TORONTO, ONTARIO – Today, Gregg Lintern, chief planner for the City of Toronto, along with Ann Marie Vaughan, president and CEO, Humber College, celebrated the achievements to date of a partnership between the City of Toronto and Humber College.
The City has partnered with Humber College through the college’s Centres of Innovation Network to create updates to TinyTO - a model of downtown Toronto that resides in the lobby of City Hall. Designed and produced by Humber students in Industrial Design, Interior Design, Graphic Design, User Experience Design and Game Programming, the updates to TinyTO will serve as a tool to help city planners, developers and residents envision redevelopment options, consider growth and expansion patterns, and imagine the future. The newest addition to the model was also unveiled – a 1:1250 scale 3D printed model of City Hall and the Toronto sign, along with plans for additional enhancements to follow, including an Augmented Reality component.
The partnership saw a multi-disciplinary team of Humber students and faculty members participate in the ideation process for what a new TinyTO model could be. Their work took place through coursework, workshops, and dedicated internships organized by Humber's Centre for Creative Business Innovation with support from the Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation. These efforts culminated in a presentation of process and learnings to City of Toronto staff as well as three new segments of the model along Toronto’s ever-evolving waterfront.
Recent partnership achievements/highlights:
- 2020 – The initial partnership saw a successful "Hackathon" brainstorming event
- 2021 – Students focused on producing concepts and a vision for the model of the future
- 2022 –New, updated tiles for the model produced and began to be installed
The team worked closely with City staff to design and produce new sections of the model using the City's 3D Massing dataset: https://open.toronto.ca/dataset/3d-massing/. The existing three-dimensional model consists of 12 tiles in a four feet by three feet (1.2 metres x 1.2 metres) grid at a scale of 1:1250.
The new additions have been designed with flexibility in mind, for example, splitting each tile into four quarters for easier transport. The new sections also consist of three components: 3D printed buildings that sit on top of acrylic blocks with a vinyl base map underneath to allow each component to be updated, maintained and replaced when necessary.
The vision for the model is to apply the latest technologies and create a unique real-time, city-wide, interactive multi-media exhibit where residents, tourists, stakeholders and decision makers can gather to look at the present and emerging form of the city and discuss planning, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture and development concepts.
This project is a great example of the City's collaboration with one of Toronto's higher education institution partners facilitated by the City Manager's Office and CivicLabTO, www.civiclabto.ca.
The model is located on the first floor of City Hall and is available for all visitors to City Hall to view. More information about the model is available on the City's website.
More information about Humber College's fellowship program and TinyTO can be found on this webpage.
Quotes:
“Partnerships are key to many of the City's successes, and partnerships with our higher education institutions are among the most valuable. In this instance, both the students and our City staff have learned from working together to implement new technologies in unique and innovative ways. A newly updated and interactive TinyTO city model is a great learning tool for visitors to City Hall and also an incredible city-building tool for our staff.”
– Gregg Lintern, Chief Planner & Executive Director City Planning
“Working on TinyTO has been a tremendous opportunity for Humber students to showcase their innovative ideas through work-integrated learning and earn real-world experience that is supporting development in Toronto. We are looking forward to continuing to build big things at TinyTO with the support of the City of Toronto.”
– Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan, President and CEO, Humber College
Toronto is home to more than 2.9 million people whose diversity and experiences make this great city Canada’s leading economic engine and one of the world’s most diverse and livable cities. As the fourth largest city in North America, Toronto is a global leader in technology, finance, film, music, culture, and innovation, and consistently places at the top of international rankings due to investments championed by its government, residents and businesses. For more information visit www.toronto.ca or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CityofToronto, on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cityofto or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cityofto.
About Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning
Humber College is focused on our students' future. Humber provides career-focused education to more than 86,000 learners in-person at three main Toronto locations and online. As a global leader in polytechnic education, Humber students receive in-depth theoretical learning and hands-on experience with applied research and extensive industry connections. A comprehensive range of credentials, including honours undergraduate degrees, Ontario graduate certificates, diplomas, apprenticeships, and certificates, prepare career-ready global citizens to move seamlessly from education to employment. More than 86 per cent of Humber graduates are employed within six months of completing their studies. Visit humber.ca.
- 30 -
For more information, please contact:
Media Relations, City of Toronto, media@toronto.ca
Sylvie Lendvay
Media Relations Specialist
Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
sylvie.lendvay@humber.ca | 416.315.0329