Ashbridges Bay Skate Plaza

Lake Shore Boulevard East, Old Toronto, Toronto, Canada

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Ashbridges Bay Skate Plaza

Lake Shore Boulevard East, Old Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Firm

Type

Hospitality + Sport ›
Government + Health ›

YEAR

2010

BUDGET

$1M - 5M

Ashbridges Bay Skate Plaza, Toronto ONWinner of the 2010 Ready Mix Concrete Assocation of Ontario's: Architectural Hardscape Award
Author: Derek DeLand IA.AIBC
B.Arch B.Sc with Jim Barnum
PROJECT DESCRIPTION -
“BARCELAONDORONTO PLAZA”
The challenge: to create a skatepark
that is not a skatepark, a landscape compelling and connected enough to draw those
sophisticated interpreters of public space, hardcore ‘street skaters’, out of their
preferred habitat; in this case, the mean streets of downtown Toronto.
Traditional skateparks cannot
accomplish this task. With the rise of traditional skateparks over the past ten
years came a backlash against their very nature (contrived, confined,
restrictive). The restricted, sterile, nature of typical skateparks results in
skaters feeling like they’re in a zoo rather than experiencing street skating’s
subtle, addictive appeal: the creative freedom of roaming and reinterpreting
public space, and the physical and social interactions which come with that
process. This challenge resulted in a widely
appealing sculptural social space infused with creativity, curiosity and
challenge. The Ashbridges Skate Plaza is an innovative urban microcosm,
compiling dozens of legendary international ‘skate-spots’ into one cohesive
linear plaza that reads as a compilation of skateboarding’s greatest hits; the
aesthetically discerning, internationally aware street skater’s dream spot. International MicroCity
To ensure the success associated with
user ownership, the design team (including experienced skatepark designers /
skaters) collaborated with expert local skaters. Deciding the best way to outdo
one city is with several, they drew inspiration from favorite Toronto
skate-spots that had been rendered unskateable, then quoted legendary
skate-spots from London, Barcelona and California, finally editing in inventive
original elements. Social Studies – The True Street
Skating Experience
The site, adjacent to Toronto’s lively
Beaches park, combined with the project’s sculptural and aesthetic intrigue,
facilitates inclusion of both curious urbanites of all ages and the skaters, creating
the required dynamic urban experience. Sited parallel to the sidewalk, Lakeshore
Boulevard and Ashbridges Bay Beach, the long plaza harmonizes with the prevailing
grain of the surroundings, cleanly breaking the barrier between general public
and skaters. Ashbridges reads and is utilized as part of the milieu rather than
a separate ‘skaters only’ space; truly a skatepark that’s not a skatepark. Long and lean for another purpose, it
offers the visceral experience of travel usually only available while street
skating downtown. Contemporary Collision
Inclusion is further enhanced by a
push-pull of nature and artifice. Hard landscape lines push skaters out into
the surrounds while incursions of green-space invite onlookers closer. Nature
plays a positive/negative game with the hard reality of concrete. Like
shrapnel, fragments thrown outside or floating above the body of the park blur
the line between “skate reserve” and freedom. Sculptural Elements
The contemporary creativity of the
design is engaging for both skaters and urbanites. Visually literate citizens
are engaged by the game of architectural reference; is that piece from Barcelona,
London, Bloor Street or Main Street? Bizarre sculptures populate the space,
challenging the moving skateboarder to an interactive battle, the ultimate
street skating experience: the creative act of interpreting how to possibly ride
them. The tension of the cantilevering bank-wall is punctured by a window,
dually opening space to surroundings and offering choice of skate surface and
edge; the skater can interact above, below, over, or along in response. The “c-noodle”
sculpture’s tense adjacency asks questions rather than providing answers. It’s
there, but one must break the implied external boundary to interact with it.
Sustainable Future
Social responsibility extends to
environmental sustainability. Ashbridges is made of high fly-ash EcoSmart
concrete with Hard Cem, productively reusing industrial waste products while
reducing CO2 emmisions. Surface drainage directs water back to nature, not into
sewers. The project’s construction quality, including reinforcing microfibres
and Pentra-Sil concrete hardeners ensure a maximum life cycle. It’s also
future-oriented with four approaches to connect with future pedestrian pathways
and courtyards (starting 2011), and a deck area will transform into a transitional
space when the skateable replica pool is added in 2011. PROJECT SPECS - Completed: September 2009
- Concrete Footprint: 25,880 square feet / 2,405 square metres = Eastern
Canada’s largest Skate Plaza
- Concrete Volume: 1,200 cubic metres / 1,570 cubic yards (EcoSmart
with HardCem and DCI Corrosion Inhibitor) Foundation and Empire
Like an iceberg, a large portion of
the victory of the design is unseen and underneath. The tradeoff for its prime
beachview property was the unending softness of lakeside fill soil. The design
and engineering team solved this by preloading the entire site with heavy fill for
two years until reasonably firm, then driving extremely deep piles topped with
structural capitals to support the plaza like a table, with strategic bays of
concrete spanning the spaces between piles / capitals. Concrete Cohesion
The plaza’s materiality of steel-edged
cast-in-place reinforced concrete (most cast on grade, some in complex
suspended forms) is the theme that unifies this diverse compilation of forms
and references. Concrete’s incredible versatility lets it sculpturally morph
into complex hybrid shapes. It’s capabilities of cantilevering, fusing,
bridging, and ability to create both positive and negative space is expressed
in this project via punched holes; architectural reveals and shadow lines; cantilevered
walls, ledges and sculptures, and connectivity to other materials. Concrete’s
ability to take on colour is here exploited with acid etched green linearities
that enhance its ablility to blend with nature, and visually encodes ideas for
creative navigation. Granite, innovatively hardened
Pentra-Sil (traditionally a concrete product) to withstand the skater’s abuse
with, adds material interest as ledges, tiles and retaining walls. Mild steel rails are painted for
colour and used by the skaters to grind and slide. A variety of planting populates the
space, with expansion planned for 2011. The concrete yet virtual dreamscape of
Ashbridges Plaza will carry generations of Toronto street skaters, and national
and international visitors, into a creative, interactive, and imaginative
future.