A new Community Recreation Centre and Child Care Centre (CRC) is coming to the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood as part of the Toronto Community Housing Lawrence Heights Revitalization project. Once built, the new CRC will be one of the City’s largest recreation centres. It will replace the existing Lawrence Heights Community Centre, which will remain open until the new facility is complete.
The design for the new CRC has been developed in collaboration with the Lawrence Heights community through a series of in-person and virtual engagement activities held between November 2023 and March 2025.
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The timeline is subject to change.
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This project has been classified as a Collaborate project based on the International Association of Public Participation Public Participation Spectrum. This means we aim to partner with the public, stakeholders, and rightsholders in each aspect of the design process, including the development of design options and the identification of a preferred design.
The design for the new CRC was informed by the Facilities Plan and a three-phase community engagement process that collected feedback from the community, the project’s Community Advisory Committee and the City’s recreation staff. The new CRC includes:
The practice of Indigenous Placekeeping honours the peoples who have been the traditional stewards of the land where Toronto is situated. Creating space for Indigenous representation, ways of knowing, and sustainability practices in our parks and recreation facilities benefits the local ecology and supports the safety and well-being of Indigenous community members. It is also an important way the City responds to actions identified in the Reconciliation Action Plan.
Engagement with local Rights Holders and urban Indigenous community members informed the Indigenous Placekeeping elements in the CRC design.
The building design is grounded in Indigenous ways of thinking by orienting entrances and corridors to the cardinal directions and true north. This approach strengthens the building’s connection to the land and aligns it with celestial paths.
The exterior design of the building draws inspiration from the archeological history of the Lawrence Heights area, where the tablelands once supported rich hardwood forests. The base of the building is conceived as a geometrically carved, rocky edifice, evoking the character of the exposed tablelands through a carefully selected material palette. In contrast, the upper level represents the dense hardwood forest that once flourished above, incorporating a wood-like cladding and mass timber structural elements to reflect this historic ecological layer.
The building has been designed to support Indigenous ceremonies and gatherings. Some examples include a sacred fire circle in the outdoor landscape plan and the inclusion of a ventilation system that accommodates smudging.
The design makes many references to craft, including a woven basket appearance to the building’s exterior, a herringbone floor in the gymnasium, and a rooftop pergola inspired by the construction of a birch-bark canoe.
A welcome wall at the entrance greets visitors in multiple languages, including those spoken by the current community and the traditional peoples of the land.
The City of Toronto’s Public Art Program has designated two public art projects for the Lawrence Heights Community Recreation Centre and Child Care Centre. The community will be able to provide feedback on the public art proposals in spring 2025, with the winning designs being selected by summer 2025.
For questions on the public art process, please contact Katriina Campitelli at Katriina.Campitelli@toronto.ca.
From January to March 2025, the City held a call for expressions of interest for artists to apply to be considered for two new public art opportunities for the new CRC:
Both opportunities will be decided through open, two-stage competitions. Selected artists or teams will be required to develop a community engagement plan as part of their commission.
During the summer and fall of 2024, residents and community members participated in surveys, workshops and consultations led by Oddside Arts. Through these activities, participants shared their preferences for the new CRC’s public artwork, highlighting three major themes: Black/African/Caribbean culture; togetherness, multiculturalism and connectivity; and nature.
This input has been used to inform a call for artists and will guide the artist selection process.
Read Oddside Arts’ summary of summer/fall 2024 community engagement on the public art process.
Between September 2023 and January 2024, community members provided shared their programming and activity preferences for the new CRC, and provided feedback on the project’s draft vision statement, guiding principles and big moves.
Download the Phase 1 engagement report.
The draft vision statement, guiding principles and big moves for the new CRC were developed based on community feedback collected over the last 15 years through consultations and engagements relating to the Lawrence Heights Revitalization.
The new Lawrence Heights CRC will be:
On January 18, 2024, the first Community Advisory Committee meeting took place at the Lawrence Heights Community Centre.
Download the January 18, 2024 CAC meeting summary.
From September 15 to November 12, an online survey collected community feedback on program and activity preferences and the draft vision statement, design principles and big moves for the new CRC. Paper copies were available upon request. In completing the survey, participants could share program and activity preferences and provide feedback on the draft project vision, design principles and big moves for the new CRC.
Download the November 2023 survey summary.
Multiple pop-up events took place where community members could learn about the project and provide feedback to guide the CRC design.
Download the 2023 Community Pop-up event summary.
On October 4, the first Indigenous Communities Virtual Sharing Meeting took place.
Download the October 4, 2023 indigenous communities virtual sharing meeting summary.
