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.
Downsview The 2.1-kilometer runway is turned into a pedestrianized street, lined by housing, shops, and schools - changing from connecting people on a global level to connecting people on a local level.
Downsview One hundred acres of green spaces will tie the new neighborhoods together - with each other and with the rest of Toronto.

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.

24.04.2024

SLA wins landscape for Norway's new Ibsen Library

We are very happy to share that SLA has won the assignment to develop and realize the landscape for Norway’s new Ibsen Library (Ibsensbiblioteket) in Skien.

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16.04.2024

Downsview receives the 2024 National Urban Design Award

We are honored to share that our Downsview Framework Plan has won the 2024 National Urban Design Award – Canada’s premier award for planning and urban design.

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15.04.2024

New National Method for Mapping of City Nature unveiled

We are happy to share that we are unveiling the new and updated version of our National Method for Mapping City Nature.

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