{"id":44701,"date":"2014-07-21T09:30:15","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T13:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=44701"},"modified":"2014-07-21T12:42:35","modified_gmt":"2014-07-21T16:42:35","slug":"urban-voids-transcultural-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2014\/07\/21\/urban-voids-transcultural-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban Voids as Transcultural Spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"feature-ravines<\/a><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong>\u00a0This is the seventh post in a\u00a0series<\/a>\u00a0by students at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. Each piece features an idea for an architectural intervention that would\u00a0to better connect Torontonians with their ravine system. The\u00a0designs in this series were created as part of Professor Brigitte Shim\u2019s Thesis Research Option Studio or final Thesis Studio. The work and text in this post is by\u00a0Ladan Sharifpour\u00a0<\/strong>whose bio you can find below.<\/em><\/p>\n

With the continued intensification of cities in the 21st century, a growing desire to reduce\u00a0resource consumption, and rising land values within urban areas, this project seeks to identify and utilize opportunities created by our network of road infrastructure. It explores the idea of transforming “leftover land” created by highways into highly reproductive landscapes.<\/p>\n

The site for this project\u00a0is in the heart of Toronto along the Don Valley Parkway<\/a>, a highway that connects northern part of the city to its downtown core. The most unique character of this highway is its location: Toronto’s Don Valley Ravine.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"02_Ladan<\/a><\/p>\n

The Don River valley and parkway has divided city dwellers.\u00a0David Hulchanski<\/a> identified three sub cities, which surround the valley. These sub cities\u00a0include the high income city and the middle income city (from the Bloor viaduct to Millwood Rd). The lower land in the Don Valley\u00a0is home to urban nomads who have claimed land where there is an absence of permanent dwellings.<\/p>\n

\"03_Ladan<\/a><\/p>\n

Highway infrastructure has\u00a0formed shameless spatial compositions and dysfunctional voids in cities (unused pieces of land isolated\u00a0by highway exits or turn offs). These urban voids, or islands, created by\u00a0the construction of\u00a0the Don Valley Parkway equal 35 hectares. Rather than trying to demolish and reshape the infrastructure,\u00a0we could consider appropriating the land within these voids.<\/p>\n

If these lands were to be used for agricultural purposes, they could harvest a volume of produce to\u00a0feed large areas of our city. These pieces of leftover land are vast (each covers more than 1 hectare), low in value, and located within an urban metropolis \u2014 qualities that directly respond to the major obstacles often found to creating productive land in urban areas.<\/p>\n

Transcultural spaces<\/strong>
\nTransforming\u00a0these “islands” created by the Don Valley Parkway into productive landscapes could engage various social and community groups. Planting\u00a0gardens on these sites could\u00a0provide jobs for people with limited resources and increase the broader community’s\u00a0access to healthy food.<\/p>\n

The project is envisioned as three phases.<\/p>\n

\"04_Ladan<\/a><\/p>\n

Phase 1: A marker of change
\n<\/strong>The first phase of this project would be to build a landscape component: a constructed wetland that filters the highway runoff through a stepped landscape. The filtered runoff would be stored in a reflecting pond within an event space in the gardens. This landscape component will be what drivers see from the highway.<\/p>\n

\"05_Ladan<\/a><\/p>\n

Phase 2: a community connector
\n<\/strong>In this phase, stepped gardens would be built along with a “energy and food house.” Communities surrounding the Don Valley would be engaged in the production of food. Relationships with similar facilities and organizations, such as the nearby Evergreen Brickworks, would be established. (One of the main drivers in selecting this site is its adjacency to the Evergreen Brickworks.)<\/p>\n

The use of a\u00a0gabion<\/a> wall as a retaining wall is a common method in the valley. A rain water collection system would be integrated along with a solar energy harvesting system. The water collected in this system could be used for irrigation or, with further filtration, could be used as palatable water for the food house. The food house is comprised of a community kitchen, food processing spaces, storage space, a caf\u00e9, and a commercial kitchen. It would be a self-supporting entity.<\/p>\n

\"06_Ladan<\/a><\/p>\n

Phase 3: Physical Connector
\n<\/strong>The last phase in the development of these islands would include a physical connection from the east to the west of the valley. This would address the Don Valley’s lack of connectivity, separating east and west city dwellers, and\u00a0accessibility,\u00a0which isolates the valley from the rest of the city.<\/p>\n

The existing Don railroad was another important factor in the site selection process as it spans over half of the valley and has the potential to be used as part of the physical connection. The two deep steel beams and series of cross bracing in the existing bridge support the load of the rail track and trains above; the new bridge would deal\u00a0with a reverse condition. Deep beams of the new bridge would span over Don Valley Parkway, and the rigid steel frames in between the two beams would respond to the lateral loads.<\/p>\n

\"07_Ladan<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ladan Sharifpour<\/strong>\u00a0is a recent graduate of the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto. \u00a0She is currently establishing her own practice in Tehran, Iran.\u00a0Daniels Facutly member, Professor Brigitte Shim was her thesis advisor for her Thesis Research Option Studio in the Winter of 2013 and\u00a0her Thesis Advisor in the Fall 2013.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Earlier posts\u00a0in this series:<\/strong><\/p>\n