Ontario Place: A Call for Counterproposals

Meet Ontario Place, a public site and Modernist masterpiece located on Toronto's waterfront which has suffered from decades of inadequate stewardship.  Designed in the late 1960’s by architect Eberhard Zeidler and landscape architect Michael Hough, it embodies progressive visions which have taken multiculturalism, ecology, and architectural technology into careful consideration. 

In 2018, Ontario’s Provincial Government led by Doug Ford opened the site to international development calls, with no public consultation or transparency. Ontario Place is now at risk of privatization and losing its  world-renowned architectural  and landscape heritage. It’s up to us to imagine the future of the site for all Ontarians.

Following these events, Ontario Place was included on the 2020 World Monuments Fund Watch alongside other sites "in need of urgent or timely action."  

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This is a call for counterproposals in which the heritage values of Ontario Place are safeguarded and enhanced while taking the public into consideration. 

No stuffy condos, privatized marinas, big box programs or casinos; rather, we want to engage the myriad of stakeholders on the site such as families, casual cyclists, the houseboat community, environmentalists, yoga enthusiasts, basketball players,  fishing groups, performance artists, skateboarders, cinephiles, architects, and others who have contributed to the vibrancy of the site.  

This challenge is open to undergraduate and graduate students of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design, business, and related fields from across Canada. For additional details, please read the challenge brief. 

Prizes: $2000

Jury: 

1. Sean Anderson, Associate Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, MoMA

2. Sheridan Burke, Heritage Consultant

3. Ken Greenberg, Urbanist 

4. Jason Long, Partner, Office for Metropolitan Architecture New York City

5. Ashley Mendelsohn, Assistant Curator, Architecture and Digital Initiatives, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum

6. Catherine Nasmith, Heritage Architect 

7. Jay Pitter, Placemaker 

8. Mark Ryan, Principal, PUBLIC WORK

9. Brigitte Shim Principal, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects 

Learn more and read the brief at futureofontarioplace.org

The Future of Ontario Place Project represents a partnership between the World Monuments Fund, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Toronto, and Architectural Conservancy Ontario.