Finalists named in Nathan Phillips Square revitalization design competition

Four outstanding design teams have been selected as finalists to compete in Stage II of the international competition to revitalize Nathan Phillips Square.

The four teams short-listed by the competition jury to proceed to Stage II of the competition are:

• Baird Sampson Neuert Architects, Toronto, with VLAN Paysages (landscape architect, Montreal); Halcrow Yolles (structural engineer, Toronto); Cobalt Engineering (mechanical engineer, Toronto); and Mulvey & Banani International Inc. (electrical engineer, Toronto)
• Plant Architect Inc., Toronto, with Shore Tilbe Irwin & Partners (architect, Toronto); Peter Lindsay Schaudt Landscape Architecture, Inc. (landscape architect, Chicago); Adrian Blackwell (design collaborator, Toronto); Blackwell Bowick Partnership Limited (structural engineer, Toronto); and Crossey Engineering Ltd. (mechanical and electrical engineers, Toronto)
• Rogers Marvel Architects, New York, with Ken Smith Landscape Architect (landscape architect, New York) and Buro Happold (structural, mechanical and electrical engineers, New York)
• Zeidler Partnership Architects, Toronto, with Group Signes (landscape architect, Paris, France); Halcrow Yolles (structural engineer, Toronto); and Hidi Rae (mechanical and electrical engineers, Toronto)

“On behalf of all Torontonians, I thank the entrants for their thoughtful and creative efforts and the jury for its intense deliberations,” said Mayor

David Miller. “The members of the jury faced a challenging task in short-listing the finalists. We look forward to the selection of a winning design in March that will result in the revitalization of Toronto’s premier public space and civic gathering place.”

“Many excellent submissions were received and the creative ideas expressed gave the jury members a full range of approaches to consider,” remarked Peter Ortved, Professional Advisor overseeing the competition. “The short-listed finalists best responded to the challenges outlined in the Competition Brief and the jury looks forward to seeing these conceptual ideas developed in greater detail. I am confident that the final designs will excite the citizens of Toronto.”

Forty-eight teams from around the world, with members from Canada, Chile, China, England, Finland, France, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the United States, submitted design proposals in the first stage of the competition.

The Competition Jury is chaired by Eric Haldenby, architect and Director of the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. Other jury members are: Dinu Bumbaru, internationally recognized heritage architect from Montreal; David Crombie, former Mayor of Toronto and President and CEO of The Canadian Urban Institute; Frances Halsband, architect and partner in the New York firm of R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects; Cornelia Oberlander, distinguished landscape architect from Vancouver; and Michael Ondaatje, world-renowned author and resident of Toronto.

Stage II finalists will submit detailed design plans by February 16, 2007. A public exhibition of the final designs will be held before the jury meets in early March 2007 to evaluate the designs and select a winner.

The design competition is part of the Toronto Government’s efforts to beautify and restore its public spaces. The City has made a $16-million financial commitment and is seeking an additional $24 million in contributions from other levels of government, the private sector and the business community for Nathan Phillips Square’s revitalization and restoration.

For more information visit www.toronto.ca/npsquarecompetition.