Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker Benech Eglinton Crosstown LRT - Elevating the Quality of Design in the Public Realm - Toronto - Canada

Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker Benech, commissioned by the Crosslinx Transit Solutions team as part of Metrolinx's regional transportation plan - The Big Move - is proud to unveil the design framework (DX - Design Excellence) for the new Eglinton Crosstown LRT in Toronto, officially inaugurated on February 8, 2026. With the aim of enhancing the quality of design in public spaces, the award-winning Quebec firm's design approach is inspired by the principles of civic architecture and its integration into the urban context.

A city-building endeavour

With a projected annual ridership of 50 million, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT (ECLRT) provides Torontonians with fast, reliable transit service on Eglinton Avenue for 19 km, with 15 underground stations, including 10 at-grade stops. The LRT is the first large-scale transit project to be delivered under Metrolinx’s regional transportation plan.

A Commitment to design quality

Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker Benech was responsible for establishing the overarching design for the Crosslinx team (DX – Design Excellence), establishing the mobilizing vision, design signature, and kit-of-parts approach for the entire Line. “In order to implement in-depth architectural thinking on a major urban and architectural project, our team, responsible for the mobilizing design ‘Design Excellence’ vision, together with the technical team, combined our expertise to realize this public transit project,” explains Renée Daoust, architect and urban designer, founding partner at Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker Benech and DX Lead for the entire project.

A right to light and the celebration of kinetic movement

The DNA of the ECLRT promotes a cohesive narrative, one that is responsive to neighbourhood conditions, while sustaining Line continuity and identity. The ethos of the project uses optimization of natural light as a medium, and the celebration of kinetic movement through the system. It’s also a social and sustainability strategy, promoting more enjoyable and appealing public transportation for all.

SITU – in its natural place

The foundation of the conceptual approach rests on four guiding principles: Simplicity creating timeless architecture through a clear, straightforward geometry and design language; Iconography branding the line through a consistent use of form, materiality, and colour into a highly identifiable transit system; Transparency allowing daylight to filter deep into the stations; Urbanity attained through sensitive design strategies adapted to each urban context.

At the scale of the city

The kit-of-parts approach was developed to ensure consistent design from the scale of the city to the object. Three distinct Station typologies - pavilion, corner, and embedded - were developed to be responsive to the genius loci of each station site.

At the scale of the station

Across the system, a pristine and welcoming glass box, either flat or slanted, acts as the entrance to each station. Playing with contrasts, the transparent volume is bookended by the opaque technical box, organizing public versus service functions of the Line. Pavilion settings, with the immaterial slanted glass volumes, represent the purest application of the system. “The opaque technical building is encircled by an envelope of luminous, textured precast concrete panels, resonating with Toronto's civic buildings,” explains partner and architect Rachel Stecker. “The precast concrete panels, inspired by the geological layers of the soil, vertically connect the street to the concourse level.” Addressing concerns for sustainability and long-term maintenance, a repeated 1.5m module rhythms the entire ensemble. This consistency allows for ease of constructability and replacement over the life of the project.

An intuitive passenger experience

As passengers descend into the station, the slanted ribs of the glass box echo their movement and create dynamic plays of light and shadow along the textured wall. Double height volumes from concourse to platform create openness within each Station, allowing travellers to clearly understand the route to the train. The empowered spaces, clad in simple white surfaces, create a museum-like ambiance showcasing public art and the movement of passengers. At platform level, the Urban Tapestry is an iconic element that celebrates people in motion. These mural-like installations run the length of the platform, animating the cast-in-place concrete walls.

A systematic use of colour

As the orange line, the colour is applied strategically to act as a wayfinding tool from plaza to platform. Signature canopies with a tapered profile mark public entrances to each Station. The horizontal orange highlight becomes a signature element of the Line. The vibrant colour is applied to elevator shafts, furniture, and other accent items marking important and universally accessible areas and connection points within the stations, creating a seamless, intuitive passenger experience.

Integrating art and infrastructure

To democratize public art and engage the public at street level, window art displays at three stations highlight the work of emerging local artists. Within six interchange stations, eight works of Canadian and international artists are integrated directly into the Station architecture, marking the importance of these connection nodes with the existing transit network. These art pieces bring a sense of global and civic significance to the project and act as a wayfinding strategy.

Elevating the quality of design in the public realm

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT generates public and civic spaces, reduces congestion, increases urban density, and promotes sustainability, but, more importantly, illustrates the immense power of a well-defined, mobilizing project narrative. The conceptual approach became a guiding vision for the design team of more than 500 architects and engineers to follow, and provided cohesion at all stages of design and execution. “As a city building project, ECLRT represents a unique opportunity to formalize an architectural signature, from civic scale to the finest detail, while respecting the genius loci of Toronto's diverse and constantly evolving neighborhoods,” concludes Renée Daoust. The outcome of this multidisciplinary effort is a project seamlessly woven into its environment, aligning perfectly with its objective — to offer Torontonians a meaningful, enjoyable experience, while championing goals related to public health, ecology, and climate action by promoting quality in public transit.

About Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker Benech

Since 1988, Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker Benech has been involved in the fields of architecture, landscape, and urban design. As a multidisciplinary firm concerned with design at every scale, they strive to bridge the limitations of traditional design practices and to dissolve boundaries between urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, graphic, interior, industrial, and furniture design. For each project, the firm's approach begins with a careful reading of the site and the intrinsic qualities of its surroundings, revealing traces of the past through a resolutely contemporary language. Characterized by bold simplicity, their designs demonstrate an ability to realize projects of varied nature and scope. Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker Benech has been recognized at the international, national, and Provincial level for its commitment to the realization of significant, high quality projects at urban and architectural scales.

Photo credit: Tom Arban