Scadding Court Redevelopment


The City of Toronto asked WORKSHOP and RJC Engineering to develop plans for an updated and expanded complex on the Scadding Court site.


The Scadding Court lands, at the south-east corner of Dundas Street West and Bathurst Street, are home to three facilities: a community centre, a library, and an outdoor swimming pool.  








Each partner has their own vision and needs that we wove into the plans. The community centre sought to expand and upgrade its social enterprise programs, including micro-retail units, an aquaponics system and a commercial kitchen. The library branch needs upgraded tech infrastructure. The indoor swimming pool required accessibility upgrades and universal change rooms. The existing complex was built piecemeal, at different times, so it contains some duplicate amenities, which will be consolidated into shared spaces.

We developed four options that were used to generate discussion and feedback from community members:

The Elbow

A linear building follows the property line along Dundas — where storefronts animate the sidewalk — then wraps south onto Bathurst, like the crook of an arm. The shape creates an amphitheater facing Alexandra Park. Connected open spaces allow easy circulation from the park to the street.

















The Zig Zag




In this plan, the storefront animation on Dundas Street continues through a pedestrian connection to Bathurst — a throughway lined with micro-retail that also serves as a Town Hall space. The zig-zag shape creates a series of outdoor landscaped “rooms.”


The Triangle

This plan concentrates the building mass into a compact triangle at the corner of Dundas and Bathurst. Each facility occupies a face of the triangle. A north-south pedestrian channel through the building connects the city with Alexandra Park, and the green spaces of the park are extended by a terraced roofscape.













This option keeps the outdoor pool in place. Many community members vocalized the importance of having an outdoor pool on site.
The Square





Like the Triangle, this plan is compact, but this time the building is concentrated on the southern portion of the site so that the existing Scadding Court building can remain open during construction. Once the new complex is built, the existing site could be opened up for future uses.




“I live alone and in this community Scadding Court Community Centre has been a tremendous facility in terms of comfort and sense of community.” - Community member



Client: City of Toronto
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date: 2018
Team: Elaine Chau and David Colussi 
Collaborators: RJC Engineering, Forest & Field Landscape Architects
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