Toronto firm tapped to redesign Nathan Phillips Square

A Toronto-based firm has won the chance to remake the city's most important public space, Nathan Phillips Square.

The winner of a months-long design competition, Plant Architect Inc. & Shore Tilbe Irwin, was announced Thursday evening during a ceremony at city hall.

A six-member jury said they selected the design from the four finalists because it "imaginatively reinvented elements" of thedecades-oldsquare while respecting the vision of the original design by late Finnish architect Viljo Revell.

The design is based on the concept of the square as an agora, an ancient Athenian place of public and political exchange. It features a permanent stage, a new restaurant with an outdoor terrace overlooking the square and tree canopy along Bay Street.

The design alsoincludes:

• Alarger Peace Garden moved to the western part of the square.
• Aseasonal disappearing water fountain at the centre of the square.
• Paving extended to a newly landscaped Queen Street forecourt.
• Relocation and redesign ofthe entry to the underground PATH system.

The $40-million project is expected to be completed by 2012.

However, not all the funds have been raised. About $16 million was earmarked in the city's capital budget, but the remainder must be raised through donations from businesses and the public.