Results tagged “design”

Transit City: the TTC's plan to build a network of light rail, extending dedicated transit infrastructure to many of Toronto's neighbourhoods that lack it, thereby increasing residents' quality of life, reducing our collective environmental footprint, and redressing a major backlog of transit development. Transit Cities: the term applied at a symposium held last week to cities that don't just have transit but integrate it properly into the urban landscape, making good on the promise that transit expansion seems to hold but on which it doesn't always deliver. Designing Transit Cities was its name, and bringing planners, academics, advocates, and the public at large up to speed on the opportunities and pitfalls of transit expansion was its goal.

In an ad for a recycling campaign, it seems appropriate, clever even, to recycle elements of an old image. But when the ad is for Belgian beer, and the logo belongs to someone else, it doesn't make much sense—particularly when the designer fails to ask permission for its use.

At long last, the Star has a new layout for its website, and it's—large. The site's editorial team describes it as "giv[ing readers] more options for finding the news," and it does indeed do just that in a rather neat way, with three new styles for their home page in addition to Standard View (pictured above): Visual News, with a tile of photos; Timeline View, which shows the most recent stories added; and Grid View, which is a little like Visual News, but with more text than photos. There are slight tweaks throughout, too. Comments are now on separate pages from articles, thank God, and the paper's RSS feeds finally have small thumbnails in many articles.

       

The Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the ROM recently unveiled newly constructed walls in the Roloff Beny Gallery on the fourth floor of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Nine brand new, soaring walls vary in height and angle to create a series of forms. Together, they produce a dialogue with the existing architecture and aim to enhance experiential variety for the visitor. The newly configured gallery space will launch on September 26 with the exhibition Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913–2008.

Back in May, when the Metro Central YMCA announced they were planning a green roof to accompany other repairs, it was an idea that made sense: the rooftop running track was a flat, ugly expanse of hot concrete, and certainly not much to look at from the surrounding condo towers. Originally intended as a outdoor terrace for exercising and lounging, it barely served the purpose—it was much more comfortable to run on the air-conditioned interior track, and with nowhere to sit on the hard surface, the area didn't lend itself to yoga classes, stretching, or even a nice place to read a book.

Aha! we thought, when news of the TTC's long-anticipated project to put art on our beloved Metropasses landed in our inbox: they get it! By issuing a public call for submissions of interest, the TTC was demonstrating not only a sensitivity to the small aesthetic details that can brighten our day, but giving Torontonians the opportunity to actively engage with the transit system on which they are most often merely passive riders. Maybe, we even dared think, Valentine Makhouleen's nifty designs might actually be put to use.

       

The Rees WaveDeck—part of Waterfront Toronto's Central Waterfront transformation project and one of four WaveDecks due to be completed along the harbourfront—opened quietly last week, without the fanfare that accompanied the opening of the Simcoe WaveDeck in June. The Rees WaveDeck lacks the exciting curves of its sibling to the west east: it dips just once, sloping gracefully towards the water in the centre. Sitting next to HTO park and facing neat rows of sailing boats and canoes, the deck feels peaceful and composed.

As it happens, the fifth post in our Future of Toronto Fashion series will be the final one—mostly because the writer (hi, and bye) is departing, but also because we found a designer who sums up everything about young Toronto that we love and believe in.

Dreaming up ways to improve the TTC is a popular pastime in Toronto. And while most of us just daydream about additional stations and routes, Dieter Janssen, a professor of architecture at the University of Toronto, is turning ideas into possible blueprints for the future. Janssen hopes that his fantasy map (above), which he developed while doing research for the urban infrastructure and design class that he teaches, will invite debate over the future of Toronto's transit system. "It’s painfully obvious that infrastructure, at least in the GTA, has to be much more developed than anything that they’re proposing," Janssen told Torontoist. "The TTC needs to properly address its future…people actually rely on the system and that needs to be properly respected."

Yesterday, there was no mistaking Councillor Adam Vaughan's undertone for anything but indignant pride. He couldn't quite manage to mask it, if indeed he was even trying; it was of the sort a proud uncle might exude when reintroducing to society a formerly wayward nephew who, with uncle's guidance, has finally managed to shake the old seedy dress and manners.

This morning marked the official opening of the Simcoe WaveDeck, the latest milestone in the ambitious central waterfront transformation. In total, four of these curvy, boardwalk-meets-bridge structures will be open by 2012, each at the base of a major waterfront street. The award-winning Spadina WaveDeck opened late last summer, the Rees WaveDeck is on schedule for a launch later this season, and the Parliament WaveDeck is working its way through the design development phase. Aptly named, each WaveDeck is a variation of a multi-layered, undulating ribbon of wood, rising as tall as six feet above the ground and dipping to almost skim the water's surface.

Despite all that Toronto has to offer, it is not a perfect city. Operating under the assumption that Toronto is “unfinished and full of possibility,” consulting firm OpenCity Projects uses bold design in order to create more meaningful experiences for people in the city. Its most recent endeavour, fittingly titled “Icebreakers,” tackles the communication gap between people who live in, work in, and visit Toronto.

              

Back in April, we posted about a bridge design charrette hosted by the Urban Toronto forums, and, in response to Concord's indifferent proposal to connect CityPlace and Front Street with a box truss bridge, there are now sixteen bridge designs to consider as alternatives. All of the entries adhere to the rigid guidelines outlined by GO Transit and Canadian National Railway [PDF], and most have even addressed technical feasibility, cost, safety, and ecological requirements in addition to aesthetics. Votes and comments have been pouring in, and polls will remain open until June 12, when one submission wins the "Design of Distinction" title.

