Local projects win urban design awards
[attach]7129[/attach]Two notable midtown projects were among the 28 winners of this year’s Toronto Urban Design Awards, handed out Oct. 7–11 at
North York Civic Centre.
Evergreen Brick Works, which opened as a community centre in 2010, received an award of excellence in the Large Places or Neigbourhood Designs category.
North Toronto Collegiate Institute’s redevelopment, which included building a pair of condominium towers above the school, received an award of merit in the Public Buildings in Context category.
The recipients, announced on Sept. 11, were chosen by a jury of five architecture and urban design experts from across the country, including Marianne McKenna, a partner with downtown firm KPMB Architects, and Matthew Blackett, publisher and creative director of Toronto’s Spacing magazine. Judges considered 125 projects for the city award.
According to Allison Reid, an urban designer for the City of Toronto, projects winning the award of excellence are those that had
effectively incorporated the project’s surrounding landscape into its design, while the award of merit went to a project that would be “particularly noteworthy for aspects of its urban design, but perhaps has some areas for improvement.”
It wasn’t Evergreen CEO Geoff Cape’s idea to convert the Brick Works, a set of 16 heritage factory buildings near Bayview Avenue at the foot of the Don Valley ravine, into a community centre. But along with Evergreen COO Seana Irvine, he organized and encouraged the team that did.
Since opening in 2010, the Evergreen Brick Works has received more than 350,000 visitors per year, and is host to festivals, camp programs, farmers’ markets and art exhibits.
The site’s only new building is the Centre for Green Cities, a LEED Platinum certified building that serves as Evergreen’s headquarters, designed by architect Michael Leckman.
The grounds themselves were designed by a Canadian team led by urban designer Joe Lobko, who joined the project in 2006 after supervising a similar restoration of the Artscape Wychwood Barns.
Lobko said his team “healed” the site by creating a series of green pathways between its 16 heritage buildings, and by adding
public spaces such as a children’s garden at the foot of the main chimney stack that “allowed nature back in.”
“This project takes an old place that was once a lifeblood of the city and re-energizes it in a way that’s sustainable,” Lobko said.
“Receiving an award that acknowledges that is very gratifying.”
Jury member Blackett praised the Brick Works team, saying it is obvious the design was for the site to be experienced on foot, and that “whether you’re a tourist or resident, it’s a fantastic destination to visit.”
Blackett called the project at North Toronto Collegiate Institute “a really strong example of how to think outside the box with school redevelopment.”
Constructed in 1912, the school located between Broadway and Roehampton avenues was deteriorating badly when Ward 11 trustee Shelley Laskin proposed what she calls “a creative way to rebuild a school that was in very poor condition.”
North Toronto’s redevelopment cost about $52 million, which was offset by $22 million the board realized from the sale of two parcels of land to developer Tridel, which built a pair of highrise condominiums above the school.
Planning firms CS&P and Burka Architects designed the new space according to modern environmental standards, with an emphasis on outside-air ventilation and natural light.
The designers incorporated sections of the former building, added a walkway between Broadway and Roehampton, repositioned the sports field and replaced its grass with artificial turf, and even moved parking underground.
