The Clear Channel designs are actually growing on me the more I look at them, with some exceptions. The "blobby" curves and rounded glass is nice for integrating into more organic, natural environments. The support pillars remind me a bit of trees. Too bad everything didn't look as woody and brown as it does in the model. Why does everything have to be painted grey in all of these proposals? Bleah.
The Astral stuff isn't horrible, but I find it a bit chunky and pseudo-futuristic, and I don't know if that will age well. The trash cans look like helper robots from some old sci-fi flick. I'm much more enthusiastic about benches made of (or at least looking like they're made of) wood instead of grey steel.
Also, I've said it before, but getting rid of the post-and-ring bike hitches would be a crime.
Yikes. The swoopy, curvy aesthetic is so bad. It's embarassing and will get dated fast. In fact, Dave's right; it's already dated. Nasty
just like the afro, it will come back...