Village of Yorkville Park

Location: Toronto, Canada Project Type: Public Park Client: City of Toronto Awards: 2012 ASLA Landmark Award, 1997 ASLA President’s Award of Excellence

The design for this award winning urban park reflects the history of Village of Yorkville and the diversity of the Canadian landscape. Transforming the idea of the Victorian collection box, the park is arranged into a series of gardens where the row houses once stood. Each garden contains a distinct collection of plant communities referencing the environments of Canada. Innovative technologies helped develop the unique features within the park that included mist-emitting light columns, a rain/icicle curtain and the “The Rock,” A 600-ton fragment of Canada’s glacial shield that was excavated and removed, piece-by-piece, from the lake region north of Toronto. It was then reassembled in the park and carefully situated on top of structural grade beams that span the roof of the subway. Despite early skepticism, the rock has become an attraction and source of civic pride.