Collaborators  MJMA  This 2018 competition entry proposed an urban forest on the site of a former highway off-ramp near Toronto’s waterfront. We were thrilled to be shortlisted from an international call for qualifications and our proposal was the

York Forest Toronto Waterfront Competition

Toronto, CA

  Collaborators  MJMA  This 2018 competition entry proposed an urban forest on the site of a former highway off-ramp near Toronto’s waterfront. We were thrilled to be shortlisted from an international call for qualifications and our proposal was the

Collaborators
MJMA

This 2018 competition entry proposed an urban forest on the site of a former highway off-ramp near Toronto’s waterfront. We were thrilled to be shortlisted from an international call for qualifications and our proposal was the runner up. Encircling a plot of ground, the ramp had protected the soil against impacts of urbanization for several decades. A grove of “heritage” canopy trees in this protected area provided the scaffold for an evolving urban forest on the site.

Like some ancient city fortifications, which now serve as cherished areas for public recreation and engagement with nature, the off-ramp and the land it protected offer unique potential for a new public landscape. An urban forest provides sensory richness, wildlife habitat, and overall enhanced quality of life for park visitors. The path of the off-ramp is traced on the site as a performative stormwater filtration course that encircles the site and serves as a threshold of rich ecological, cultural, and experiential diversity.

The proposal encourages varied experiences, adaptation, and dissimilar concurrent uses through subtle layering of space and adjacencies York Forest weaves our expertise and knowledge into poetic revelations of the site’s and city’s ambiguous histories and lost ecologies. This proposal strives to reveal and celebrate Toronto’s interconnected histories of natural systems, infrastructure, culture, and community.

Waterfront Toronto - York Street Park Website

York Forest Booklet4.jpg
York Forest Booklet5.jpg
York Forest Booklet6.jpg
York Forest Booklet8a.jpg
York Forest Booklet9.jpg
York Forest Booklet10.jpg
York Forest Booklet11.jpg
York Forest Booklet11s.jpg
York Forest Booklet12.jpg
York Forest Booklet14a.jpg
York Forest Booklet14b.jpg
York Forest Booklet15a.jpg
York Forest Booklet15b.jpg
York Forest Booklet single32.jpg
York Forest Booklet single33.jpg
York Forest Booklet single36.jpg
York Forest Booklet single37.jpg
York Forest Booklet single38.jpg
York Forest Booklet single39.jpg
York Forest Booklet single40.jpg
York Forest Booklet single41.jpg
York Forest Booklet single42.jpg
York Forest Booklet single43.jpg
York Forest Booklet single44.jpg
York Forest Booklet single45.jpg
York Forest Booklet single46.jpg
York Forest Booklet single47.jpg
York Forest Booklet single50.jpg
York Forest Booklet single51.jpg
York Forest Booklet single51.jpg
York Forest Booklet single52.jpg
York Forest Booklet single53.jpg
York Forest Booklet single54.jpg
York Forest Booklet28.jpg
York Forest Booklet29a.jpg
York Forest Booklet29b.jpg