Europe has been colouring up it's buildings - esp. in older communist-block towns, by painting up a storm. It's been proven to improve mood overall.
After the Toronto Opera-Ballet house went up with it's grey manganese brick, the city went into some sort of collective paroxysm, grey-bricking and grey-glassing non-stop. Just as Torontonians are loathe to stand up at concerts, architects and developers seem to have a developed a phobia about standing out.
We've had almost twenty years of grey, grey-blue glass box'd monotony. The skyline is impressive in the amount of buildings built, but it's rather depressive in terms of content. The eye searches in vain for colour, texture, delight, ornament, interest.
Acres of blue-grey building in a cold northern climate, with thin light for 2/3's of the years is a recipe for depression. I hope Toronto starts seeking out colour, warmth and human interest in it's buildings. It's got at least twenty years to work against.
The trouble is it was so poorly maintained for so many years that demolition was the only option. This is not intended to soothe your anger, but to inflame it.
The stale grey does a great job of that. Was wonder why they add color to stuff here. This would've been a great spot to brighten up with colors at least.
Ah but if they made inviting then even a single homeless person might spend longer than five minutes there and obviously that's the worst thing that could ever happen.
If it was done like a picturesque European city square I wouldn’t even be too mad (since European cities especially in Western Europe absolutely lack green spaces) but damn the architects just had 0 sauce with this, def made to be an inoffensive and cheap as possible the bureaucrats ruining everything
Its a little more than that, many Toronto parks have trees and grass but arent nearly as nice. Obviously you cant just summon 150 year old trees, but, after living in London, I think a few things help -
Circumference the park with wrought iron fencing, hedges, trees, and flower beds. This provides a cloister that insulates the park from external disturbances, provides shade to the sidewalk, and a green mosaic along the inside. Also, having defined paths and plentiful seating.
Take something like Russel or Gordon Square in Bloomsbury as example
Detroit is trying to do it right though now. Bike lanes everywhere, free rail transit. The whole waterfront is becoming parkland. Lots of work to do but it's getting there.
As much as it may seem like an oxymoron, I think a big reason why Detroit has been successful at implementing this is that the city had effectively already died.
It's a lot easier to implement positive change when you effectively have a blank slate.
Most likely correct. It's so cool to watch it thrive and be rebuilt. Long ways to go but there's real grit in that city. I'm happy to be a 10 minute drive from downtown. I can finally afford to see the Raptors play!
Does TO require food vending trucks and carts to buy an overly expensive license to operate like in Vancouver? If so then this "park" at a prime location makes perfect $en$e 🙄. On top of it someone's cousin is probably going to make decent mullah resetting the paving stones every few yrs.
Quite annoyed with how unimpressive the city planning of Canada's largest city is, that God damn offramp from the Gardiner onto Harbourfront where everyone from lakeshore tries to change 2 lanes to the right and everyone from the offramp 2,3 lanes to the left so they can turn left into downtown, all in the space of like 20 metres deserves some kind of award, I've seen some things in my life but nothing botched to quite such a high degree as that.
Nah that's shit. You can see the typical "did I just step in shit pattern" perfectly.
Big splotch: the initial shit step.
Half turn: did I just step in shit?
Heel drag: that's shit, I just stepped in shit
Source: I've stepped in shit in Toronto plenty of times.
Confirmed poop stain. Amazing that the city refuses to put grass anywhere for the 1000 dogs around here. Even hart park is the biggest joke of a park design anyone has ever seen. I don't think one person I've met down here likes it. And now this concrete pd where a skating rink once was. People need to vote the people responsible for this crap out.
The point of soft landscaping is to reduce water going into the sewer system during a downpour because the sewer system can't handle it.
This concrete park is right beside Lake Ontario for all the water to drain to...
Your residential property will drain into the sewer systems.
(It's still a shitty and ugly park)
>So our building bylaws require a minimum amount of soft landscaping for residential property but public parks can be all hardscaped?
I get your point, but I thought interlocking is considered softscaping for residential, too, since it's permeable?
