Virtual Reality Tour of Underpass Park

The ASLA has put together an incredible virtual reality tour, guided by Greg Smallenberg, of Toronto’s award winning Underpass Park.

ASLA selected Underpass Park because it won the ASLA 2016 Professional Award of Excellence. Less than 1 percent of all award submissions receive this honor. This virtual reality tour was featured at the recent ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO in New Orleans.

Virtual Reality is an emerging tool for Landscape Architecture. It allows people to “visit” a space that they may otherwise never have a chance to experience. It allows people to experience the value of landscape architecture without having to go anywhere.

You can view the video on your phone or desktop computer, without needing to have the virtual reality headset.

Viewing Options

Option 1: Watch a 360 Video on YouTube

If you are on your phone reading this page, simply click on this URL and watch it in your YouTube mobile app: https://youtu.be/IUr2g5rabaU (please note that this video will not work on your mobile browser)

Be sure to turn around while watching so you can see all angles of the park!

Or if you are on a desktop computer, go to https://youtu.be/IUr2g5rabaU using your Chrome browser. Use the sphere icon to navigate through the park!

Option 2: Watch a 3D 360 Video on Samsung Gear VR

If you own a Samsung Gear VR headset and compatible Samsung phone, go to Samsung Gear via the Oculus App and search for “Underpass Park” or “ASLA” to find our video.

Video Credits
Producer: American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
Production Company: DimensionGate, Toronto
Director: Ian Tuason
Director of Photography: Jon Riera
Narrator: Greg Smallenberg, FASLA, principal, PFS Studio
Camera Assistant: Mark Valino
Post Production: Connor Illsley
Skateboarders: Cris Fonseca and Dan Everson

Photo by Tom Arban

ASLA Win for Underpass Park

Photo by Tom Arban

PFS Studio is honoured to announce that Toronto’s Underpass Park is the recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architect’s prestigious Award of Excellence, the highest honour given in the General Design category.

Selected from 459 entries, the ASLA awards honor top public, commercial, residential, institutional, planning, communications and research projects in the U.S. and around the world.

Click here for the ASLA’s announcement and complete list of award recipients.

The September issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine (LAM) features the winning projects and is available online for free viewing here.

Top Left and Bottom Photos by Tom Arban  | Top Right Photo by Natta Summerky

About Underpass Park

Underpass Park is a unique public space located under and around the Richmond and Adelaide overpasses in downtown east Toronto, this new park transformed a derelict and underused space into a functional and engaging urban neighbourhood amenity, reconnecting new and preexisting neighbourhoods in a dynamic and flexible manner. What was once a “no man’s land” now provides recreational facilities, public art, gathering places and a venue for community events. Residents of the new West Don Lands community, particularly those in the north-eastern section of the community, are now actively connected with new neighbourhoods to the south and with the new commercial heart along Front Street East, also designed by PFS Studio.

Approximately 50% of the park is covered by transportation infrastructure. The design takes full advantage of this weather protection and has incorporated recreational spaces including a skate board park, basketball courts and play structures for all ages. The park also provides a flexible community space that can be used for markets, festivals, food trucks and moveable cafes. In the open areas of the park, dense groves of trees and robust perennial grasses bring much needed green space to the area and create a natural and iconic pedestrian gateway to this area of the West Don Lands.

PFS Studio was strongly supported by The Planning Partnership as well as Paul Raff Studio, who created the park’s public art piece, ‘Mirage’.

Governor General’s Medal in Architecture

 

Bridgepoint Active Healthcare in Toronto was awarded a Royal Architecture Institute of Canada (RAIC) Governor General’s Medal in Architecture. Bridgepoint Health is Toronto’s first hospital to receive a LEED Silver Rating.

PFS Studio’s Jeffrey Staates and team worked with a complex team including Stantec Architecture/ KPMB Architects and HDR Architecture to create an innovative and inclusive healthcare environment.

PFS was responsible for the Urban Design and Landscape Architecture of this project, integrating the public realm of the campus  with the neighbourhood  and Riverdale Park, and creating a new park setting for the historic Don Jail.

“The interior and exterior spaces join to promote health, with areas for outdoor meeting, retreating and conversation.  The former jail at the centre of the site opens onto public gathering space; connecting the grounds with the wider world.” Juror

You can read the full article by clicking here.

 

 

Award for Planning Excellence

Zibi at Chaudiere Island, Ottawa,  just won the Canadian Institute for Planners (CIP) Award for Planning Excellence.

PFS Studio’s, Jeffrey Staates and team, worked alongside with Windmill Development Group, Perkins + Will and FOTENN Planning + Design, to create a “One Planet Community” framework that guides sustainability and eco-friendly planning through a series of key design principles.

PFS was responsible for creating the public open space master plan, consisted of a series of nine interconnected neighbourhoods that are each focused around an integrated network of public squares, adaptive reuse of heritage resources, new waterfront parks, and pedestrian access routes.

