Scarborough Campus,
University of Toronto

A naturalized woodland, garden and meadow for central campus. Renowned architect John Andrews designed the buildings; landscape architect Michael Hough, the original campus plan. The open space, the site of this project, was originally formed by the retreat of the interconnected buildings from the rim of the plateau overlooking Highland Creek Valley Conservation Area. TALES of the EARTH designed the new open space with a distinct central meadow and secondary terrace spaces meandering through naturalized woodland. The open space was maintained to insure the integrity of the architecture, while the design and location of the new woodland gave rise to buildings seemingly growing from the forest. This design became a challenging exercise inserting into the landscape a symbiotic relationship of architecture – garden – nature. Like the web of interlocking fingers, the meadow became an extension of the open space down the hill to the valley; the new woodland of large sugar maple – beech – red oak on the meadow’s edge with the steep wooded slopes. The entire landscape accentuated the sweeping panoramic view of the valley