Cloud Gardens
| Cloud Gardens | |
|---|---|
 Cloud Gardens greenhouse is seen in the upper left |
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| Type | Public Park |
| Location | Toronto, Ontario |
| Operated by | City of Toronto |
Cloud Gardens or "Bay Adelaide Gardens and the Cloud Forest Conservatory"[1] is a small park in downtown Toronto. It is on Richmond Street just east of Bay Street on half an acre (2,000 m²) of land.
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[edit] Origin
The site was given to the city in the 1980s as part of a deal that allowed the Bay Adelaide Centre to be higher than official plan limits. The developers thus gave a small portion of the lot to the city and spent $5 million to build a park.
[edit] Design
The park is one of the more elaborate in Toronto. It was designed by a partnership of Baird, Sampson Neuert Architects,[2] the MBTW Group/Watchorn Architects, and two artists, Margaret Priest and Tony Sherman.[3] It won George Baird a Governor General's Architecture Award.
[edit] Description
The western part of the park includes a network of pathways and is edged by cluster of trees around a semicircular lawn. The eastern portion is more elaborate with a series of walkways climbing past a waterfall. Rising above this area is a monument to Toronto's construction workers designed by Margaret Priest and constructed by the Building Trades Union. It comprises squares that each illustrate one of the building trades. Thus one shows a network of steel rebars, another, a cluster of wiring.
The namesake feature of the Gardens is a small greenhouse set to the cool and moist conditions of certain mountain ecologies. A walkway runs from the lower-level entrance to an upper-level exit by the waterfall. Occasionally, parkour teams of Toronto will train here.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Bay Adelaide Gardens and the Cloud Forest Conservatory". City of Toronto, Toronto Gardens and Conservatories. 2000-10-23. http://www.toronto.ca/parks/parks_gardens/bayadelaidegdns.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- ^ "Barry Sampson - projects - 0.6A public park (aerial photo)". University of Toronto web site, faculty pages. http://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/node/748. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- ^ "Urban Design: Cloud Garden Park". Lost Streams, Toronto, Web site. http://www.lostrivers.ca/points/cloudgrdnpk.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
Coordinates: 43°39′04″N 79°22′47″W / 43.651168°N 79.379826°W
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