15.09.2023
Downsview Framework Plan wins the Toronto Urban Design Award!
We’re happy to share that our resilient masterplan for North Toronto’s new Downsview district has won the prestigious Toronto Urban Design Award!
One of the most significant city-building opportunities in North America, the Downsview Framework Plan, has been awarded a 2023 Toronto Urban Design Award in the Vision and Masterplan category.
Developed through comprehensive dialogue with a world-class design team and the community, our resilient masterplan for North Toronto’s new Downsview district is green-minded, human-scale, and people-first. The innovative design puts nature, sustainability, and resilience front and center making parks, open spaces, streetscapes, courtyards, and buildings work together as an integrated nature-based stormwater management system, even during extreme storm events while enhancing biodiversity across the site:
“In Downsview, we introduce a whole new hierarchy for how to design our cities. By putting nature first, we create a new way of living in Toronto centered on climate resilience, local identity, and strong community. We call this design approach ‘City Nature’, and we’re thrilled to see our collective vision for a greener and healthier future celebrated”
— Rasmus Astrup, Partner and Design Principal at SLA.
The project is spearheaded by Northcrest Developments and Canada Lands Company, the Framework Plan is designed in collaboration with a world-class team of international and local architects, designers and planners that includes Henning Larsen, KPMB, Urban Strategies Inc., Rambøll, Transsolar, Swerhun Inc., Department of Words and Deeds.
Read more about the project here.
10.06.2025
SLA creates 104 new neighbourhood parks in Abu Dhabi
We are happy to share that we have completed one of the largest urban greening projects to date in the UAE: 104 new neighbourhood parks across Abu Dhabi, designed to improve health, biodiversity, and the everyday quality of life for all Abu Dhabi’s residents.
01.06.2025
SLA and GHD win major design project for Ookwemin Minising
We are incredibly excited to share that we – together with our partner GHD – have won the assignment as prime consultant for Ookwemin Minising: Toronto’s new 39.6-hectare island neighborhood planned for more than 15,000 residents!
23.05.2025
SLA exhibits New Nordic City Nature at Oslo National Museum
Today, the exhibition “New Nordic – Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place” opens at the National Museum in Oslo. SLA and Dyvik Kahlen have made a specially designed pavilion for the museum square – that takes visitors from the Michelin kitchen out into the urban realm. Its roof and landscape are planted with native, edible species from Oslo’s shores and forests, and offers a taste of New Nordic City Nature.