Public Realm in Canadian Cities - Developments

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ When you put it in those terms it's certainly eyebrow raising...

I think it goes without saying that the Lower Don Lands have the potential to be transformative for the city. Whether or not that actually comes through is another thing entirely. Given what's been proposed so far for the nearby East Harbour neighbourhood and transit hub i'm not entirely sure what to expect on the other end for Lower Don.

Combine all of that with the future Ontario Line and the transformation of the East End should be really interesting in the next 10-15 years.

[urbanight93]

I was just in Montreal a couple of weekends ago and have to commend the City on their amazing public realm. The investment in plazas, streetscaping, landscaping is unparalleled.

I had the chance to see the newly renovated Square Viger, the improved PVM plaza and art piece, Place des arts, Square Dorchester and Phillips, Mctavish street and the McGill College linear park that's under construction. Truly wonderful to see such urbanity and vibrancy.

My question is, how is Montreal so able to invest in so many of these projects vs. other places? (Living in Toronto has been disheartening).

[Maldive]

Originally Posted by zoomer

Thanks all for the great pictures and insights into Montreal, Halifax and Toronto - public realm is really where the magic happens and are the true people draws. We need these projects to revitalize and re-energize our downtowns with the current challenges they’re facing.

Lower Don - what’s the scale of this development compared to the Expo 86 lands?

The first phase i(Lower Don Lands) is 125 hectares (308 acres) which will eventually include a new community on (the newly-created) Villiers Island.

Below is a rendering posted a while back which was released along with news of a $25 Million private donation towards a Sculpture Trail along the new river path (NOTE: the cheesy sculpture placeholders are… just cheesy sculpture placeholders. The art will likely come from a curated competition).

Gives a good look at the massing of the new community.

UT

AlvinofDiaspora

The longer term Portlands redevelopment plans are in excess of 880 acres and include employment areas such as the new Media Basin Hub (studios, post-production etc.) which is already approved.

So if you work in film/tv… you can live in the downtown paradise Villiers Island will be one day… and walk to work at Pinewood Studios or the new Media Hub.

[TorontoDrew]

This is a dated layout but shows the entire scope of the project.

Source: http://plangreen.net

[Maldive]

The Well l “The Cats” l Off-site parkland contribution l u/c

Claude Cormier is following up his beloved “Doggy Fountain” in Berczy Park with “The Cats: - renderings from claudecormier.com

Note KING Toronto in the background



Red Mars

Red Mars





Claude’s wonderful ‘Doggy Fountain’ just east of Yonge

City of Toronto

Link

[Martin Mtl]

That cat park is such a wonderful concept to go along with Bercy. Cormier brings fantasy to our cities, I love his work. We need more if this.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Maldive

City of Toronto

Now that is a lovely public realm.

[Maldive]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

That cat park is such a wonderful concept to go along with Bercy. Cormier brings fantasy to our cities, I love his work. We need more if this.

In case anyone missed it:

As if Claude hasn’t done enough for Toronto (Sugar Beach, Berczy Park, The Well “Cats” etc.) he also donated $500,000 to his alma mater - the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, supporting U of T (MLA) students.

The Claude Cormier Award in Landscape Architecture has been helping students since 2020 but was announced publicly in November 2021.

Thanks to Montreal for agreeing to shared custody and sending him down Hwy 401... a lot (coulda bought him a plane ticket though).

[Innsertnamehere]

Cormier also has "Love" park under construction down on Queen's Quay, with a red tile lined heart shaped pond as the central feature:




https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread....28363/page-31

[esquire]

Those bright red tiles are delightful.

[Al Ski]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

That cat park is such a wonderful concept to go along with Bercy. Cormier brings fantasy to our cities, I love his work. We need more if this.

I think Cormier sees a goldmine in a city that is desperate for little 'parklike bits' inserted betwixt the condos.

There's no history, there's no context, it's all manufactured.

That cat thing looks idiotic, in my opinion.

Somewhat ironic that Toronto imports a Quebecer to define their public spaces.

You'd think they'd have a local who could better help define their identity - if they had an identity.

Tells you a lot about Toronto.

"Need everything to be a Cormier!" will be questioned decades from now.

When everyone wonders why 20 parks were all designed by the same guy from - Québec!

Claude is just hauling in the cash!

[TownGuy]

Your troll job are too outrageous to offend. Need some subtlety.

Ironically enough though, Claude learned his craft at the U of T.

[Al Ski]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Your troll job are too outrageous to offend. Need some subtlety.

Ironically enough though, Claude learned his craft at the U of T.

Indeed, we must be subtle with the notoriously thin-skinned and perennially insecure types.

Who attack the messenger but not the message.

