Most Torontonians may not consider the history of Fort York in its modern context, but the site is rich with stories of disrupted bird habitation, receding water edges, and unsettling warfare. In the Fall semester of 2014, Nicolas Koff and Marisa Bernstein led the third year landscape architecture course, LAN3016: Fort York’s Fluid Landscapes, to investigate the history of Fort York, and to examine how the site could accommodate changing uses.

“Through its key location at the historical intersection of the Garrison creek and the lake shore, the site has over the years been used for sustenance, protection, transportation, recreation and education,” writes Nicolas Koff in the course description. “With each incarnation, the site gained in complexity, culminating in its present multi-layered state.”

The outcomes of this course have continued on into different mediums. The projects were featured on Projexity — a website created by Koff and Bernstein that engages communities in neighbourhood improvement projects. Last May, the duo led a Jane’s Walk focused on research from the course along with and Ya’el Santopinto. More recently, the Fort York narratives developed from the course were transformed into a podcast for Cities Alive. The podcast recounts stories as told by students Kaari Kitawi, Grace Yang, Carla Lipkin, Meaghan Burke, and Rui Felix.

“[The development of] the stories for the students was supposed to get their foot in the door in the design process,” says Marisa Bernstein in the podcast. “It was a way for them to come up with a narrative for the site that would then help guide them through their projects for the entire semester.”

The student projects have been documented by on Projexity, and can be viewed at fluidfortyork.projexity.com

Renderings pictured above (in order of appearance) by Kaari Kitawi, Andrea Linney, Meaghan Burke, and Rui Felix.