An oversized domino is launched from the upper terrace of Canoe Landing Park to continue the cascade of dominoes below. Photo by Francis Jun, courtesy of The BentwayIn mid-October, downtown Toronto was host to a surreal sighta 2.7-kilometre-long run of two-metre-tall dominoes. Made of lightweight concrete, the 8,000 oversized dominoes snaked down sidewalks, meandered through parks, and even wandered into buildings: a library, stores, a condo tower lobby.Setting up the dominoes took the better part of a day. Then, at 4:30 pm, it was go-time: the first domino was tipped over, and the chain tumbled through the city.The production was hosted by The Bentway and curated by Station House Opera, a British performing arts company that premiered Dominoes as a way to link the five host boroughs of the 2012 London Olympics. Since then, the site-specific performance has toured to cities including Copenhagen, Melbourne, Marseilles, and Malta. For Toronto, the artists chose a path tracing the development of the citys west end: from the Victorian residential fabric south of King West, to the industrial-inspired Stackt Market, then weaving its way through the waterfronts high-rise neighbourhoods before ending at Lake Ontario.Putting together the event was a logistically complex undertaking, including negotiating with city agencies for crossing streetcar tracks, getting sign-off from more than 40 site partners, and setting up with help from some 300 volunteers. Near the end of the run, the line of dominoes crossed Lakeshore Boulevard. The busy street could only be closed for six minutesa tense window in which time the dominoes were quickly set up, knocked down, and cleared away.The enormous effort was worth it, says Ilana Altman, co-executive director of The Bentway. She explains that while The Bentway is anchored in its eponymous spacean urban park and public art venue under the raised Gardiner Expresswaythe organizations mission centres on revealing opportunities and connections in the urban landscape. Dominoes helped Toronto to really see these possibilities in a compelling and convincing way, says Altman.The Bentway is looking to make those connections more permanent. Its own site is growing: its first phase, designed by Public Work, opened in 2018, and this fall, the organization named Field Operations and Brook McIlroy as the designers for its second phase. Earlier this year, Toronto City Council endorsed a public realm plan that outlines a comprehensive vision for the remainder of spaces below and adjacent to the 6.5-kilometre expressway.Beyond the physical links that were created by the line of dominoes, the event created important social connections. It was quite moving to see the level of interest we got from volunteers, says Altman. People were passionate and invested in it; people were meeting neighbours for the first time.On show day, my seven-year-old son and I delighted in rediscovering pockets of downtown, in chatting with the volunteers setting up the dominoes, and in seeing the clever ways that the white slabs had been laid to climb hills, zigzag through open areas, and even hop over a park bench. It was a sunny fall afternoon, and hundreds of people were out, engaging with an openness facilitated by the charming installation. As 4:30 pm approached, the crowds grew along with the sense of anticipation. My son and I were stationed at the end of the run, and cheered alongside a throng of Torontonians as the dominoes fell one by oneand the last domino splashed into Lake Ontario.As appeared in theNovember 2024issue of Canadian Architect magazineThe post Domino Effect appeared first on Canadian Architect.