If you have a have an actual critique of what I've stated other than "you're a troll" then let's hear it.

Otherwise, go back to Twitter.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Al Ski

Indeed, we must be subtle with the notoriously thin-skinned and perennially insecure types.

Who attack the messenger but not the message.

If you have a have an actual critique of what I've stated other than "you're a troll" then let's hear it.

Otherwise, go back to Twitter.

Complaining about how something brand new lacks history? Complaining because a city re-hired someone for additional projects after being pleased with their initial work? That the person wasn't originally from the city? Or that creating a few nice public spaces for people to enjoy is expected to define a city's identity?

He was absolutely right. You're entitled to dislike the parks but these complaints are nothing but bottom of the barrel excuses to insult the city and they don't even deserve a serious response. And ironically it was your post that sounds like it belongs on twitter.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Maldive

The first phase i(Lower Don Lands) is 125 hectares (308 acres) which will eventually include a new community on (the newly-created) Villiers Island.

Below is a rendering posted a while back which was released along with news of a $25 Million private donation towards a Sculpture Trail along the new river path (NOTE: the cheesy sculpture placeholders are… just cheesy sculpture placeholders. The art will likely come from a curated competition).

Gives a good look at the massing of the new community.

UT

AlvinofDiaspora

The longer term Portlands redevelopment plans are in excess of 880 acres and include employment areas such as the new Media Basin Hub (studios, post-production etc.) which is already approved.

So if you work in film/tv… you can live in the downtown paradise Villiers Island will be one day… and walk to work at Pinewood Studios or the new Media Hub.

This looks great. Hope the large public park at LeBreton comes close to this.



Ottawa-Gatineau has some nice new public parks, but nothing to the same level as Montreal and Toronto. We really need to step-up our game. Lansdowne was a disappointment, slightly better than most public parks, but not by much. Pangishimo Park at Zibi is very nice, but lacks a defining feature.

[J.OT13]

Remic Rapids, Ottawa. An interesting little spot along the Ottawa River pathway between Downtown and Westboro.

The balanced rock structures are created by local artist John Felice Ceprano who started these at the Rapids in 1986 and continues to maintain them to this day (in fact, you can see him centre-right of a picture I took this weekend).



Remics Rapids is also home to one of the NCC's Bistros. They started these a few years ago to animate some of their parkland. Other Bistros can be found at Confederation Park, between Elgin Street and the Canal, and Patterson Creek, in the Glebe.


https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/places/remic-rapids-park

• Video Link

[samne]

Originally Posted by Al Ski

I think Cormier sees a goldmine in a city that is desperate for little 'parklike bits' inserted betwixt the condos.

There's no history, there's no context, it's all manufactured.

That cat thing looks idiotic, in my opinion.

Somewhat ironic that Toronto imports a Quebecer to define their public spaces.

You'd think they'd have a local who could better help define their identity - if they had an identity.

Tells you a lot about Toronto.

"Need everything to be a Cormier!" will be questioned decades from now.

When everyone wonders why 20 parks were all designed by the same guy from - Québec!

Claude is just hauling in the cash!

Moronic trolling. In design/build there’s often preferred vendor/contractors. For simply the reason the contractor can be trusted on quality and budget based on history of work. I’d assume Cormier has this relationship with the city and builders.

As also mentioned he studied in Toronto and Ontario.

[JHikka]

The Better Streets AI posts AI-generated streets transformed from car-oriented to active transportation-oriented. The Canadian outputs:

Water Street, Gastown, Vancouver




https://twitter.com/betterstreetsai/...70441258274816

Wonderland Road, "Fake London"




Rue Jarry E, Montreal



https://twitter.com/betterstreetsai/...53243312836610

Elgin Street, Ottawa



https://twitter.com/betterstreetsai/...68228738949121

Bank Street, Ottawa




https://twitter.com/betterstreetsai

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Al Ski

I think Cormier sees a goldmine in a city that is desperate for little 'parklike bits' inserted betwixt the condos.

There's no history, there's no context, it's all manufactured.

That cat thing looks idiotic, in my opinion.

Somewhat ironic that Toronto imports a Quebecer to define their public spaces.

You'd think they'd have a local who could better help define their identity - if they had an identity.

Tells you a lot about Toronto.

Your posts tell a lot about you, but your lack of location tells us even more. Claude has done some great work, who cares where he is from? We have tons of other projects by local and imported talent. That kind of represents Toronto perfectly as less the half of the population was actually born here.

Why not share some of your towns public realm projects, we'd all love to see how it should be done.

[J.OT13]

Work on the new waterfront park on the Gatineau side of Zibi. Flood resiliency was top of mind when designing the park.

Originally Posted by UrbOttawa