Located at the centre of Greater Sudbury, the downtown has lost its place amongst the City's tapestry of isolated communities - Copper Cliff, Lively, Garson and Coniston to name a few. Each community functions independently, with their own local grocery store, gas station and library. With all of one's needs only a short automobile ride away, static patches have developed, and people tend to not move outside of their neighbourhood comfort zone. Where does a historic downtown core sit within this static quilt and, more importantly, how do we begin to re-stitch it into the city, province and country?
In 2050 the downtown is envisioned as being a canvas on which the city explores how a historically diverse community can embroider a new identity for itself and the City of Greater Sudbury as a whole. Our project will Re-stitch Downtown Sudbury using districts, paths, nodes, landmarks and natural edges. Downtown today contains a diverse patchwork of cultures, demographics, programs, buildings and natural spaces. Our project addresses the challenge of re-stitching the core by building upon existing physical and social infrastructure, such as: the historic regreening effort, the railways, the mining and lumber industries, the creative arts, the film industry, and the vibrant traditions of the European, Francophone and Indigenous communities.
Downtown Sudbury is a worn out, static quilt that is waiting to be re-patched, re-developed and stitched back together. Within this proposal we have developed districts and initiatives in the downtown core that do not act as entities, but instead combine and collaborate to develop a stronger overall downtown.
Patch: Learning District
There are multiple learning facilities present in downtown Sudbury: The McEwen School of Architecture, central library, three secondary schools, and multiple seniors residences, that are currently disconnected. The creation of the Learning District aims to connect these existing facilities, while introducing new programs and spaces. This district will promote intergenerational and creative-industry exchange of knowledge.
We plan to rebuild the existing library, implement a daycare within the space, along with senior programming to create a stimulating environment and initiate an exchange of knowledge between these different demographics. Nearby an abandoned school which currently houses an Indie cinema will be repurposed as a film school, further strengthening a growing local industry. The area surrounding the McEwen School of Architecture will house an expanded building lab and a university outdoor centre for Laurentian students living downtown. This district will also include a new student residence, that will provide housing for students studying in this learning patch. The creative and collaborative work environments located in this patch will also be accessible to local highschool students, specifically the Sudbury Secondary School Art Program.
Patch: Innovation District
The Innovation District was designed from the ground-up, taking advantage of the city's industrial roots and the vacant lots adjacent to the existing train tracks. We designed the district around the idea of reintroducing industry and employment into the downtown core. The working middle-class demographic has historically been shrinking, and our goal is to re-stitch this demographic into the fabric of downtown.
Our proposal envisions small-scale innovation labs and warehouses which cater to the globally growing need for urban areas to address infrastructure issues in an environmentally friendly way. This district, along with the downtown as a whole, will be transformed into a space for experimentation. New ideas will be explored, produced and distributed locally, creating jobs and strengthening the local economy. If successful, the ideas will be exported to other urban areas within Canada and the North.
The district is envisioned to contain a Mass-Timber Lab that will utilize the infrastructure of the adjacent railway, large local labor pool, and the wood expertise of the McEwen School of Architecture to transform lumber from the north into modular CLT construction. The output will serve local projects and the mass-timber building boom of Southern Ontario. This district will also include labs and warehouses which explore environmental initiatives - expanding on the innovative work of the regreening effort, through a deeper collaboration with traditional ecological knowledge. We have envisioned a warehouse which processes locally grown beets into a brine solution that de-ices roads in a way that is more friendly to infrastructure and the environment.
Patch: Activity District
This district aims to implement a more vibrant and unique infrastructure downtown, promoting tourism with destination based programming. It will build on existing downtown programs: restaurants, bars, stores, theatres and art galleries. Our plan is to add to the existing social environment with adaptable reuse and infill projects.
