The Artists’ Alley development brings strategic densification to the area by replacing a low-rise office building with three mixed-use towers offering office, retail, and residential space. A truly mixed-use site occupying a large area in Toronto’s densely populated urban core, Artists’ Alley spans an east-west block between Simcoe and St. Patrick Streets. Located a short walk from the Art Gallery of Ontario, OCAD, Grange Park, and subway stations, the design features three buildings bisected by a lively pedestrian walkway lined with retail to create an active public realm. The walkway leads into a new 1,000-square-metre public park off of St. Patrick Street. The varying heights of the three towers are designed to negotiate a transition between two very different urban contexts—the large urban scale of the university to the east and the somewhat reduced urban scale to the west.
