| How can the existing Union Station, a gateway and transit centre for the city of Toronto, be altered to recognize the routes of traveler and pedestrian and the potential for new waterfront development to the south of the station?;The site for this project is the existing Union Station in Toronto, Ontario. It is an old building that has served as a landmark for Toronto for the past century. Union Station currently houses VIA Rail, GO Transit, Union subway station, shops and offices. Because of changing spatial and programmatic requirements over the last eighty years, the different programs at Union Station do not connect well together. The station suffers from poor circulation, poor quality of space, and poor transition between spaces. Also, the train tracks that service Union Station have created a barrier to the Toronto waterfront. In recent years the city has expressed an interest in renovating the station as part of a larger waterfront redevelopment scheme which is associated with Toronto's 2008 Olympic bid.;This thesis proposes to renovate and add to Union Station in a way that integrates it into the urban fabric so that it serves as a bridge to the waterfront rather than a barrier. It also attempts to clarify traveler and pedestrian routes through the station and places of connection between different routes. |
