Where Rocks Talk

CLIENT Evergreen Brick Works

LOCATION Young Welcome Centre, 550 Bayview Avenue, Toronto ON

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The Challenge

Evergreen Brick Works wanted to create an exhibit for visitors that communicated the internationally significant geological features of the former brick works quarry. The challenge was to tell a layered and complex geological story in a succinct and compelling way.

 

Design Process

• Worked closely with University of Toronto glacial geologist Nick Eyes
  to interpret content and stories

• Designed an exhibit that includes a geological peel from the former Brickworks quarry 

• Designed a fossil case that includes interpretation and narrated videos that
  animate the story.

 

Installation

• Working with an expert fabrication team, we excavated the north slope of the former Brickworks quarry to create a geological slip that reflects layers of time that date
  back 450 million years, one of the layers of which highlight an interglacial period
  for which the EBW is recognized as an internationally significant geological site.

• Lighting the geological peel in a manner that interprets climate change in deep time

• Fossil case containing fossils from the ROM collection that were originally found
  in the quarry.

• Back-lit interpretive panels

• Motion sensors that regulate the exhibit when in use

• Two 10 minute interactive videos that animate the geological story

• Motion sensors that regulate the exhibit when in use​

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"The geology story at this site is complex. Weav worked closely with glacial geologist Nick Eyes to develop content and create an education exhibit that fits with EBW's sensibility and approach. This unique exhibit is an important interpretive element that helps tell the story of Evergreen Brick Works." — Sarah Hillyer - Senior Manager, Evergreen