Spadina Ave Street Car Terminal

Spadina Ave is one of Toronto’s major streets. In the attempts of creating a problem, or client for myself I have decided to create a structure that allows one to easily access the Spadina Street Car route without having to worry about traffic. The idea is to go above the traffic, as to avoid running across the street to catch the street car. I started by formulating bridges that would run from the sidewalk, over the street and back down to the waiting area. This however was not a viable option as it did not solve the problem of people running across the street. It merely gave people that were close enough to the bridge another option.

I then proceeded to design a structure that would sit atop the street car tracks. This would create a platform that would allow people to wait safely away from traffic and protected against changing weather conditions. I began formulating a structure based on where the street car stops were placed. In this case, the stops are at opposite ends of the platform and street.

The strucutre would be an enclosed cat walk above the street car terminal. As I proceeded, I began to design not only for the areas in which the street car stopped, but for the entire length of the street.


With this in mind I began to visualize some form of kinetic element within the design. I felt that the motion of the street car could possibly induce a reaction from the structure above. The platform then would be divided into a series of ribs constructed of two shells. The first would be the inner shell that is suspended within the outer shell. This would house the platform and be static as the outer shell moved around it. The idea behind this was to play with the idea of movement and lighting. If you were outside on the street you could visibly see where the street car is by noticing which of ribs are in motion. On the interior you would see the motion through changing lighting conditions. This would not only be an aesthetic feature but a timing mechanism as well as one would know how long they have until the street car reaches them.

The shell structure would be composed of tubular steel or box trusses.

Above is a schematic of what the structure would look like. Its grounding points are where the street car would stop. Stairs would be used to reach the street car stop.

Continuing to design this structure I ran into a bit of a dilemma. My program became much larger than anticipated and I had yet to resolve the issue I had created for myself. In designing this cat walk I merely designe a Toronto “High Line”. I found that the issue of trafficing people onto a raised platform was still unresolved and that the design I had would not only still allow people to cross the street to get to the street car, but in most cases they would prefer it over having to climb up to a platform and back down to the stop. So I decided to simplify the design by focusing on the problem. Instead of having a cat walk all the way down Spadina, I would design street car terminals along it instead. In doing so I would also have to give people a reason for going to the platform above and not cross the street. I decided to close off the terminal from the street completely, therefore access to the street cars must be through the terminal. In essence I am bringing the subway above ground.

The new design will consist of a suspended platform that is encompassed within a series of steel arches that form a spine-like structure.

A schematic section of the street car terminal.

The ends of the terminals will be enclosed by steel louvers. This will close the terminal off from the street while either allowing light into the terminals, or protecting pedestrians from harsh weather conditions.

The roof structure will incorporate responsive kinematics. On a sunny, warm day the arch sections will be retracted, allowing for light andviews of Spadina Ave and the city. On days in which the weather is unpleasent, the roof members will extend and a tensile membrane will cover the terminal. The idea behind this is to mimic the expansion and compression of the spine of a cheetah while it is running.

At the moment I am creating the floor plans as well as finding ways of how all the structural steel will be used and connected to create the street car terminals.

The platform and connecting bridges will be suspended with the use of pin connections.

An idea of how the structural members and arches will be anchored to the ground.

M. Defina