In analyzing the large-scale systems that drape across the greater Toronto landscape, we were intrigued by the network railways in comparison to the system of ravines. In an area starved for green space, meaningful habitat, and interconnectivity of multi-modal transportation, these corridors can provide essential connective tissue to expand and build new ecological networks. Within this notion we position our project: Railway//Ravine. Our proposal challenges the perceptions of urban wildlife by intentionally emphasizing their habitat and allowing ecology to dominate this otherwise anthropenctric infrastructural corridor.

The primary driver of our project is to provide respite and refuge for animals that are being pushed out of other places because of environmental degradation, habitat fragmentation, and redevelopment activities. We developed a site language by incorporating diverse animal habitats into the built environment using repeated sculptural forms along the linear landscape. This strategy can be repeated along other railway corridors and other infrastructural right-of-ways. And this potential proliferation of habitat corridors will strengthen the overall urban ecological network, offsetting the degradation occurring in their existing habitats in Toronto and beyond.