Tess Macpherson & Kavita Garg  

Carbon21: Linking Threshold

The majority of Toronto’s waterfront is disconnected from the rest of the city due to industrial infrastructure such as the Gardiner Expressway and running parallel alongside it, the railway. The Sidewalk Labs proposal also remained isolated, turning its back to the city. Our proposal chooses to address the difficult infrastructure and the neglected space in-between the surrounding developments where sidewalk labs was proposed, to provide a better connection between the city and the waterfront, and to enhance the public realm. The under-utilized land, deemed as “junkspace” under the existing railway, is reclaimed to provide affordable art spaces for the community. Additionally, we chose to engage with the ‘oppressive experience’ under the Gardiner, with an installation called the Light Well, to create a naturally lit and humane environment for pedestrians, while also increasing the consciousness of drivers. The Light Well responds to the levels of CO2 released from car exhaust, raising awareness by making the invisible pollutants visible. The project as a whole aims to increase connectivity, reclaim urban public space, and induce a sense of slowness across the infrastructural junctions.