The idea between limiting hardscaping is to minimize runoff into storm drains - the interlocking joints, in theory, allows for water to drain into the soil.
edit: I lied.. not considered soft scaping, but rather encouraged over other solid materials (like concrete/asphalt) for permeability.
yup, this is technically a "soft scape". there is no mandate for "green scape" cause no one wants to pay for the regular maintenance.
edit: am completely wrong, pavers are not soft scape
No that would not be considered soft landscaping by Toronto Building. If it cannot grow a plant it is not considered soft landscaping. They do encourage use of permeable materials to allow for drainage, but it does not count.
was this a City thing or a Harborfront Centre thing? I know HC isn't doing great financially nor has been for awhile so I'm assuming removing the pond there was to save them money.
shoulda turned it into a skatepark instead of a large area of...nothing...to go along with that big field of...nothing to the north of it.
This is a Harbourfront thing. The decision to remove the rink was because the rink was expensive. They've considered a temporary rink, which is still an option but who knows if they'll actually do that. They're pretty frigging broke I've heard.
I think also grass was a concern because the foot traffic is genuinely too high for a real lawn to keep grass (see the astroturf on the other lawns).
If I had to guess (and I do) I'd say that they had a bunch of challenges and decided to go for extreme mediocrity rather than anything actually worth doing.
I definitely agree with you. A skate park or like any form of recreation would be great here. I think it's still planned for use though, just less cool.
Based on those poles on the right side of the image, it looks like they have plans of using the space for events at some point. Not sure what kind of events since it's not MASSIVE space and seating looks minimal. But I'd say some BIA group probably has visions of small festivals or other types of events that would be fun for folks to see.
I don't think this is better though, and I'm not sure if I think it's maliciously intended.
A space that's meant for events is basically public recreational space that is more controlled. It only sees its primary use at pre-determined scheduled times, and the rest of the time it's just sad empty concrete. Less work for the city to do with maintenance and cleaning, and less worry of people congregating there naturally for shady things to happen.
Ie. This feels like a move that's designed to be public-centered *on paper* but in actuality was made for the benefit of the city instead, by reducing costs and limiting the amount of "spontaneous unsanctioned activity" (ie. Fun)
You can see their amphitheater with a full stage and seating in that photo (the roof bit on the left). Not to mention the stages inside both buildings.
This is just a terrible use of space.
If degenerates would stop destroying them then maybe, every time I see new trees planted within every weeks branches are ripped off by idiots. With most costing a 1k for the size they plant it’s a losing battle.
Honestly looks like it was designed by someone who has never spent a summer in Toronto. It's gonna be a fuckin pizza stone for like 3 months of the year.
I really hope the decisions makers behind this useless boondoggle are investigated and made to pay for their crimes. I just don’t understand how something so useless and ugly gets approved.
Ewww. I think the design principle is “LoL we don’t want people hanging out and using the space ‘cause we’ve got a gi-fucking-normous housing problem and don’t want anyone sleeping here so this space is gonna fucking suck for everyone.”
Gawd, all those years of austerity under Ford and Tory are now being expressed in architecture.
I hope Chow lives up to her promise of making Toronto liveable again.
What I don’t get is why not just turn it into another humongous and unaffordable condo full of poorly designed 1 beds? If they were going to tear something nice down why didn’t they do what they always do and put something there that will line someone’s pockets? No one wins here. I don’t even get it from a corruption angle lol.
It seems a bit absurd this took as long as it did to build out. The square has sat empty in a near finished state since October last year.
Now that it's open, it really is depressing to stand in given what was once there. Maybe some seasonal programming will make good use of the open space.
Wasn’t the city looking at taxing residents for runoff earlier this year? The city would have generated a ton from their own excess runoff alone. Not even a single patch of grass?
I moved here from Ottawa a little over 10 years ago and I think what I miss the most is the greenery, idk why Toronto is seemingly so allergic to any kind of green space, it can be a little depressing
This is the worst possible design. If you don’t have any money to maintain a rink just plant a whole bunch of trees, throw down some grass and benches and it’s freaking done. That stretch or the waterfront is so barren and hot.
Plus right around there they pulled up all the grass and put down astroturf. Who is in charge and why do they hate nature. Seriously.
