Functional Sculpture. Born of Toronto.

The Garrison brings together the old and new, story and design, function and art. It is an extension of Toronto's storied past; made of material steeped in history – dirt, rust and the wear and tear of generations of travelers.

Following the demolition of the historic Garrison Road Bridge near Fort York in early 2015, over two tonnes of rebar steel were salvaged and repurposed to create this limited edition of 102 sculptural castings. Developed in collaboration with Toronto-based design firms Rebart + Stacklab, The Garrison can be used as seating or as a low table. These castings are derived using state-of-the-art, process-driven digital design and fabrication technology; optimized to be as light and as strong as possible. The Garrison is fabricated in either Cast Iron, or Cast Iron + Bronze, and is available for purchase now. 

Garrison Common, located just to the west of Fort York, is the original ground on which urban Toronto was founded in 1793. The salvaged rebar used in the fabrication of The Garrison was sourced from a bridge that was built in the 1960s, but a bridge existed on the site for more than 160 years.

In 1854, Grand Trunk Railway cut railway tracks across Fort York, dividing the fort from the Military Reserve to the west. To remedy this, the Railway built a wooden bridge which spanned the tracks. 

The original bridge underwent a few iterations until in 1960, the newly planned Gardiner Expressway made the bridge an obstacle to construction. The bridge was rebuilt, this time from steel and concrete, in a more direct line across the railway cut to avoid the many concrete bents that would support the expressway.

In 2015, this concrete and steel bridge was demolished, and the steel from this bridge was salvaged and repurposed into The Garrison.

No new bridge will replace the newly demolished Garrison Road Bridge. Instead, material excavated during construction of the new Fort York Visitor Centre will fill in the original railway cut to create a permanent crossing, restoring the connection between Fort York, the Garrison Common and the old Military Reserve for the first time since the 1850s.

While the material of The Garrison is steeped in history, it has been reinvented with leading-edge digital design techniques.

The challenge as designers was to think beyond simple re-use. Rather, the goal was to re-imagine and transform the material – taking dirty, heavy, infrastructural rebar and reconstituting it into a refined, sculptural casting.

Stacklab performed rigorous digital prototyping, for example, eliminating the need for iterative physical testing and minimizing waste.

The piece is designed with an understanding and appreciation of the casting process in order to limit post-processing. The result is an elegant form with only one visible parting line on the entire casting.

The innovative design technology was an important factor in optimizing the weight of the finished piece, ensuring an elegant balance between beauty and functionality. 

Image: Early design iterations

The Garrison is the inaugural collaboration between two Toronto-based companies: Stacklab, an award-winning multidisciplinary design and fabrication studio, and Rebart, a company that salvages historic landmarks and repurposes them into works of design and art.

Stacklab is a design practice focused on architecture, furniture and installations, and the intersection of these disciplines. Driven by relentless curiosity and an obsessive attention to detail, Stacklab operates a showroom and workshop in downtown Toronto, where it explores innovative materials and techniques. Stacklab's projects are distinguished by their purposeful design, enduring quality and unusual beauty.