WilkinsonEyre team selected for new Toronto pedestrian bridge project

WilkinsonEyre, together with Two Row, Zeidler, ARUP, and PLANT, has been awarded first place in the competition to deliver the new Keating Channel Pedestrian Bridge in Toronto. The bridge is part of the third facet of a larger CAD $1.3 billion (USD $950 million) redevelopment of the city's Port Lands post-industrial area.

Their design titled ‘Equinox’ is meant as a new pedestrian destination and will promote an affinity between people and water made possible by "softened" landscaped terraces on the bridge's abutments. Architects say it is also designed to reference two other bridges that are being delivered by Grimshaw Architects, schlaich bergermann partner, and Entuitive in the Port Lands.

The design team describes: "The project has been titled the 'Equinox Bridge' as the bridge orientation aligns with the summer solstice sunset and winter solstice sunrise, both of which can be viewed from stepped timber seating areas at the two 'noses' of the S-shaped deck. This alignment also frames the equinox sunrise with the arch of the bridge. Star constellations serving as natural guides to Indigenous peoples for thousands of years are inscribed into perforated metal screens, casting shadows on the bridge deck by day and by night, when backlit, making the constellations appear to glow."