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The expansive network of ravines cutting through Toronto has had a profound effect on how buildings and infrastructure are designed in this city since day one. Our interactions with the ravine network are usually limited to foot or bike travel on trails, or vehicle travel along the Don Valley Parkway, but there is much more to these mostly natural ribbons than meets the eye.
To help provide a greater understanding of the role Toronto’s ravines can play in supporting an increasingly dense and urban city, and to explore how environmental stewardship efforts can continue while access, use, amenity and programming of the ravines is accommodated and increased, Megan Torza of DTAH has partnered up with New York’s Storefront for Art and Architecture, to create RavinePortal, a new installation which features work from local artists, architects, environmentalists and planners. It considers the role that public art can play in the enjoyment of the city’s ravine landscapes, while providing a platform for discussion of recent City-led master planning efforts in the Lower Don Valley with a goal of establishing a future vision for the ravines as a form of public linear park that is sustainable and achievable.
RavinePortal transforms the entrance of DTAH's modernist heritage 50 Park Road studio, located on the edge of the Rosedale Valley, into a public exhibition venue visible by the many pedestrians, cyclists and commuters that pass through the ravine. Projected on the building’s front window, the exhibition incorporates visual media including text, photography, and mapping, with proposals produced by local designers, students, environmentalists, and artists in order to communicate the important role the ravines have in the life of the city.
Magen Torza, a partner at DTAH expanded on the vision of RavinePortal; “Toronto’s growth and intensification is remarkable. But as the population of our city increases, the demand for accessible public open space also increases. This demand reflects a renewed appreciation of being in nature, of living within walking distance of green. The ravines have the tremendous potential to fulfill the open space needs of Toronto’s citizens. The challenge that the stewards of the ravines face is how to accommodate more people, access, and use, without losing the unique characteristics that make Toronto’s ravines unlike any other open space network in the world. This is a challenge that is shared with the design community, and it is not a bad problem to have.”
RavinePortal debuted on September 26th, and will run until November 21, 2014. The exhibit includes two RavineTalks by Toronto environmental and design leaders, “Expect the Unexpected” on October 9, and “Possible Futures” on October 30. RavinePortal is a part of the larger WorldWide Storefront, a project composed of 10 alternative exhibition spaces around the globe accommodating images, ideas and discussion on site-specific topics pertaining to contemporary art and architecture. All events will be recorded and broadcast through the WorldWide Storefront online platform, and presented in New York City within the Storefront for Art and Architecture’s gallery.
