BY LOUISE NUNN
As Torontonians zip around the city, they bypass many eclectic buildings. Perhaps it’s the familiar old and new City Halls, the Gooderham Building, wedged in the triangle between Wellington and Front, or the Don Jail…the humdrum busyness of city life makes buildings like these — and the stories they tell — invisible to the average street-walker. Doors Open Toronto (DO TO), the annual heritage event put on by the City of Toronto, is changing that. For one weekend in May, Doors Open provides free access to more than 130 of the city’s most historically and architecturally significant buildings, which are typically closed to the public. Visitors of all ages explore the ins and outs of sites that reveal Toronto’s rich cultural heritage. This May, the Toronto edition of Doors Open will be celebrating its 20th anniversary, but the event’s legacy started in 1984.
The Doors Open concept began as “La Journée Portes Ouvertes” in a small town in France. Its purpose was simple: to make open to the public the sites that told the story of their country. The idea quickly spread throughout Europe, so that by 1991, most major cities in the EU were participating under the banner “European Heritage Days.” Throughout Europe, the festival has inspired essential conversations around preserving a city’s “built heritage.” Doors Open found its way to Toronto through the vision of a small group of individuals, who had caught the Doors Open bug on a visit to Scotland’s Heritage Days. The group, headed by Karen Black, launched Doors Open in 2000 as the first “DO” event in North America, and it quickly became one of the three largest Doors Open events in the world. “[Doors Open Toronto] is a way that people can get to know their city and what happens in it,” reflects Kerri MacDonald, supervisor at Programming-City Cultural Events and program lead of DO TO. “[Visitors] can participate in a discussion about not only their city’s past, but their city’s future as well, and I think it’s a fantastic way of building community.”
Though DO TO’s purpose has remained the same over the years, the vision, says MacDonald, has advanced to new heights. In response to the influx of curious visitors – 290,000 visits last year compared to 70,000 in year one – the City of Toronto has increased walking tours, created a talk series with the Toronto Society of Architects, and instigated a series of unique, theme-related special projects partnerships. Now, DO TO brings together the tangible past architecture with the city’s present expressions of culture, and each year re-opens a much-needed space for appreciating the old and new of Toronto’s identity. The event reminds Torontonians of their own role in the making and preserving of history, and this has made a ‘weekend of exploring buildings’ into a date to mark in everyone’s calendars.
The 20th annual Doors Open Toronto will take place over the May 25-26th weekend. MacDonald explains that the anniversary is a chance to look both ways: back at the city’s roots and forward to the city’s future. This year’s theme, “Twenty-Something,” will focus on Toronto’s young people (looking forward), and Toronto’s Indigenous community (looking back). The theme will feature partnership programming with Indigenous youth and a site list with a focus on Aboriginal sites and places with innovative new architecture. MacDonald hopes the theme will “reach out to the younger generation; the “Millies” and the next generation of designers, architects, and visionaries of the future.” As part of the endeavour, the City will be partnering with the youth cultural group at Native Child and Family Services for one of their special projects. 7th Generation Image Makers is an innovative arts program that creates a positive space for young Indigenous artists to make and develop their art. Their special project at DO TO will involve opening their doors at Native Child and Family Services, so the public can discover how the innovation of young minds meets the impact of Indigenous history.
New to the program this year are First Nations House at the University of Toronto, Stackt Container Market, Artscape Daniels Launchpad, and Toronto Zoo: a look behind the scenes at the new animal health care centre. The eagerly anticipated Stackt Market, due to open this spring at Bathurst and Front, is already breaking new ground for the city’s architecture and design sector. Stackt is built entirely of shipping containers, which makes the whole space not only unique, but radically portable. The marketplace will house an ever-changing mix of retail, food and drink pop-up shops. Visitors to Doors Open will be able to experience this communal space just as it’s up and running.
The Artscape Daniels Launchpad, another newcomer to Toronto’s creative sector, already attracts all sorts of artists and designers. In May, the site will wow DO TO visitors by providing an inside look at its state-of-the-art facilities. On site at the Daniels Waterfront – City of the Arts building, Launchpad boasts extensive creative studios, resources, and collaborative spaces to inspire entrepreneurship among Toronto’s emerging creative professionals. MacDonald is excited to have the site participate in Doors Open and showcase the forward-looking branch of this year’s theme. The new additions will also play a crucial role in continuing the conversation about the city’s relationship with architecture in the future, a conversation which the younger generation is spearheading, says MacDonald: “People are becoming really interested in the city’s built heritage, but they’re also interested in the future, like how we can have a better urban landscape, what’s our city going to look like, how’s our city going to function; so over the last years especially I find we’re having more and more discussions around city building and city planning.”
As DO TO continues to open doors in the years to come, Torontonians can look forward to visiting more sites outside of the downtown core. Awareness for the event continues to grow, according to MacDonald, and this can only mean greater opportunities to collaborate. “We’re a world class city,” says MacDonald, “so there’s no reason why we couldn’t have a world-class architecture and design festival.” MacDonald hopes the conversations surrounding the event will continue to thrive. This year’s edition invites the city to remember its past, which, through the buildings walked past every day, is already part of Toronto’s present.
Doors Open Toronto takes place May 25 – 26.
www.doorsopenontario.on.ca/en/toronto
