SPADINA LINE

Spadina Road between Davenport Road and Dupont Street, Toronto

 

"This project occupies a thoughtful and understated civic contribution to the street. The progression of elements, from the railway underpass to the Baldwin Steps, interprets and subtly communicates the natural and cultural history of Toronto as it relates to this particular place. It also brings a high level of craft to the design and fabrication of its elements."

John B. Hillier, Urban Design Awards Juror

Recipient of a City of Toronto Urban Design Award of Excellence, Spadina Line demarcates a processional route connecting the Dupont Subway Station with the Baldwin Steps. Seven detailed and finely crafted steel light standards, 18 feet in height, illuminate seven bronze words cast into the sidewalk at specific intervals along this popular pedestrian route.

The sidewalk texts: IROQUOIS, FURROW, SURVEY, AVENUE, POWER, DAIRY, ARCHIVE, mark specific historical loci, chronologically arranged to terminate at the monumental steel railway underpass itself, which the scheme's designers chose to engage formally and materially.

Spadina Line illuminates and exposes the Underpass by the insertion of elements in the surrounding embankment walls. Pedestrians pass by a solar index comprised of three inset alloy bars, an LED clock and a machined and polished stainless steel vault containing five significant articles which refer to the evolution of the urban topography of Spadina Road and to the history of the railway as it affected the development of the site.