Aga Khan Park offers daily walking tours of the new space, which is a modern interpretation of a garden from Muslim civilizations.
By: Shawn Micallef – Published on June 05 2015
The brand new Aga Khan Park is un-Torontonian: there are no signs telling visitors what to do. Torontonians are a people used to overly officious and rule-ridden public spaces and this kind of respect is disconcerting.
Both the Aga Khan Museum and Ismaili Centre opened here at Eglinton Ave. and the DVP last year, but the park that surrounds the buildings made its formal debut two weeks ago.
I met Sarah Pirani recently who enthusiastically described the new park and gardens and offered to take me on a walk. She’s a volunteer at the museum and, with her background in landscape architecture, she assisted the team that created the park walking tours program. It was her infectious enthusiasm that made visiting the park a priority.
“It’s a modern interpretation of a garden from Muslim civilizations,” says Pirani, explaining the core area of the park between the two buildings is a contemporized version of a “chahar bagh,” or four-part garden. Designed by Beirut-based landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic, five gently flowing infinity pools are surrounded by a formal orchard-layout of trees and stone benches.
Ismailimail 