port lands estuary
DESCRIPTION
Port Lands EstuaryTRANSCRIPT
INNER HARBOUR
DO
NR
OAD
WAY
RECREATIONAL FIELDS
TREATMENT WETLANDS
ESSROC PROMENADE
K E A T I N G C H A N N E L
VILLIERS STREET
COMMISSIONERS STREET
FOUNDARY PLAZA
LIBRARY
TREATMENT WETLANDS
RECREATIONAL FIELDS
GREEN FINGER
GREEN FINGER
PLAYGROUND
INDOOR RECREATION CENTRE
DON RIVER CENTRE
GREEN FINGER
HABITAT ISLAND
LAFARGE PLAZA
PLAYGROUND
SEDIMENT BASIN
RAIL YARD
DON RIVER PARK
KEATING CHANNEL NORTH
EAST HARBOUR
EAST BAYFRONT
PARL
IAM
ENT
STRE
ETIMPROVED CHERRY STREET UNDERPASS
IMPROVED PARLIAMENT STREET UNDERPASS
NEW TRINITY STREET PEDESTRIAN UNDERPASS
LAWN PLATEAU GREEN FINGER
DON RIVER BOATHOUSE
S H I P C H A N N E L
MARTIN GOODMAN TRAIL
RETAIL DESIGN CENTRE
GARDINER PROMENADE
QUEENS QUAY
CHER
RYST
REE
TKEATING CHANNEL SOUTH
COBBLE BEACH
DO
NR
IVE
R
10 50 100 200 M0
N
PARL
IAM
ENT
STRE
ETSL
IP
port landsEstUarYGiven the opportunity to create a new naturalized mouth to the river that serves the environmental needs of the river and the lake and forms the centerpiece of a comprehensive vision for the Lower Don Lands, the MVVA Team approached the competition with two initial questions: “Where does the mouth of the Don River want to be and what form does it want to take?
The MVVA Team proposal for the Lower Don Lands originates from these questions and from a very simple observation about the two types of park that one encounters in Toronto: the traditional square derived from the urban grid, and the irregularly formed parks generated from the natural curves of the Don River. Given these two distinct typologies, and the TWRC’s objectives in undertaking the naturalization project, it seemed apparent that the new riverfront park and the new mouth of the Don should be taking their cues from river morphology, rather than the existing urban condition as represented by the Keating Channel.
MVVa tEaMUrban designGreenberg Consultants, Inc. Toronto, ON
Consulting landscape architectPhillips Farevaag SmallenbergVancouver, BC
architectBehnisch Architects Venice, CA
river HydrologistLimno-Tech, Inc. Ann Arbor, MI
regional EcologistApplied Ecological ServicesBrodhead, WI
MicroecologistGreat Eastern Ecology New York, NY
Climate EngineerTranssolarNew York, NY
Bridge EngineerRFR EngineeringParis, FR
Traffic and Transportation EngineerArup Toronto, ON
Civil EngineerTSHWhitby, ON
team leaderMichael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. Landscape ArchitectsNew York, NY + Cambridge, MA
Comprehensive Master plan1:2000
Our proposal consolidates the program of naturalized mouth, floodway, and recreational park into a single and complex central parkland. Naturalizing the mouth of the river in this way has the broadest possible effect on the Lower Don Lands, creating miles of parkfront property and a sustainable “urban estuary” of great richness and complex mixing on multiple levels: spatial, ecological, functional, economic, and social. In shifting pre-established boundaries, we have opened up new possibilities and new relationships between city, river, and lake. The relocation of the mouth of the river reasserts the presence of the river in its city.
Our vision for the Lower Don Lands unites the TWRC’s major urban initiatives – the naturalization project, multiple transportation and infrastructure initiatives, and the development of new residential neighbourhoods – into a single framework for a sustainable area.
TRINITY ST
GARDINER EXPY.
MILL ST
DON RO
ADWAY
CHERRY ST
PARLIAMENT ST
CHERRY ST
LAKESHORE BLVD. EAST
DONRIVERPARK
MARTIN GOODMAN TRAIL
RAIL YARD
S H I P C H A N N E L
K E A T I N G C H A N N E L
DO
N
RI
VE
R
RAIL BIKE LANES
SHARED ROADWAYS MARTIN GOODMAN TRAIL
MAJOR MULTI -USE TRAILS
LRT
STREETS
PARK TRAILS
10 50 100 200 M0
N
TRINITY ST
GARDINER EXPY.
MILL STDO
N ROADW
AY
CHERRY ST
PARLIAMENT ST
CHERRY ST
LAKESHORE BLVD. EAST
DONRIVERPARK
MARTIN GOODMAN TRAIL
RAIL YARD
S H I P C H A N N E L
K E A T I N G C H A N N E L
DO
N
RI
VE
R
RAIL BIKE LANES
SHARED ROADWAYS MARTIN GOODMAN TRAIL
MAJOR MULTI -USE TRAILS
LRT
STREETS
PARK TRAILS
10 50 100 200 M0
N
ConnECtIVE nEtWorK
Heritage Corridor Building types neighbourhoods
stormwater Collection and treatmentlandscape typesHard and soft Edges
Habitat types Green networkHydraulic Flow
streetsBridgesInstitutions
lrtpedestrianView and sightlines
Context plan1:3000