Student Work/ Invisible Landscape: Toronto’s Hidden Natures

In the summer of 2015, a second year studio at the Waterloo School of Architecture investigated, through design and discussion, the relationship of building, landscape and urban networks. The studio aimed to design for Toronto’s various ecologies; inhabitation, mobility, natural systems, infrastructures and cultural and social structures. The site of study was the Don Valley, a ravine in Toronto that forms part of the Don River watershed. This series is a collection of selected projects from the studio.

Proposal by Felix Yang | Studio Coordinator : Lola Sheppard

Don Valley Expandables

The Don Valley Watershed has provided the city of Toronto a variety of cultural and recreation amenities. As a result of the urban development in the Lower Don, many of these amenities have been severed from one another. Road and highway infrastructure have become obstacles for the city’s pedestrian and cyclist population, while access by public transit is also difficult.

Don Valley Expandables aims to mobilize and be a connector of heterogeneous experiences along a recently abandoned 5 kilometer rail line known as the Don Branch of the Canada Pacific Railway. A series of summer sites have been selected where DVE pavilions will travel to serve the visitors of the new pathway. The location of the winter site will be located next to the Evergreen Brickworks, a community environment center. DVE will leverage the year-round events and activities offered by the center. Although following a bi-annual schedule the proposal will have the ability to accommodate for change by means of lift crane. Don Valley Expandables wishes to connect the Don Valley Watershed on a seasonal basis, these pieces of temporary infrastructure will act as catalyst for cultural experience while leading the way for further intensification of site.