Toronto Leslie Nymark | ?m | 4s | TCHC | RAW Design

Haha - how did you guess?

Ha!. Also from yesterday and for the same reason.

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Public art project aims to reunite residents returning to revitalized North York community housing complex


Aug 26, 2021


The Villaways complex, now known as Leslie Nymark, was redesigned and rebuilt in partnership with condo builder and developer Tridel; condos are now on site as well. And residents have now started to return.

A public art project, facilitated by charitable organization STEPS Public Art, aims to engage and unify the new community.

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Pacho will create a large public artwork designed collaboratively with Leslie Nymark residents. The mural production, which will be on the side of two buildings, will begin in September and finish by mid-October, with an unveiling planned for the end of that month.

“Everything that we put into our proposal and the artwork came directly from feedback received from the community,” Pacho said. “At every step we’re taking feedback directly from the folks that live in the neighbourhood and adjusting our design based on the feedback.”

Pacho said the mural will tell a story through a roll of film that will stretch across the two buildings, adding that within the frames of the film artists will paint imagery that tells the story of the community.

“We do want to capture the community in a positive light. We’re definitely interested in showcasing Black excellence,” Pacho said. “Being that this community is predominantly Black and predominantly people from island descent, we definitely want to put things in this mural that folks living in the community can appreciate and identify with, and we’re interested in capturing the past, present and future of this community.”

The project also includes a number of skills-building workshops and employment opportunities for tenants.

 

Public art project aims to reunite residents returning to revitalized North York community housing complex


Aug 26, 2021




I would hope that the painted film strip mural would include references to Unarmed Verses, the excellent documentary that focuses on one of those who was relocated from the townhomes and which you can watch at TVo_Org

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These look reasonably well done overall. I like the congruent built form consistency in both the townhomes and midrises.
 
<sigh> The neighbourhood is changing. I grew up on the other side of Nymark, near Shaughnessy, and we used to hike through the woods on the other side of Leslie opposite this project.
 
Google street view captures along Leslie from May 2022:


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The landscape space/set-back feels off here.

The boulevard needs to be wider for trees, in good conditions. The road would b well served to have the buildings in a bit closer, I could understand setting back further around the mature tree, but the rest could be pulled 1M, and the boulevard enlarged by 1M and the whole area would feel more animated and less Stroad'ish.
 
Leslie Nymark, also known as the Villaways, is a seven-acre site located on Leslie Street north of Sheppard Avenue. The community consisted of 121 social housing townhouse units, which were demolished and replaced by 121 social housing townhouses and apartment units along with 499 condo units. The social housing construction was completed in 2021 while the condo construction was completed last year.

According to TCHC, building partner Tridel contributed $100,000 for Toronto Community Housing tenant scholarships, of which $63,000 has been distributed. Tridel also provided full-time work to 14 tenants as well as job shadowing and training for 21 others. Amenities include a new playground, indoor amenity rooms and enhanced access to the Don Valley Ravine.

Mendes said the indoor community space features a commercial kitchen that “facilitates the ability to run a breakfast program for children or a food security program for residents.”

On Aug. 29, TCHC celebrated the completion of the project with a tree planting ceremony in the Leslie Nymark community.

“The purpose of that is to signify a fresh start in growing new roots and refreshing the community, so we hope that the roots of that tree, much like the community, grow strong and create a solid foundation,” Mendes said.


 

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