Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
As part of the TTC’s ongoing plan to modernize the stations along the Bloor-Danforth line, Victoria Park is getting a brand new bus terminal. According to the TTC’s website, it won’t be finished until 2010; until then, the old commuter parking lot at Denton and Victoria Park avenues will serve as a temporary terminal. The modified routes, which will bypass the station and the soon-to-be-demolished terminal as of Sunday, February 15, include 12 Kingston Road, 24 Victoria Park, 67 Pharmacy, and 404 East York Community.
When it’s finished, the terminal—like the rest of the station—will feature the work of acclaimed environmentalist and designer Aniko Meszaros. The theme Meszaros has chosen, which is being called "Roots," will reflect the diversity of the community through natural imagery. According to the plans, the station will have a green roof, the word "Roots" will be painted in different languages at the north entrance, filigree panels with root patterns will be installed in the bus terminal, and the west concourse will be decorated with interactive tree ring images. While we're not sure about the new design, we're happy to say goodbye to the old one: Victoria Park’s bus terminal is a hideous concrete monstrosity that deserves to be bulldozed. Now if only the TTC could get around to demolishing its ugly cousin at Islington Station.
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Hideous is too strong. It's a bus terminal, and it looks like a bus terminal. Certainly much nicer than the old Eglinton station. The new design may be good, but from the description it just sounds like a bus terminal with a lot of applique junk.
Looks like porto potties for buses.
Toronto is always too keen on tearing things down. Tabula rasa is always the answer. I think having the Islington Bus Terminal revamped w/o a demolition could garner interesting ideas, be more sustainable (there's a lot of construction waste in demolition) and retain our architectural history.
Hopefully they won't just tear it half down and abandon it like they did at Eglington station. What a stupid waste of good real estate. No wonder they can't pay their bills.
...so that everybody will think roots (the store) is paying for it. and eglinton bus station is the most depressing place in toronto..i totally agree with cvb..toronto doesn't know how to preserve and cherish old architecture (just painting the word roots on a roof doesn't mean you actually did something FOR YOUR ROOTS...which are in the old buildings)just take a stroll on queen west and look UP at the houses...what a treasure of a project for restauration enthusiasts...
It's scary how similar Victoria Park and Islington stations are. Just look at the 1960s/1970s towers within a park that surround both stations.
If the bus terminals at Islington and Victoria Park could be retrofitted, that would obviously be the preferred course of action. The problem is that both bus bays were poorly designed and haven’t held up so well over the years.
But, it looks like I’ll get my wish. Islington’s bus terminal is slated for demolition in 2010/2011.
I hope the green roof is above 8 storeys of condos or offices or something.
Despite all the tacky artwork, the trains will still be packed, the buses will run erratically and the station will still be dirty.
Oh, and no developer wants to touch the Eglinton property because whatever gets built will have to have a bus terminal in the ground level, which sure cuts down on retail opportunities and imposes other problems.
Could this be the influence?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kimbell_Art_Museum.jpg
It would be nice if the design of the new bus terminal was built to withstand zero maintenance over its expected life, because that's exactly what the TTC will deliver.