Design Ideas

View design ideas for the Gardiner East from international design teams.
In 2010, Waterfront Toronto and the City of Toronto launched a Design Ideas initiative for the Gardiner East (Gardiner Expressway and Lake Shore Blvd approximately between Jarvis St and Leslie St). A competitive process was held to select six internationally renowned engineering and design teams to develop visions for the Gardiner East.

The Design Ideas were developed to:

Visualize options to engage the public in a discussion of what to do with the Gardiner East
Develop ideas to inform the development of Alternative Solutions through the Environmental Assessment process
The design teams were given a detailed briefing which included information on existing conditions and concurrent studies before they began work. Half way through their assignment, design teams presented their work to technical and stakeholder committees for feedback.

Two design teams were assigned to three of following four options to be studied in the Environmental Assessment known as Alternative Solutions:

Maintain the elevated expressway
Improve the urban fabric while maintaining the existing expressway
Replace with a new above or below grade expressway
Remove the elevated expressway and build a new boulevard
A team was not assigned to the “Maintain” option. Maintain, also known as “Do Nothing”, is the baseline case which includes the rehabilitation of the expressway structure as per City of Toronto’s F.G. Gardiner Expressway Rehabilitation Project and approved plans for the surrounding area.

The Design Ideas, along with Public Ideas, Your Ideas and technical designs will inform the generation of Alternative Solutions by the Environmental Assessment project team.

As part of the EA process, the Alternative Solutions will be evaluated utilizing ‘Study Lenses’ which will contain detailed evaluation criteria:

Urban Design
Economics
Transportation & Infrastructure
Environment
The results of the EA evaluation will determine which Alternative Solution is carried forward in the Environmental Assessment.

For more information about each of the team submissions, please see below.