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CANADIAN COMPETITIONS CATALOGUE

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Competitor

Foster and Partners

Toronto Central Waterfront Design Competition

Presentation Panel

01

Presentation Panel

02

Presentation Panel

03

Presentation Panel

04

Presentation Panel

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Presentation Panel

06

Perspective

Aerial view

Perspective

Toronto Postcard

Perspective

View from the water

Perspective

View of the piers

Perspective

View of a Toronto "Lantern"

Photograph of Model

Site Plan

Plan

Portland Slip

Plan

Spadina Slip

Plan

Rees Slip

Plan

York Slip

Section

Queen Quay Boulevard

Section

Connection to the city

Conceptual Sketch

Schema

City analysis

Schema

Intention

Schema

The water edge

Schema

Water strategy

Schema

Wind strategy

GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE COMPETITOR

Competitor	Zeidler Partnership Architects
	www.zeidlerpartnership.com

	Foster + Partners
	www.fosterandpartners.com/

	Atelier Dreiseitl
	www.dreiseitl.com/

Doc. level	75%

Description

Toronto ''Lights''

Taking the City to the Water and the Water to the City
This scheme is a vision for a Toronto that is reunited with its waterside heritage. It is a holistic plan for an urban realm that is soaked in metaphorical references to water, but is also highly functional and creates a network of routes and spaces that will literally reinvent Toronto's waterfront experience. We aim to bring the city to the water and the water back into the city.

One City
The character of Toronto's urban zones (leisure, commerce, retail etc) will be pulled towards the water to reinforce the sense of Toronto and its waterfront as one city. The result is a waterfront that follows the urban grid, with distinct neighbourhoods, each with their own character.

The City in the Park
Our scheme comprises a green waterside park and a series of three piers that extend outward from the Heads of Slips and are mirrored as they retreat back into the city.

Public Space - a New Civic Centre
Addressing a social as well as a spatial flow of ideas, we have designed a masterplan that links physical space with human interaction. At the heart of the design concept is the idea of the waterfront as a valued public space and a new civic centre. Our team has the vision to forge new opportunities for interaction, and the drive to create socially and ecologically sustainable places that attract and generate new communities.

The City Meets the Water at the Slips
The classic picture-postcard view of Toronto from the lake belies a reality in which the city is quite disconnected from the water. Access to the waterside is awkward and obstructed by the railway and a sequence of roads. Our design of the strip and the stepped timber decks on the major slips creates a sense of the city reaching the waterfront and cascading down to meet the water. Like rolling out a red carpet at a premier, the piers are like a VIP entrance to an exciting urban event, with all the electric atmosphere of a film premiere on special occasions.

The Minimum Means for Maximum Effect
Using the minimum means to generate the maximum effect, our scheme is designed to be phased, and its implementation is practical and realisable. The first phase is the redesign of the Heads of Slips, followed by the mapping of the urban routes and connections that feed the waterfront.

The Future
Finally, we propose to extend the city out on a series of piers which culminate in the Toronto 'Lanterns'. Shaped like drops of water, these sculptural buildings will contain cultural, educational, leisure and commercial facilities that relate to the city zoning and will form powerful symbols of place.

(Competitor's text)

Jury Report

The jury felt that the Foster team recognized the importance of strong north-south connections between the city and the waterfront. This team's design proposal was the only one that developed major piers punctuated by iconic and visually elegant markers containing commercial enterprises jutting into the Toronto Harbour. The jury was concerned about commercial entities occupying such a prominent and public location in the inner harbor. The jury felt that the Foster scheme's new teardrop-like interventions would interfere with the existing nautical shipping routes and recreation boating that currently takes place in our harbour.

This scheme proposed a greening of the TTC tracks on Queens Quay Boulevard which the jury appreciated. The biotope proposed at Portland Street slip is an innovative way to address sustainability in the central waterfront and further exploration into these types of technologies along our waterfront and throughout our city is needed.

(From jury report)

List of accessible documents

25 scanned / 25 viewable

Presentation Panel
Presentation Panel
Presentation Panel
Presentation Panel
Presentation Panel
Presentation Panel
Perspective
Perspective
Perspective
Perspective
Perspective
Photograph of Model
Site Plan
Plan
Plan
Plan
Plan
Section
Section
Conceptual Sketch
Schema
Schema
Schema
Schema
Schema

IMPORTANT NOTICE : Unless otherwise indicated, photographs of buildings and projects are from professional or institutional archives. All reproduction is prohibited unless authorized by the architects, designers, office managers, consortiums or archives centers concerned. The researchers of the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence are not held responsible for any omissions or inaccuracies, but appreciate all comments and pertinent information that will permit necessary modifications during future updates.
info@ccc.umontreal.ca

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