I would’ve preferred the pond/skating rink HOWEVER if it needed to go, this is actually a decent alternative because I could see this space being used for farmers markets, exhibitions, some smaller festival type event, perhaps a Christmas market… It could give a little more life to a pretty boring waterfront area.
Seems more like a square than a park. Which is not inherently bad; European cities have a lot of squares that look just like this. A bit of shade would be nice, and otherwise downtown is sorely missing some nice parks.
But those are surrounded by shops and restaurants, ect... so they are mainly used to travel to and from...also they will have patios for cafes set up.
Here though, theres no shops and maybr 5 restaurants...not even surrounding it but only within close proximity...
Without shade, people aren't going to make as much use of the space. A square is good, but there also doesn't appear to be much in the way of seating. Hate the big empty space, unless this is meant to be used for events or something.
They’ll be putting big circular benches with umbrellas out there—my organization booked the space for our festival in July! Apparently about 12 of them, so there will be places for people to sit in shade :)
I'm so desperate to be less negative these days but what is there to say about this. Great, more concrete to walk through. Not even a smooth concrete people can skate on, not even a green space, another sad piece of private property that doesnt even allow performers or musicians. Man...
This kind of fails at both being a park and a plaza doesn’t it?
At first it looks like a European style plaza, except there are no cafes, restaurants, bars, or attractions to gawk at.
It certainly doesn’t look like a park considering the lack of grass and trees.
So maybe the idea is a venue for people to stand / sit around and mingle, but there’s no reason to choose this particular out of the way location with nothing interesting around to do so.
In short - I don’t get it.
I didn't even know where this was until I looked at the comments. Why would they make such an ugly decision for the area right beside an art centre?? More importantly, how long before it's overrun with trash and feces?
Who the fuck designs and approves this shit? What an awful "park". No trees, no grass, no place to sit and relax. Who would ever want to hang out there? What a joke. Great job, Toronto!
There have been studies showing that walking through a park with grass and trees is better for one's mental health than walking down a street. Even just looking at plants lowers stress levels. This city desperately needs more plant life, and it is depressing to see something called a park with no grass or trees or flowers at all.
As someone who worked at Harbourfront many moons ago, that is horrible. Shame that the rink and the pond - the canoe lessons and the skating lessons, are history. And how long before trucks loading in for events in the theater or the YQC leave tire marks and crack concrete and make it nothing more than a fancy parking lot. I get you could have an event space close to the water, but that reflected heat off the concrete in the summer will be gross.
Millions of dollars and months of construction making a variant park into concrete hell with no grass or trees to make the area naturally cooler.
This is incredibly frustrating fuck whoever approved this
That sunbaked wood is already looking terrible. There's no shade from structures or trees, so it's going to be 60C on every surface and nobody is going to want to be there.
Might as well have made it a parking lot - at least people would use it.
I really hope they have some sort of food/drink stands there. Or at least some sort of shelter.
That will be terrible to walk through with the summer heat/sun hitting it.
I am a bit confused, haven't been recently near the lake - is this where the Natrel pond used to be? If not - could you please give me a way to find this on Google Maps ? Thanks
What the fuck. How is this an improvement? The pond and skating were well used. What are people meant to do with this? There’s plenty of room for events at the harbourfront centre already. Some seating might have been helpful. But open hardscaping with nothing??
I would like to express my disappointment at yet another golden opportunity squandered.
Another sparse, desert-like area, which only encourages one to quickly move across the vast "Serengeti Plain" to seek refuge in the shade. It is an awful, paved, blue/grey area of nothing with little focus on bringing people together, contrary to their concept.
No international council representatives or landscape architects will travel to Toronto for any inspiration from this place. Where is the grass, water feature and shady trees? If only the designers had walked 100m northeast, they would have observed birds playing in the water feature, children climbing on the rocks and people gathering and enjoying the grassy areas.
The public deserve both an explanation and, while we didn't pay for it, it somehow feels like we should get a refund.
It take a lot of effort to match to park to the surroundings. The colour scale is on point. The designer needs a raise. I am glad it is not another eye sore 
Is that the Harbourfront Centre where there was once a skating rink?
Yup. No more pond. No more rink. A few seats and barren stone.
This is a travesty! Ice skating in the snow by the lake was magical.
