BRIMORTON PARK

Brimorton Park is a new, developer-delivered park in north-east Toronto that offers the local community a much-needed recreational space for people of all ages to enjoy.

A developer-delivered park is a commitment by a developer to jointly design and construct a park with the City of Toronto that coincides with the build out of their development. As landscape architect, STUDIO tla’s role in this partnership is guiding the planning and designing process and overseeing construction activities.

We worked in collaboration with developer Lash Group, the City of Toronto and a broader project team to help deliver the 0.5-acre park with distinct zones that encourage varying forms of activity and uses, including:

 

• An Urban Zone featuring metal picnic tables and a shade structure serves as a gathering space.
• An Active zone for children that includes play structures, a climbing area, balancing pods and musical instruments
• A Passive Zone consisting. of a natural lawn that can be used for recreational activities or relaxation and reflection.
• (2) Buffer Zones: (1) located on the north-east section of the park that features a berm dotted with young, cherry blossom trees, and another spanning the park’s southern border that is a bioswale comprised of a resilient planting palette and a shallow depression that captures, treats, and infiltrates stormwater runoff.
• A future Active zone along the park’s west side for adult fitness punctuated by an array of outdoor exercise equipment (to be completed in a future phase).

Two interior pathways intersect in the park that allow circulation while creating boundaries for the different zones. Running parallel with the east-west pathway is an undulating skating path–which is flanked by a raised, concrete seat wall with a smooth, continuous run–that serves local youth skateboarders, as well as rollerbladers, children riding scooters, and others. A key objective of the skating path is to provide an inclusive opportunity for beginner and intermediate skateboarders to express themselves in an area within the park that is specifically designed for their needs and aligns with the City of Toronto’s Skateboard Strategy.

The design of the park was informed by feedback and ideas from the local community to create a dynamic and versatile public space that now supports the needs of local residents.