Toronto Star

The rejuvenation of Nathan Phillips Square started with a bang last March: An Academy Awards-style announcement of the winning design to remake Toronto's most important public space. Today, after stripping away the special Christmas lighting, you'll find – well, you'll find pretty much the same old square. But in the mind of design architect Andrew Frontini, the square is already evolving. Frontini sees a broad stairway rising from the square's northwest corner to the elevated walkway, shaded on hot days by a trellis. He likens it to Rome's Spanish Steps – a sloping meeting and mingling place that adds a new dimension to the square. The trellis covering the stairway will also support lighting for the new, glass-roofed stage on the western edge of the square. Frontini sees a garden on the roof of the main podium, a restaurant at the west end of the reflecting pool and a "disappearing fountain" with water rising from the pavement on the expanse in the square's centre. He sees colourful paving materials, and glass panels forming parts of the elevated walkway railing. Just when will the public see them translated into reality?