Discover the partnership websiteLiving Atlas of Quality
Publication:20 August 2026(Description from Waterfront Toronto) Sherbourne Common has transformed a former industrial area into much needed public greenspace on the lake. It is also the first park in Canada to integrate a neighbourhood-wide stormwater treatment facility into its design. Located just east of Lower Sherbourne Street, the 1.5-hectare park spans more than two city blocks, from Lake Ontario in the south to Lake Shore Boulevard in the north, on both sides of Queens Quay. Sherbourne Common was designed by renowned landscape architects PFS Studio to bring a feeling of "life at the lake" to the area. The park features a wide open greenspace, a skating rink that doubles as a splash pad in the summer, a zinc-clad Pavilion, and a playful water channel fed by three dramatic art sculptures. Sherbourne Common has become a well-used destination for city residents and visitors all year round.
| Location | Canada|Ontario|Toronto |
| Typologies | Landscape urban design and planning|Public spaces, streets and squares |
2012
Remarques annotées Sherbourne Common_TMU_#10Sherbourne Common, a multi-award-winning project located at the heart of East Bayfront, was mapped monthly through annotated observations. Researchers collected data and represented the site and its surroundings using information from the City of Toronto, as well as online sources and observations during field trips. Then, inspired by the works of Larissa Fassler, researchers recorded and mapped their observations during site visits. Annotations document users’ activities and their trajectories. Such annotated maps help visualize snapshots of lived experiences. This work was displayed as part of Stories in the Making: Transforming the Toronto Waterfront, an exhibition at the Paul H. Cocker Gallery in the Department of Architectural Science at TMU, co-curated by Terri Peters, Yaxin Jiang, Leila Farah, and Marco L. Polo. This exhibition was part of the 2025 Annual convention of the SSHRC-funded partnership titled Quality in Canada's Built Environment. A description of the exhibition was co-written by the co-curators and disseminated on the Department of Architectural Science's April newsletter as well as its website. See https://www.torontomu.ca/architectural-science/stories-events/2025/04/stories-in-the-making--transforming-the-toronto-waterfront/.
