New Park at 229 Richmond St. W Design Competition

A climate-resilient park for a dense urban community

DTAH was one of five shortlisted teams for the design of a new park in downtown Toronto. 

Located in Toronto’s entertainment district, the park will add much-needed green space to a community with one of the lowest parkland provision rates in the city. The design objective for this site sought to create a sustainable green oasis that provides flexible spaces to support cultural programming, and incorporates Indigenous knowledge, worldviews, and languages.

DTAH led a multidisciplinary team, including Paul Raff (artist and supporting architect), Trophic Design (Indigenous design partner, supporting landscape architect), Melanie Sifton (urban ecology and soils), Monumental (public engagement), and Arup (structural, mechanical, and electrical engineering, climate positive design, lighting design).

 

Location

Toronto, Ontario

Client

City of Toronto

Named Nookomis Garden, the park design prioritizes Indigenous worldviews and relational views of land protection and features a large stone landform in the shape of an open palm - symbolizing the animism of the earth. In cradling a grove of planting within, it reminds us to care for nature. 

The design proposes a native planting palette representative of the Southern Ontario oak woodland ecology and seeks to recreate a living soil ecosystem to support the visible organic plant layer above. 

The design strategy holds sustainability at its core, with a climate positive design ambition influencing both the landscape architecture and the pavilion. The team worked extensively to reduce the carbon footprint of the design, incorporating site infiltration, material reuse and site biodiversity strategies, contributing to a more climate resilient park. 

The highly sustainable all-electric washroom pavilion was designed primarily of wood with integrated stormwater management features to mitigate flooding and support expanded ecology in an urban park setting.

More Projects

View All