3rd Ave. at Bank St.

So, I'm back at it now that the temperatures are a little cooler and invigorating.  This is the backside of some commercial buildings along  Bank Street in the Glebe.  The walls have been strapped with pipes and wires and contain air conditioner units, vents phone boxes and electrical stacks.  Despite it all it has a sort of urban charm and sitting out on the apartment balconies would offer green views up the middle of the residential block.

Bank Street Tree Guard

Over the last few years I was the landscape architect for the 3km long Bank Street reconstruction project.  The Glebe section was largely completed in 2011, but the street furniture and public art sort dribbled together over this summer.

Most of the tree guards on Bank Street are simple pickets.  We designed special panels to give them stronger contextual identity, but apparently someone decided to delete those elements.    The one in the sketch was designed by Tim  Desclouds, the project artist and fabricated by Mike Milligan.
It is located on Clemow, just east of Bank Street and incorporated the thematic chair which is the common aspect of all the sculptures.

The tree is a Liberty Elm.  This is a hybrid elm which is resistant to Dutch Elm disease and was selected for it's eventual vase like form and heritage character as elms were once the dominant street trees of Ontario main streets.