A new public space is taking shape at the rear of Plaza's Musée, part of the mid-block public realm enhancements coming to this rapidly transforming area of Toronto. Situated just south of the 17-storey Quadrangle-designed condo's Adelaide Street West frontage, the 8,000 ft² park will be accessed off of quiet Adelaide Place.
New park taking shape at the rear of Musée, image by Caleb Cho
Designed by The Planning Partnership, the new public space has been anticipated to open in October, but with the end of the month drawing close, the targeted date may be moving back a bit. Despite this, progress continues at a relatively quick pace, and many elements of the park are now in place. When we last checked in on the park's construction at the end of September, sculptural concrete planters had been put in place, and tree planting had commenced.
New park taking shape at the rear of Musée, image by Caleb Cho
The newest photos of the site reveal plenty of changes, most notably the start of installation for the park's patterned paving program. The photo above shows a staggered pattern of grey and red pavers now covers much of the park's outer edges, soon to cover the entire park footprint. Other new developments include the addition of ornamental plants to the park's sculptural raised concrete planters, visible in the image below.
Raised planters in the new park, image by Caleb Cho
Another major element in the project's public realm is the sheltered, open air galleria carved through the building's ground level, and connecting Adelaide Street West with the new park. While this connection has been largely complete since the start of the year, it had been fenced off while the park's footprint was in use as a construction staging area for the tower above. Now that the park is being prepped for public use, paving is being installed within the galleria, following the same grey and red pattern used for the park to the south.
Musée Condos' ground level galleria, image by Caleb Cho
Additional information and renderings can be found in Musée's database file, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment in the field provided at the bottom of this page.