2015 PanAm/Parapan Games Athletes’ Village | Canary District
- Location Toronto, Ontario
- Client Infrastructure Ontario
- Architects The Dundee Kilmer Integrated Design Team (IDT) is led by the joint venture of architectsAlliance (aA) and KPMB Architects, working in association with Daoust Lestage Architects, TEN Arquitectos and McClennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects
- Completion 2015
- Size 1.54 million ft² / 142,900 m²
- Project type Master Plan, Mixed-Use, Residential
How do you build a neighbourhood in one short phase?
Coherent Diversity
Great cities and neighbourhoods evolve organically from the imagination and will of many individuals over long periods of time. To achieve a distinct sense of place in the short term for the Athletes’ Village, and set the stage for the new legacy neighbourhood, the developer – DundeeKilmer – formed a team of internationally-recognized architects who share a deep commitment to city building and design excellence: architectsAlliance, KPMB, Daoust Lestage Architects, and MJMA. To achieve organic diversity and create a distinct sense of place in one short phase, every building was designed by a different team within a common set of themes.
A Vibrant Public Realm
At the east entrance, existing masonry CNR and Canary Restaurant buildings were retained as gateposts to the Front Street extension. The mixed program – a YMCA, the George Brown Student Residence, market housing and social housing – is calibrated from east to west. Transparency and a common datum at the base of every building along the Front Street promenade combined with series of secondary green paths and a mixed-use retail strategy promoting ‘things to do for health and happiness’ contribute to goals for an animated, walkable public realm.
The short term goal was to give the Pan/Parapan athletes a unique experience of our City, Province and Nation: heterogeneous, diverse, complex, open, and democratic. The long term goal was to create a new neighborhood in our City of Great Neighborhoods. The vision is inspired by the walkable city of great neighborhoods of Jane Jacobs and the global village of Marshall McLuhan.
