Toronto’s Playground

Toronto, Ontario

The mission of Toronto’s Playground is to provide the city’s increasingly diverse population with an equally diverse recreation and community space, focusing on the multidimensionality of play and its effects on the mind, body, and soul; This results in a public space where residents can relax or challenge themselves while interacting with people who they ordinarily would not have the chance to, building community and social capital.

Toronto’s Playground focused on play based on the ‘live, work, play’ philosophy and the future needs of the area. To the west, the West Don Valley plan will provide the area with a diverse mix of housing; to the south, the East Harbor plan will provide the area with high-rise office complexes. Our site seeks to provide the missing ‘play’ aspect in the ‘live, work, play’ philosophy while seamlessly blending the edges of the three different proposals together. The sites connectivity is improved with the reconnection of Eastern Avenue across the river and the slimming of the Don Valley Parkway, allowing safe and enjoyable pedestrian access to the waterfront.

The ‘body’ park serves as the major axis of the site - bound by high-rise mixed-use residential buildings, a high rise office building, and a multi-modal transit station. The transit station increases Toronto’s Playground’s connection to the city center that is 2 miles to the East. Parking for the site is located in a deck under the park and can be accessed through the transit station. The deck not only provides parking for those living, working, and playing at Toronto’s Playground but it also offers a place for people who live further from public transit to ‘park and ride’ one of the many routes that service the station.

A community center is located in the lower floors of the mixed-use residential building closest to Broadview Avenue. The community center will provide indoor recreation space, education and employment services, and affordable coworking space. The community center will also serve as the manager of Toronto’s playground’s outdoor recreation space, comprised of the ‘body’ park, ‘mind’ park, ‘soul’ park, and riverwalk. The ‘body’ park boasts a high ropes course, rock climbing boulders, fitness equipment, and a playground; creating a space that makes physical fitness less mundane while offering opportunities for corporate and community team building exercises.

The ‘mind’ park asks users to engage their imagination at the ‘build your own playground’ station, comprised of temporary structures made with builders boards. The ‘mind’ park also includes a sensory garden and a demonstration space for the community center to host educational workshops. The ‘soul’ park offers a forest theater, surrounded by existing trees, where a variety of cultural performances will take place. The ‘soul’ park also provides unprogrammed green space.

While I contributed to all aspects of the design, I focused on the riverwalk portion of the project. The goal was to reconnect Torontonians to the water by providing space that could be utilized during every season of the year. Spaces were created so that there could be active participation (actively engaging the river) or passive participation (places to watch and observe).