Brighter Days Ahead for the Oculus, South Humber Park Etobicoke

AUTHOR: Stephanie Mah

DATE: October 20, 2020

Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) and Giaimo have revealed a new temporary public art installation, Brighter Days Ahead, at The Oculus in Etobicoke.

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NEWS DESCRIPTION:October 17, 2020 - Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) and Giaimo have revealed a new temporary public art installation, Brighter Days Ahead, at The Oculus in Etobicoke. Designed by Toronto architecture and heritage conservation firm Giaimo, and sponsored by Creative Silhouettes Inc. , the art installation is made of bright yellow stripes that represent sun rays shining through the park pavilion's Oculus and also references to the bright future planned for The Oculus. Located in the City of Toronto's South Humber Park along the Humber River Recreational Trail, the art installation will be up for the next few months until the restoration of the pavilion takes place in 2021.

In Summer 2019, The Oculus Revitalization project was announced as one of five projects selected for Park People's Public Space Incubator Grant (PSI) , funded by the Balsam Foundation and Ken and Eti Greenberg. The PSI program aims to encourage and support the next generation of creative public space projects by providing access to funding and professional networks. ACO and Giaimo are using the grant to transform The Oculus into a welcoming community gathering place along the trail by restoring and cleaning the existing pavilion and implementing new flexible and contextual outdoor furniture. It also includes a series of engaging and educational programming to provide the community with ongoing occasions to visit the site, explore the space, and learn about Toronto's built heritage. The project has been further supported by HNR Properties, Friends of the Pan Am Path, and Creative Silhouettes Inc., and ACO and Giaimo are working closely with the City's Parks, Forestry, and Recreation as well as Heritage Planning department. The restoration and programming was originally scheduled for 2020, but due to COVID-19 it has been postponed until 2021. While we wait for the restoration to start, Brighter Days Ahead will give visitors a unique opportunity to explore the pavilion and learn about the space

Designed in 1958 by architect Alan Crossley and consulting engineer Laurence Cazaly, South Humber Park Pavilion AKA The Oculus is a fantastical space-age park shelter nestled in a meadow along the Humber River Recreational Trail in the City of Toronto's South Humber Park.
While it stands out as a unique modernist structure in Toronto, The Oculus' sculptural quality and use of concrete is part of a generation of ambitious and optimistic public pavilions built in the late 1950s and early 1960s that can be found scattered throughout the City's parks system.
More details on the pavilion's history and cultural value can be found in Brown+Storey's South Humber Park Pavilion Heritage Evaluation Report
http://www.brownandstorey.com/project/south-humber-park-pavilion-heritage-evaluation-report/.

Media Contact
Stephanie Mah
VP, ACO Toronto
stephanie@acotoronto.ca