Yorkville Park

Toronto, Canada, Canada

Parks + Open Spaces

Landscape Architects: Meyer Studio Land Architects

Location: Toronto, Canada, Canada
Year: 1993

The design for this award winning urban park reflects the history of Village of Yorkville and the diversity of the Canadian landscape. Transforming the idea of the Victorian collection box, the park is arranged into a series of gardens where the row houses once stood. Each garden contains a distinct collection of plant communities referencing the environments of Canada, ranging from the upland forest down to the riparian marsh.

Innovative technologies helped develop the unique features within the park that included mist-emitting light columns, a rain/icicle curtain and the “The Rock” – the most challenging and controversial feature of them all. A 600- ton fragment of Canada’s glacial shield was excavated and removed, piece-by-piece, from the lake region north of Toronto. It was then reassembled in the park, carefully situated on top of structural grade beams that span the roof of the subway. Despite early skepticism, the rock has become an attraction and source of civic pride.