On Toronto’s newly formed Ookwemin Minising island, a new pop-up public space is putting familiar masonry materials back to work. The Waterfront Neighbourhood Space, developed by GXN, Ha/f Climate Design, AKT II, and Arcana Materials, uses bricks from demolished buildings and leftover concrete masonry units from construction sites, plus other salvaged items, to create an outdoor place for sitting, meeting, and everyday use.
Instead of designing a finished structure and ordering materials to match, the team started by mapping what was already available in Toronto’s salvage stream. They reviewed dimensions, condition, and where the materials came from. The mix included early 20th-century bricks recovered from a demolished church and houses in the Annex, along with leftover CMU, concrete utility pieces, and salvaged timber.
The installation relies on what the designers describe as a “stacked-and-strapped” approach. Brick and CMU are piled to form supports for benches, columns, and other elements, then strapped tight instead of being mortared into permanent assemblies. Timber members follow the same idea, using bolts so pieces can be taken apart later without destroying the material.
For mason contractors watching the growth of salvage and reuse work, the sequence here is worth noting. Start with an inventory of what is on hand, then build details that accept variation in unit size and condition. The project team tested prototypes off-site to confirm connections and layouts that still work when the next pallet of reclaimed brick does not match the last.
The Waterfront Neighbourhood Space opened July 4, 2026, within the 39.6-hectare Ookwemin Minising development near Biidaasige Park and new wetlands built as part of Toronto’s flood-protection landscape. It is slated to stay through late fall, then come apart so the brick, CMU, and timber return to circulation.
Read the full, original article from Designboom here.