Your Email:
Your Name:
To:
Subject:
Message: A new streetscape Here’s a fantasy; I wish there were a block in Toronto that had two rows of modern attached townhouses facing one another. So you could live in a nice house—and then LOOK at the same architecture out your window. There is project in Amsterdam that I saw in Architectural Record: townhouses along the water each designed by a different architect. And it seemed the perfect thing for Toronto’s cityscape, which like Amsterdam is so identified by a housing stock of narrow attached townhouses. It would be like an architectural park, showing the work of different architects. The street would be great marketing for architects like a showroom or a fashion show to inspire buyers. People might come and just stroll through the streets to look at the houses; in which case there should be a café/bar to capitalize on the potential commerce. It would be a version of the Venice Canals, where California’s best architects—such as Michael Saee-- are building exciting, beautiful expensive houses. Since it’s LA, of course, they’re not touching each other, and they’re superexpensive. But the display of buildings has created a special destination. Now visiting the Canals is a standard stop of architectural tourism. My sister just took a commercial tour by segway a few weeks ago. People I know who live in the canals say not only do they get to look at good architecture, but they also appreciate the community of like-minded and like-eyed people. So too, the concentration of Torontonians who desired such an environment would create an interesting community. I grew up in a modernist suburb—the houses with floor to ceiling windows were filled with Bertoia, Saarenin and Eames furniture. Across the street, you didn’t have to see a conventional house. I must say, there was a special unity we felt from our senses of shared asthetics—and politics. (I called those outside our boundaries “shutter people”.) Actually, maybe that wasnt' a good thing. Once I heard of a TTC yard that was going to be sold off for development—and so I fantasized. I wished I could get the land, get the money, and get architects to build my vision. But I’m rather busy, could someone else do it? www.readingtoronto.com
Please enter the word you see in the image above: