Jury Report

Downsview Park International Design Competition: Jury Report Prepared by: K. Forster, Canadian Centre for Architecture; Y. Hendeles, Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation; C. Hahn Oberlander, C. Hahn Oberlander Landscape Architects; T. Riley, Museum of Modern Art; and, G. Sheff, Gluskin Sheff & Associates. Date: May 19, 2000

The Jury met for two days on site, visiting the Downsview area and examining the five entries individually and collectively. The jury had received all competition documents well in advance of the adjudication, and it was briefed by experts in all major aspects about the technical implications of each proposal. The jury also met with representatives of the community to learn their opinions and concerns during discussion in front of the projects. All aspects of the jury's deliberations were exceptionally well organized and conducted in amicable fashion.

It became immediately clear that the general level of quality attained by the five submissions was very high, and that a great deal of collaborative effort among landscape architects, ecologists, architects, and planners had been invested in their elaboration. Diverse and distinctive as these projects are, each proffering promising approaches and innovative strategies, the members of the jury were able to reach a unanimous decision. After several rounds of discussions in the course of two days, one project continued to stand out and gain in interest. The jury wishes to emphasize that the entry TREE CITY did not only emerge early and compellingly as every jury member's first choice, but that there were, in the views of jurors, no other projects of comparable vision and promise.

TREE CITY fully respects existing site conditions and indeed exceeds the requirements of the competition. Thanks to its strategy, the project creates a new rapport between contemporary urban experience and the value of nature, as both are actively transformed within the Downsview area. Achieving decisive changes with a minimum of intervention in the topography, the project anticipates a gradual, carefully orchestrated improvement of the Downsview lands. The degraded soil will be improved by means of the right succession of natural plantings. The layout of a differentiated network of paths and the gradual introduction of various activities will engage the interest and energy of different community groups while securing a long-term future for the entire site.

TREE CITY emerges from a vision of landscape architecture for an urban park. It proposes a kind of hybrid state of park lands, tightly connected to the urban surroundings, yet clearly autonomous as a site of transformed nature where many individual and communal desires can be indulged. Lanes and paths cast a mesh of connections over the land, linking sites of special activities with the surrounding city. In its responsiveness to community interests and in its respect for individual experience, TREE CITY reflects the mix of randomness and choice that characterize current living conditions. As profoundly linked to the present as it is, the project promises nonetheless to give reality to the idea of an urban park fit for the 21st century. Conceived as a living entity, with all the indeterminacy of that condition, TREE CITY outlines a vision of future park lands as intriguing as a work of art, but also as malleable as communities of tomorrow could wish to find. Jurors consider TREE CITY to hold the greatest promise and propose the most convincing approach for the future of Downsview.