Claude Cormier Projects: Love Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada [9 of 10] 

Following a 2018 terrorist van attack in Toronto that left eleven dead, a competition was held to develop a park on York Street, a major thoroughfare. Cormier’s submission was inspired by an image in Toronto Life magazine that featured a series of hand-drawn red hearts superimposed over an aerial photograph of Yonge Street. Cormier decided a heart-shaped water basin with seating would be his big idea. The seat rim of the 55-meter-diameter basin is lined with red tiles, inspired by Antonio Gaudi’s tile work in Barcelona’s Parc Güell. Cormier also included cast bronze sculptures of native Canadian animals including a beaver, wolf, squirrel, owl, and woodpecker. The site features some 47 trees, so “not overly planted” as Cormier observed.