WilkinsonEyre Awarded Keating Channel Pedestrian Bridge After Design Competition

Providing an elevated path of travel across the water, the Keating Bridge will be a destination, offering a meeting place to rest and connect with nature. Referencing the Port Lands bridge typology, in particular the silhouette of the Cherry Street Bridge, Keating Bridge takes an arched form with a sinuous hung deck below, connected by a sculptural array of fanning cables. The bridge adopts a gracefully curved S-shaped deck seamlessly connected to the northern bank. Its geometry comprises two mirrored C-shapes above the centreline of the bridge alignment, offering natural cycle calming.

An anti-funicular steel arch structure reduces the required steel tonnage and the carbon intensity of the bridge. All materials will be locally sourced whenever feasible, promoting local business and minimising travel distances, benefiting both people and the planet.

The bridge aims to foster a connection between people and the water, achieved through lowered vantage points along the deck length and the creation of "softened" bridge abutments. These abutments descend to the water as a sequence of inhabited and landscaped terraces, incorporating planting in alignment with Indigenous values.

“We have developed a beautiful signature bridge design which will provide Toronto with a striking new destination on the waterfront,” said Dominic Bettison, Director, WilkinsonEyre. “As a new gateway, the Equinox Bridge will promote interaction and enjoyment of panoramic views to the city, the island, and the wider lake.”

The project has been titled the “Equinox Bridge” as the bridge orientation aligns with the summer solstice sunset and winter solstice sunrise, both of which can be viewed from stepped timber seating areas at the two ‘noses’ of the S-shaped deck.  This alignment also frames the equinox sunrise with the arch of the bridge.

Star constellations serving as natural guides to Indigenous peoples for thousands of years are inscribed into perforated metal screens, casting shadows on the bridge deck by day and by night, when backlit, making the constellations appear to glow.

Project Team:

Design Lead: WilkinsonEyre

Prime Proponent: Zeidler Architecture

Indigenous Consultant/Architect: Two Row Architect

Engineering: ARUP

Landscape Architect: PLANT Architect