Waterworks wins Toronto Urban Design Award
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Andrea Chin, Communications Director
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Don Schmitt, Principal
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Now in its 35th year, the Toronto Urban Design Awards celebrate outstanding projects that contribute to the beauty, functionality, and livability of Toronto. These awards highlight the impactful work of architects, landscape architects, urban designers, artists, design students, and city builders in shaping our city.
This year, Waterworks received the Special Jury Award in the Integrated Approach category for how it connects with the adjacent St. Andrew’s Playground Park designed by DTAH, co-recipient of the award.
“We were unanimous that these two projects together are an exemplar of how public space and building programming should interface and in so doing create so much more than the sum of its individual parts; for the betterment of all who work, live and visit this newly revitalized pocket of the city,” said the Jury.
Waterworks is a hybrid, mixed-use development that rehabilitates, conserves, and expands an industrial heritage site, through the integration of diverse programs. The project combines market and affordable housing, a YMCA, and retail uses including a Food Hall, not only supporting the life of its residents, but the greater community and urban experience.
The building’s 1932 Art Deco design was restored in partnership with ERA Architects, and introduces new pedestrian pathways through the block, providing direct access from the Food Hall to St. Andrew’s Playground and enhancing neighbourhood connectivity and porosity.
“The Waterworks . . . offers mixed income housing with a densely packed social program that engages and animates the street and the park with a food hall and the YMCA. It is an excellent example of how a project that is mostly private in nature, can be strategically programmed at grade in tandem with high quality landscape design, to create an urban environment full of delight,” the Jury concluded.
Waterworks enhances the urban experience and establishes a benchmark for design excellence in the greater King West community.
See the full list of 2025 Toronto Urban Design Awards winners and Jury report here.