Winnipeg eyes on Toronto

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This article was published 01/08/2023 (796 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg architecture firm has installed three pairs of eyes to watch over one of Toronto’s busiest intersections.

They aren’t surveillance cameras or photo-radar machines to monitor for any potential crimes in the area. The giant peepers at the corner of York Street and Lakeshore Boulevard have a more lighthearted purpose.

Boom Town — a creation of Winnipeg firm 5468796 Architecture and Office in Search Of, a Toronto firm headed by two former Winnipeggers — won a 2022 design competition that includes three “costumed” boom trucks, called Boom Buddies and adorned with giant eyes, which have made their homes at the intersection.

The installation, which was completed earlier this summer, has also seen four sets of dirty, aging girders and beams on a section of the Gardiner Expressway turned iridescent blue, using paint and special vinyl coverings.

“Hopefully this will touch a lot of people who walk through (the area) in their daily lives, and make them smile and make them appreciate the surroundings they’re in,” says Johanna Hurme, a co-founder of 5468796 Architecture.

The googly-eyed boom trucks and bright blue paint have added colour to an area defined by the large concrete and steel supports that hold up the Gardiner Expressway, an elevated freeway built in 1958 that has become a symbol for Toronto’s traffic problems, aiding in the perception of downtown’s concrete-jungle vibe.

Boom trucks, also known as cherry-pickers, are commonplace near the Gardiner, as workers use them to inspect and repair the overhead roadway. The Winnipeg firm, along with Brandon Bergem and Jeffrey Garcia of Office in Search Of, used them as inspiration for the design, Hurme says.

They’re named Trekker, Tinker and Trooper.

The installation is part of a program to reconnect downtown Toronto to Lake Ontario by the Bentway — a Toronto non-profit that aims to revitalize and create safer public spaces under the Gardiner Expressway — the City of Toronto and the Waterfront Business Improvement Area.

“Boom Town adds an element of joy and excitement and achieves the vibrancy that the design competition called for,” the jury that selected Boom Town writes on the Bentway’s website. “In addition to the use of cherry-pickers as ‘ambassadors’ of the work being done on the Gardiner Expressway, this proposal was clever, has a strong understanding of the site and tells a story.”

Location is a buzzword in real estate but it also applies to art and design. It would be difficult for Boom Town to have a better spot in Toronto: the York-Lakeshore intersection is within walking distance of famous landmarks such as the CN Tower, Toronto’s Harbourfront, Rogers Centre and Union Station.

“It’s super-fun to be able to see it come to life,” Hurme says. “It’s become very Instragrammable, if that’s a word.”

The Boom Buddies are more than just googly eyes. The pieces of construction equipment are meant to be dressed up for special occasions.

They made a colourful debut to mark Toronto’s recent Pride celebrations, as pool noodles transformed the cherry-pickers into rainbow-coloured cousins of Animal, the Muppets’ lovable monster known for his frenetic drumming style.

“We found them to be very anthropomorphic figures. We thought if we somehow dress them up, they become more lively actors under the Gardiner,” Hurme says, adding there are plans for Halloween and Christmas costumes.

“Just let it be fun and engaging for kids and the public at large and hopefully put a smile on people’s faces.”

The project, which has a three- to five-year lifespan, had a $289,000 budget, Hurme says, but the rental of the boom trucks was only a small fraction of the cost compared with colouring the bents.

“As weird as it sounds, because it’s just paint and vinyl, it was actually the bigger cost. That has to do with stopping traffic, making a traffic plan while the work is going on and being able to pay crews for work off-hours to avoid rush hour,” Hurme says.

If companies had hobbies, then Boom Town would be the pastime of 5468796 Architecture’s staff, which typically focuses its energies on multi-family housing units in downtown Winnipeg and the Exchange District, most notably the 2021 conversion of the James Avenue Pumping Station into apartments, offices and a restaurant.

Boom Town is “not a big moneymaker or something that would sustain our office and our crew of 20 for a long time, but certainly it’s been fun for the entire team to be involved in this project,” Hurme says.

“There’s a lot faster turnaround to see it from the idea stage to completion, so from that perspective, it would be more on the fun side of what we do every day.”

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @AlanDSmall