THE NEST SNØHETTA PMA Landscape Architects THE NEST 2 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 3 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS Executive Summary THE NEST Our memories of home are often defined by a range of experiences, from introspective moments, to eating a meal with family and playing with friends. While the ‘front’ of the home directly engages the surrounding neighborhood, it is in the backyard where we truly express ourselves as individuals - freely, creatively and with great energy! The backyard is our snug hideaway, our experimental stage, our NEST. Our proposal seeks to offer Torontonians a new backyard - a place where the diverse people of this city and its visitors feel a sense of ownership and pride - a space for active play, for engaging with the community and for reflection. It is a place that will offer respite from the urban environment - a haven for people and other creatures to interact. The NEST is a testament to Toronto’s resiliency as a city that has continually adapted to change and is the next chapter in the evolution of the city’s waterfront. The new park will fill a void by connecting the existing system of parks and public spaces to create a unified vision for this bustling lakefront. Designed to be seasonally dynamic, the NEST will engage visitors throughout the year creating a new precedent for parks in Toronto and the world. 4 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 5 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND 6 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 7 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS How can the NEST adapt to Toronto’s Toronto’s Front Yard radpidly evolving Waterfront? History of Toronto’s Shoreline Toronto’s Waterfront has evolved from an 2016 Population by Age Group industrial and trading edge to become 6% the front yard of the city. It is a point of 0-14 15% arrival, welcoming visitors and is the face 15% KING STREET STREET WELLINGTON STREET FRONT LAND RAIL PARK REES of Toronto to the world. 15-24 12% AN EVOLVING WATERFRONT 51% 25-44 Cities need to be innovative and adaptable 31% 1834 to the rapid changes in economy, 17% technology, social and cultural values. 45-64 27% Throughout history, Toronto has proven to be a city of adaptation; The Waterfront 10% 65+ 16% Development emerged, after all, from a Rees st 1859 declining industrial port. Toronto’s vision Lakeshore Blvd Gardiner Expressway and dedication to investment in the public (Ward 20) (Toronto) sphere has redefined the Waterfront as a world-class destination, making Toronto Queens Quay Blvd one of the most livable cities in the world. With the Waterfront’s transition into a 1886 highly dense, diverse, new neighbourhood comes new demands for the way residents and visitors interact and depend on the public realm. 1912 54.7% 74% 1959 74% of Ward 20’s Ward 20 population population lives in change since 2006 5+ storey apartments with no backyard of 2018 Ward 20 Census Boundaries their own Site Historical Sections Source: Statistics Canada, 2016 Census of Population. City of Toronto. October 2017 8 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 9 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS How can the NEST be respectful to This is not the Waterfront CONNECT its neighbours yet have its own unique character? While the project site sits very close to the lake edge, it is sandwiched between two major infrastructure corridors - Queens Quay Boulevard and Gardiner Expressway/ Lakeshore Boulevard. This adjacency provides unique opportunities to stitch the urban fabric of the city to the water’s ELEVATE edge. PUBLIC REALM Rees st Lakeshore Blvd Although the site is not the waterfront and CIRCULATION seeks its own unique identity, it would be The existing park site is lot-locked, land- a loss not to unite with this world-class locked and view-locked. While these waterfront in meaningful ways. Queens Quay Blvd could be considered site constraints, the proposal uses the existing conditions Sitting within a system of existing parks as opportunities to offer new ways of and neighbourhood amenities, the site has seeing the waterfront and framing the city. a responsibility to engage in a dialogue with Multiple entries along all edges make the DIFFERENTIATE its neighbors. It needs to extend beyond its NEST a new crossroads within the system limits to connect CN tower, Rogers Centre, of public amenities along this edge. Roundhouse Park, Harbourfront Centre, HTO Park and ultimately the lake edge. INFRASTRUCTURE Our proposal draws subtle cues of In addition to vehicular infrastructure, materiality and geometry from its neighbors the park has been earmarked for a future and offers complementary programmatic Wet Weather Flow Storage Shaft. Taking elements to further enhance the diversity of advantage of this piece of infrastructure, Gardiner activities in this neighbourhood. our proposal creates new vistas allowing Expressway visitors to see beyond the limits of the Expressway site. Lakeshore