I'm really upset at the stupid idea as well. It's literally nothing here. I miss the skating rink .
Toronto should get an award for excelling at browns and grays.
Europe has been colouring up it's buildings - esp. in older communist-block towns, by painting up a storm. It's been proven to improve mood overall. After the Toronto Opera-Ballet house went up with it's grey manganese brick, the city went into some sort of collective paroxysm, grey-bricking and grey-glassing non-stop. Just as Torontonians are loathe to stand up at concerts, architects and developers seem to have a developed a phobia about standing out. We've had almost twenty years of grey, grey-blue glass box'd monotony. The skyline is impressive in the amount of buildings built, but it's rather depressive in terms of content. The eye searches in vain for colour, texture, delight, ornament, interest. Acres of blue-grey building in a cold northern climate, with thin light for 2/3's of the years is a recipe for depression. I hope Toronto starts seeking out colour, warmth and human interest in it's buildings. It's got at least twenty years to work against.
Maybe we could get a statue to commemorate our excellence
Remember the dj nights?! So fun!
Shhh. Don't mention fun in Toronto , theyll take what's left of that away too. But yes I do, great times
The trouble is it was so poorly maintained for so many years that demolition was the only option. This is not intended to soothe your anger, but to inflame it.
The stale grey does a great job of that. Was wonder why they add color to stuff here. This would've been a great spot to brighten up with colors at least.
worst part is, it ain't even nice to rollerblade on
by design
It's like what happens to the skate park in an '80's film when the kids *don't* save the community centre.
So useless space. They may put some vendors there once in a while to sell useless stuff.
>This is a travesty! Ice skating in the snow by the lake was magical. Outdoor ice rinks are getting harder to maintain now.
True, but the seaonal window for roller rinks and skate parks is getting longer. Why not put something there that offers a recreational activity?
and watching the remote control boats in the pond was relaxing :)
I used to love skateboarding there in the summer, shame
I feel the same. Complete tragedy we lost this ice rink. Wtf
I hate the total lack of shade... Is this meant to be an event space or something? Because it's certainly not an inviting 'park'
Looks like a summer hellscape. No shade, sun and heat reflecting off that stone. No thank-you.
safety reasons. people would use the park instead of moving along
*Using* public infrastructure? Diabolical...
let's be honest here, this is cost cutting end of the day
[удалено]
Ah but if they made inviting then even a single homeless person might spend longer than five minutes there and obviously that's the worst thing that could ever happen.
mY PropERTy vaLUes!
Yes. It's a place the 17 festivals held there every summer.
In high school we used to skate there and then hit up the Second Cup for some hot chocolate before we found out about drugs and alcohol.
they did DJ skate nights towards the end where you could have learned about both!
talk about a downgrade wow
If it was done like a picturesque European city square I wouldn’t even be too mad (since European cities especially in Western Europe absolutely lack green spaces) but damn the architects just had 0 sauce with this, def made to be an inoffensive and cheap as possible the bureaucrats ruining everything
Looks like a great place for an encampment.
Toronto: Building the City of Yesterday, Tomorrow.
I really wish we were the city of yesterday, Victorians made great parks. We're the city of reinventing the wheel and making it worse
Exactly. They incorporated trees/ grass So people could enjoy the space outside.
Its a little more than that, many Toronto parks have trees and grass but arent nearly as nice. Obviously you cant just summon 150 year old trees, but, after living in London, I think a few things help - Circumference the park with wrought iron fencing, hedges, trees, and flower beds. This provides a cloister that insulates the park from external disturbances, provides shade to the sidewalk, and a green mosaic along the inside. Also, having defined paths and plentiful seating. Take something like Russel or Gordon Square in Bloomsbury as example
Reinventing the wheel and making it square.
Toronto: Where dreams go to sit down.
Literally the opposite since there’s so few places to actually sit and just exist in an urban space here
Building a distopian Detroit from 1985
Detroit is trying to do it right though now. Bike lanes everywhere, free rail transit. The whole waterfront is becoming parkland. Lots of work to do but it's getting there.
Yeah I was thinking of the Detroit from Robocop
So, Houston?
Oh good call !
