In 2016, Ontario landscape and industrial design students were challenged to redesign the exterior space at Artscape Youngplace, a popular community cultural hub in Toronto. The competition, organized by the Ontario Tire Stewardship (OTS), asks participants to find new life for old tires, and has taken place in different locations since 2011. It’s a project that Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture Elise Shelley has been working with the OTS over the past six years to help organize.

Daniels Faculty students, who have since become alumni — Tom Kwok, Leonard Flot and Andrey Chernykh — won the landscape design portion of last year’s competition and were on hand on September 19 to celebrate the realized design. The project features new durable paving surfaces, improved site furnishings, and a series of spaces using poured rubber in a way never before seen in Canada: they are surfaced specifically for chalk drawing, informal and performance art, extending the artistic mandate of Artscape into their new outside space.

Joining the students from the winning design teams were Councillor Mike Layton; LoriAnn Girvan, Artscape COO; Andrea Nemtin, Inspirit Foundation President & CEO; and Artscape Youngplace tenants and community members.

Interesting in seeing the newly designed outdoor space for yourself? Visit Artscape Youngplace at 180 Shaw Street in Toronto’s West Queen West neighbourhood near the intersection of Queen and Ossington.

Photo, top: by Andrew Miller/Awesome Photography