Down The Rabbit Hole
Retail design is turned sideways in this project. The project’s legacy is a redefined street front along both front and rear elevations of the building. The façade of the building was treated as a ground plane where street furniture, such as benches and standards, are understood as part of a matrix that includes artifacts mounted to the building façade, such as signage and gas meters. One’s use of the retail space is as a passage to a second street frontage at the existing rear laneway– a new destination for a city reaching over densification in many pedestrian neighbourhoods.
A 1000 sq. ft. retail design project was undertaken in 2016. Located in the West Queen West shopping district of Toronto, it reimagines what storefront retail can be. The design stripped down the existing retail space and exposed 100 year old masonry walls and plumbing. Scope included renovation of the existing space for use as a co-location of a plant shop and cold-pressed juice store. Design included several millwork fixtures, interior finishes, lighting, new storefront construction and landscaping. Scope included branding and identity for both clients.
Toronto’s typology of long, narrow, and dark retail spaces is re-imagined as Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole (from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll). The weight of the store is balanced by the Queen Street frontage and laneway frontage at the rear garden. The typical understanding of the streetscape and the customer experience was subverted. Toronto is undergoing a shift in attention to its laneway network. This project sharpens the role that the laneway frontage plays. By creating a destination at the ‘rear’ of this building, users are drawn through the space in more than one direction.
