TORONTO WATERFRONT
Overview
– IF YOU NEED INSPIRATION, LOOK TO CHICAGO
When I returned from my recent visit to Chicago, it struck me that this is one city that gets it. It gets having a waterfront which is both accessible to the people and enhances the development around it. It gets that "high-rise" is not a bad word and tall buildings are good, but it understands that you have to create them with flare, passion and thoughtfulness. It recognizes that you have to look at a series of buildings and the streetscape as tall buildings go up. It looks at the big picture to enhance its buildings and the beauty of its City – the lakes, the rivers, and the tributaries that bisect downtown Chicago.
One has only to view the most recent high-rise tower in Chicago, the Aqua Tower. It is an 86-storey, mixed use residential skyscraper designed in post-modern architectural style. It has an eight-storey, 140,000 square foot base topped by a terrace with gardens, gazebos, pools, hot tubs, a walking/running track and a fire pit.
Most spectacularly, it has an undulating design which has inspired the "Marilyn Monroe" building in Mississauga and the new 65-storey project at 1 Bloor Street East, One Bloor, by Great Gulf Homes. It captured views of nearby landmarks for Aqua Residence, as the architectural team lead by Jeanne Gang, stretched its balconies outwards by as much as 12 feet. The result was a building which is made up of irregularly shaped concrete floor slabs which lend the facade an undulating, sculptural quality.
The Chicago waterfront is the envy of all major waterfront cities. The vast green and people dominated areas puts Toronto to shame. Whilst Waterfront Toronto is trying to undo the damage done by the Toronto Harbour Commissioners in the '80's and '90's, a single vision by a mayor like Chicago's Richard Daley, is just not available here in Toronto, given its political structure.
In terms of streetscape, one need only drive up Yonge Street north of Sheppard to see what we have done with high-rise buildings on a major road. What could have been a spectacular boulevard between Sheppard and Finch is now just a mix of conventional tall buildings lined up against the streetscape, mixed with video shops and takeout restaurants.
Hats off to Chicago. It may have one unfinished 26-storey condominium (the Waterview Tower) due to the recession, but by G-d, the ones that are finished are spectacular. The City has an architectural warmth that is unmistakeable and its waterfront with its parks and public areas and museums are spectacular. Good luck to Waterfront Toronto.
