In "Drawing and Representation 2," students analyze and draw an entire neighbourhood in Toronto, then make a design proposal based on their analysis.

Anais Trembling

Anais studied ways of adding density to residential backyards in a neighbourhood near Burnhamthorpe Road, in Etobicoke. Her design proposal called for home additions that were elevated above each yard. "This meant that residents were not 'losing' yard space," she writes. "For example, a backyard with a shed would receive an addition above the shed."

(Instructor: Reza Nik)

Athina Alight

Athina proposed adding density to Toronto's Don Valley Village neighbourhood by building rear additions on homes. "Furthermore," she writes, "I have very fond memories of my childhood backyard. Thus, maintaining and ideally increasing green space is important to me. This is achieved by converting the pitched roofs to expansive gardens. Pedestrian bridges connect the rooftops for interactive enjoyment and safety."

(Instructor: Reza Nik)

Greeny Dong

Greeny proposed adding density to her study area by lining public parks with homes on 2.5-metre stilts. Pedestrians would be able access the parks by walking underneath the new housing.

(Instructor: Reza Nik)

Mark Bennett

Mark studied a neighbourhood near Toronto's east-end lakeshore. He proposed adding density by carving out space for new structures in vacant areas between homes. "Upon my study of these dwellings and lots, I created two different intervention typologies to make use of these spaces," he writes. "Shipping containers are added in alleys and lanes, and subterranean structures on the larger sites. These can be used as new apartments or homes, or as a proper implementation of a concept such as AirBnB, where standard housing isn't taken out of the rental pool."

(Instructor: Reza Nik)

Negar Mashoof

"By analyzing various articles and statistics, it was clear that there was a divide amongst people who favoured culs-de-sac and those who did not," Negar writes. "Urban planners viewed them as costly spaces that cause waste of resources and a sense of exclusion, while residents viewed them as safe neighbourhoods for families. My proposal was to construct low-rise apartments located on top of the culs-de-sac, a modern possibility for the traditional urban fabrics of Scarborough."

(Instructor: Reza Nik)

Nezar Alkujok

Nezar's study of a neighbourhood near the Don Valley Parkway gave him an idea for a radical design proposal. "I intended to design a modular complex atop of the parkway itself," he writes. "This futuristic proposal, much like Habitat 67, was designed to integrate the benefits of suburban homes (i.e. privacy, multi-levelled environments) within a pre-existing suburbia, making part of the expressway a mode of urban living."

(Instructor: Reza Nik)

Umi Kobayashi

Umi was looking for ways of making better use of vacant space on curved land parcels in a Scarborough neighbourhood. Her solution included using parking spaces and backyards as locations for new homes and residential additions.

(Instructor: Reza Nik)

Mohammad Bayati

"My design proposals try to blur the boundaries between the backyard and street and add more circulation," Mohammad writes. "As a result, the main streets become more active and encourage more people to go there. The existing fence materials have been manipulated and incorporated into each mass."

(Instructor: Reza Nik)

Priscilla Barker

Priscilla analyzed the neighbourhood of Pleasant View, in North Scarborough. "Through analyzing the site, I looked at the strip mall as a possibility for architectural intervention," she writes. "This intervention embraces the convenience of the car within the suburb, while imagining the future of the site as less car reliant. Parking is offered below grade for both housing and retail, and also behind the mall. On-street parking is also offered to narrow the road and slow down traffic. The addition of low-rise, high-density housing creates a central square."

(Instructor: Reza Nik)

Rebecka Ferraro

Rebecka was interested in single-family homes with six bedrooms or more. "I created dwelling units located at the rear of each lot that are accessible from the side gate and entirely detached from the main building to avoid overpopulating these presumably congested six-bedroom homes," she writes. "Through my design, I have preserved some of the backyard because I see it as a defining and underexperienced feature of the single-family home that fewer get to enjoy as high rise becomes the norm."

(Instructor: Reza Nik)

Zikra Humairaa

Zikra was interested in the way trees affected densification in her study area. She designed new housing typologies that added density to residential lots without reducing the local tree canopy.

(Instructor: Reza Nik)

Matte Arnott

"Located along the border of Etobicoke and Toronto, the neighbourhood of Markland Wood features an abundant landscape," Matte writes. "My analysis of this neighbourhood questions the role of nominal residential vegetation, and how it can simultaneously act as a mechanism of privacy. The presented design proposals build upon this notion, questioning how a densifying addition can be minimally invasive while adding a layer of privacy from the public's gaze."

(Instructor: Roberto Damiani)

Jessie Pan

Jessie studied a neighbourhood near Lawrence Avenue West and Jane Street.

"After studying conditions of lots, I researched their proximities to amenities, open space, and transportation to further apply this knowledge in densifying the block in direct adjacency to the nearby ravine," she writes. "This was done by making backyard additions, as well as by replacing lots with townhouses/apartment complexes and adding open space."

