05:_URBAN MISHMASH

Border Index

Nature: Academic Role: 50% Research and Drawings Course: ARC465 Collaborators: Yitian Xiao, Zixuan Zhou Instructor: Anne-Marie Armstrong Date: Sep. 2022- Dec. 2022 Location: Queen St West, Toronto

On the south side of Downtown Toronto, Queen Street West serves as a popular thoroughfare that forms a hub of commercial, business, and residential areas. The mixeduse houses along the street state their unique position in the city, instilling the city with dynamic energy. The project focuses on Queen St West from University Ave to Euclid Ave, which contains the Heritage Conservation District.

Looking into the urban pattern of mixed-use buildings along the street, one can observe the horizontal rhythm of the architectural elements, which forms a division of commercial uses on the lower level and business or residential areas on the upper level. We start to think about reconciling the balance between the busy commercial and tranquil residential areas.

Through the street elevation, we can see the area at the junction of Queen St West and Bathurst Street is a typical mixed-use neighbourhood. From the horizontal division, there is a mix of retail stores below, such as supermarkets, repair stores, coffee shops and bars, while above is the office and residential area where people work and live daily.

From a vertical perspective, the dividing line between the buildings creates a distinction with architectural styles, which incorporate some historic and newly renovated buildings.

At the same time, various entrances on the ground floor level are one of the features of the mixeduse neighbourhood. Public entrances to stores and private entrances to upper residential areas and offices are divided here, creating different territories.