Innisfil, Canada
The following description is courtesy of PARTISANS.
The Orbit is the vision for a cutting-edge new central neighborhood for the Canadian town of Innisfil, designed in response to the potential arrival of high-speed mass transit that connects to downtown Toronto.
Over the next 3-5 years, PARTISANS will collaborate with the Town of Innisfil to develop the Orbit and the immediate surrounding buildings including residential towers, retail and hospitality spaces, a bus and car route, and green space throughout with public art installations.
Toronto, ON, July 16, 2020 – Today, PARTISANS and the Town of Innisfil unveiled new concept plans for the masterplan for The Orbit, a neighborhood located in Innisfil, Ontario. Located 60km north of Toronto — Canada’s largest city and North America’s fourth largest overall — Innisfil is one of the fastest-growing communities in the region as people seek more affordability outside of the city.
The Transit Hub is designed to integrate landscaping that converts the central infrastructure of the Orbit into a park-like space, a nod to the rural surroundings of the community. The Transit Hub’s roof itself becomes a landscape, functioning both as a central hub of transit and a dynamic center of interaction and recreation for the surrounding community.
The unveiling and Town’s approval of the Transit Hub design concept and Phase 1 concept, including residential, employment and community infrastructure, represents a major milestone for the project, which is quickly becoming a reality. The Transit Hub and development around it are designed for rapid and organic but responsible growth, allowing the population to increase while fostering sustainable
development and preserving the core attributes of Innisfil’s landscape and community that make it the place it is. The Orbit is designed to be oriented around sustainability, technology, placemaking and the start-up economy and prioritize public transit and walkability over dependence on cars.
“We are excited to be forging ahead in bringing this new, innovative community to life that will be unlike anything else the world has seen before,” said Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin. “At the center of the Orbit is the Transit Hub and this Council has taken a major step in building a new transit hub in Innisfil that will be critically-important post-COVID, not just for our economic recovery – but for decades to come.”
The Town of Innisfil – and in particular – its council have unanimously supported the entire project from the beginning. The Transit Hub and the Orbit are widely seen as perhaps the most important opportunity the community has for shaping the population growth that is expected to come – rather than be shaped by it. Innisfil and the Greater Toronto Area are surrounded by numerous examples of Municipalities that have been poorly planned, resulting in cities that are overly dependent on cars, where smaller communities are disconnected and isolated, made up of condo and residential developments lacking in imagination and are far from future-ready.
“What we have is an extraordinary opportunity to build a community that – in a nutshell – learns from the mistakes of suburban sprawl,” said Jason Reynar, Chief Administration Officer for the Town of Innisfil.
“Imagine if every municipality around Toronto could go back thirty years and do things differently – and you start to get an idea of what we are on the cusp of building here with the Orbit.”
In June 2019, PARTISANS won a public RFP competition from the Town of Innisfil to create the vision forthe Orbit. Subsequently, the developers in the area of the Orbit, Cortel Group, decided to move forward with the ambitious vision and commissioned the studio to realize its plan for housing and infrastructure that will support responsible, dense population growth and discourage sprawl, car traffic, the
decentralization of civic services, and overdevelopment of the rural surroundings of the Town.
A forward thinking community, the design of Orbit also leverages cutting edge technology to create a city that is more accessible and sustainable, with a plan for mass fiber optic cable systems that will provide connectivity across sidewalks, streets, and buildings as well considering ‘future forward’ concepts such as
drone ports and self-driving cars to anticipate future development over the longer term.
“We are thrilled with the enthusiastic public reception to our design and excited to move this project forward to the next step and begin planning and construction,” noted Alex Josephson, partner at PARTISANS.
“The Transit Hub embodies the conceptual heart of the project, combining the rural landscape with cutting edge transit infrastructure to create a space for sustainable growth. It is the twenty-first century garden city model for eliminating sprawl and building sustainable cities of the future.”
The direct area surrounding the Transit Hub will include residential towers with over 900 units, space for retail, employment, and flex spaces to evolve with uses supporting social programming, restaurants, and wellness. PARTISANS developed a bus route to easily transport residents from main hubs and off-site parking lots, in addition to tree-lined walkways and wide bike lanes reducing the Town’s dependency on cars. Ample green space and parks will be planned throughout the surrounding area, with areas for public art installations. The design for The Orbit has also been adjusted with the post-pandemic era in mind, taking into account the potential increased need for spatial separation and access to quality outdoor
space.
