Rees Ridge
Inspired by Scarborough's signature bluffs, Rees Ridge is a dynamic vertical garden infused with play in Toronto's Waterfront District. It mitigates the air and noise pollution of the Gardiner Expressway, while celebrating the drama and scale of the infrastructure and city. Uniquely planted with endemic species native to Lake Ontario, the park will become an iconic botanical experience within the city.
The landform creates a welcoming space where a gradient of activities, communities and features coexist. The Ridge is a new vantage point for viewing Lake Ontario and a backdrop for the lively activity of the park below.
Activated by ramps, stairs, slides, swings, hills, and slopes, the Ridge offers passive and active play in three dimensions: sliding and climbing; elevated areas surrounded by native vegetation to view the lake and city; and an interactive waterfall throughout the seasons. Vertical organization provides the space for a café, community room, and restrooms at street level, maximizing the available garden area.
The flatlands provide open space for pick-up games, lounging, and events. The park opens up to Lake Shore Boulevard through the ridge, creating visual and physical links between park and city. Bluff plant communities filter air and enhance the biodiversity of the Toronto Waterfront.
Rees Ridge is a singular icon on the Toronto Waterfront, a hybrid of infrastructure and the geology that defines Lake Ontario's landscape. This Ridge connects visitors to city and lake through a rich botanical and programmatic experience, imagining Toronto's vibrant new urban park.
(Web site excerpt)
The Jury was impressed by this large singular move to address the relationship of Rees Street Park to the Gardiner expressway. This proposal is a bold concept for a difficult site - it pushes back and can hold its own against the Gardiner. It was felt that Rees Ridge would change the relationship of the waterfront to the downtown by visually removing the Gardiner for one long city block. This proposal, alone among the entries, achieved the appropriate scale and proportion for this challenging site.
The design brief for Rees Street Park requested an emphasis on play and on community uses. This proposal includes exciting potential for program opportunities and events that will satisfy the needs of local residents. The proposal also allows for flexibility for art integration and creates less limiting opportunities for artists than other designs.
The Jury felt that Rees Ridge was multi-functional, thoughtful about winter and summer uses, and will make a strong addition to the ensemble of parks along Queens Quay as a unique and complementary space. The proposal also addresses the future storm water infrastructure requirements for the site.
The Jury has concerns about the cost and complexity of this proposal and offered the following qualifications and conditions, which should be taken as advice in the development of the design:
• The north side of the ridge must address Lake Shore Boulevard and create an inviting and safe experience for all users on the street.
• The design should include no tunnels and no dead ends, opening up "cuts" to Lake Shore Boulevard for safety.
• Park-like slopes, ramps, and other features required by AODA should be appealing, realistic and avoid looking like access ramps to a building.
• The top walkway must be lower than the Gardiner expressway and also be shielded from it.
• Remove the large cantilever at the east end of the ridge, as it is difficult to operate as a public space and costly to construct.
• Reconsider the waterfall or integrate it better into the landscape.
• Provide more slopes that are occupiable.
• Bolster the role of the landscape design within the team and enhance the landscape and planting plans.
• Create sample 1:1 models of the slopes and vegetation in advance of construction for Waterfront Toronto / Parks, Forestry and Recreation to approve.
• Make the western edge of the site more permeable and open at-grade apertures at each corner.
• The Jury supports the team's interest in indigenous engagement in the design.
• Aspects of this project feel like a building. When complete it must feel like a lush landscape.
• The play value must be enhanced through greater attention to equipment, surfaces and range of users.
• Project must come in on budget.
(From jury report)
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