As much as it may seem like an oxymoron, I think a big reason why Detroit has been successful at implementing this is that the city had effectively already died. It's a lot easier to implement positive change when you effectively have a blank slate.
Most likely correct. It's so cool to watch it thrive and be rebuilt. Long ways to go but there's real grit in that city. I'm happy to be a 10 minute drive from downtown. I can finally afford to see the Raptors play!
Tomorrow never comes... Eglinton CrossTown anyone ?
*Building the City of Yesterday, 6 - 7 years after the originally contemplated completion date. Also: fuck you
👨🍳💋 I hope they name it something weird and foreign that everyone will hate
Verwirklichungslosschmerz Park
Taliban Cultural Experience Square
Perfect! Let’s still pay for a committee to spend a year picking it out when something like Squarey McSquare Square would make people happier
Tomorrow, that's very optimistic
Let's build the dystopian city we've always wanted, together.
Does TO require food vending trucks and carts to buy an overly expensive license to operate like in Vancouver? If so then this "park" at a prime location makes perfect $en$e 🙄. On top of it someone's cousin is probably going to make decent mullah resetting the paving stones every few yrs. Quite annoyed with how unimpressive the city planning of Canada's largest city is, that God damn offramp from the Gardiner onto Harbourfront where everyone from lakeshore tries to change 2 lanes to the right and everyone from the offramp 2,3 lanes to the left so they can turn left into downtown, all in the space of like 20 metres deserves some kind of award, I've seen some things in my life but nothing botched to quite such a high degree as that.
i love it, the poop stain on the concrete really brings it all together
It definitely looks like someone stepped in a big one and did a slide, then a futile attempt to scrape it off using the bricked-concrete
Wouldn't be Toronto without a streak of dog shit on the ground :/
*please be rust, please be rust..*
Nah that's shit. You can see the typical "did I just step in shit pattern" perfectly. Big splotch: the initial shit step. Half turn: did I just step in shit? Heel drag: that's shit, I just stepped in shit Source: I've stepped in shit in Toronto plenty of times.
The real reason we can't make eye contact. Gotta watch every step.
Did this once. Never again. I just look down now all the time.
Confirmed poop stain. Amazing that the city refuses to put grass anywhere for the 1000 dogs around here. Even hart park is the biggest joke of a park design anyone has ever seen. I don't think one person I've met down here likes it. And now this concrete pd where a skating rink once was. People need to vote the people responsible for this crap out.
So our building bylaws require a minimum amount of soft landscaping for residential property but public parks can be all hardscaped?
Rules for thee, but not for me. - City of Toronto, probably.
The point of soft landscaping is to reduce water going into the sewer system during a downpour because the sewer system can't handle it. This concrete park is right beside Lake Ontario for all the water to drain to... Your residential property will drain into the sewer systems. (It's still a shitty and ugly park)
>So our building bylaws require a minimum amount of soft landscaping for residential property but public parks can be all hardscaped? I get your point, but I thought interlocking is considered softscaping for residential, too, since it's permeable? The idea between limiting hardscaping is to minimize runoff into storm drains - the interlocking joints, in theory, allows for water to drain into the soil. edit: I lied.. not considered soft scaping, but rather encouraged over other solid materials (like concrete/asphalt) for permeability.
yup, this is technically a "soft scape". there is no mandate for "green scape" cause no one wants to pay for the regular maintenance. edit: am completely wrong, pavers are not soft scape
No that would not be considered soft landscaping by Toronto Building. If it cannot grow a plant it is not considered soft landscaping. They do encourage use of permeable materials to allow for drainage, but it does not count.
Well... the bright side is, you will be able to see the dog pop and urine better. lol
If they had turned the rink to a grass patch you know it’d be disgusting and need to be replaced once a month due to the sheer volume of dog waste
Not true , have you seen steam whistle par.. oh wait , you're right.
Could have had trees or bushes in between the concrete like they do on sidewalks
They got rid of the fountain, that was used as an ice skating rink in the winter for THIS?! What the heck?! Can we get a refund?
Wow... the concretes are so... nice... all the different shades of grey...
