Exhibition Waterfront Architecture: Placemaking and Context by 3XN in Toronto

The exhibition titled Waterfront Architecture: Placemaking and Context being held in Toronto, Canada is a great opportunity to get more closely acquainted with the work of Danish firm, 3XN Architects, not just at Toronto's Bayside where two major housing projects are in progress but also in other parts of the world.


The renowned Danish architecture firm, 3XN is working on the Bayside development project in Toronto, Canada. The site is located south of Queens Quay between Sherbourne Common to the west and Parliament Slip to the east. It is the largest private development project of the Toronto Waterfront to date and it will turn an underutilised industrial area into an active, diversified and sustainable community along the shores of Lake Ontario.
This is where the two housing complexes designed by the Danish firm are being constructed: Aquabella will be ready in 2020 and Aqualuna is slated for completion by 2022 (link Agnese). 
The exhibition titled Waterfront Architecture: Placemaking and Context features several completed and in-progress waterfront projects by 3XN and will be shown in the Hines and Tridel Bayside Presentation Center showroom in Toronto.
This exhibition is underpinned by the idea that waterfronts should be the most valuable and desirable areas in harbour cities and that quality waterfront design has to go beyond the buildings themselves. The exhibition showcases the global and local expertise of 3XN in these places where land and water make contact, with the presentation of eleven projects: Aqualuna, Aquabella and T3 Bayside, all in Toronto; the Sydney Fish Market and Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney, Australia; the Museum of Liverpool n Liverpool, UK; the Lighthouse in Aarhus, Denmark; Den Blå Planet National Aquarium; UN City; the Saxo Bank Headquarters and the Horten Headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. 
Each project has been designed to extend the local waterfront sites and to create a unique impact on the people who occupy them. The exhibition itself attempts to address the question of how design and architecture can create multi-functional spaces that make the most of the places where people want to live?
Rather than establishing their own signature style, 3XN makes use of different ways of using space, light and materials for each project, creating inspiring environments that improve connections and giving back something to the local community. “We realized that more than half of our work relates to water. In Denmark, there are more than 2000 km of waterfront.  It is almost hard to get a site without a water view. It is almost in our blood,” explains Kim Herforth Nielsen, founder and design director of 3XN.
The exhibition underscores the approach of 3XN to architecture as deeply rooted in humanistic and democratic principles, based on the firm's philosophy that “architecture shapes behavior”. 
His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark opened 3XN’s first solo exhibition in Toronto. The exhibition will also include a programme of panel discussions, lectures and presentations.

Christiane Bürklein

Exhibition: Waterfront Architecture: Placemaking and Context
from 4 March 2019 
Location: Hines and Tridel Bayside Presentation Center, Toronto, Canada
Images: Arthur Mola
More information: https://www.tridel.com/aqualuna/3xn-waterfront-architecture-placemaking-context/