This urban infill project successfully integrates with the adjacent Wallace-Emerson neighbourhood and surrounding context. The design process involved an integrated philosophy across formal, cross-scale, interdisciplinary, and iterative areas, requiring significant engagement with stakeholders, community groups, and a large interdisciplinary team, including various public agencies.
The design created a mixed-use neighbourhood that connects the surrounding urban fabric using different programmatic elements. The site features two bar-buildings with the ‘George Chuvalo Community Centre’, micro-scaled retail, studio spaces, and two integrated crash walls. These crash walls protect sensitive residential areas from a tricky urban rail corridor. Low-rise back-to-back townhouse blocks match the existing urban rhythm and scale, and are among the first of their kind in Toronto. The crash wall’s public art program provides an active interface with the ‘West Toronto Rail Path’ and links to the community. A pedestrian bridge, designed and built with Metrolinx, connects Wallace-Emerson to the Junction. The neighbourhood has been teeming with life, providing a positive influence through its architecture, public art, local businesses, and community life.
