STUDENT WORK / Converse / 1B Studio

Cian Hrabi’s 1B project in Toronto’s Junction aims to facilitate unplanned conversations between people who may not have otherwise crossed paths.

Monday and Thursday are studio days. On these days in particular, the third floor undergraduate studio is filled with a frenetic energy of design, research, and exploration. Students can usually be found talking excitedly with design professors and classmates in a habitat saturated with trace sketches, study models, and empty coffee cups. Every week we’ll share a completed project, churned out from this energetic studio environment.

Cian Hrabi’s “Converse”

1B Studio | Don McKay with Rick Haldenby, Piper Bernbaum, Carol Kaifosh, Michal, and Michaela

Located next to the West Toronto Railpath in the Junction Triangle of Toronto, CONVERSE is a new form of public institution, occupying a lot which borders a residential community, an auto body shop, and a redeveloped rubber factory. This unusual site offers a unique opportunity for a cultural institution that connects the industrial history of the neighborhood with its current urban population.

The building consists of a 24,000 volume library, an art gallery, a bike workshop, an outdoor performance space, a cooking studio, a food market, and an existing community fish store. The two ground floors are laid out in a grid, intersected by “streets” of indoor and outdoor space. The library sits above, parallel to the rail line, and bridges the spaces beneath.

“City dynamism is created by the unplanned collaboration of people, and the resulting exchange of goods, skills, and ideas.”
– Street Plans Collaborative

Inspired by this quote, the project consolidates many programs into one space to facilitate unplanned conversations between people who may not have otherwise crossed paths.