Park Design Concept

The Downsview Park International Design Competition resulted in an exceptional design team and concept for Downsview Park known as TREE CITY.

The leaders of the design team are outstanding urban thinkers who are at the forefront of their professions. Bruce Mau, of Bruce Mau Design Inc., Toronto, is considered one of the world's leading graphic designers. Rem Koolhaas, of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam, was a winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2000, the architectural world's most prestigious award. Other members of the winning design team include: Oleson Worland Architect, Toronto; Inside/Outside, Amsterdam; Ove Arup; New York/London, Arup Environmental, New York/London; RWDI, Guelph; BA Consulting, Toronto; Moonstone Landscape, Coldwater, Noel Harding, Toronto; and Helyar & Associates, Toronto.

The jury members, unanimously selected TREE CITY as a project of incomparable vision and promise. The Jury's Report considered TREE CITY a design concept that links current living conditions to the reality of an urban park for the 21st century.

TREE CITY is a phased plan for Downsview Park that will gradually change the appearance of the former Canadian Forces Base Toronto. TREE CITY will create a special personality for itself and the surrounding community, beginning with soil preparation, pathmaking and planting in the first phase of development. The physical development of the lands will change over time with the growth of old vegetation and with the increase of new plantings over a fifteen-year period. TREE CITY will eventually cover the site with approximately 25% forest, in addition to meadows, playing fields and gardens.

TREE CITY will become a self-sustaining park in every sense and its natural network will appreciate as the park matures. Future development on the site, as well as gradual renovations of existing structures, will add value to the park, while providing income for its continued maintenance. One thousand crossing paths for cyclists, joggers, rollerbladers and pedestrians will complement the park and add to its accessibility.

By continuing its landscape clusters and extensive pedestrian pathways into adjacent areas, TREE CITY can link up with the Black Creek and West Don river systems and ravines, integrating Downsview into the system of wooded river valleys, parks and public paths currently existing in Toronto's urban domain.

View Pictures of the TREE CITY Design Concept