Cable car above the Gardiner: good idea

The first Urban Ideas Competition in Toronto drew some inspired concepts and visions to “Reconnect Toronto’s Waterfront.” One entry was for a cable car to run above the Gardiner Expressway across the downtown, all the way from Ontario Place in the west to the Don River in the East. Given that traffic along the Gardiner is now strangled while it undergoes major repairs, it’s surprising that the “Shoreline Skyway” to soar over the fumes and traffic congestion didn’t win more support. The scheme, by Kyle Miller and Matthew Kelling of the University of Toronto, was for a 6-kilometre elevated line that would make 11 stops and travel at around 16 kilometres an hour.

The scheme that won as “Overall Vision Winner,” in the competition was also intriguing and was by a team at Dillon Consulting. Their concept, “Inundation,” created seven wide water channels that push north to Front Street. The existing rail corridor is covered with new parks. The Dillon team consisted of Merrilees Willemse, Martina Braunstein, Kiran Chhiba, Mark Hillmer and Jay Leasa. Eha Naylor, a partner with the firm, explained “inundation references the historic shoreline along Front Street and peels back the layers of development that have contributed to make Toronto what it is today.”

The People’s Choice Winner in the competition was “Green Deck City” by Line Architecture Group, and the Site Specific Winner was “ReVAMP” by Carolyn Rowan and Robyn Whitwham.

The competition was organized by the Young Leaders Initiative of the Urban Land Institute Toronto. It was open to members of the public, architects and designers, students, etc. and drew entries from across Canada, the U.S. and as far away as Korea.

The judges were Paul Bedford, former chief planner with the City of Toronto, Shirley Blumberg of KPMB Architects, Meg Davis of Waterfront Toronto, and David Gerofsky of Great Gulf.

All the submissions are on display at the Eaton Centre Tower Lobbies and at ULI”s website, click here.