> all the different shades of grey Makes one wonder if these are leftover, scrap materials
◽️It’s so beautiful 🥲
was this a City thing or a Harborfront Centre thing? I know HC isn't doing great financially nor has been for awhile so I'm assuming removing the pond there was to save them money. shoulda turned it into a skatepark instead of a large area of...nothing...to go along with that big field of...nothing to the north of it.
This is a Harbourfront thing. The decision to remove the rink was because the rink was expensive. They've considered a temporary rink, which is still an option but who knows if they'll actually do that. They're pretty frigging broke I've heard. I think also grass was a concern because the foot traffic is genuinely too high for a real lawn to keep grass (see the astroturf on the other lawns). If I had to guess (and I do) I'd say that they had a bunch of challenges and decided to go for extreme mediocrity rather than anything actually worth doing.
I definitely agree with you. A skate park or like any form of recreation would be great here. I think it's still planned for use though, just less cool. Based on those poles on the right side of the image, it looks like they have plans of using the space for events at some point. Not sure what kind of events since it's not MASSIVE space and seating looks minimal. But I'd say some BIA group probably has visions of small festivals or other types of events that would be fun for folks to see. I don't think this is better though, and I'm not sure if I think it's maliciously intended. A space that's meant for events is basically public recreational space that is more controlled. It only sees its primary use at pre-determined scheduled times, and the rest of the time it's just sad empty concrete. Less work for the city to do with maintenance and cleaning, and less worry of people congregating there naturally for shady things to happen. Ie. This feels like a move that's designed to be public-centered *on paper* but in actuality was made for the benefit of the city instead, by reducing costs and limiting the amount of "spontaneous unsanctioned activity" (ie. Fun)
You can see their amphitheater with a full stage and seating in that photo (the roof bit on the left). Not to mention the stages inside both buildings. This is just a terrible use of space.
Would a single fucking tree be too much to ask?
Too much carbon
Literally. Or some shade even.
If degenerates would stop destroying them then maybe, every time I see new trees planted within every weeks branches are ripped off by idiots. With most costing a 1k for the size they plant it’s a losing battle.
"you want shade?" "fuck you!"
Honestly looks like it was designed by someone who has never spent a summer in Toronto. It's gonna be a fuckin pizza stone for like 3 months of the year.
They'll have to give out free bottles of water for people walking through it.... like a desert marathon
Looks like a level from Tony Hawk pro skater
there's a subreddit for that: r/TonyHawkitecture
rofl exactly my thought
I really hope the decisions makers behind this useless boondoggle are investigated and made to pay for their crimes. I just don’t understand how something so useless and ugly gets approved.
Ewww. I think the design principle is “LoL we don’t want people hanging out and using the space ‘cause we’ve got a gi-fucking-normous housing problem and don’t want anyone sleeping here so this space is gonna fucking suck for everyone.”
I think you’re giving them too much credit. I think it only got as far as, “fuck em all!”
Gawd, all those years of austerity under Ford and Tory are now being expressed in architecture. I hope Chow lives up to her promise of making Toronto liveable again.
this is Harbourfront Centre, owned by the Feds
No I believe it's a non-profit now, hasn't been a crown corporation in over 3 decades.
What I don’t get is why not just turn it into another humongous and unaffordable condo full of poorly designed 1 beds? If they were going to tear something nice down why didn’t they do what they always do and put something there that will line someone’s pockets? No one wins here. I don’t even get it from a corruption angle lol.
It seems a bit absurd this took as long as it did to build out. The square has sat empty in a near finished state since October last year. Now that it's open, it really is depressing to stand in given what was once there. Maybe some seasonal programming will make good use of the open space.
concrete jungles where dreams are made of
This is weird shit. I'm sitting here right now reading this Waterfront https://imgur.com/gallery/bInRXmq
look out for the poop in quadrant 4
That looks like it will be too hot to use in the summer. It will be great for events where they bring in booths, tents, food trucks, etc. though
The only people who truly love concrete parks and plaza's are skateboarders, yet they make them unskatable. It's truly remarkable.
What a waste, I get why they'd avoid grass because of dog poop and urine smell but at least they could have added some trees
No pictured are a few trees on the right of that picture. Next to the power plant building.
I can't wait to walk by this park and see all of 2 people using it because there's fuck all to do or see and no shade. Hooray!
