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Liberty Village

Working with developers Can Alfa and the City of Toronto, IBI Group have transformed this 45-acre, vacant industrial brownfield site and home of a former prison, to one of the densest and most desirable neighbourhoods in Toronto within the span of a few decades. With access to several major transportation arteries, residents in Liberty Village enjoy a uniquely walkable, mixed-use community complete with parks, plazas and a plethora of amenities.

Client
City of Toronto, Can Alfa Liberty Village Homes, CN Rail
Location
Toronto, ON
45 acres Area
Ongoing Status

One of Toronto’s earliest settlements, Liberty Village has a colourful history but was largely abandoned until the early 2000’s. Guided by smart growth and sustainable strategies, IBI Group oversaw the remediation of the site; designed and managed the installation of new infrastructure including streets, parks and access to rail; designed 5,000 residential units (to be completed in 2019); and guided the design and adaptive reuse of area heritage buildings for retail and office space.

Connected by pedestrian-friendly and accessible East Liberty Street, the architecture of Liberty Village is inspired by its industrial past. Its buildings’ striking brick and beam structures have heavy bases with transparent upper portions leaving room for open space and views of the city. Its parks function as meeting spaces for yoga, dog walking, and movie nights in the summer.

By providing residents with options to live, work and play within their own neighbourhood, combined with its geographic location minutes from downtown, Liberty Village promotes active transportation, mitigates the need for a vehicle and therefore reduces gas emissions. The ongoing development of this community has had direct financial benefits for the City of Toronto and a profoundly positive ripple effect on surrounding neighbourhoods in Toronto’s west end.

As the project’s prime consultant, this truly collaborative effort involved IBI Group’s residential, retail and heritage architecture, urban design, landscape architecture as well as civil and transportation engineering. IBI Group also designed the King Liberty Master Plan which guided the areas development and adaptation of its heritage buildings for commercial use. Though the project began in 1991, we’re still working on it today!

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Best Large Scale Brownfield Project in Canada

2015

Brownie Awards,
By Canadian Urban Institute

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Trevor McIntyre

Global Director, Placemaking & International
Toronto, ON

Toronto, ON
We have passed the point where half of the world's population is living in cities. If we as planners and designers want to continue to fight urban sprawl, then we need to focus on maintaining a high quality of green infrastructure in our cities and in particular around transit. The public realm, including parks, streets, shared streets and public plazas need to be designed to maximize the human experience. How we animate those spaces, and manage them with a mix of good design and technology will dictate the quality of life in our future cities.

Trevor McIntyre is Global Director, Placemaking & International. He is responsible for International operational results, including financial performance, professional and technical excellence, staff motivation and development, and client satisfaction. He is a Landscape Architect and member of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architecture and the American Society of Landscape Architecture.

Trevor has been a leading planner, landscape architect, and urban designer for more than 20 years, with projects in Canada, USA, Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia. He leads the Toronto IBI Group design practice in community planning and design, master planning, and landscape architecture. He has a Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Guelph.

David Hastings

Director | Sr. Practice Lead, Architecture
Toronto, ON

Toronto, ON

David Hastings has been practicing architecture in Ontario for over 30 years. He is responsible for IBI Group’s architecture and interior design practice in the Greater Toronto Area, providing overall direction and day-to-day leadership on selected major architectural and urban planning assignments that involve the integration of the diverse areas of practice. David’s projects have gained a significant reputation for high-quality design and responsible execution, and have been recognized in several international design journals. He is a recipient of the Governor General’s Medal for Architecture in Canada.