Regatta Foreshore Toronto.

The site’s critical location between the lake and town centre reinforces the importance of the project and the visual, physical and cultural connection with the community.

Key elements of the project include:

New amenities buildings including a combined kiosk and storage building; Men’s and women’s toilet, change and shower facilities; Associated paved and terraced plaza area for seating; A timber boardwalk along the foreshore edge; A new access from the boardwalk to the lake swimming baths.

Design Response

The design aims to incorporate the unique lakeside environment by extension of the inherent physical forms of the land and bush. The design also aims to create a link between the town centre and the lake edge. The language of the design is simple and modern using traditional materials and methods of construction. These materials are meant to be highly aesthetic, durable and relate to the existing lakeside context.

The Buildings

There are three amenities buildings to replace the existing one. The separation into three structures allows the scale of the buildings to decrease therefore downplaying their stature within the site and allowing increased permeability into and out of the site. The shade structure unifies the three buildings visually while also performing functional requirements for shade, wind and rain protection. The buildings improve the amenity of the reserve and local area by maintaining important lake views, addressing safety and access issues, while upgrading recreational facilities in a contextually sensitive manner.