Believe it or not, Willis Ansong was artistically inspired by Law & Order. While watching an episode in his grade eleven journalism class, he came across a character named Peter Franco—and loved the moniker so much that he co-opted it, less as an alias and more as an expression of the life that he wanted to lead. For Ansong, "Peter Franco" became representative of an idea, a lifestyle, and a means of artistic expression. "Initially, it was going to be used for any art discipline that I wanted to put out there," he says, but, "I always knew that I wanted to do something fashion-oriented." Building on this hunch, he tagged the word "sneakers" onto the title (because it "just sounds good") and this past August, he finally launched a line of t-shirts under the Peter Franco Sneakers label.

Why is the configuration of seats on the streetcar and subway the way it is? Couldn't more people be accommodated with bench seating running all along the sides?

The Metro Central YMCA at Yonge and Grosvenor found itself with a problem, but one that led to a new opportunity: the roof is leaking and needs extensive repairs. Featuring a running track and not much else, the large concrete rooftop slab is more akin to the upper deck of a parking garage than a place to exercise or enjoy, but its barren configuration made it a premium site for a forthcoming downtown green roof.

You'll have to battle through a few error pages to enjoy it, but the Globe and Mail's website has, as of this morning, a fancy (and quite nice) redesign. Editor-in-Chief Edward Greenspon talks all about it in a video, how it's "more colourful" and "more dynamic," and—teasingly—how it will feature a regional Toronto "hub" that seems to not yet exist but that we'll surely be keeping our eyes on.

The TTC's newfound propensity for remodelling isn't limited to just their stations, shelters, routes, and vehicles: the transit organization is now in the midst of exploring how to open up the Metropass to local artists and arts institutions in time for the summer.

     

Bloorcourt residents, rejoice! Dufferin Station will be the next station to receive upgrades. Plans to revitalize Dufferin Station were presented yesterday at Dovercourt Baptist Church, where TTC representatives were on hand to discuss the plans and field questions from the community. The forty-one million dollar project, led by Project Manager David Grigg, is slated to start later this year, and will take two and a half years to complete.

Each year, the executive committee of the Pug Awards looks to expand the scope of their initiative to further influence design in Toronto. Last week marked the introduction of PIMBY (Pug In My Backyard), an interactive and ever-evolving blueprint for growth that aims to cover as much of the city as possible. The intention of this project is to provide the general public, landowners, and city decision-makers with a framework for planning future development in the region, while promoting an ongoing dialogue about the importance of good design.

The Liberal Party of Canada's national convention in Vancouver this past weekend produced few surprises, with delegates officially crowning Toronto Member of Parliament Michael Ignatieff as leader of the once-mighty red machine. One development that did catch our attention, however, was the unveiling on Saturday of the party's new logo, which replaces the maple-leaf-as-rising-sun insignia in use since 2004. According to the accompanying news release, the new logo "symbolizes a re-energized Liberal Party emerging from a process of renewal engaging all Liberal members." A fascinating claim, given that the new wordmark is nothing more than the word "Liberal" in Times New Roman, emblazoned with a maple leaf that appears to have been cribbed from the cover of Maclean's.

              

It’s that time again: The annual Pug Awards are back for the fifth consecutive year! Over the month of May thirty-two projects (fourteen of which are featured above) will face off in a battle for bragging rights as the 2009 people’s choice for best and worst new buildings in Toronto. The projects are divided into two categories. Twenty-four buildings fall in the residential category and there are eight in the commercial and institutional categories. It is up to the general public to choose the winner by voting online.

Today, Urban Toronto is launching a design charette called "Bridging the Design Gap" to respond to what they say are the “unacceptable plans for the CityPlace box truss pedestrian bridge across the rail corridor.” Design charettes typically serve as a forum to introduce an important project to the community, explore its needs, and identify different design solutions, which means that anybody can get involved and brainstorm about the design and aesthetics of the bridge that will link the Railway Lands West with the neighbourhood north of the CN Rail corridor.

Back in March we posted about a bike stand design competition open to OCAD students, and this afternoon Mayor David Miller appeared at the college to announce the winners. The first-place prize was awarded to second-year Industrial Design student Justin Rosete and second-year Drawing & Painting student Erica Mach for their simple yet dramatic design consisting of wood and metal. Not only did they score $6,000, but their design will be built at 226 Queen Street West as part of plans to revitalize the property.

This morning, plans for a new Toronto West courthouse were officially announced, and the verdict is in: it is going to be impressive.

From time to time, the landmark store on the southwest corner of Bloor and Bathurst will turn on its famous storefront sign and wash the street in the effulgence of its twenty-three thousand bulbs. It’s a captivating sight.

       

Our favourite pop-up mall, aka the One of a Kind Show, is back in action this week, offering seasonal goods to go with the seasonal change. Despite the recessionary pall, organizers' spirits were high, and though preliminary attendance figures were not available they were optimistic about the show's prospects. Craft sales (both the raw materials and the finished products) tend to swell in tough economic times, so the odds seem happily in OOAK's favour.

          

It seems strange to hook up your lean green biking machine to the pollution pumper itself, but a new kind of gas pump in Toronto might be greening up the urban landscape.

In the hustle and skelter of Toronto's (unofficial) Design Week—comprised of a massive IDS 09 and its younger alt-bro of a show, Come Up to My Room at the Gladstone, plus MADE's Radiant Dark and a smattering of smaller exhibits and excuses to party—playing favourites is work. How to choose from the million-and-one objects and projections of desire proffered by our city's proliferation of designing minds? It's trickier still when you're dazzled and confused by Swarovski installations or Castor in-jokes, to get to the point of purchase. It's one thing to admire, another to sanely advise someone else to buy.