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In late June, a celebration marked the official dedication of the Four Seasons cones and related public artworks which grace the condominium and townhome community known as Emerald City. Located in the Toronto suburb of North York on the southeast corner of Sheppard Avenue and Don Mills Road, the Emerald City community being developed by ELAD Canada is bringing thousands of new residents to a former Tower-in-the-Park neighbourhood called Parkway Forest. The development includes new and existing rental apartments as well, while adding new condominium towers and townhomes in a more densely spaced form, using urban land within steps of a subway station in a far more efficient way than earlier. This is the kind of infill development envision by the Province of Ontario's Places To Grow Act, which aims to reduce the carbon footprint of citizens and preserve farmland that surrounds our cities from being turned into low-rose subdivisions.
The works here are most noticeably four soaring cones called Four Seasons by celebrated author and artist Douglas Coupland. Arranged in a line leading away from the intersection of Don Mills Road and Sheppard Avenue to the southeast, the first cone represents Fall (seen closest to the camera in the image above), then moves back through the annual cycle to Summer, Spring, and Winter.
In the Inkblot Media video above, Coupland explains finding his inspiration for Four Seasons from the Laurentian pencil crayons that nearly every Canadian can claim as part of their childhood. The familiar colours are grouped to represent each season's palette while injecting a set of vibrant and optimistic landmarks into the newly created landscape of Emerald City.
On hand for the celebrations were many of the people involved with bringing both the artwork itself and the condominium community surrounding it into being. Those in attendance included Principals Brian Andrew and Len Abelman of WZMH Architects; Douglas Coupland; Ward 33 City Councillor Shelley Carroll; Netanel Ben Or, ELAD Canada Vice President Development and Marketing; Ron Weinstock, ELAD Canada Vice President of Development & Construction; Ori Belavin, ELAD Canada Manager, Development & Planning. Also on hand, below, with Coupland are Karen Mills of Public Art Management whose company shepherds artworks through the selection and creation process, and Jane Perdue, the City of Toronto's Public Art Coordinator in the Urban Design office of the Planning Department.
Besides the cones, Coupland's Four Seasons work shows up in several other places through the Emerald City site, all fabricated in the Etobicoke facilities of acclaimed Soheil Mosun Ltd.
Above, a number of shadow boxes are used to help people locate addresses across the site, the one above pointing the way to the first three Emerald City towers and the accompanying townhomes. Below, three Four Seasons themed poles lead pedestrians from the Don Mills subway station into the Emerald City complex.
There are also a number of Four Seasons cylinders making a colourful statement on the Emerald City site, with this set positioned along Don Mills Road outside the amenities pavilion for the second and third towers.
Just to the south of Emerald City's first phase (and east of where the next phase, The Colours of Emerald City, will soon rise), is the recently opened Parkway Forest Community Centre. This Diamond Schmitt Architects-designed public facility features the largest of the Four Seasons cylinders, marking its front entrance.
If you would like to know more about the various Emerald City developments or the Parkway Forest Community Centre, you can see plenty of renderings and get all the info you need in our dataBase files, linked below. Want to get in on the discussion? Choose one of the associated Forum thread links, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
