Vélarie Freire

"The Life Beneath" - Thesis Project

Our current TTC system lacks safety and is often overcrowded. This is seen at St.George Station during all times of service. In fact, St George is a part of 3 stations used within the TTC that have over 100 000 people boarding. This then causes the platforms on both lines to be overcrowded, risking the safety users, and delays. My thesis aims to solve this safety issue by “pulling” those users to Spadina Station as it is one of the emptiest stations downtown. Spadina Station provides the same services as St. George but with extra amenities such as having connections to buses, streetcars and being located beside Kensington Market and ChinaTown - a very popular destination for students and tourists alike. By excavating underground to expose the Spadina connection tunnel, a new innovative and social space for students will be created - replacing the parking lot in front of the Madison Pub. This space will then encourage those travelling with the TTC to unboard at Spadina, therefore making Spadina Station the new hub thus decreasing the safety risk at St. George.

“Spadina Station has 1/10 of the users compared to St.George Station. This project aims to increase usage of this station by creating a new social hub, for students and alike, that is directly connected to Spadina’s Line 1 tunnel, as well as Madison Avenue Pub. This is showcased in the first set of renders.Seeing as this project will be taking over an existing parking lot, which sits above the subway tracks, this project also aims to reduce the increasing construction of large urban infrastructures. Therefore, the second set of renders are showcasing a distant future where instead of building up, we are building down. Hence, showcasing what a life underground could look like.”