From 1889 to 1984 the Don Valley Brick Works was one of Canada’s pre-eminent brickyards, producing more than 43 million bricks a year. Evergreen, in partnership with the city of Toronto and the TRCA, selected a large, multi-disciplinary design team including architects, landscape architects, interpretive designers, engineers, ecologists and artists, to transform the site into an environmental education centre incorporating themes of nature, culture and community.

The landscape at the Brick Works will respond to the inherent fertility of the floodplain, allowing the site to dissolve into its surrounding valley context through the reintroduction of native planting. A storm water management system collecting roof water and surface runoff will channel water into a lush greenway accommodating the site’s distinctive flows, from beyond the top of the ravine and quarry to the shore of the Don River.

Client:
Evergreen

Team:
du Toit Architects, du Toit Allsopp Hillier
Claude Cormier Architectes Paysagistes Inc; Diamond and Schmitt Architects Inc; E.R.A. Architects Inc; Halsall; Stantec; BA Group; TSH; David Dennis Design; Leber Rubes; The MMM Group; Dougan & Associates; Ferruccio Sardella; Eastern Construction