Designed in 1952 to be a self-sufficient ‘new town’, Don Mills was a manifestation of Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City concept deeply rooted in mid-century modernist ideology. Originally conceived as an outdoor mall, Don Mills Centre quickly became a popular retail destination, expanding to include Canada’s first suburban department store in 1961. The open-air mall was a key component of the central block in Don Mills ‘garden city’ which included all public amenities such as: a freestanding curling rink, a movie theatre, and an ice rink. It has acted as a central gathering place for Don Mills residents for generations.

Like others of its kind, over time the long-enclosed mall surrounded by asphalt parking lots lost its major retail anchor, the curling rink, and movie theater, making it a prime candidate for revitalization. Having dispensed with other similar “B” level malls, Cadillac Fairview reserved this one to create a new retail-focused development model. After travelling across North America to study about 30 new retail/mixed-use developments, our job was to create a new original – one that embraced the elements of our winter city in the mid-century context of Don Mills. The scheme introduces a mixed-use residential typology to the site with its new outdoor retail component utilizing critical design elements such as: a public square, a high-street, cultural and leisure amenities, and pedestrian-scaled layered urban devises.

The newly conceived Don Mills Centre finally completes the vision of connectivity to the ‘garden city’ that surrounds it seventy years later, with a whole new intensity and contemporary spirit. The ‘new town’ original principals of connecting the four neighbourhood quadrants, applying the principals of modernism in a contemporary setting, developing a greenbelt linking a system of neighbourhood parks, and integrating industry into the community for residents to live and work in the same neighbourhood are now kneaded into the 21st C. vision of Don Mills Centre. Perhaps the one 1950’s precept that we invert rather than embrace is the strategy to separate vehicles from pedestrians with a ring road that isolates the car-centric Don Mills Centre from its surrounding, pedestrian-centric quadrants.

The new concept now depends on the mall turned inside out as an outdoor experience rooted firmly in a pedestrian narrative with deep canopies, generous sidewalks, layered porticoes, and green squares with ice rinks in winter and fountains in summer, all infused with precedent-setting intensity of mixed uses in an ex-urban model that now creatively structures parking while maintaining accessibility.

Phase I: The first phase was a large-scale urban infill project replacing the outdated indoor shopping center with a 38.5‑acre outdoor mixed-use development. As Design Architect for this phase, which opened in Spring 2009, GPA led the effort for Shops at Don Mills to set a new standard for Canadian retailing. It has since established a lively, pedestrian-friendly all-season experience.

Phase III: In 2015, GPA was engaged once again for Phase III of the Don Mills Redevelopment project. This phase involved the renovation and amplification of public spaces within the Shops at Don Mills. The work served to improve the decorative and cultural aspects of the public amenities, as well as to provide better opportunities for pedestrians to engage with the space.

Several retail storefronts undertook façade improvements, utilizing brightly colored materials and contrasting textures like powder coated steel fins. A third pedestrian mews was added, reinforcing the walkability of the retail blocks, and providing space for additional storefront displays, lighting, and seating areas. The Parkade was updated with improved wayfinding including a unified color-coded system on the stairwells, columns, and walkways, as well as decorative lighting installations and our custom-designed public wall-art in the entryways.

Additionally, steel canopy gateways with illuminated signage were added to the street entrances, creating aesthetic unity, and underscoring the destination experience. Expanded planters, new street trees, seating areas, decorative canopies, and catenary lighting were installed to enhance the ‘outdoor living room’ feel of the main streets, as well as an updated fountain in the main square with additional seating and a unique infinity edge water feature. These placemaking improvements continue to elevate the pedestrian experience.