Sugar Beach is a whimsical park that transformed a surface parking lot in a former industrial area into Toronto’s second urban beach at the water’s edge.
The design for Sugar Beach draws upon the industrial heritage of the area and its relationship to the neighbouring Redpath Sugar factory. The park features three distinct components – an urban beach, a plaza space, and a tree-lined promenade running diagonally through the park. The Sugar factory creates a surreal industrial backdrop, where gantry cranes offload mountains of sandy raw sugar from giant tankers moored in the slip. With the fragrance of sugar in the air, the park’s conceptual reference is experienced in both sight and smell. Sugar as concept was used to establish a language for many of the elements throughout the park, from the red and white bedrock candy stripes on the park’s two outcroppings, the soft confection-like pink of the umbrellas, and even the candy cane pattern on the stainless steel ventilation pipes to the fountain mechanical vault concealed under the promenade.
