When Biidaasige Park first opened last year on Toronto’s eastern waterfront, it was a revelation. Here, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA), supported by a team of engineering, ecological, and hydrologic specialists, had quite literally moved water and earth to create a public space that has been described as “once-in-a-generation,” renaturalizing the Don River in the process. Not only is it a massive feat of regenerative design, it has managed to create a sense of place in a formerly placeless industrial wasteland. When I visited a few weeks ago, couples walked hand in hand along the park’s winding promenades, in the comfortable shade of the greenery, which is growing in nicely. Families milled around the Snowy Owl stage, whose expressive, endearing form has become an almost emblematic symbol of the park. Children begged their parents for just one more ride on the zipline. By nearly every measure, the project has been a resounding success.
How could it get any better? A few weeks ago, the four-hectare western expansion of Biidaasige opened to the public, bringing a whole host of new amenities to the site. One of the more exciting additions is the Canoe Cove, a launch point that will allow visitors to arrive by boat (canoe and kayak rentals will be available starting next year). From here, you can see the Atlas Crane looming in the distance: the 115-metre-tall landmark acts as both a kind of signpost at the entrance and a nod to the area’s industrial heritage.
Keep walking, and you’ll eventually reach the waterfront promenade that spans the park’s western edge, with a quintessential postcard view that stretches from the East Bayfront development beyond the CN Tower. Here, a row of light posts represents the facade of the old marine terminal building that once stood there, which caught fire during the design phase and, unfortunately, could not be salvaged. “There are all of these layers of the site’s history embedded in the park,” says Shannon Baker, director of design at Waterfront Toronto.
Just behind the promenade, the new 3,000-person event lawn — whose topography was created using soils excavated from the river valley — is the perfect place from which to take it all in, sure to become a hotspot for long-weekend fireworks, open-air concerts and other community gatherings. Once funded, a new playground and restaurant will round out the facilities.
In the meantime, there are enough attractions to warrant a full-day visit. That includes the Lassonde Art Trail, which has also been expanded to now include 15 works by internationally renowned artists across the entire park, adding a cultural layer to the recreational programming. In front of the Atlas Crane, for instance, a piece by Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka features five flagpoles topped with fish-shaped windsocks that symbolize the return of wildlife to the Don River. “A lot of the artworks reference all of this incredible rejuvenation of nature,” explains Chief Curator November Paynter. Later this year, two major pieces will be installed, including Kent Monkman’s debut public art commission. The idea is to refresh three to four of the temporary works each year, giving people a reason to keep coming back and rediscover the trail through fresh eyes.
Just beyond the park, the Waterfront Neighbourhood Space, a new temporary circular design installation by GXN, adds another place to linger. Built in partnership with Ha/f Climate Design, AKT II and Arcana Materials, the humble gathering space celebrates waste by repurposing reclaimed materials from projects across Toronto, including residential renovations, demolition sites and infrastructure work. Lumber sourced from residential renovations forms the frame, CMU blocks leftover from new construction sites are repurposed as structural supports and furnishings, and bricks salvaged from a demolished church in Toronto’s east end and a block of homes in the Annex form a patio underfoot. The pavilion is set to remain on Commissioners Street until the late fall, but the kit of parts has been “stacked and strapped” together so that it can be taken apart and reused when needed.
With Biidaasige Park, and the ecosystem slowly forming around it, Toronto has created a public space worth travelling across the city for — though it’s still not particularly easy to get there. Though the park is connected to local pedestrian and bike trails, and accessible by water shuttle, only two bus routes run to this part of town — and even with expanded service, travelling by car is still the most convenient way to access the site. It will take some time for the city’s transit network to catch up, but when the planned LRT line is completed, it will bring the eastern waterfront much more fully into the life of the city. Even before those stronger connections arrive, a public-space investment of this scale and quality is worth celebrating — with even more possibilities ahead as access catches up to its ambition.
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