Interior Design students reimagine Ontario Place as part of DesignTO

Interior Design Lecturer Quan Thai and graduating students from the program collaborated on an exhibition to reimagine Ontario Place as part of DesignTO, set to be on display at Stackt Market. The work presented by students evolved from their final year design studio class, based on research interests of the instructor. Ontario Place – Narrating Past, Present, and Potential is an interdisciplinary exhibition of compiled narratives and design speculations that invite members of the public to contribute their own memories, ideas, and stories. 

The exhibition description documents Ontario Place’s role as a public asset, allowing users to recognize the cultural significance the park has played during its peak but also during its decline in the past decade. Speculative narratives are showcased to prompt conversations of Ontario Place’s capacity to realize its original ambition as a place for everyone. 

Building cities of the future

Ontario Place – Narrating Past, Present, and Potential is framed through the lens of social sustainability, and how interior designers, architects and professors can come together to reflect on ways to create more sustainable communities through perspectives of cultural heritage and preservation, community engagement, and designing for inclusion.

“Interior designers have a larger role to play in sustainable communities and this exhibition really focuses on how we can work together to create a more sustainable space at Ontario Place,” said Thai. “The student work is a great start that contributes to a larger conversation and encourages them to think about curation and knowledge mobilization in a multifaceted way.” 

Bridging classroom learning with industry projects

As part of their final year studio class, final year Interior Design students each contributed individually to the exhibition. From developing design proposals to curating physical interactive artifacts, students had the opportunity to take part in various aspects of the exhibition to now presenting the final result. 

Interior Design alumna Fedora Liu says participating in the project allowed her to take theories she learnt in class and apply them to the Ontario Place exhibition. Liu designed posters and banners that are used for marketing purposes as well as a physical piece, including interactive panels, that will be displayed during the exhibition. This set the tone for an interactive portion of the exhibit, allowing her to continue developing her craft and ideas in making an object, but at a larger scale.

“From my school years, I learned how to explore conceptual ideas and narrow them down to practical applications, which was used to develop ideas for graphics and diagrams that will be shown in the exhibition,” Liu said. “Many collaborative assignments from classes led me to trust my peers and fellow designers, creating a much more open environment to discuss and inform the ideation of our project.”

‘Ontario Place – Narrating Past, Present, and Potential’ is one of 5 projects at Stackt Market as part of the 2023 DesignTO Festival. The design collection exhibition will be open from January 20 to 29, 2023, from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily. The launch party (external link, opens in new window)  will be taking place on January 20 at Stackt Market, featuring a self-guided tour and a meet and greet with the designers. To learn more about the exhibition, visit the website (external link, opens in new window) .

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