Cool by Design: The Power of Shade in Public Space presents research from The Bentway’s 2025 Sun/Shade initiative—a collaboration among artists, designers, researchers, and policymakers that builds on the City of Toronto’s Thermal Comfort Guidelines. The project explores how design, culture, and community engagement can help cities respond to rising temperatures, reframing cool public spaces as essential components of public health and social infrastructure.
Tommaso Bitossi led the Transsolar project team for the Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan in Toronto, outlining how the spaces beneath the Bentway can better serve the city. Interviewed for the publication, he noted that “once mechanical systems and artificial lighting became mainstream, the building industry forgot how to design. We need to design to be as passive as possible—not only for comfort and energy conservation, but for resilience, because mechanical systems fail.”
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Photo: Nic Lehoux