International Design Competition

Parc Downsview Park Inc. initiated an international design competition for Downsview Park in 1999 to help realize its vision of creating Canada's first national urban park on the site of the former Canadian Forces Base Toronto. It was the largest international design competition held in the City of Toronto since the Toronto City Hall competition in the 1960s.

The objective of the design competition was to promote innovative design proposals that would respond to the social and natural histories of the site, while developing its potential as a new landscape – one capable of sustaining new ecologies and an evolving array of public uses and events, including ones of national and international distinction. The design was intended to structure the transformation of the site while remaining open to change and growth over time.

The competition was conducted in two stages. The first stage included a call for Expressions of Interest, which was extensively advertised to reach a broad audience of talented design professionals around the world. A total of 179 submissions were received from 22 countries.

In November 1999, five short-listed teams were invited to compete in the second stage of the competition. In this stage, competitors were asked to prepare a schematic design for the park, which included the park’s green space, the Cultural Campus and the perimeter. As part of their submissions, competitors were asked for a design proposal covering the entire site, a proposal for a three-phased implementation strategy and a detailed design for the first phase. The implementation strategy had to ensure that each phase of the park had coherence, integrity and stand-alone character.

To guide the competitors, a Competition Brief was prepared to help express the detailed vision and mandate for Downsview Park. The brief provided a summary of the park planning work and background studies to date, the rules governing the competition and the program for the park. The program included park elements and themes that were derived from the planning and public consultation process over the previous number of years.

A Jury of distinguished members of the design and cultural community was assembled to select the winning design. Prior to the jury's deliberations, the five submissions were evaluated by a Technical Review Committee, which included technical consultants, community representatives and City of Toronto staff.

The role of the Technical Review Committee was to assess each design submission for compliance with the objectives and requirements outlined in the Competition Brief. All members of the Technical Review Committee assessed the design submissions based on a set of criteria specific to their area of expertise. The assessment of the Technical Review Committee was compiled into a report that was provided to the jury at the outset of their deliberations.

On May 26, 2000, "TREE CITY" was announced as the winning park design concept for Downsview Park. The response to the Downsview Park International Design Competition was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, both from the design community and the community at large. The competition was chosen to be the subject of a book series published by Harvard's Graduate School of Design in conjunction with the publisher Prestel (based in Munich and New York).

Throughout the summer and fall of 2000, numerous exhibits related to the park competition were held in the Greater Toronto Area, including at the Canadian National Exhibition, Canada Blooms, Construct Canada Conference, York University, The Home and Garden Show, regional shopping malls, Downsview Park events, Great Parks Great Cities Conference and a variety of trade shows.

In November 2000, all five design submissions were invited to New York City to be exhibited at the Van Alen Institute. The Van Alen Institute also hosted a forum entitled "Downsview Design Talk" and published a brochure entitled “The Van Alen Report” dedicated to the competition and its entries.

Concurrent with the opening of the exhibition at the Van Alen Institute, a symposium entitled "Shifting Ground: The Downsview Park Competition" was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The panel discussion focused on new issues and directions in contemporary landscape and park design as seen through the submissions received in the Downsview Park International Design Competition.