PLANT is working with Copenhagen-based Henning Larsen Architects and Toronto-based Adamson Associates Architects on CreateTO’s west-end Toronto Housing Now Projects for the Bloor-Kipling (Six Points) and the Bloor–Islington Focus Areas, providing the landscape design. The 13.8-acre Bloor-Kipling (Six Points) Focus Area is an in-construction, $77-M capital investment that will create six mixed-use blocks. The Bloor-Islington Focus Area is a 4.9-acre parcel to be redeveloped to include approximately 1,280 residential units in high-rises, with office, and service retail and hospitality uses at the ground and second levels.
PLANT’s major landscape strategies for these sites include spatial diversity, the creation of walkable, accessible urban space, and an ecological infrastructure that integrates biodiversity with stormwater management, air pollution and heat island mitigation, and psychological well-being. Inner-block courtyards allow for through-block pedestrian connections; setbacks at streets create opportunities for varied social spaces and additional trees.