Sibelius Square Renewal

Design Vision for Sibelius Square

The community vision is a space encouraging playful interaction in the heart of the Annex community. The design will achieve a high standard of design coherence and invention, while embracing sustainability.

General Design Criteria

A high standard of design in the square.[1]

Inclusive and flexible use of the park for active and contemplative activities.

Accessible and welcoming to all ages, allowing movement through the park from adjoining streets.

Design for beauty and changing uses throughout the seasons, including the winter months.

Must-Have List of Park Amenities

1. a field for active-play that can accommodate a winter rink;
2. play area(s) for children;
3. central space with seating for casual social interaction;
4. additional seating elsewhere;
5. paths that allow people to move around and through the square in a way that respects existing desire lines;
6. curb realignments to promote safer traffic movement on the approaches to and perimeter of the square

Detailed Design Criteria

A) Play Areas

Sibelius Square needs more generous play spaces for children and adults.

• open area/field for active play
• design an enclosed play area[2] that will challenge and inspire children up to the age of at least ten, with safe, multiple-use shapes and materials that encourage extended play[3]., Bold sculptural forms are preferred to “conventional play structures”.[4]
• in children’s play areas, the use of natural materials (such as stone, wood, rubber, cork)[5]is encouraged where possible
• consider inclusion of a water feature in the square[6]
• take caregiver needs into account: shade, benches, and trash cans

B) Winter Activities

Make provision for a natural ice skating rink that can be community-built and maintained by designing a level field space that can be easily flooded annually, while providing for acceptable drainage and healthy turf in the milder seasons.[7]

C) Social Spaces

Sibelius needs to be a space that is welcoming to, and accessible by, people of all ages, and all park user groups.

• create a central space for social gathering[8]
• provide space for quiet pursuits
• design a setting for the Jean Sibelius statue
• dogs to be welcomed, on leash[9]

D) Flow/Perimeter

People need to move through, around, and into, Sibelius Square.

• create paths through the square which take existing natural foot traffic patterns into account, in particular the diagonal routes across the park

• install curb cuts at all points where pedestrian paths meet the perimeter of the square for wheelchair accessibility
• ensure that the redesign of the park takes into account changes to the perimeter resulting from street alterations (proposed by the SSWG and endorsed by councillor’s office) currently awaiting evaluation by City Road Engineering (See Appendix C)

• ensure that the redesign of the park takes into account changes to the perimeter resulting from street alterations (proposed by the SSWG and endorsed by councillor’s office) currently awaiting evaluation by City Road Engineering (See Appendix C)

E) Horticulture

·         Restore turf and establish a long-term drainage solution.[10]

·         Design planting, including trees, to provide year-round interest in terms of flowering, colour, form, and scent.

·         Use low or medium maintenance planting and take the City’s maintenance schedules and requirements into consideration (for example, mowers).

·         Use planting to create a distinct park space as distinct from the streetscape (this may include perimeter or “entrance” planting). Within the park, use planting as one design option if creating semi-enclosed or quiet spaces. Create a planned mixture of tree canopy and open space.

·         Develop a management plan for existing trees to promote to promote growth and general health.

·         Plant any new trees as part of initial phase of park redesign, and consider tree succession and management for the long term.

·         Encourage the planting of native species but also consider non-native species that are interesting and not currently in the park. Discourage any further planting of Norway maple or locust (this is also City policy).[11]

·         Provide beds with shrubs for low or medium maintenance, and consider perimeter planting (low enough not to introduce a safety problem at night).

·         Include a community-maintained garden (1 bed) within the overall design of the park. Use mostly perennials but allow space for annuals. The planting of the bed is to be decided by a garden committee (and may change over time) but initially the park designer would work with the garden committee to plan the location of the bed and aspects of design including some plantings.

·         Consider including a children’s garden in the overall design of the park and specifically the play area. Take sun/shade into consideration in location. Design the garden so that it can be absorbed back into the play area (garden may come and go).

G) Building and Facilites

Retain the existing field house, but consider whether its use can be expanded from storage (rink equipment, garden tools) to include multiple uses, including social gatherings (coffee/food during events in the park, etc). Also take need for serviceable washrooms in the park into account.[12]

Appropriate lighting is to be considered as a part of the design.

Appendix A: History of Community Meetings and Surveys gone

Community Meeting, March 2006, chaired by Helen Kennedy.

Community Meeting, May 2007, chaired by Adam Vaughan.

Sibelius Square online survey, 2005, conducted online. Approx. 150 respondents.

Sibelius Square online survey on play areas and equipment, March 5 – May 1, 2007, conducted online, with follow-up interview with parents and children. 121 respondents.

Appendix B: Negotiations with the City

Develop a maintenance plan that incorporates Parks staff as well as community members.

Curb, Brunswick roadway, and traffic calming alternations as detailed in Perimeter design criteria.

A permanent and working water supply, hose or hoses (depending on location of bed) and sprinklers.

Appendix C: Street Changes

Restore the width of the driving surface on Brunswick Avenue adjacent to the park (27 ft.) to the width of Brunswick in the blocks immediately to the north and south (approximately 23 ft.).[13] This would bring at least three benefits:

• Allow the completion of the square’s perimeter sidewalk, which is now missing on the western side, without encroaching on the trees and green space of the square.[14]
• Calm the speed of traffic immediately adjacent to the play-area of the park.
• Create a wider buffer between the playing field and the street.

Square off the corners where Brunswick meets both Wells Street and Bernard. At Wells, the existing northwest corner of this intersection has been shaved away to accommodate a faster flow of traffic through the Wells-Brunswick intersection. Here, we would like to push the west sidewalk back eastward into the intersection. Reducing the radius of these corners would: Improve pedestrian safety on what are now blind corners in the approaches to the square (the route along Wells is of particular concern for children, who use it as a route to Palmerston School, Huron Public School and the Institute for Child Study School), calm the speed of traffic and improve compliance with the stop signs, and increase the area of pedestrian public space in the vicinity of the square

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