Underpass Park will be the most extensive park to ever be built under an overpass in Canada, and the first ever in Toronto. Located under and around the Eastern Avenue and Richmond/Adelaide overpasses, the park will transform the derelict and underused space into a bright, new, urban neighbourhood amenity and key pedestrian connection and passageway. Construction of the park is expected to start in spring/summer 2010 and completion is planned for 2011.

The overpasses transect the West Don Lands and the park will remove a psychological barrier by converting the derelict space beneath the ramps into a bright, new neighbourhood destination. Residents of the soon-to-be-built housing developments in the north eastern section of the West Don Lands will have park space and safe beautiful connections to the rest of the neighbourhood.

Designed by renowned landscape architects Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg in association with The Planning Partnership, Underpass Park embodies design excellence and is the epitome of innovative urban park design. The design creates a socially-engaging park for community members of all ages and abilities by incorporating public art, recreational space, playful climbing structures and play areas, flexible community space, community gardens, and public gathering places.
 

The park’s design is influenced by the massive overpass structures. These structures create opportunities for activities and planting in the open air and covered areas as well as in the unusual spaces resulting from large concrete beams and columns.

One of the park’s defining design features will be a series of long, narrow ribbon-like strips made from a palette of concrete and ipe wood. These ribbons, located throughout both the covered and uncovered areas of the park, will rise from the ground creating both directional cues for pedestrians as well as informal park benches and gathering spaces. Key portions of the ribbons will be illuminated by LED lights. The design of these ribbons is influenced by both the physical infrastructure of the overpasses as well as the natural qualities of the nearby Don River.

About half of the park (0.6 hectares) is covered by the overpasses. The covered area will be defined by recreational space such as ball hockey and basketball courts, senior and adult recreation facilities and playful climbing structures for all ages. It will also include flexible community space that can be used for markets, festivals and moveable cafés.

The remainder of the park (0.4 hectares) will be uncovered. In these areas, dense groves of trees, grass and other plantings will add much needed greenspace and create a natural and iconic gateway to the West Don Lands. Community gardens also make up a significant part of the southwestern edge of the park providing additional opportunities for residents to interact with each other and nature.

To ensure the area is safe and inviting at all times of day, the design places a strong emphasis on lighting. The park will be lit by a combination of LED lighting on the columns, shielded in-ground and in-wall lights, and illuminated concrete ribbons at the seating areas which create a variety of different illuminating effects. The more than 50 overpass columns will be colourfully lit using diffuse LED spotlights.

Public art will play a critical role in Underpass Park. When planning the overarching public art strategy for the West Don Lands, Underpass Park was identified as a high priority public art opportunity. In late 2009, Waterfront Toronto launched its first ever artist competition to select artwork for the park. Paul Raff of Toronto, an award winning artist and architect, was the artist selected. He is currently working on an installation that will use reflectivity to draw people into and through the space. The concept is to engage the public through the playful use of reflection to bounce light around the space and accentuate its positive qualities in an interesting and sculptural way. The art will be unobstructed to allow the public to interact with it.

Location:
Under and around the Eastern Avenue and Richmond/Adelaide overpasses, between Cherry Street and Bayview Avenue. The park’s southern edge is Old Eastern Avenue.

Design Team:

• Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg of Vancouver
• The Planning Partnership of Toronto
• Paul Raff of Toronto (Public Art Installation)

Size:
Total: 1.05 hectares (2.5 acres)
Length: 315 metres (including streets)
Width: 30 metres (at the narrowest point) and 58 metres (at the widest point)
Number of trees: 54

Underpass Park is part of Waterfront Toronto’s Stage 1 Gold certification under the LEED for Neighbourhood Development (ND) pilot program. Some of the sustainability best practices incorporated into the park’s design include energy efficient LED lighting; drought, salt and shade tolerant planting for minimal maintenance and irrigation; recycled content play surfacing, and the use of reclaimed granite cobbles.
Trees: 
Black Locust are the primary tree with Purple Robe Black Locust at the corner of Eastern Ave. and St. Lawrence Street. These tree species were chosen because they are highly salt tolerant with a leaf pattern that allows light to penetrate to limit shading.
 

Watch the Underpass Park design overview video.

View media coverage on Underpass Park:

• Hume: Radical new waterfront park could transform Toronto
• Traffic Above, Playground Below