Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing’s Shawn Micallef was fortunate enough to be part of a University of Toronto Architecture laneway studio this past semester. Micallef brings the intriguing results of this studio in a series of posts on ideas of laneways uses at sites throughout the city.
Ryerson University students have finally succeeded in their long running campaign to close Gould Street to cars in the heart of the campus. Daniel Viola discusses the vote that lead to the creation of Ryerson Square and the site’s future potential.
At Elgin and Queen Streets in downtown Ottawa, historic photos show how space has been opened up to enhance public vistas.
Along Wellington Street however similar photos show how building mass has increased significantly, filling a different demand of government.
Allanah Heffez continues her discussion of Montreal’s tendencies to marginalize its homeless population at Berri Square, citing conflicting desires to simultaneously clean up the area while keeping tourists away from it.
Continuing the theme of public squares, Allanah Heffez also looked at the history of Square Chaboillez a space currently occupied by the Montreal Planetarium which as seen it boundaries re-drawn numerous times and now faces another period of uncertainty.
Canadian planning students gathered in Vancouver this past February for the annual CAPS Conference. Andrew Cuthbert recaps the keynote messages delivered there by various planning luminaries while Cameron Barker profiles some of the conference’s walking tours.
Eve Lazarus looks at the interesting history of the eccentrically designed Dominion Building in downtown Vancouver, which for a brief period following its completion in 1909 was the tallest in the British Empire.
Photograph by: willowgardeners