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 Michelle Lin | Studio Coordinator : Lola Sheppard

Walk in the Forest

Cemetery configurations are a reflection of its society. Currently, the most prominent cemetery style is an organized grid that easily guides visitors in marked grassy fields and cement sidewalks. The design is heavily influenced by suburbia, however space is now valued more, and burying bodies needs to be more efficient and economical.

There is a resurgence of green burial, a practice to decompose bodies naturally in a forest rather than contain the human body in non-decomposable materials.

The narrative begins with a refurbished greenhouse, and a public cafe. A dense forest cover starts and unravels the thick concrete walls that grapple deep into the hillside.  The first space is a small garden center that offers flowers for loved ones. The building transitions into funeral homes on the lower levels, built further into the hillside. A pathway leads the visitor deeper into the forest and a small chapel rests on top of the hill. The interior and exterior paths are long, narrow, occasionally diverging into reflection spaces, allowing visitors to experience solace in a reclaimed forest.