PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Eventscape was honoured to collaborate with Waterfront Toronto and internationally acclaimed artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer to develop, engineer, fabricate, and install Unfinished Arch, a permanent interactive public artwork at Sherbourne Common on Toronto’s waterfront.

Rising 30 feet and cantilevering approximately 40 feet from a single support point, the 25,000-pound stainless-steel structure appears to stop just within reach of the public. Visitors complete the arch by touching its stepped endpoint, where multiple integrated sensors activate more than 1,000 LED lights that travel along the underside of the sculpture toward its base.

The apparent simplicity of the gesture conceals considerable technical complexity. The reclaimed waterfront site required extensive geotechnical investigation, with the structure ultimately supported by foundations extending nearly 50 feet to bedrock. As general contractor, Eventscape was responsible for the complete site scope, including the foundations, concrete plinths, electrical infrastructure, pathways, and landscaping. The long cantilever required the team to anticipate structural deflection, coordinate around existing underground infrastructure, and maintain precise alignment between the structural spine, exterior cladding, lighting, sensors, and interactive endpoint.

The sculpture was fabricated in sections and clad with 105 individually formed stainless-steel panels. Each panel was laser-cut, brake-formed, finished, passivated, and mounted using a custom bracket system designed to create a continuous, monolithic appearance. Digital coordination and 3D scanning were used throughout fabrication and installation to verify fit, alignment, and finish as the structure was assembled.

Accessibility was integral to the work’s development. Feedback from Waterfront Toronto’s Accessibility Advisory Committee informed the surrounding circulation routes, clearances, and interaction zones. The stepped endpoint can be reached from different heights, including by wheelchair users, while tactile paving and a subtle auditory cue help visitors who are blind or have low vision locate the interaction point.

Realizing Unfinished Arch required close coordination across engineering, fabrication, lighting, controls, site construction, and installation. The goal was for that complexity to disappear into a public experience that feels immediate, intuitive, and playful, just as the artist intended.

Selected through an international call for proposals, Unfinished Arch reflects Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s distinctive approach to activating public space through human interaction and light. It is his first permanent public artwork in Canada.

“Unfinished Arch is an anti-monument. It takes the techno-optimism of a mid-century modernist arch and leaves it deliberately truncated, asking the public to physically complete what would otherwise collapse. The work reflects on the unfinished project of modernity and our collective responsibility for imagining what comes next.”

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Artist

BEHIND-THE-SCENES