(Instructor: Roberto Damiani)

Maria Alonso Novo

Maria writes: "My main idea was to take advantage of the great position of schools to densify them as nodes of activity full of possibility. When looking at my area, I noted that the cluster of schools was connected to the main grocery areas through a path of green spaces. From there I worked on using those passageways to create new spaces and try to densify these areas."

(Instructor: Roberto Damiani)

Nour Fahmy

Nour studied the Toronto neighbourhood of Parkwoods. She focused on Underhill Drive, which she identified as the neighbourhood's "spine."

"My proposal was to densify the area around 'the spine,'" she writes, "in order to accommodate more people, resulting in a wide range of benefits such as higher productivity, more innovation, shorter commutes, and better access to private services."

(Instructor: Roberto Damiani)

Kimberly Soong

Kimberly analyzed a neighbourhood near the mouth of the Humber River.

She writes: "Through an exploration of properties surrounding bodies of water, additions are made to various housing typologies based on density factors. This was further analyzed through varying property sizes, with comparisons made to both properties adjacent to water and not."

(Instructor: Roberto Damiani)

Eric Wang

Eric studied Toronto's Danforth neighbourhood, east of the Don Valley Parkway.

"My approach to increase housing is through intensification of the existing laneway structures," he writes. "I propose a flexible framework structure that can accommodate parking use in the ground level, inhabitable space in the middle, and various roof structures that correspond with existing laneway structure typologies."

(Instructor: Aleris Rodgers)

Kaitlyn Vandenbilche

Kaitlyn studied the Toronto neighbourhood of Bayview Village, which has a ravine system running through its centre.

She writes: "I increased density along the ravine's informal and formal entrances. My design proposal is about the act of framing, to highlight these aspects of the site and develop relationships through pedestrian access to the ravine."

(Instructor: Aleris Rodgers)

Linyi Song

Linyi studied the Toronto neighbourhood of York Mills, where many homes have large, irregularly shaped driveways.

"My design proposal is to build housing additions in the shape of the driveways and connect them to the original houses," Linyi writes. "The heights would be the same between houses and additions, so higher houses could have lifted additions over their original driveways."

(Instructor: Aleris Rodgers)

Jing Yan

Jing proposed adding density by creating rows of elevated housing above street level. The area beneath the new housing would be used for parking.

(Instructor: Aleris Rodgers)

Diana Pop

Diana investigated ways of adding rear-yard housing in culs-de-sac within established residential neighbourhoods.

(Instructor: Laura Miller)

Zhiyuan Zhu

Zhiyuan studied duplexes, with a focus on differentiating and personalizing units and front yards.

(Instructor: Laura Miller)

Taryn Magee

Taryn investigated ways of using the driveways of single-family homes for new housing, while creating new frontages for existing homes by using new linear parks.

(Instructor: Laura Miller)

Allyson Monckton

Allyson studied a section of North York, near Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue. She supplemented existing multi-unit housing complexes with new three-to-four-storey infill apartment buildings and accompanying courtyards.

(Instructor: Laura Miller)

Fiorella Granda

Fiorella writes: "Throughout the semester, I studied ways of adding density in Leslieville. My design proposal displays a series of blocks, according to family size, in close proximity to nearby schools. A certain detail that I found intriguing was the railway track splitting my site. I decided to bridge the neighbourhood together."

(Instructor: Fiona Lim Tung)

Rafia Jabeen

Rafia studied an area near St. Clair Avenue and Yonge Street. "After comparing the square footage of different lots around my site, I noticed that there was excessive vacant space." she writes. "My objective was to further densify these existing lots by cutting down the urban fabric to incorporate more single-family homes. This was done by deploying three different dwelling types: detached, semi-detached, and townhouses."

(Instructor: Fiona Lim Tung)

Noel Sampson

Noel was interested in finding a way to increase both population density and green space in his study area. "The form of the block is built around a continuous shared green space that is open to pedestrian foot traffic," he writes. "Encircling this green space is a network of five-storey homes that are bundled together in groups of six. These were designed in an attempt to find a balance between the density of the low-rise apartment building and the urban culture and vibrance that is supported by the Victorian Toronto duplex."

(Instructor: Fiona Lim Tung)

Jessica Yoon

Jessica studied the west-Toronto neighbourhoods of Corso Italia and Pelham Park. "I studied parking typologies within the neighbourhoods," she writes. "Based on these findings, my proposal adds density to the area by repurposing parking spaces as additional housing units."

(Instructor: Fiona Lim Tung)

Sarah Janelle

Sarah analyzed the Toronto neighbourhood of Humber Village. She identified four types of properties, each type defined by its relationship with the ravine that runs through the neighbourhood. Properties farther from the ravine, she found, tend to be smaller, with little privacy, while the properties closest to the ravine were larger, with generous setbacks and plenty of privacy. Her proposed design intervention was aimed at adding density between existing properties. She writes: "This intervention would cut a proposed urban block into two by building a laneway and adding a single-family house at the far end of each property, to maximize the amount of privacy between the two as well as the size of the backyards."

(Instructor: Roberto Damiani)