Knox Commons Urban Park

The Knox Commons Urban Park is a project that engages with the lakeside town of Oakville, examining how we can create places of silence, stillness, solidity, and intimacy in our hurried urban environments. More than ever we need contemplative spaces with qualities that encourage us to enter, linger, and listen instead of pass through quickly and zone out. We need places that allow us to listen within our bodies and explore thoughts beyond our bodies that are otherwise drowned out by overstimulating cityscapes.

Oakville, as the name suggests, was originally characterized by it lush oak forest that subsequently spawned a busy ship-building harbor. Today, however, the main commercial area of the city is devoid of the lush, leafy canopy. Born out of a commission to restore and renovate a historic church in Oakville’s city centre, Farrow Partners has designed a contemplative urban park that invites community engagement, expanding the program of the church past its walls and into the public realm.

The Knox Commons Urban Park creates a figurative yin-yang of garden areas, bisected by an s-shaped promenade that simulates seeking and curiosity. Adjacent to the promenade, landscape elements create immersive calming and peaceful places, while other spaces within the common enhance sensory experiences of changing light and seasons.