townscape-- shaftesbury gate

one of the gates deviding toronto into neighbourhoods. along yonge street near shaftesbury, this one is part of the old beltway commuter railway. it marks a demarcation point between the neighbourhoods of saint claire to the north and rosedale to the south.

without the bridge the dip in the road would provide some of the quality of a gate but not to the degree the combination of the two create.

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townscape--sky fall

in spite of everything wrong with it this cascade of roofscape at queen and victoria, across from saint michaels hospital, makes one of the most repleasing vistas in toronto.

this was planned, the designer brought the edge of the new building down low enough to keep the tower and other distant buildings creating the canyon in view.

so it's not accidental townscape but an example of what ivor dewolfe described could be done to make cities visually attractive.

 

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townscape--courtyard

pattern language--cross roads

criticisms of a t junction in halifax by a planner who's heart seems set on replaning what he thinks a defect. i can't find statistics on vehicle and pedestrian accidents for halifax so don't know if the claims made are based on recorded incidents or sensationalism. the city has set the process for replaning in motion.

this type of cross road was given some praise in the 'pattern language' ( number 50 ) as a way of preventing some of the problems claimed for the junction in halifax. maybe there is something different about the windsor-chebucto-cunard junction that causes accidents rather than prevents them as other t junctions seem to.

 

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pattern language--tree places

pattern number 171 at the east end of queen street, along the water front park by the boatshed.

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