Doors Open Toronto Preview: Spotlight on Contemporary Architecture
How do you distill Toronto’s most exciting examples of contemporary architecture into concise, bite-size morsels? With great care and some difficulty say the authors of A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Toronto (Douglas & McIntyre). Husband and wife team Margaret and Phil Goodfellow narrowed a list of about 250 contenders down to just 63 buildings or complexes, grouped by neighbourhood and stitched together into convenient walking tours. The book gets its official launch on Friday at the Royal Ontario Museum (4:30 – 9:30 pm) during the kick-off party for this weekend’s Doors Open Toronto (May 29 & 30).
Doors Open Toronto Preview: Stantec Raises the Green Standard
“Sustainability” and “adaptive reuse” have been watchwords in architecture for more than a decade but earlier this year they became official City policy with the introduction of the 2010 Toronto Green Strandard, a two-tiered set of performance measures that promote sustainable development. Fortunately, City officials are prepared to walk the walk; when Canadian design powerhouse Stantec submitted its renovation plans for the 1905 McGregor Socks factory on Spadina Avenue at Wellington Street, the design was so innovative it defied present building code standards.
“We had very interesting discussions with the building department about fire protection because this is a timber construction,” says Dathe Wong, the project architect. “But the building department was happy we were bringing an old industrial building up to new standards so we worked together to make sure that safety was not compromised.”
Stantec was determined to make the McGregor building a showcase for its team’s creativity and the public can tour this superb marriage of old and new during Doors Open Toronto May 29 and 30. The photos above show how the space looked in the 1920s and today.
Doors Open Toronto Preview: Evergreen Brick Works
The only trouble with being featured on the Doors Open Toronto itinerary is that you’re pretty much stuck at your own site for the weekend and can’t get out to tour the other awesome locations opening their doors to eager architecture fans.
With this in mind, Evergreen Brick Works kindly invited 2010 DOT participants to preview its sprawling construction site last Thursday. Although the Bayview behemoth won’t be officially open until September, the 40-acre site will be one of the draws on this year’s Doors Open Toronto program May 29 – 30.
Lead architect Joe Lobko (du Toit Allsopp Hillier), above, guided a large group over, under and through the labyrinth of what was once one of North America’s largest brick-making operations. Started in the 1880s, “the Don Valley Brick Works is the reason Toronto is a city built of brick, as opposed to wood like Vancouver, for instance,” noted Lobko.
Doors Open Toronto Preview: City Hall Green Roof
After several years of theme-based programming, Doors Open Toronto goes back to its roots May 29 & 30 with a simple focus on exciting new and heritage architecture. Each Wednesday in May, livewithculture.ca will profile a prominent local architect and project being featured during the weekend-long celebration of Toronto’s built form.
Last week, I had the pleasure of touring City Hall’s soon-to-be-completed green roof, essentially a massive, public garden that literally breathes new life into a significant part of the square that’s been closed to the public for years.
Accessed from a long, curving ramp on the east side of Viljo Revell’s famous twin towers, the new green roof has transformed what was a desolate expanse of sun-baked concrete. Spreading out beneath the council chamber and wrapping around the iconic, modernist structure, the green roof is part of a much larger, $40-million revitalization of Nathan Phillips Square, scheduled to be completed in 2012.
Doors Open Toronto Captures City Award
Doors Open Toronto won the first City Manager’s Award for Toronto Public Service Excellence yesterday at a City Hall reception honouring finalists for the prize. Toronto City Manager Joe Pennachetti said that “in choosing Doors Open Toronto, I was impressed with what creative staff can do with limited funds. With a few dedicated staff, they created a program that has leveraged millions of dollars and touched millions of people.”
Added Pennachetti, “This project sets the standard for best practices across North America where other cities including New York and Chicago have used Toronto’s program as a model to create their own Doors Open. In addition, Doors Open annually changes and adapts new themes relevant to building a great city.”
Pictured above from left are members of the DOT team, Elizabeth Gallacher, Kristen Juschkewitsch and program founder Jane French. The 2010 edition of Doors Open Toronto runs May 29 and 30; Livewithculture.ca will be featuring a different architect each week in May during the run-up to the city’s annual feast of heritage and contemporary architecture.
