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Celebration Square: ‘The Heart of Mississauga’

Uniquely positioned above an underground parking facility, Silva Cells were installed in the new Mississauga Civic Centre square in support of 30 now-thriving Autumn Blaze Maple trees

 

“Every city has a heart, and this is ours.”

-Hazel McCallion, former mayor of Mississauga

Celebration Square Project

Number of Silva Cells: 1,010 (1x and 2x)
Number of Trees: 30 (Autumn Blaze Maple)
Soil Volume per Tree: 17.8 m3
Project Designer: Janet Rosenberg Studio
Project Contractor: Pave-Al Limited
Installation: Fall 2011

Project Overview

Planning for the redesign of the Civic Square began in 2009 and was guided by the council’s desire to create a multifunctional, flexible, hard-surface civic space scaled for daily life as well as special events. The $40 million project evolved to become the city’s largest public infrastructure stimulus project, with costs split equally among the city, provincial, and federal governments. The two preexisting squares were connected into a unified public space, anchored by raised-garden trees on the southwestern edge: 30 of them planted in Silva Cells, providing an optimal soil volume environment above the underground parking facility.

A Triumph: Celebration Square

The new Celebration Square has been an award-winning triumph for Mississauga, capturing the 2011 Urban Design Award of Excellence and the 2020 City of Mississauga People’s Choice Urban Design Award. Celebration Square continues to benefit residents and visitors with art exhibitions, farmers’ markets, a seasonal ice rink, and the annual Canada Day celebration for the city.

On-Structure Application

Because the Civic Square was located on top of a parking garage, a soil delivery system was needed that would be capable of providing a sufficient volume of soil to guarantee healthy growth for the trees and that could also support the weight of the pavement and the increased pedestrian traffic on the site from daily use and special events. The designers at Janet Rosenberg & Studio — who, in the last fifteen years, have partnered with DeepRoot on more than two dozen projects — selected the Silva Cell for this challenging application.

The roof deck was retrofitted to support the added loads of the soil, trees, and Silva Cell system, and, as with most on-structure applications of Silva Cells, a drainboard was used to provide drainage at the roof deck level. High-density foam was also laid on top of the concrete roof of the parking garage to act as a lightweight fill to bring up the grade difference between the existing roof and the plaza elevations and was installed in variable thicknesses based on the contour of the existing space. Unlike conventional installations, stakes were not needed to affix the frames to the foam. In some areas, a concrete cap was poured over the top of the foam, and screws and washers were used to attach the frames to the subgrade concrete. In other areas, wood spacers were used between the frames to fix them in place.

Installation

Raised Gardens

The first major step for the design was to bring the two squares to nearly the same grade, thus enabling a unified square to be formed via the temporary closure of Civic Centre Drive for large events. For the raised gardens on the Civic Square specifically, the objective of the design was to knit together the landscaped qualities of the intimate Jubilee Gardens, an English walled garden that was dedicated by the Duke and Duchess of York in 1987, into the Civic Square. The introduction of raised gardens to the Civic Square would create a strong green edge for a friendlier Civic Square and serve as a more open and public passageway into the Jubilee Gardens.

Autumn Blaze Maples

The 30 Autumn Blaze Maples that were planted on the square have since seen dramatic growth, creating a majestic tree canopy that serves to knit together the Civic Square and the adjacent Jubilee Gardens. One of the winners of Urban Tree of the Year (as selected by the Society of Municipal Arborists), the Autumn Blaze Maple is a hardy species defined by a fast growth rate, resilience to tough conditions, and its ample shade.

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