Assembly A Revaluation of Public Space in Toronto by Thomas-Bernard Kenniff A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Architecture in Architecture Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2005 © Thomas-Bernard Kenniff 2005 Author’s Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. iii Assembly A Revaluation of Public Space in Toronto ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on the problem of defining and designing public space in contemporary mass society. “Assembly” revaluates a cultural understanding of public space as the space of regulation, consumption and leisure, and works to find spaces of freedom, agency and action. Three iconic sites located in Toronto from three successive generations are examined: Nathan Phillips Square, the Eaton Centre and the new Dundas Square. These three sites form the primary division of the work and are respectively paired with extended critiques from three thinkers: Hannah Arendt, Jean Baudrillard, and Guy Debord. The pairings centre on Arendt’s account of the “rise of the social”, on Baudrillard’s analysis of consumption and on Debord’s dissection of the spectacle. The argument is presented in the form of an assemblage. Although the nature of this method invites each reader to construct their own meaning, this thesis grounds itself on a defined polemic. It considers public space to be marked by 1) the erosion of a clear distinction between our public and private realms, and their subsequent dissolution into the realm of the social, 2) the ideology of consumption overtaking the realm of the social, and 3) the world of the commodity replacing reality with the world of the spectacle. “Assembly” first consists of three main sections corresponding to the three sites. Each of these parts is assembled from three distinct strands: factual, theoretical and visual. The factual strand forms the main “field” of each section and is made up of selected quotations from mass media – newspapers, public documents and websites. The theoretical strand, consisting of pointed quotations from the relevant social theorist, is threaded through the field of mass media. The visual strand comprises two elements: a postcard that marks the beginning of the section and a series of authored photographs that follows and complements the text-based assemblage. Inevitably, the relationship between general social values and those of individuals is fraught. Consequently, and perhaps also inevitably, architectural design tends to reduce the manifoldness of the public realm into a homogenous and singular public space: the “whole”. This thesis pursues the question of how to conciliate individual agency with collective public experience. The process and form of “Assembly” deliberately celebrates this uncertainty of design, and takes “heterogeneity” as a necessary condition of public space. That it cannot offer a comprehensive solution is, perhaps, inherent to the question. iv Acknowledgements I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to everybody who has made this work possible and allowed it to happen. First of all to Philip Beesley, supervisor and friend, whose energy and commitment throughout the last year and a half have been invaluable. To my advisory committee, Robert Wiljer, Robert Jan Van Pelt and Rick Andrighetti, for their precious insight and support. To my external reader, George Baird, for accepting to play a part in the closing stage of this project. I would also like to thank the faculty members and staff of the school for their assistance, guidance and dedication throughout the last seven years. Thank you to my family, who has supported me unconditionally during my nine years in Ontario, and to my friends, who were always there to brighten up the long ride. And finally, to Jelena, for her dedication, love and unbelievable patience. v Table of Contents Title Page i Author’s Declaration iii Abstract iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vii List of Illustrations & Abbreviations viii Nathan Phillips Square 1 Competition Project Square Design Area Events Bylaw Transition Eaton Centre 67 Project Design Area Events Transition Dundas Square 115 Competition Design Project Area Setting Events Bylaw Bibliography 173 vii List of Illustrations & Abbreviations ILLUSTRATIONS Nathan Phillips Square postcard (modified by author) The Postcard Factory (ref. PC57-T029V) 1 Eaton Centre postcard (modified by author) The Postcard Factory (ref. PC57-T026V) 67 Dundas Square “Before & After” (modified by author) 115 www.ydsquare.ca/history.htm The author would like to thank the Toronto Eaton Centre for the permission to shoot and publish the photographs on pages 119 to 130. ABBREVIATIONS* The Human Condition THC