Dutch company wins waterfront design competition

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-- Dutch company wins waterfront design competition

Posted by starsearcher on Jun-02-2006 20:05:

Dutch company wins waterfront design competition

quote:
Dutch company wins waterfront design competition
Last updated Jun 2 2006 03:29 PM EDT
CBC News

A Dutch design hailed as "bold, beautiful and buildable," has been chosen to provide the face of a revitalized Toronto central waterfront.

The winner was announced Friday by the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation, which put out the call for entries earlier this year.

West 8, of Rotterdam, headed a team that included Toronto-based du Toit Allsopp Hiller, Schollen & Company, Diamond + Schmitt Architects, Halsall Associates and David Dennis Designs as well as New York-based Arup.

The competition area stretches along the water's edge from Parliament Street in the east to the Western Gap, near Bathurst Street, for a distance of 3.5 km. The "key objective" was to "create a continuous access from Bathurst to Parliament, establish gateways at the heads of slips and complete the Martin Goodman Trail through the central area."

West 8's design includes:

� Creating continuous water's edge public promenade for the length of the central waterfront, including transforming Queens Quay into a boulevard that "kisses the lake."

� That promenade would include a wooden boardwalk, floating finger piers and a new "green foot" � a double row of large, native trees to the north.

� A remarkable maple leaf-shaped promenade jutting out into the water.

� A series of bridges rising out of the boardwalk and spanning the ends of the slips to give continuous public access along the edge of the lake.

� Traffic will shift to the north side of the existing streetcar tracks, which remain in place, leaving four metres on the south side for the completion of the Goodman walking and cycling trail, and a larger pedestrian sidewalk.

� The design also incorporates features such as a new storm water management system on Queens Quay and pontoons for the floating piers designed to encourage fish habitat and improve water quality.

Construction will be phased in over "several years," with the section of Queens Quay between Spadina and York streets, including the completion of the Goodman trail, beginning later this year.

The $20.1 million needed was including in the 10-year waterfront funding plan approved by federal, provincial and municipal governments last fall.

A total of 38 design teams from 15 countries on four continents submitted proposals, which were whittled down by a panel to five finalists, including: � Foster and Partners, London, UK and Atelier Dreiseitl, Uberlingen, Germany

� WASAW, Princeton, New Jersey

� Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, New York and Martinez Lapena-Torres Architects, Barcelona

� Snohetta, Norway, Sasaki Associates, New York, nARCHITECTS, New York, Weisz + Yoes Architecture, New York, H3, New York, Balmori Associates, New York and Halcrow Yolles HPA, New York.

Each of the finalists had six weeks to produce the designs, which were then put on display for public input in Toronto over a 10-day period.

The jury included filmmaker Atom Egoyan, urban designer Ken Greenberg, designer Bruce Mau, landscape architect Claude Cormier, New York architect Lise Anne Couture, and architect Brigitte Shim.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/toronto/story/tod...02.html?ref=rss

Posted by Jayx1 on Jun-02-2006 20:07:

so i guess we will probably see the same results as all the other waterfront projects that have been announced in the last 20 years?

Im not holding my breath

Posted by rabbitjoker on Jun-02-2006 20:17:

Wait for Dutch design team to secretly install a Tiesto monument.

Posted by starsearcher on Jun-02-2006 20:44:

quote:
Originally posted by rabbitjoker
Wait for Dutch design team to secretly install a Tiesto monument.

YES!!!!!!!

And we'll have live Tiesto gigs on the waterfront

Posted by sueperstar on Jun-02-2006 20:54:

I saw the final 5 designs on display downtown a couple of weeks ago. They all looked really cool. I really hope that this plan goes through. I am going to be optimistic! Especially now that Toronto is talking about trying to get a world fair here. I'm sure having the waterfront finished will be a large factor in that application, just as it was for the Olympics.

Posted by dallastar on Jun-02-2006 20:56:

^^^^^^^^^^

totally off topic, but

HI SUE!!!

thx for tha_email!

Posted by smuncky on Jun-02-2006 20:58:

I really hope that they don�t go through with that maple leaf design, even though it won�t be built for some time in the future phases. That also goes with that arch with the two dragons. It�s just too tacky and would take away from the waterfront.

I do like the first phase design ideas of West 8. They were the only ones I believe that actually had bridges going over each of the slips which makes it so much easier to stroll down in a straight path instead of curving in a out due to the shape of the slips.