SLA appointed Design Lead for the David Crombie Park Revitalization

08.05.2023

Better Communities, Biodiversity & ecosystem services, Landscape architecture

SLA appointed Design Lead for the David Crombie Park Revitalization

We are happy to announce that SLA, as Design Lead Architects, and Totonto-based Arcadis IBI Group have been selected by the City of Toronto to lead the detailed design implementation for the David Crombie Park Revitalization Project.

The two-hectare park has been a central part of the St. Lawrence Neighborhood since the 1970s but is now showing its age and history of heavy use. The revitalization of the culturally important park will strengthen its role as a major landmark for Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence neighborhood, as well as support surrounding social infrastructure and entertainment areas, including the Distillery District and St. Lawrence Market.

In the revitalization project, we’ll be working with a talented team to make social, biological, and infrastructural enhancements to create a sensuous, inclusive, and biodiverse place where community and nature come together.

“Our design will embrace and build on the legacy of David Crombie Park as an inviting and safe mix of public courtyard and linear park and enhance its social and ecological values, not just for the neighborhood but for the city of Toronto.”
— Rasmus Astrup, Partner and Design Principal at SLA

The linear park project will span nearly two hectares across seven blocks, making it one of the largest open space projects to take place in the City of Toronto over the last decade. The project also calls for SLA and Arcadis IBI to design new cycling infrastructure and streetscape elements to seamlessly connect The Esplanade with nearby Mill Street at the east end of the park.

“David Crombie Park and the adjacent street that runs the length of the park – The Esplanade – make up the social spine that supports the local community, that provides the neighborhood its uniquely livable character and adds an essential cultural and social element to Toronto’s urban fabric,” says Neno Kovacevic, Director of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture at Arcadis IBI.

The revitalization design is intended to address the end-of-life cycle of many of the park’s hard infrastructure elements, as well as to accommodate continuously increased use of the park due to ongoing commercial and residential intensification in the area.

For the project development, SLA and Arcadis IBI Group will collaborate with Tawaw Architecture Collective Inc., Pelican Woodcliff Inc., Archaeological Services Inc. (ASI), Third Party Public, Marcel Dion Lighting Design, Sirati and Partners, and DesignABLE.

Construction for the park is scheduled to begin in 2024.

With David Crombie Park, SLA has four ongoing projects in Toronto. The three other projects count the Quayside development in Waterfront Toronto, the masterplan for the former Toronto airport Downsview, and the redesign of St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.