The Consumer Society TCS La société de consommation LSDC Selected Writings SW The Society of the Spectacle SS Commentary on the Society of the Spectacle CSS Preliminaries Toward Defining a Unitary Revolutionary Program PTDURP The Globe and Mail TG&M The Toronto Star TTS *For complete reference, see bibliography. viii À Toronto et l’Ontario, et notre étrange relation durant les neuf dernières années... ix assembly n. I. The action or fact of assembling, the state of being assembled: 1. (a) Gathering together, meeting; the state of being collected or gathered. (b) The assembling of troops. (c) The action or method of assembling a machine or composite article; the parts so assembled. (d) The assembling of parts of a film or sound recording. 2. The coming together of two persons or things; meeting, conjunction, union. 3. Hostile meeting, onslaught, attack. II. The company assembled: 4. A gathering of persons; a number of people met together; a concourse, throng. 5. A gathering of persons for the purpose of deliberation and decision; a deliberative body, a legislative council. 6. (a) A gathering of persons for religious worship; a congregation. (b) In schools, a general gathering of staff and pupils (usu. before lessons begin) for worship or other purposes. 7. A gathering of persons for purposes of social entertainment. 8. A collection of things. III. A military call by drum or bugle. xi 1 Competition The vita activa, human life in so far as it is actively engaged in doing something, is al- ways rooted in a world of men and manmade things which it never leaves or altogether tran- scends. Things and men form the environment for each of man’s activities, which would be pointless without such location. THC, p.22. 2 It is an old, familiar sight when a man hoists a child on his shoulders: a royal procession, a variety show, a funeral or a baseball game. But yesterday, when the winning design for the new City Hall and Civic Square competition was unveiled in the foyer of Eaton’s College Street, a small boy was lifted high in the crowd by a parent so that he might be one of the very first to have a view. Whatever else made architectural history in this international competition, Toronto’s interest did. —Pearl McCarthy, TG&M, “Design has beauty, zestful verve”, 27 September 1958. 3 Commencing Saturday, September 27th, Eaton’s College Street proudly exhibits the prize-winning models and drawings of the Toronto “City Hall and Square” Competition. —Ad, TG&M, 26 September 1958. All human activities are conditioned by the fact that men live together, but it is ac- tion that cannot even be imagined out- side the society of men. THC, p.22. 5 By a majority vote of 3-2, the architects judging the competition favored the monumental creation of Finnish designer Viljo Revell. It is formed by two crescent-shaped skyscrapers enclosing an inverted bowl and will rise to a height of 356 feet. 56 feet higher than the present City Hall tower. —Stanley NPS - Competition 2 Westall, TG&M, “City Hall cost seen $30,000,000”, 27 September 1958. 6 Toronto unveiled its new City Hall yesterday like a man taking his first swim of the season. There was a splash, a moment of shock, and then a practically unanimous reaction: “It’s fine!” —Stanley Westall, TG&M, “City Hall cost seen $30,000,000”, 27 September 1958. Action alone is the exclusive prerogative of man; neither a beast nor a god is capable of it, and only action is entirely dependent upon the constant presence of others. THC, p.23. 8 The judges’s choice of a design for Toronto’s new City Hall appears to be a popular one, not only with the public at large, but with the City fathers. —Editorial, TG&M, 29 September 1958. 9 The winning design is beautiful, to the eye of this layman commentator, having the zestful verve people hope for in modern design. No repetitious example of the clean slab but curves of dignity here plus a sense of airy contemporaneity. —Pearl McCarthy, TG&M, “Design has beauty zestful verve”, 27 September 1958. The distinction between a public and a private sphere of life corresponds to the household and the political realms, which have existed as distinct, separate entities at least since the rise of the ancient city-state; but the emergence of the social realm which is neither public nor private, strictly speaking, is a relatively new phenomenon whose origin coincided with the emergence of the modern age and which found its political form in the nation-state. THC, p.28. 11 “It is a most imaginative and original concept,” said the judges. But two of them felt so strongly about the design’s limitation that they sat up until 5 a.m. preparing a minority report. —Stanley Westall, TG&M, “City Hall cost seen $30,000,000”, 27 September 1958.