Scene: Urban Hub at the YMCA

Repurposed rubber tires are at the heart of the new, student-designed concourse.

By Graeme Bayliss • Photos by Heather Lewis

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Environment and climate change minister Glen Murray; and executive director of the Ontario Tire Stewardship, Andrew Horsman.

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Design competition winners Greg Bunker and David Garcia.

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From left to right: Greg Bunker, Medhat Mahdy (president and CEO of Greater Toronto YMCA), Glen Murray, Andrew Horsman, David Garcia.

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WHERE: 20 Grosvenor Street

WHEN: Wednesday, November 12

WHAT: A makeover for the concourse in front of the downtown YMCA Centre on Grosvenor Street near Yonge. In 2013 the Ontario Tire Stewardship, an organization concerned with the creative reuse of tires, held a design competition in which teams of post-secondary students from across the province were challenged to rethink the concourse. University of Toronto students Greg Bunker, David Garcia, and Jessica Wagner beat out entrants from six other schools with their design, which features rubber seating and planters, a repaved surface made from recycled materials, and new bike parking. Bunker and Garcia were on hand for the opening of the space, as were Ontario environment and climate change minister Glen Murray, Greater Toronto YMCA president and CEO Medhat Mahdy, and Ontario Tire Stewardship executive director Andrew Horsman.