3 Arches Fuses Art and Architecture in Mississauga Park

In Mississauga’s Fairwinds Park, surrounded by woodland, wetland and suburban housing, is 3 Arches, the latest public art project by Toronto-based creatives Michaela MacLeod and Nicholas Croft. At over 12 feet tall, the art piece stands out in an otherwise flat terrain, while its galvanized steel structure melds with the city’s landscape beyond. It’s bold yet harmonious. Slim yet robust.

Since their first collaboration in 2012, MacLeod and Croft have built a multidisciplinary art and architecture practice under the umbrella name of Polymetis. As partners in both life and work, the two come together to develop site-specific art, often at the grand scale of architecture. This comes as no surprise for a duo with backgrounds in urban design and landscape architecture.

Polymetis makes bold interventions in natural settings, from the International Garden Festival at the Jardins de Métis, in Grand-Métis, Quebec to community parks in British Columbia and the harsh winter landscape of Toronto’s Woodbine Beach [see the duo’s installation from Winter Stations 2015].

Part of Mississauga’s Public Art Program, the 3 Arches pavilion sits on a jetty that reaches into the neighbouring wetland, with a central axis aligned to the sunrise and sunset. It reads like an object in the park, but is also an experience and a welcoming meeting place. With three parabolic arches forming a sense of enclosure, while being completely open to the sky, 3 Arches asks its visitors to pause and connect to their surroundings, inspiring a sense of place. MacLeod and Croft describe the pavilion as “creating a sense of entry and inhabitation, an architectural space that is both inside and outside.” From afar, it’s a special beacon that invites a range of activities, from quiet contemplation and observation to first dates and boisterous family gatherings. POLYMETIS.NET.