TORONTO
ARCHITECT: gh3* Architects
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: CCxA, Claude Cormier + Associés
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Somerville Construction
CLIENT: Waterfront Toronto, City of Toronto
Photographs by: Nirmit Gire & Waterfront Toronto
Feature Elements engineered, fabricated, and installed by Eventscape:
Custom stainless steel tube pavilion
Love Park
TORONTO
ARCHITECT: gh3* Architects
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: CCxA, Claude Cormier + Associés
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Somerville Construction
CLIENT: Waterfront Toronto, City of Toronto
Photographs by: Nirmit Gire & Waterfront Toronto
Feature Elements engineered, fabricated, and installed by Eventscape:
Custom stainless steel tube pavilion
Project Description
For Love Park, a new public space in downtown Toronto designed by landscape architects CCxA and gh3* Architects, Eventscape brought more than love to the task of crafting an original structure to support leisurely park activity. This Art Nouveau-inspired pavilion stands next to the large heart-shaped reflecting pool which inspired the park’s name.
With the abandon of a wild nest, this stainless-steel installation swoops and playfully dances overhead, creating arches that frame vistas of the surrounding skyscrapers.
The structure’s exacting geometry is anything but casual: Precision craftsmanship is what allows whimsy to define its engaging form, beneath which loose chairs and tables become a natural gathering point to take it all in.
With the abandon of a wild nest, this stainless-steel installation swoops and playfully dances overhead, creating arches that frame vistas of the surrounding skyscrapers.
The structure’s exacting geometry is anything but casual: Precision craftsmanship is what allows whimsy to define its engaging form, beneath which loose chairs and tables become a natural gathering point to take it all in.
Unique Characteristics & Project Challenges
The enormous frame of this sculpture was fabricated off-site at Eventscape. This saved time and cost as well as allowed the design to be perfected through rigorous mock-up and testing. Eventscape’s experience with complex geometry and tubular structures was a perfect match to craft the right expression for flying 5000-feet of stainless steel in the air and create as open and delicate a structure as possible.
Durability and elegance were drivers in the fabrication process. Thicker portions of piping would have addressed structural requirements and Eventscape found solutions to maintain a sleek and uniform appearance throughout using only 1.5 inch diameter stainless-steel tubing.
The lack of straight lines and the organic, curvilinear form required a complex taxonomy of joint details, both mechanically fastened and welded in a hierarchy of two-way, three-way, and four-way, forks as the tubes loop past one another where some connect and others carry on to the next connecting point. In all, there are 14 ‘column trees’ that anchor the structure to below-grade footings and two custom planters.
“This dynamic installation in Love Park is a place-making sculpture with an organic form that creates a strong visual draw. Eventscape expertly crafted the structure with impressive precision to create a site-specific feature with lasting appeal in Toronto’s newest park.”
Marc Hallé, OALA, FCSLA, Landscape Architect, Co-President, CCxA
“Eventscape optimized the design of Love Park’s pergola so that its slender stainless-steel tubing arcs gracefully with a uniform appearance, and they found solutions to ensure durability and elegance were drivers in the fabrication process.”
Pat Hanson, BFA MArch OAA AAA FRAIC, Founding Principal, Creative Director, gh3*
A Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was performed on this structure using calculations and models to understand how the structure would withstand external forces, and to tighten the design through this iterative process.
A 3D scan was made of the site and overlaid with the model of the structure so as to locate the concrete piers and bolt them to the ground ahead of installation. This allowed for the tightly controlled workshop environment to execute the exacting details of the prefabrication process.
When it came time to move the structure, it was first cut into two sections where splice joints would be applied on site. Then the structure was split into 13 elements and reassembled in the park.
“The pergola in Love Park was fabricated and installed by Eventscape with great attention to detail. The ability to construct the pergola off-site then moved to the site for assembly made the installation of the pergola quick and seamless.”
Chris Glaisek, Chief Planning and Design Officer, Waterfront Toronto