Blvd. Site Queens Quay HTO Park Lake Ontario Lot-locked, land-locked, view-locked: Existing site conditions require a design strategy that lifts and engages users visually with the lake edge 10 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 11 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS How can the NEST Beyond the City Limits thrive in an urban environment? In addition to a dynamic urban URBAN HABITAT environment, Toronto offers its The Leslie Street Spit, a manmade inhabitants a wealth of unique natural headland across the Waterfront houses environments just beyond the city limits. Tommy Thompson Park. Considered an important bird area, the park is home to ALVARS over 300 species of birds. Alvars are a globally rare habitat located throughout Ontario. They are characterized The Toronto waterfront provides a by a unique community of plants that can unique opportunity to design for urban thrive on a thin layer of soil over limestone habitat because it provides a connected or dolostone rock. Alvars provide habitat greenspace corridor, necessary for urban for unique, rich, and rare species native wildlife to move freely. In the case of to Ontario that are tolerant of flooding birds, tall tree stands, proximity to fresh and drought conditions. The challenging water source, and opportunities for winter conditions in which these plant species foraging are key for their survival in the have learned to survive can be considered urban realm. analogous to our urban environment. Alvars In the Great Lakes Basin Given the proximity to other key bird The NEST takes inspiration from this habitat areas along the waterfront such as unique ecology of alvar pavements, Peter Slip, Spadina Quay, and the Tommy grasslands and shrublands to create an Thompson Bird Research Station, the NEST urban landscape able to thrive with limited seeks to engage with these other habitats resources and maintenance. These alvar in a small, but uniquely urban way to habitat typologies are reinterpreted and provide designed opportunities to foraging applied to the site in a variety of ways and nesting. including pavements, plantings, and the character of walls. Drawing from the inspiration of alvars offers a unique didactic opportunity to learn about the larger Great Lakes region, its unique ecology, and remind residents and visitors that we are connected to our environment beyond the city. 12 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 13 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS OUR BACKYARDS 14 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 15 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS Lake Shore Blvd W Welcome to the NEST Gardiner Expy 15 A Backyard for the People Rees St 11 While the Waterfront has established itself as an ambassador for Toronto’s front yard, the NEST can 10 become Toronto’s backyard for the community. In the same way that the backyard is an outdoor extension of the private home, the NEST offers a reinterpretation 12 14 of the traditional backyard; an intimate - yet public- 18 community space to meet the needs of the high density 06 urban dweller. 04 The NEST offers a central hub among Toronto’s downtown 13 17 and waterfront districts that caters to the diverse needs 05 and desires of the local community. As the backyard to the waterfront, intimate “pockets” throughout the 07 site direct experiences inwards, while still prioritizing 16 09 connections to the surrounding context. These pockets 02 are embedded with opportunities for play for all ages abilities, with life-long play - embedded throughout the 01 various program elements - being the driving factor for 08 the backyard concept. Finally, a backyard can only exist when it is engaged 03 by and adapted for the need of its users. The NEST Queens Quay W offers a place that demands and inspires stewardship and participation from its users, a place of community ownership and belonging. 1. The Wall Crawl 10. Kiosk Seating 2. The Scramble 11. Bike Parking 3. The Play Nest 12. Backyard BBQ 4. The Tree Walk 13. Future Stormwater Shaft 5. Community Pavilion/Play Pocket 14. The Clearing 6. Bark Park 15. Hammock Grove 7. The Outlook 16. Alvar Gardens 8. Alvar Mist 17. Market Grove SITE PLAN SCALE 1:500 9. Cafe 18. Bird Way 16 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 17 THE NEST, TORONTO | SNØHETTA |PMA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS Backyards have evolved too ... A Neighbourhood The Nest: The Backyard Hub of Toronto’s High Density Neighbourhoods Nested Activities Hub Circa. 1900 Pre-war backyards in Building upon previous conversations North America served primarily a The Toronto Waterfront greenspace space for economic utility, between the city and community, the providing the means for a family is primarily bordered by mixed use to survive (equipment storage, NEST offers a program framework that is buildings and residential neighbourhoods livestock, garden, root cellars) adaptable to the needs and desires of the characterized by higher density locals.