483 Dupont Site Analysis

SITE ANALYSIS + PRECEDENT STUDY ASC403 - ASSIGNMENT 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS Research Process...........................................................................................................................................................4 Site History...................................................................................................................................................................5-7 Context And Physical Environment.............................................................................................................................8-17 Design Intentions...........................................................................................................................................................18 Demographics................................................................................................................................................................19 Program and Uses....................................................................................................................................................20-21 Perceptual Qualities.................................................................................................................................................22-23 Sun Study.................................................................................................................................................................24-25 Circulation and Access.............................................................................................................................................26-27 Legal Frame Work..........................................................................................................................................................28 Conclusions...................................................................................................................................................................29 Bibliography....................................................................................................................................................................30

RESEARCH PROCESS

When the project was first announced, my first course of action was to look up the neighbourhood the

precedent is situated in and study it prior to studying the precedent itself. The reason being was to develop an understanding of the entities in their chronological order so as to when the time came to study the building, I would be able to correspondingly begin my critique of its response to the context.

I found the necessary information about the Seaton Neighbourhood by being redirected from the To-

ronto website to the Neighbourhood’s individual website, as well as going to the school library to study books about Toronto’s past, and the neighbourhood likewise. Later on, I visited the Toronto archives to analyze historical data and study the growth of the site throughout the years.

After gaining a substantial understanding of the precedent’s context, I conducted a site visit to emerge

myself in what I had been studying. During my visit, I analyzed pedestrian and vehicular traffic, sensible reactions, views from the building, and urban fabric and materiality. Afterwards, I utilized Ryerson’s GIS Lab to gather technical information about the site which included property data maps, vegetation plotting, contours, land-use, zoning, building heights as these would permit me to develop the diagrams down the road that will help me convey my comprehension

Furthermore, I found and studied the current and past census data for city of Toronto and compared

it with the respective census data taken from the Seaton Village Neighbourhood. In addition to the census data, I embarked on understanding who lives in the site and what it is known for, in order to develop the identity the neighbourhood has created for itself and its overall impact on the city of Toronto.

SITE HISTORY

The site is situated in the Toronto Neighbourhood

known as Seaton Village. The area that became Seaton Village was originally settled by Colonel David Shank and Captain Samuel Smith. When the area was acquired

by George Crookshank in 1850, it housed his Estate and farmland until 1854 when he sold the land to Phillip Brown who began to sell the lots in the area. This eventually grew to become Seaton Village and in 1887, the village was subordinated into the City of Toronto. Since that time, the neighbourhood has been designated for residential use, and thus other building types cater and are directly linked to serving residents of the area. These include institutional buildings, open park areas, and small commercial stores that are predominately independently owned. That being said, the area does include some industrial sites that are. One of the most distinguishable features of the site is the “small-town� atmosphere it still captures today while being situated so close to downtown Metropolitan area. Residents and visitors enjoy absorbing its historical ambience, dining at small cafes and visiting the nearby heritage sites.

SITE HISTORY

To the North of the Site is the historic Canadian Pacific Railway that connected British Columbia with Eastern Canada. The railway allowed the transportation of goods and provided communications with the two sides. Today it is still being utilized as a means of transpiration for goods that include automotive vehicles, lumber, mining, grains, food, oil, energy and industrial products.

To the South of the Site is Davenport Village which was originally used by the first Nations People as a transit path between the Humber and Don Rivers. It was later adapted by the French Fur Traders in the 1600’s and then the European Immigrants in 1790’s. Until the 1860’s it remained a farming community; when the Canadian Pacific Railway became active industrial activity was attracted and the area became a village. Davenport Village was subordinated into the city of Toronto in 1909 and followed the same path as Seaton Village, becoming a residential development.

To the Southwest, the area was purchased by the Toronto Transit Commission from the company of the dying railway. This area saw the birth of Canada’s first subway cars.

Heritage Sites

Urban Planning Evolution

1890

1894

1899

SITE HISTORY

Traditional Victorian Housing found in the Seaton Village

1903

SITE EVOLUTION

1913

1924

CONTEXT AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

CONTEXT PLAN 1:1250

SITE PLAN 1:500

SITE PLAN WITHOUT PRECEDENT 1:500

STREET ELEVATIONS + SECTIONS 1:1000

DUPONT STREET NORTH ELEVATION

DUPONT STREET SOUTH ELEVATION

LONGITUDINAL CROSS SECTION

TRANSVERSAL CROSS SECTION

STREET ELEVATIONS + SECTIONS 1:1000

FIGURE GROUND 1:1250

VEGETATION MAP 1:1250

MATERIALITY

WOOD 2.2%

STUCCO 3.3%

CONCRETE 34%

BRICK VENEER 25%

LIMESTONE 1%

ALUMINUM 5.6%

GLAZING 11%

CONCLUSIONS

From the analysis of the site’s context and physical environment, it appears as if the intention of the design was to compliment the urban street fabric

through materiality and articulation. That being said the building does so in a way where it does adapt a more elegant and modern material palette as it utilizes significantly more glazing than the surrounding buildings and showcases materials such as limestone and aluminum. While one may argue that this disturbs the urban blanket, I find it as a pleasant contrast and overall improvement. For instance, many of the homes on the north side of Dupont street feature balconies on the second story that are constructed from wooden beams that showcase their age. Similarly, the Annex Loft House also has balcony living on its above grade levels and utilizes a glass and aluminum railing encompassing the exterior living area. Furthermore, the building divides the balcony space utilizes wood fences to mirror that of the street. If the surrounding buildings were to restore the wooden balconies, it would strengthen the overall bond of the building to its context.

