Quayside: A unifying urban forest & rooftop garden in Toronto’s landmark development

In March 2021, Waterfront Toronto launched an international competition to develop one of its most important sites.

The winning proposal by SLA, together with Adjaye Associates, Henning Larsen and Alison Brooks Architects, seeks to create an architectural focal point and a new cultural landmark using public space as its key ingredient.

Aerial Masterplan. Visual Credit: Norm Li.

Quayside represents one of the last major sites on Toronto’s waterfront to be developed. Envisioned as Canada’s first all-electric, zero-carbon master plan Quayside will offer affordable housing, new business opportunities, and public spaces designed to connect inner Toronto with its historic waterfront.

SLA’s design for the site proposes over 13,000 square-meters of public community garden space, accompanied by arts venues and educational spaces. The project will feature an immense urban farm on the roof of one of Canada’s largest mass timber buildings, and at street level, a two-acre community ’forest’ space weaving the various buildings together.

Quayside Urban Forest. Visual Credit: Norm Li.

To strengthen the values and goals of Quayside’s Chief Custodian, Waterfront Toronto, SLA introduced ‘City Nature’ as a nature-based solution that acknowledges and reinterprets the diverse flows presented by the site. These include the social flow for equity and barrier-free accessibility for people; The biological flow for biodiversity and planting; The production flow for sustainable urban farming, and; The climate flow, for stormwater management and outdoor comfort.

Taken together these historic flows are transformed and utilized to form the modern urban environment, influencing resident’s daily life, and allowing for a multi-faceted, inclusive and vibrant new community.

Quayside Central Courtyard - Winter. Visual Credit: Norm Li.

“Central to our vision is a strong belief in creating a community with a new balance between the built and the grown environment. The aim is to bring entirely new social, biological, and aesthetic qualities to the waterfront – something that Quayside’s 2-acre ‘community forest’ will play a key role in ensuring.”

- Rasmus Astrup, Design Principal and Partner in SLA

Project Details

Location: Toronto, Canada

Size: 12-acre (4.9 hectares)

Year: 2022 - ongoing

Client: Waterfront Toronto

Role: Lead Landscape and Public Space Designers

Services: Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning

Partners: Dream Unlimited Corp and Great Gulf Group (developers)

This article is shared with permission from SLA.