The Ontario Food Terminal is the largest wholesale fruit and produce distribution centre in Canada and ranks in the top five by volume wholesale fruit and produce distribution centres in North America. Built in 1954, it is owned and operated by The Ontario Food Terminal Board, an organization dedicated to the wholesale distribution of fresh, high-quality produce, including fruit, vegetables and flowers, from local and international sources. Located between the Gardiner Expressway and the Queensway in Toronto, the 40-acre terminal site consists of 2 areas including a Farmer’s Market with 550 stalls and a Warehouse Market with 80,000 square feet of cold storage and 15,000 square feet of dry storage as well as being equipped with a 575 car-parking deck and two restaurants. From various regions of Canada and the United States, trucking companies bring produce from Florida within 48 hours, from California within 76 hours and overnight from eastern seaports to assure freshness year-round. Inbound and outbound traffic from the Terminal is estimated at over one million vehicles each year. The direct and indirect employment attributed to the Terminal is estimated at over 42,000 people, notwithstanding all the other sub-growers who use the food market information that is generated from the facility. The Ontario Food Terminal is therefore a significant and influential operation in the context of the regional and global food chain. The Ontario Food Terminal Board currently faces a number of operational challenges that deal with its future growth including: the expansion of their existing facilities, the optimization of daily services and the public visibility of their operations. These challenges represent the growing importance of the Terminal in the Province, vis-à-vis the competition recently brought on by the proliferation of big box superstores in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) over the past decade. Given the context of ‘modernization’ of the Ontario Food Terminal, this projects targets the development potential of the Terminal as an important urban infrastructure over the next 50 years. With the use of aerial photography, global mapping technologies and infrastructure design, the project capitalizes on the Terminal’s physical presence to create a public image that synthesizes and communicates its past, present and future operations.
Project Description: Operational Photography, Historical Mapping & Infrastructure Strategies
Site Location: 40-acre site located between the Gardiner Expressway and the Queensway (Toronto, Ontario)
Client/Agency: The Ontario Food Terminal Board.
Date: 2005-2006