You can read the full article by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Windmill Development Group

 

Urban Design Award for Telus Garden

A City of Vancouver Urban Design Award was presented to Telus Garden in the category of Urban Elements.

Projects are chosen for their contribution to the overall experience of design in the city. The jury carefully considers the design of public spaces and how buildings interact with these spaces.

PFS Studio was responsible for the public plaza, alley and terrace designs for this Leed Platinum project.

You can read more about the awards here.

Photo by Ed White Photographics.

 

Architizer A+ Award for Telus Garden

Vancouver’s Telus Garden has won both the Popluar Choice and the Jury Award in the category of Office – High-Rise (16+ Floors), in this years Architizer A+Awards.

The Architizer A+Awards celebrates the year’s best architecture and products. Its mission is to nurture the appreciation of meaningful architecture in the world and champion its potential for a positive impact on everyday life.

PFS Studio worked with Henriquez Partners Architects on this development that “radically transformed an aging block of downtown Vancouver into a future friendly community that fuses beauty, functionality and environmental stewardship.”

Click here for more about Telus Garden, and here to see the other award winners.

 

Photos by Ed White.

Another win for Lansdowne Park

PFS Studio is honoured to have won a RAIC (Royal Architecture Institute of Canada) National Urban Design Award, Certificate of Merit in the category of Civic Design Projects for Lansdowne Park in Ottawa.

The awards are part of a two-tier program held in cooperation with Canadian municipalities. The National Urban Design Awards program judged winners of the 2015 municipal awards and entries submitted at large. Click here to read more about the awards and the other winning projects.

PFS Studio has also won the Ottawa Urban Design Award of Excellence – Visions & Master Plans and the 2016 CSLA Jury’s Award of Excellence and National Award for our work at Lansdowne Park.

Jeffrey Staates and Greg Smallenberg will be on hand to receive this latest award at the RAIC’s Fesitval of Architecture in Nanaimo this June.

Photos courtesy of Jill Anholt, City of Ottawa and Haewon Chun

Two CSLA wins for PFS Studio

Today, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) announced the recipients of the
National Awards of Excellence. This year, 11 projects received a national award and one project, PFS Studio’s Lansdowne Park in Ottawa, was selected for the Jury’s Award of Excellence. This award is given to one project per year which best demonstrates the CSLA’s vision (advancing the art, science and practice of landscape architecture).

Lansdowne Park, Ottawa Photos by Haewon Chun | Aerial photo courtesy of the City of Ottawa

 

A National Award of Excellence was also bestowed on Toronto’s West Don Lands designed by PFS Studio with the Planning Partnership.

West Don Lands Photo by Tom Arban

 

These award-winning projects are preeminent examples of Canadian landscape architecture. They illustrate the range of what landscape architects do and how landscape architects are helping to reshape our communities – defining the places we want to live, work and play.

Winners were selected by a national jury of landscape architects. The principal criteria applied by the jurors were:

• Demonstration of a deep understanding of the craft of landscape architecture and attention to composition and detail
• Demonstration of excellence in leadership, project management, breadth of work, new directions or new technology
• Innovation in concept, process, materials or implementation
• Promotion of the discipline amongst related professions, clients and the general public
• Demonstration of exemplary environmental and / or social awareness

The recipient of the 2016 Jury’s Award of Excellence and a National Award is:

Lansdowne Park
PFS Studio
Category: Public Landscapes Designed by a Landscape Architect

And among the 10 recipients of the 2016 National Award is:

The West Don Lands
The Planning Partnership and PFS Studio
Category: Public Landscapes Designed by a Landscape Architect

You can read more about the awards here.

Award of Excellence for Lansdowne Park

Ottawa’s recently completed Lansdowne Park was the recipient of this year’s Ottawa Urban Design Award for Excellence for Visions and Masterplans.

The jury cited Lansdowne Park as “an excellent example of revitalizing development that balances social, cultural, environmental and economic sustainability. It fulfills the concept of ‘mixed use’ in the truest meaning of the phrase; a vibrant blend of residential, retail/commercial, recreation/entertainment, civic and green space program. A high quality pedestrian-first public realm is evident throughout; and built form scale and transition is particularly successful.”

You can read more about the park, the award, and the other recipients here and here.

Photos courtesy of Haewon Chun, City of Ottawa and D. Barbour

Edmonton Urban Design Awards

Chris Phillips was recently in Edmonton to jury the Edmonton Urban Design Awards alongside Eduardo Aquino (Professor of Architecture at the University of Manitoba), Anne Cormier (Professor of Architecture at the University of Montreal), Gordon Price and Betsy Williamson. Awards will be handed out in the following categories: Implemented Urban Design Plans, Urban Architecture, Civic Design Projects, Urban Fragments, Community Improvement Projects, Student Projects as well as two new categories: Heritage Projects and Infill Development.

There were many outstanding submissions, in particular several student projects and many City of Edmonton new park buildings.

The City has demonstrated a high design standard for its own projects.

You can vote for the People’s Choice Award until November 23rd by clicking here.