Upper floors of the 48-storey Uptown Residences condo tower, nearly finished construction on Balmuto Street, glow in late afternoon sun on Jan 29 2011.
City Scene: Condo tower catches sun’s golden glow
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Category Archives: City Scenes: random snapshots of Toronto
Skyline views from Sherbourne Common
The Toronto skyline sets a dramatic backdrop for a skater enjoying the new rink that opened last month at Sherbourne Common.
City Scene: Chilling out at Sugar Beach
Beach blanket: Icicle-laden umbrellas cast a pinkish hue on the soft powdery snow blanketing Toronto’s new lakeside park, Sugar Beach, Thursday afternoon.
City Scene: Hangin’ out at the Ritz
Two contractors in bright fluorescent uniforms are seen on a swing stage hanging high above the new Ritz-Carlton Toronto tower Wednesday afternoon.
City Scene: Yorkville’s highrise building boom
Davenport Road (near Bay Street) view of new towers being built in Yorkville
Growing up: Construction activity is apparent in practically every corner of downtown, and the Yorkville neighbourhood is no exception.
Pedestrians and drivers approaching Bay Street along Davenport Road are greeted by this view of three highrise towers currently under construction: The Florian condo building (left) and the two towers of the new Four Seasons Toronto Hotel and Private Residences.
Meanwhile, just beyond the bend in the road, east of Bay, there’s more construction in progress. Excavation is underway for the Milan condominium tower on Church near Yonge, while in a few years’ time there could be as many as three towers rising right behind The Florian on McMurrich Street.
City Scene: Towers and trains
A Bathurst Street Bridge view from earlier this month of GO commuter trains in the railway lands just west of Toronto’s Financial District.
City Scene: Frank Gehry’s Baroque Stair at the AGO
The view straight up the Frank Gehry-designed staircase in the AGO
Twists & turns: Most visitors watch their feet while they huff and puff their way up — or down — the many wooden steps of the Baroque Stair at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Some look out the windows, and some glance at the people they pass, but most don’t bother looking up. Straight up, that is, at the staircase spiralling upwards above them. It’s too bad, because they’re missing a real treat.
Designed by Frank Gehry, the Baroque Stair is one of my favourite architectural elements in the recently renovated gallery. Whenever I walk the Stair, I like to stop and look up at the sensuous curves of the wooden form that twists and turns overhead, linking ground-level Walker Court with the AGO’s new fifth floor contemporary art galleries. I notice new things about the Stair every time — surprising shapes, textures and colours that vary in different levels of light. For me, the Baroque Stair is a delightful piece of eye candy that takes my mind off the long, thigh-burning climb (it’s a very long walk indeed — the Stair is approximately 11 residential stories tall).
As AGO director/CEO Matthew Teitelbaum notes in an audio commentary on the gallery website, Gehry designed the Baroque Stair to be a “place of experience, not just a way of getting somewhere.” For me, that experience is one of the highlights of any visit to the AGO. Below are several more pics of the Stair.
More photos and further information about Gehry’s gallery transformation are provided at this link on the AGO website.
City Scene: Condos and cranes at Concord CityPlace
Skyscrapers keep rising at the massive CityPlace district west of the CN Tower
Tracking progress: Condo towers and construction cranes greet visitors arriving in downtown Toronto by GO Train or Via Rail. As the trains slow down for their arrival at Union Station, they pass the steadily expanding Concord CityPlace development on the south side of the tracks. This was the Bathurst Street Bridge view of CityPlace on the afternoon of January 14.
City Scenes: Snow and ice on the ROM’s Crystal
Snow and ice on the Royal Ontario Museum’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal
Snowy crystal: Until earlier this month, I had never seen the Royal Ontario Museum’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal after a snowfall. Toronto didn’t get much snow last winter or in 2009, so whenever I was in the ROM’s vicinity, the Daniel Libeskind-designed Crystal looked the same as it does in summer. But I finally got to see a very wintry-looking Crystal when I passed the ROM on January 9. Here’s several pics from that afternoon.
City Scenes: AGO & Grange Park on a winter day
Morning sun glints from the tinted titanium and glass wall of the Frank Gehry-designed Art Gallery of Ontario at Grange Park on January 14 2011
