It's very rare that anyone would get into a construction site who didn't work on it—other than the occasional camera-toting reporters—but last night, Toronto architecture firm RAW Design threw their (almost) annual summer party at Riverside Square, a mixed-use development at Queen and Broadview designed by RAW and being developed by Streetcar and Dream Unlimited, and a hundreds of people got to visit, no workbooks, no hardhats.

Walkway into RAW X at Riverside Square, image by Craig White

Along with the decorating and outfitting of the space, to hold a party at a construction site, you've got to do a lot of cleaning up and walling off to keep the attendees safe. You've got to suspend work as well, so that nothing's going to fall on anyone, and you've got to move in some temporary structures that being creature comforts, like bars, boardwalks, dj booths, and even artificial turf.

Some day there'll be landscaping here, image by Craig White

Spaces that will someday become retail and a daycare became a runway and a nightclub with some quick and easy—but effective—interventions. RAW X, the tenth summer party thrown by the firm, was designed by employees at RAW Design along with KG&A Inc., and was supported by several suppliers including Sweetgrass Brewing Co., Strewn Winery, Interface, and Astley & Gilbert. Noted Toronto rendering and animation mogul Norm Li acted as the night's DJ.

Decorations to get you into the party area, image by Craig White

Packed with partygoers look before dark, as the sun fell, artificial lighting brought the nightclub feeling to the space, and allowed the night's theme to literally shine, as light-up yo-yos, balls, food serving trays and bowls, orbs, and even candy floss cones brought colour to the party.

Lighting took over as the sun dropped, image by Craig White

Roland Rom Colthoff, founding Principal of RAW, said this about the company's tenth summer bash: “As Toronto moves towards becoming a 24-hour city, we need to manage our relationship to light after hours. Light is a symbol of spectacle and freedom. People are drawn to it, and we should be exploring its potential. Even though Toronto has great nightlife, it’s still a relatively dark city.”

Light-up candy floss was one of the hits of the evening, image by Craig White

You can see a lot more of the party, and get a much better view of the construction progress at Riverside Square, by clicking on the link to ur associated Projects & Construction thread, linked below. To get a look at what Riverside Square is going to become, click on our database file link to see several renderings.