Aerial View of site. Photo courtesy Northcrest Developments
Competition organizer: Northcrest Developments
Type: International two-stage invited with Expressions of Interest (EOI) and Request for Proposals
Category: Architecture and Planning
Fee: none
Language: English
Timetable
28 October 2024 – Expiration of Q&A period
22 November 2024 – Submission deadline for EOI
Eligibility:
Participating firms should include a landscape architect and submit the following qualifications to be included in the shortlist for the RfQ:
Summarize your team’s expertise and highlight any relevant projects that demonstrate why you’re the right choice for this design exercise.
Share your team’s vision for The Runway at YZD. Conceptual images, sketches, and diagrams that illustrate your ideas are encouraged in your submission.
How would you approach creating and implementing a vision for the evolving multi-decade, multi-party context like The Runway?
Complete the Team List Form (template linked above) and include this as the first page of your submission.
Design Challenge
Northcrest Developments has officially launched a global design competition for The Runway at YZD in Toronto. Formerly home to the historic Downsview airport, YZD is among the most ambitious and significant city-building efforts in North America. The Runway at YZD Design Competition will task cross-disciplinary design teams with transforming the historic 2-km (1.3-mile) airstrip into the cornerstone of the future series of mixed-use communities across the expansive 370-acre site.
The Runway at YZD is envisioned as an unparalleled outdoor experience – a continuous, pedestrian-focused and publicly-accessible corridor that will become a destination, attracting people from across the globe to experience its creative public spaces and wide range of programming. Not only will the former airstrip connect the seven complete communities at YZD, but it will also be animated by community uses, public amenities, and recreation opportunities for the 55,000 residents and 23,000 workers that will eventually live and work at the site, plus many more who will visit it every year.
A test airstrip, military base and centre for aerospace manufacturing and innovation for more than 100 years, the Downsview Airport was sold by Bombardier in 2018 and formally handed over to lead developer Northcrest this past spring One of the largest and most ambitious transformations in North America, YZD will critically stitch these industrial lands back into the city of Toronto. In tandem with the reimagining of The Runway, Northcrest is advancing its District Plan for its first neighbourhood, The Hangar District.
The Runway at YZD Design Competition will task design teams with developing a holistic set of design guidelines for The Runway. Critical to the ongoing redevelopment at YZD, these guidelines will shape the future of The Runway and inform how it connects and interacts with the site’s neighbourhoods, all while becoming a landmark outdoor experience that stands as an international example of placemaking and innovation in adaptively reusing industrial infrastructure.
Award-winning urban designer, city-building advocate, and author Ken Greenberg will chair the competition jury, alongside other accomplished design, development and placemaking experts.
“The Runway at YZD will be an enabler of social and cultural life and the heart of the seven communities it traverses. It will be unlike anything else in Toronto, calling for an imaginative approach to create and implement a vision for The Runway’s evolving multi-decade, multi-party context,” says Greenberg. “The transformation of this centrepiece reflects a growing understanding that reusing urban infrastructure can become a great source of identity and uniqueness for successful neighbourhoods. YZD is an incredible city-building opportunity for not only Toronto, but North America, and The Runway will set the tone for much of what’s to come.”
Interested teams can find more details about The Runway at YZD Design Competition at yzd.ca/runwaydesign.
