Faculty of Design
Environmental Design
Priscilla McIntosh
Scadding Court Garden Habitat: Grafting Spaces for Holistic Community Growth
Environmental Design
2020
This project is a two-storey Transitional Housing Centre and Public Urban Garden. This centre is an addition to The Scadding Court Community Centre at 707 Dundas Street West in Toronto. The existing building is an icon located at Bathurst Street and Dundas Street West in the downtown core. This site is a unique intersection, both literally and figuratively. It is central to Kensington Market, Toronto’s artisan-vendor community and Chinatown, Toronto’s independent-cultural business community. This occurrence of a dual community ‘graft’ is rooted in the proposed Scadding Court Garden Habitat.
“Many underserved urban communities have limited access to wellness services and public green space, “nature’s free therapy”. An ecology minded model for wellness and rehabilitation services can be beneficial for these communities. This model can consist of grafting public green space with needs-based community services to positively impact the mental and physical health of urban dwellers overall. Within this mutual relationship of care, growth and healing, urban communities flourish. ”