Winners of the Brunswick-College Parkette Design Competition

Judges’ Third Choice:

BRING BACK THE BOULEVARDS!
Jeremy Quastel and Ingrid McKhool
residents of Brunswick Avenue, Harbord Village, Toronto
See complete submission here (pdf)

Designers' Description

This submission seeks to restore the boulevards on the first block of Brunswick Avenue north of College to their originally built condition.

Currently the boulevards narrow in the south half of the street and disappear completely as the street approaches College.  These ill-designed incursions into the boulevard were made to accommodate emergency vehicles entering and exiting the no longer existent Doctors’ Hospital.  They have led to numerous problems at the south end of the street, including:

• numerous impediments to safe pedestrian and traffic flow

• a cumbersome pedestrian route on the north side

• awkward sidewalks too narrow for strollers and wheelchairs, and dangerous in the winter on the west side

• misuse, littering and disrespect of public space in the ‘parkette’

We believe that these problems result to a large extent from a very poor general design that will not be remedied by a superficial makeover of the ‘parkette’.

Our Solution:

Our plan is simple, elegant and inexpensive. We would restore the south end of Brunswick Avenue to its originally built design, which means that we would re-establish the grassy boulevards straight down from the north end to the south end of the block (Ulster to College).

In particular this would mean:

1. From the north end of north Kensington Gardens building on Brunswick (45 Brunswick) to the south end of the south Kensington Gardens building on Brunswick (25 Brunswick), restore the boulevards to their original width (approximately one additional meter on each side).

2. Restore the boulevard on the west side of the street at the southern end, where it had been removed to accommodate the curve for former Doctors’ Hospital emergency vehicles.

3. The roadway would be straightened and have the same width for the entire block as it now does north of 45 Brunswick. 

4. This solution results in removing the ‘parkette’ features to accommodate the restored road, boulevard and sidewalk, including three unhealthy new trees on the west part of the ‘parkette’ where the new curb would go, and moving several lamp posts.

5. We suggest surrounding the concrete plant holders and Kensington Medical Offices' sunken utility area presently on the east side of the 'parkeUe' with attractive iron fence work that will discourage inappropriate use. However, this is flexible and our plan could easily incorporate artistic or architectural suggestions from other plans for this particular area.

6. The new boulevard will accommodate the planting of as many as six new trees along the tree line.

Key Advantages:

• Our plan will restore the south block of Brunswick Avenue to its original heritage configuration, which is in keeping with the Harbord Village Heritage Conservation District.

• These restorations will greatly enhance the character and attractiveness of the south end of the street.

• Our plan accommodates ample parking on the west side for the entire length of the block.

• Because Brunswick Avenue would be one-way south from Ulster to College, this will increase safety for children and residents of Kensington Gardens.

Conclusion:

We believe that many of the esthetic, safety, usage and traffic flow problems at the south end of Brunswick Avenue are the result of the ill-conceived curve and narrowing of boulevards which were made to accommodate the no longer existing Doctors' Hospital.

A restoration to an attractive and historical design will lead to a renewed respect for the area and greatly contribute to the revitalization of College Street and Harbord Village.

Competition Coordinators' summary notes

The only submission by a local resident, one who believes, as does judge Mitch Kosny, that a parkette may never work on this site. Because of that, rightly or wrongly, this is the only submission to ignore the competition brief which is to make the parkette site more, not less welcoming than it is at present and to a greater number and diversity of people (“local residents – including those of Kensington Gardens as well as people who work or own businesses in the neighbourhood”.) Bring Back the Boulevards opposes that remit by abolishing the parkette altogether. (The design includes no benches or any other park amenity.)

Bring Back the Boulevards will likely cost less to build and maintain than any other submitted design. This is an important attraction but it can only happen if its boulevards are not made of grass. Even if they are meticulously maintained in this heavily trafficked area (a process that is tremendously costly in terms of re-seeding, watering and mowing) grass boulevards will be very quickly transformed into rutted strips of mud or hard dirt. This will be the case, especially, on the west side, where trucks are frequently unloaded into the deli on that corner.

For this reason, Bring Back the Boulevards can only work if its boulevards are made, not of grass – unless, perhaps, that grass is protected by a curb - but of something else, embedded boulders, perhaps, or flagstones that will contrast in colour and texture with the surrounding concrete –simple modifications that might make this design feasible. Otherwise:

Bring Back the Boulevards is vague about the most troublesome part of the existing parkette – that which belongs to Kensington Health Centre. This scheme proposes it be simply fenced in with metal railings. What might be done otherwise to the existing “bunker wall” to reduce its squalor is not addressed. Nor is there any attempt to open up the west side of the KHC building to non-medical retail or café uses, as recommended in the competition briefing and included in other submissions.
(Richard Longley)