The Nest
The NEST takes inspiration from both near home and far beyond the city limits.
Backyards represent a space for creative play, an experimental stage, or a snug hideaway. Alvars are unique habitats found in the Great Lakes environs near Toronto. Low soil depths, frequent floods and droughts in the alvars produce rare plant and animal communities that thrive under these conditions.
Inspired by the resiliency and life these distinct landscapes bring together, the NEST offers Torontonians a new backyard. It's a place where the diverse people of this city and its visitors feel a sense of ownership and pride - a space for active play, engagement, and reflection. The park offers respite from the urban environment - a haven for many people and creatures to share and interact.
Designed to be seasonally and programmatically dynamic, the NEST will engage visitors through several features like the Wall Crawl, the Alvar Mist, the Hammock Grove, the Backyard BBQ and the Play Nest amongst others. The community pavilion will act as a hearth, allowing families to stay warm as kids play outside during winter months. During warmer weather, the retractable glass wall will create a seamless indoor‐outdoor transition.
We share this place with many others. Soaring birdhouses offer homes for diverse bird habitat, including Purple Martins, Nuthatches and other aerial creatures. The rooftop Bark Park gives our canine friends and dog owners a place to explore. The NEST welcomes all to enjoy Toronto's new backyard and invites you to make it your own!
(Web site excerpt)
The Nest proposal addressed all the programming requirements successfully and was appealing from all four frontages. The sense of enclosure produced by the building and hillside created a space that was pleasing to the Jury and this proposal created a graceful diagonal circulation that the Jury appreciated. The collaborative approach to working with artists was unique among the proposals and would likely yield, it was felt, good opportunities for artists and successful public art.
Nevertheless, it was felt that the proposal included too great a proportion of hard surfaces for a community park, and the concept of the nest was not manifested enough in the design. The Jury also felt that the proposal felt fragmented and divided, like two separate parks.
(From jury report)
16 scanned / 16 viewable
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Plan
- Plan
- Plan
- Plan
- Plan
- Section
- Section
- Schema
- Schema
- Schema
- Schema
- PDF presentation
