Beneath the surface of the streets of Toronto lies a sprawling labyrinth that serves over 100,000 people every day and countless tourists and visitors. One of the city’s most understudied urban spaces, Toronto’s underground is remarkably the largest underground shopping complex in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records with more than 30 kilometers of shopping tunnels and retail nodes. Since the 1970s, this underground system has grown and multiplied beneath the surface of the city with relatively little intervention from city planners. With the use of three-dimensional mapping, historical archives and contemporary changes, the project outlines the development pattern of the underground as a network and the future it holds as an important urban infrastructure.
Project Description: Three-Dimensional Modeling, Emergency Infrastructure Design & Future Development
Site Location: 30-kilometer network in Downtown Toronto (Ontario)
Client/Agency: City of Toronto Planning Department, Cadillac Fairview Corporation & Underground Business Retailer’s Association
Date: 2004-2007