INFO






RE-ROOTING RESILIENCEWINTER 2024
This projects redesigns a popular neighbourhood park and improves its connection to an adjacent railway bike path. The design considers the overlapping programmatic and performative possibilities of this urban site; as a community park, landscape infrastructure, ecological corridor and a key node in the city’s green network.








AN INDUSTRIAL PAST TO COMMUNITY PARK





Sorauren Park is a popular neighborhood park despite being underdesigned. Situated next to the railway, the site was primarily industrial use during the 20th century. It was then converted into a community park, its contaminated ground covered with a clay cap. This condition resulted in recurrent pooling and stressed vegetation due to shallow soil.










DESIGN CONCEPT:
REROOTING + REROUTING RESILIENCE

We propose a process of REROOTING RESILIENCE, which uses vegetation to confront the industrial and natural history of the site.

The framework follows axes derived from the park’s greater context: including the surrounding watersheds, streets and areas of greatest contamination. We pierce through the clay cap and plant phytoremediation tree species to decontaminate the soil under.




The process of REROUTING RESILIENCE aims to create a connection to the existing rail corridor, effectively integrating the park within the West Toronto Railpath. Meshing out flows and nodes in a sketch model revealed areas of higher traffic density and potential routes to extend the railpath.




Folding aims to direct site drainage into the pits and to the park edges, and provide a variety of programmatic opportunities. The planting of evergreens shapes the programmatic areas of the site and provides a vibrant backdrop, with year long needles acting as visual and sound barriers.

The corridor and bridge negotiate different traffic speeds and directions through materiality:

• Perforated corten steel accommodates pedestrians, allow rain to reach the undergrowth and is an ode to the site’s industrial past.
• Wood panelling guides bike traffic.
• Green pavement signals areas to stop for rest and leisure.




The designed path bridges over the railway and slopes down into Sorauren park, with a direct access to the community centre rooftop gardens.

The final model carves a birch ply sheet to uncover subtle topographies and reveal the way that phytoremediative roots pierce through the site and the softly treading railpath.