Toronto Quay to the City

In June of 2006, West 8 + DTAH won the prestigious Toronto Central Waterfront Design Competition held by Waterfront Toronto.

1 — 4 The 10-day event replaced traffic with bicycle lanes and featured a kilometre-long stretch of red geraniums, a picnic lawn, and a four-storey sculptural arch made of over 600 bicycles.

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With a desire for early action, TWRC gave West 8 +DTAH the mandate to explore the potential of the design proposition for Queens Quay Boulevard in an interim project during the summer of 2006. This temporary landscape intervention was constructed to allow the public to experience the benefits of the new proposal – a prelude to the first-phase implementation of the master plan to follow. The 10-day event also offered a chance for the design team to test practical aspects of the closure of the south side of the street and explore the feasibility of the street reconfiguration.

For 10 days, traffic was replaced with bicycle lanes, a kilometre-long stretch of 12,000 red geraniums, and a picnic lawn the length of almost ten football fields. A four-storey sculptural arch built with over 600 bicycles highlighted the temporary new section of the bike trail.

Client
Waterfront Toronto

Partners
DuToit Allsopp Hillier (DTAH), Halsall Associates and David Dennis Design