A Community Advisory Committee (CAC) will meet in each phase of the community engagement process to review and discuss key project elements. Members will support the project team by providing feedback and sharing information about the project with their networks and communities. Four CAC meetings are planned from fall 2023 to winter 2024, each meeting will be approximately two to three hours and a $50 honorarium will be provided per meeting. Professional experience is not required and all community members 16 years or older are welcome to apply.
Applications have now closed, and applicants will be notified if they are a member of the CAC by the end of October. The CAC is selected through a civic lottery process.
Two community workshops took place on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at the Lawrence Heights Community Centre to collect feedback from community members to guide the design of the new CRC.
Download the September 27, 2023 community workshop summary.
Between April and September 2024, the City confirmed the final vision, guiding principles and big moves for the new Community Recreation Centre (CRC), and shared proposed designs for the new CRC and collected feedback from the community, the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) and Indigenous communities through meetings, an online survey and a series of in-person pop-up events. The feedback helped inform the development of the preferred design for the new CRC. The proposed designs can be found at the bottom of this section.
Download the Phase 2 engagement report.
The vision, guiding principles and big moves for the new CRC were developed based on community feedback collected over the last 15 years of consultation for the Lawrence Heights Revitalization.
In Community Engagement Phase 1, the vision, guiding principles and big moves were refined using community feedback.
The vision is co-created with the community to describe the ideal future CRC. It is a big-picture statement that should inspire everyone toward a common understanding of the project’s overall goals and objectives.
The new Lawrence Heights CRC will be:
The guiding principles are high-level directions that reflect the community’s most important values and ideas for how the CRC should look and work. They help to clarify the vision statement and guide how the centre should be designed by describing the desired outcomes.
The guiding principles for the new CRC are:
The big moves communicate the main priorities of both the community and the City for the design of the CRC. They are specific directions for how the physical design can achieve the vision and guiding principles.
The big moves for the new CRC are:
On September 26, the Community Advisory Committee met at the Lawrence Heights CRC to review and provide feedback on the draft preliminary design, and review the final version of the vision statement, guiding principles and big moves.
Download the September 26, 2024 CAC meeting summary.
From July 8 to 29, 293 community members participated in an online survey that collected feedback on the proposed design of the new CRC. The project team will use this feedback to develop the preferred design.
Download the July 2024 survey summary.
Pop-up events took place where community members could learn about the project and provide feedback on the proposed CRC design.
Download the Phase 2 Community Pop-up event summary.
On June 5, the project team hosted a pop-up at Unison Health and Community Services to engage youth through Unison Health’s Pathways to Education program. Approximately 20 high-school-aged youth were engaged.
On May 14, a virtual workshop was held for Lawrence Heights CRC staff to review and provide feedback on the draft design.
On April 30, a second Indigenous Communities Virtual Sharing Meeting was held to give Indigenous community members an opportunity to review and provide feedback on the draft preliminary design, and review the final version of the vision statement, guiding principles and big moves.
Download the April 30, 2024 indigenous communities virtual sharing meeting summary.
On April 25, the Community Advisory Committee met at the Lawrence Heights CRC to review and provide feedback on the draft preliminary design, and review the final version of the vision statement, guiding principles and big moves.
Download the April 25, 2024 CAC meeting summary.
This phase of the community engagement process will start in the fall of 2024. In this phase, a final proposed design for the new CRC will be presented to the local community for a final round of feedback and revisions.
On March 4, the Community Advisory Committee met at the Lawrence Heights CRC to review and provide final comments on the final proposed design of the new CRC.
Download the March 4, 2025 CAC meeting summary.
On March 5, the Community Advisory Committee met at the Lawrence Heights CRC to review and provide final comments on the final proposed design of the new CRC.
Pop-up events took place where community members could learn about the project and the final proposed design for the new CRC.
From December 11, 2024 to January 8, 2025, 268 community members participated in an online survey that collected feedback on the preferred design of the new CRC. The project will use this feedback to help finalize the design. A summary of the results will be posted when available.
Download the December 2024 survey summary.
On December 12, classroom workshops were held with over 80 grade 1 to 5 students at Flemington Public School. The workshops aimed to gather feedback on playground design options and water feature preferences for the indoor pool.
This project had a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) with a mandate to provide feedback, guidance and advice to the project team at key decision points during the community engagement process to ensure the perspective and needs of the neighbourhood are reflected in the designs. The CAC met at least once during each phase of the community engagement process. The CAC consisted of 34 members, including individual community members and representatives from community organizations. The individual community members were selected through a civic lottery to represent the diversity of the community and included:
The CAC also included representatives from the following community organizations:
The child care centre is an 88 space facility that includes spaces for infants (10 spots), toddlers (30 spots) and pre-school children (48 spots) up to four years old. The number of child care spaces available has been maximized based on the City-Council approved budget, provincial design requirements and provincial staffing ratio requirements. The design is planned to include:
