---

Ken Greenberg/Photo © Bruce Rogovin

Don Valley Brick Works interior/Photo © Derrick Mealiffe

The Humber Bay Arch Bridge 2/Courtesy underscore/Wikipedia

Art Gallery of Ontario/Courtesy JOH_7977

Ken Greenberg is an architect, urban designer, teacher, writer, former Director of Urban Design and Architecture for the City of Toronto and Principal of Greenberg Consultants. He is the recipient of the 2010 American Institute of Architects Thomas Jefferson Award for public design excellence and the author of Walking Home: the Life and Lessons of a City Builder published by Random House.

Favorite New Green Building
 While not brand new, the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research at University of Toronto does many things well. It employs green technologies very effectively and efficiently. It adds a grace note to the campus adding great indoor and outdoor spaces and new inviting pedestrian passage though a previously impenetrable block.  And it provides an inspiring environment for its inhabitants.

Must-see Historic Building
The enormous, barn-like St. Lawrence Market building has a voluminous interior covered by vaulted trusses. Built in 1845 in response to the city’s dramatic population growth, it has been a true multifunctional building. In addition to being home to a wide variety of food and produce vendors, it had housed a police station and jail cells, and as city hall until 1899. It suffered a near-death experience in 1971, when it was slated for demolition, but in response to a huge public outcry, it was renovated in 1978 and is now the bustling ‘market’ centre of a thriving neighborhood.

Off-the-Beaten-Path Architecture 
I have two: the Don Valley Brick Works and the Artscape Wychwood Car Barns. Both are great examples of adaptive re-use. The Brick Works is a former quarry and industrial site located in the Don River Valley. A grouping of recycled and new structures serves a great range of uses including a public market, event spaces and how to many environmental organizations under the aegis of Evergreen, a national charity dedicated to restoring nature in urban environments. The quarry has been converted into a spectacular city park which includes a series of naturalized ponds. The Car Barns, a former streetcar storage and repair complex, are in a neighborhood and have been skillfully converted by Artscape providing a combination of studio spaces, home for arts organizations and a wonderful central public space for events plus a park and playground for the surrounding neighborhood.   

Best Public Parks/Spaces
The graceful Humber Bay Shore Park and Humber Bay Bridge is so much more than a way to cross the mouth of the Humber River. It forms a wonderful cathedral like space that is an irresistible stopping point along the waterfront trail. The Park including a butterfly habitat is one of the first to include large areas devoted exclusively to native plants and provides spectacular views of the city.  Sugar Beach and Sherbourne Common are two wonderful new environmentally sophisticated additions to the city’s East Bayfront are part of the public realm advance guard for the creation a vibrant new waterfront neighborhood currently taking shape.

Museums/Galleries/Performing Arts
The Art Gallery of Ontario with its tour de force addition and transformation by Frank Gehry next to his childhood home is a must see, not only for its great exhibit spaces but for the way it reveals and celebrates the city around it.  The new Koerner Hall has remarkable qualities as a concert venue and is skillfully woven around the historic Conservatory of Music on Bloor Street providing a remarkable set of spaces and views for public enjoyment.

Drinking, Dining, and Shopping
Enotecca Sociale is a charming low-keyed and cheerful authentically Italian wine bar and restaurant in a west end neighborhood. The Gilead Café is a modest cafe on a small lane by Jamie Kennedy, well-known local chef, featuring local seasonal offerings. The Good Egg is all about food and its Preparation. [In the interests of full disclosure this is my step-daughter’s store on Augusta Street in the heart of Kensington Market, a uniquely Toronto version of an organically growing street market that keeps taking on new complexions with each wave of immigration.]