In conclusion, while not prioritizing the site fully into the design process, the precedent building remains respectful to its surround-

ing.

The building is cut out as to refrain from overcast shadows on its surroundings building. The buildings access was planned in such a

way to avoid creating an urban alley that could attract the wrong attention as residents utilize the setback space to enter their dwellings.

DESIGN INTENTION

From the analysis of the building itself, I have derived that it was intended to amalgamate interior and exterior living as almost every condo has its own large private balcony.

These balconies begin on the fourth storey of the house, and thus with this building being higher than the surrounding building, the patio living over looks over the neighbourhood and paints residents a vision of the entire Annex Neighbourhood with the Toronto Skyline.

The driving force of the project however seems to be more oriented to sales rather than particular attention to site. The conceptual render for this project shows it having

buildings in its immediate proximity but having the neighbouring building faded to reveal the West faรงade which would otherwise frame no view. It also shows a faรงade that glimmers in the sun where this faรงade in reality faces north and thus would not receive any direct sunlight at all to achieve this glowing aurora. The south faรงade in reality features little to no glazing, and instead showcases garage doors. The building by no means is a disturbance to the site, but much more could have been done to design with the site.

Balcony View

Conceptual Render

DEMOGRAPHICS

LAND USE 1:1500

PROGRAMMING

RESIDENTIAL

COMMERCIAL

PARKING

PERCEPTUAL QUALITIES AUDIBLE POLLUTION 1:1250

PERCEPTUAL QUALITIES VISIONARY

SUN STUDY

MARCH

From the site analysis, it appears as though maximizing any possible potential was ignored and instead the building was designed without the sun in mind. For instance, there are no solar panels to be featured at all and the south faรงade has little to no fenestration. It would have been worthwhile to look into having glazing on the southern

17:00

13:00

9:00

faรงade with louvers to control unwanted heat gain in the summer.

JUNE

SEPTEMBER

DECEMBER

SUN STUDY

CIRCULATION 1:1250

TTC VEHICULAR PEDESTRIAN

ACCESS+PROXEMICS

G

R R R

I

B

G R

R

G

S S

R

R

B

R S

S

R

R

R

S

S

R S

S

S I

S

R B

I

R

R

R

PROXIMETRIC MAP 1:2500

G

GROCERY

B

BUILDING ACCESS 1:500

BANKING

S

SHOPPING

R

DINING

I

INSTITUTIONAL PEDESTRIAN ACCESS

LOADING ACCESS

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

CONCLUSIONS

From the site analysis and precedent study exercise I have learned about the rich history of not only Toronto but the

neighbourhoods it encompasses. My overall conclusion of the building is that it only begins to scratch the surface to what could have been done with the sun’s environment and rich history. That being said, it does interfere with the urban fabric of the site.

The building was designed with the sole purpose of serving as a dwelling for the young adults that are attracted to

the area. It incorporates a unique inside to outside relationship, but only for a fraction of the housing units.

In response to building guidelines, it followed them appropriately but shouldn’t have been so hesitant to provide

more side yard space. It is worth noting that the building is the tallest in the site and while it does not cast any interfering shadows, it would have been nice to have a green roof for the building’s benefit and the surrounding buildings.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Dinep, Claudia. 2010. Sustainable site design: Criteria, process, and case studies for integrating site and region in landscape design, eds. Kristin Schwab, Inc ebrary. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons (Available as an ebook, course readings).

Gause, Jo Allen and Franko, Richard (eds). 2007. Developing sustainable planned communities. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute.

LaGro, James A. 2008. Site analysis: A contextual approach to sustainable land planning and site design. 2nd ed. ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons (Available as an ebook, course readings).

Malpas, Jeff. 2011. Place of Landscape: Concepts, Contexts, Studies. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press (Available as an ebook, course readings).

Meiss, Pierre von. 2013. Elements of architecture: from form to place + tectonics. 2nd ed.

Routledge: 199-235.

Radford, Antony, Selen B. Morkoç and Amit Srivastava. 2014. The elements of modern architecture: understanding contemporary buildings. London: Thames & Hudson, (more particularly the site/context portion).

White, Edward T. 1983. Site analysis: Diagramming information for architectural design.

Tucson, Ariz.: Architectural Media (Library Print Reserve).

Batten, J. (2004). The Annex: The story of a Toronto neighbourhood. Erin, Ont: Boston Mills Press.

Lemon, J. (1986). The Annex: a brief historical geography. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from University of Toronto Robarts Library. (956751) Canada. City of Toronto Bÿ-Iaw 1156.2010. Web. <httpi/www.taonto.ca4egdocsfbylawsí2olOf LawI 156-Schedule A.htm>.

City of Toronto. City of Toronto lnteiactive Map TOMaps. City cf Toronto. Web. 27 Jan. 2012. <hnpc//map.tooento.caìmapiuMapIt.jsp?app=TOMaps>.

City of Toronto. City of Toronto Property Data Map 2010Map Geospatial Map and Dota Centre.

City of Toronto. 2010. Web. Jan.-Feb. 2012. <httpsð/www.runner.ryeson.ca/madar/geo. spatiaIi1ibdata/action2bdm?ResourceID=S6140>.

City of Toronto. Gude to Zoning Bylaw No 11 56-2010 City of Toronto: Gwde ro Zoning Bylaw No t 156-2010. City of Toronto. 29 Dec. 2011. Web. 27 Jan. 2012. <httpi/www.tcnonto.calzon.