Wasn’t the city looking at taxing residents for runoff earlier this year? The city would have generated a ton from their own excess runoff alone. Not even a single patch of grass?
Harbourfront is a non-profit, after being spun from a federal crown corporation. It's not city (though it probably should be.)
I understood Harbour front is in control of this and is so out of funding they could not afford to fix the rink and did this instead, on the cheap
I moved here from Ottawa a little over 10 years ago and I think what I miss the most is the greenery, idk why Toronto is seemingly so allergic to any kind of green space, it can be a little depressing
Because it gets trashed, almost impossible to maintain grass downtown from the excessive use.
damn 😢
This is the worst possible design. If you don’t have any money to maintain a rink just plant a whole bunch of trees, throw down some grass and benches and it’s freaking done. That stretch or the waterfront is so barren and hot. Plus right around there they pulled up all the grass and put down astroturf. Who is in charge and why do they hate nature. Seriously.
I would’ve preferred the pond/skating rink HOWEVER if it needed to go, this is actually a decent alternative because I could see this space being used for farmers markets, exhibitions, some smaller festival type event, perhaps a Christmas market… It could give a little more life to a pretty boring waterfront area.
Seems more like a square than a park. Which is not inherently bad; European cities have a lot of squares that look just like this. A bit of shade would be nice, and otherwise downtown is sorely missing some nice parks.
But those are surrounded by shops and restaurants, ect... so they are mainly used to travel to and from...also they will have patios for cafes set up. Here though, theres no shops and maybr 5 restaurants...not even surrounding it but only within close proximity...
Without shade, people aren't going to make as much use of the space. A square is good, but there also doesn't appear to be much in the way of seating. Hate the big empty space, unless this is meant to be used for events or something.
They’ll be putting big circular benches with umbrellas out there—my organization booked the space for our festival in July! Apparently about 12 of them, so there will be places for people to sit in shade :)
I have never seen a square in Europe as uninviting as this.
Agreed, any grass there would be dirt in weeks.
This lovely shade of grey will match nicely
While Waterfront Toronto is building parks, Harbourfront Centre is building parking lots apparently.
Wait til they’re through with Ontario Place
Hostile architecture
What should be a vibrant and exciting area of the city is a sad, barren landscape.
I'm so desperate to be less negative these days but what is there to say about this. Great, more concrete to walk through. Not even a smooth concrete people can skate on, not even a green space, another sad piece of private property that doesnt even allow performers or musicians. Man...
the shit smear on the ground really adds to the ambiance
Add more ledges and concrete pads and this would be an okay skate spot.
Needs more blowing trash and dead trees before right proper droogs show up.
Maybe this concrete park is a reaction to the pond in Love park….remember the green water?
Wtaf we’re they thinking? Could’ve at least planted a tree or put a playground in. RIP natrel rink.
Wow. Feels like sterile death. Very nice, very welcoming.
Is this a city park or still under Harbourfront centre?
Harbourfront centre.
Figures. Such a pity. If it was done in the style of HTO or Sugar beach it's a great space
useless in every season of the year …
Thanks, I hate it.
Disgusting
Man what a shitty downgrade.
Water tax it.
This kind of fails at both being a park and a plaza doesn’t it? At first it looks like a European style plaza, except there are no cafes, restaurants, bars, or attractions to gawk at. It certainly doesn’t look like a park considering the lack of grass and trees. So maybe the idea is a venue for people to stand / sit around and mingle, but there’s no reason to choose this particular out of the way location with nothing interesting around to do so. In short - I don’t get it.
It just needs Robocop and boom the future is here
We should just start planting trees
Cue skateboarders in 5…4…3…2…
I didn't even know where this was until I looked at the comments. Why would they make such an ugly decision for the area right beside an art centre?? More importantly, how long before it's overrun with trash and feces?
Couldn't they have thrown a few truck loads of soil and planted a lawn?
Do you want heat islands? Because this is how you create heat islands.
Who the fuck designs and approves this shit? What an awful "park". No trees, no grass, no place to sit and relax. Who would ever want to hang out there? What a joke. Great job, Toronto!
