NPS Peace Garden: in print, everywhere!

The Peace Garden continues to impress the press. In her editorial in the August 2016 issue of Canadian Architect, Elsa Lam writes about being the lone architecture-trained juror on the most recent Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) Awards, in which the new Peace Garden within the freshly revitalized Nathan Phillips Square received a National Award of Excellence. Elsa mentions that the jury admired the way the project has “carved out a place of sanctuary within the bustle of Toronto” and strengthened the city’s signature civic plaza as a whole. As well, the just-published Fall 2016 issue of the CSLA’s own Landscapes | Paysages contains a stunning spread on the Peace Garden. Also hot off the presses is Now’s August 18–24 cover story on Toronto’s “secret” public places. After noting that moving the Peace Pavilion (added to the centre of the 1960s square in 1984) to the plaza’s western edge was a controversial decision, Now reports that this place of peace has “never looked better.” It’s great to see the Peace Garden on Now’s wonderfully eclectic compendium of Toronto’s “mind-bending public spaces” – right up there with Commerce Court’s resplendently Deco north tower and the life-size white elephant sculpture that takes up an entire front yard on Yarmouth Street.