The arena will be renovated and expanded. The CNR station will be renovated to become a year round market. The YMCA will be expanded and opened into Memorial Park. Roy's Furniture will become a brewery thanks to more inclusive zoning. The Mackey building will become a boutique hotel and artist lofts. The parking lot that surrounds it will be transformed into an iconic new home for the Art Gallery of Sudbury. Elm Place will be retained, but opened up to the streets and renovated to provide a space for shelter and shopping in the harsh Sudbury winter months. An abandoned parking garage in the centre of the city will become a graffiti gallery and youth space. The transit terminal will be relocated and housed in a renovated Ledo Hotel. We have placed the terminal close to the arena, housing developments and market space to establish an "eyes-on-the-street" concept of safety.
Patch: Tradition District
This district attempts to reveal and celebrate Indigenous culture in Sudbury. Located at the gateway to downtown, currently occupied by the transit terminal, the proposal seeks to re-patch a site that currently is associated with strong negative perceptions. The existing N'Swakamok Native Friendship Centre is also poorly sited and uninviting. This patch has been designed to initiate an exchange of knowledge and better understand Sudbury's history before colonial contact and industrial development.
This district would include an Indigenous cultural centre, canoe building space, museum and wellness centre. The district is centralized around water, an important element of Indigenous culture. This patch would also include a trail maintenance program, an initiative that would act as an educational tool, where the community can plant and harvest local Indigenous plants and maintain green spaces in and around "The Loop" downtown.
Stitch: Adaptation - Elm Place, Modular Housing, Parking and Beets
Our plan is to adapt and apply layers of new programs and ideas within existing infrastructure and spaces. Elm Place is an uninviting building that takes up a large portion of the downtown. We plan to redesign the interior and exterior to create an environment catered towards seniors, the demographic that uses it most. The roof will be transformed into a large growing initiative, composed of outdoor and indoor growing spaces.
Implementing a "Wood Lab" in the innovative district of downtown initiates the development of modular CLT locally. CLT is a renewable construction material that is efficient, eco-friendly and has the potential to be modified, adapted, recycled and re-constructed. We plan to construct modular CLT affordable housing projects in empty parking lots downtown. The design of affordable modular housing has been kept consistent throughout downtown. These spaces are designed with a central outdoor activity space: basketball courts, skateparks, rinks, outdoor patios and gardens may be programmed in combination with the modular initiatives. The base level programming of these residential units will be designed to attract people into the downtown core.
Downtown parking will be moved underground, allowing for greenhouse growing initiatives to use the above ground, people friendly streetscape. These greenhouse growing initiatives (specific to growing beets) have been introduced in multiple downtown locations.
Stitch : Natural Edges - The Loop, Paths and Water
This project introduces a green loop of trails that would circle the entire downtown, with accessible stitched path systems weaving throughout the downtown core. The hope is that this loop would act as a display of how re-greening can be pushed even further. Along these paths would be growing spaces and community gardens, some would include traditional indigenous medicinal plants. Enhancing our current relationship with water is something this project focuses on. River water from Junction Creek and Nolan Creek is resurfaced, filtered and pumped into accessible spaces. Downtown residents can interact and develop a stronger connection with water.
Stitch : Follies
We have designed "Superstack Follies" that would be dispersed throughout the downtown, made from the Superstack (a Sudbury icon that is going to be torn down in the future). These follies are designed as social hubs within the downtown. People working, learning or visiting various districts can meet and gather on these forms. The follies have different functions: water filtration, experimental agriculture, community murals, movie projections, cafes and seating spaces.
(From competitor's text)
Winner - "Re-Stitched" - STUDENT CATEGORY $10,000 PRIZE
(Sudbury)
Aidan Lucas, Maeve Macdonald
"Re-stitched tugs at the loose threads of where we've been and enables us to imagine where we can go. This submission embraces who and what we are and then re-stitches the pieces to create a new tapestry that re-imagines an urban core as a destination for everyone." - Deb McIntosh, Competition Juror, Councillor City of Greater Sudbury.
"The folly notion captures the emerging spirit of Sudbury. Playful, not averse to risk and accepting of past challenges and conditions in order to reimagine them in thoughtful and well-grounded new ways for living collaboratively." - Ted Wilson, Competition Juror, OAA, McEwen School of Architecture (Laurentian University)
(From jury report)
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