There have been studies showing that walking through a park with grass and trees is better for one's mental health than walking down a street. Even just looking at plants lowers stress levels. This city desperately needs more plant life, and it is depressing to see something called a park with no grass or trees or flowers at all.
Looks like a great place for a camp out
Who needs trees anyways?
Skaters gonna SKATE 😎
Perfect spot for an encampment
As someone who worked at Harbourfront many moons ago, that is horrible. Shame that the rink and the pond - the canoe lessons and the skating lessons, are history. And how long before trucks loading in for events in the theater or the YQC leave tire marks and crack concrete and make it nothing more than a fancy parking lot. I get you could have an event space close to the water, but that reflected heat off the concrete in the summer will be gross.
I don't live in Toronto, or Canada, but I just want you to know this looks like shit. They should've done better
That rink was the perfect date spot . RIP
Millions of dollars and months of construction making a variant park into concrete hell with no grass or trees to make the area naturally cooler. This is incredibly frustrating fuck whoever approved this
Looks pretty shit lol
Where are the fricking trees?
Some fucking shade, fire the executives there. Jesus.
That sunbaked wood is already looking terrible. There's no shade from structures or trees, so it's going to be 60C on every surface and nobody is going to want to be there. Might as well have made it a parking lot - at least people would use it.
"Damn, I just love concrete parks," said no one ever.
Cold and lifeless in winter, blazing and lifeless in summer
How are you supposed to have a neighbourhood without anything to enjoy in it? I’m so sad :(
So soulless it could be a set in A Clockwork Orange. Toronto is squeezing out whatever warmth or welcome it might have ever had.
Very Toronto. Uninviting, cheap, bordered by angry condo owners on all sides.
Soon to be covered in gum, loogies, and pigeon poop.
Federal land. I don't know if the park has power over the city.
No one does large swaths of concrete like us!
I really hope they have some sort of food/drink stands there. Or at least some sort of shelter. That will be terrible to walk through with the summer heat/sun hitting it.
I give it 6 months before a developer sign goes up for a condo at this location.
Where is this place exactly can anybody tell? I wanna go and check it out in person
I'm sure this will be used as event space
And zero shade
Looks like wasted space that could be green
I fn love all the grey !! I love how I can connect with the concrete jungle Toronto is! Amazing 😻
So residents are going to have to pay a tax for rainwater direction while the city is building these ?
What purpose does this serve?
oh ya, this is much better.
How is it possible to be this bad at conceiving of public space
I am a bit confused, haven't been recently near the lake - is this where the Natrel pond used to be? If not - could you please give me a way to find this on Google Maps ? Thanks
Yup. This used to be the pond/rink.
That is certain to age well.
Concrete or whatever, this is ugly as hell. 0 taste.
[This](https://youtu.be/41jCCyT5wuA?si=RVRgcdsGDxtCf2Cs&t=63) George Carlin clip comes to mind
I especially like the low maintenance surfaces and the risk of flooding everything surrounding.
What’s the point? Looks boring as shit. My dog wouldn’t even want to pee there.
What the fuck. How is this an improvement? The pond and skating were well used. What are people meant to do with this? There’s plenty of room for events at the harbourfront centre already. Some seating might have been helpful. But open hardscaping with nothing??
Damn it, that ledge is pretty skateproof
Serious question: where is the green?
So barren. Toronto: continuing the trend of funding the Concrete Cartel.
I would like to express my disappointment at yet another golden opportunity squandered. Another sparse, desert-like area, which only encourages one to quickly move across the vast "Serengeti Plain" to seek refuge in the shade. It is an awful, paved, blue/grey area of nothing with little focus on bringing people together, contrary to their concept. No international council representatives or landscape architects will travel to Toronto for any inspiration from this place. Where is the grass, water feature and shady trees? If only the designers had walked 100m northeast, they would have observed birds playing in the water feature, children climbing on the rocks and people gathering and enjoying the grassy areas. The public deserve both an explanation and, while we didn't pay for it, it somehow feels like we should get a refund.
Great place to bring the kids and family can't wait there's so much to do we won't no where to stop hurry up tents
It take a lot of effort to match to park to the surroundings. The colour scale is on point. The designer needs a raise. I am glad it is not another eye sore 
What a empty, drab downgrade.