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Hydrogen
Guest
I never read a newspaper to read about how immigrants are transforming the city; I'd prefer to go out and see it for myself.
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Star: Newcomers Transform City
- Thread starter AlvinofDiaspar
- Start date
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
One of the buildings that I found the most interesting, in the DX exhibition, was the Bai'tul Mosque in Vaughan which opened in 1992, and the residential Peace Village that surrounds it.
Zoning codes recognized churches, not mosques. Church bells and spires can exceed height limits, so the Bai'tul Mosque's builders named their dome a "church bell" to get approval. But because an open-plan mosque holds many more people in a prayer hall than a church with pews holds, it exceeds the standards of fire codes which were established for churches. So they had to argue that, in case of a fire, the open-plan wouldn't block rapid evacuation of the building as pews would.
Thus Vaughan accommodated diversity, though with church zoning standards adapted for a mosque. The logical next stage, one hopes, is for more give and take in the codes themselves - with the cultural values of new Canadians included from the start.
For instance, the exhibition raised the question of whether a mosque such as the Bai'tul actually needs that many parking spaces since the congregation lives in a development that surrounds it and are within easy walking distance. And the community itself - which consists of households based on extended families - requires larger houses: Peace Village homes range in size from 1,300 to 2,800 sq. ft. This in turn affects how Vaughan must plan for schools, libraries, hospitals etc. based on population projections. Thus is old Canada changed by new Canadian cultural values.
What I found rather odd from a cultural perspective, however, was that all the large houses in the surrounding Peace Village development that opened in 2001 were built to typical Western faux-ish designs.
Zoning codes recognized churches, not mosques. Church bells and spires can exceed height limits, so the Bai'tul Mosque's builders named their dome a "church bell" to get approval. But because an open-plan mosque holds many more people in a prayer hall than a church with pews holds, it exceeds the standards of fire codes which were established for churches. So they had to argue that, in case of a fire, the open-plan wouldn't block rapid evacuation of the building as pews would.
Thus Vaughan accommodated diversity, though with church zoning standards adapted for a mosque. The logical next stage, one hopes, is for more give and take in the codes themselves - with the cultural values of new Canadians included from the start.
For instance, the exhibition raised the question of whether a mosque such as the Bai'tul actually needs that many parking spaces since the congregation lives in a development that surrounds it and are within easy walking distance. And the community itself - which consists of households based on extended families - requires larger houses: Peace Village homes range in size from 1,300 to 2,800 sq. ft. This in turn affects how Vaughan must plan for schools, libraries, hospitals etc. based on population projections. Thus is old Canada changed by new Canadian cultural values.
What I found rather odd from a cultural perspective, however, was that all the large houses in the surrounding Peace Village development that opened in 2001 were built to typical Western faux-ish designs.
TrickyRicky
Senior Member
That's actually really interesting Urban Shocker. I understand the faux western style though. Many anglo Canadians assume that the intent of immigrants is to re-create their homeland here. I observe that it is far more complex than this. Most immigrant communities and neighbourhoods are something entirely different and new. Immigrant families often on the one hand fiercely guard the traditions and practices of their country of origin, while at the same time holding Anglo-Canadian middle-class culture and ways of doing things in the highest regards. So the ideal housing style for an immigrant family may very well be what one would perceive to be the apex of middle-class Anglo-Canadian desire rather than something that appropriates elements suited to or borrowing from the culture of their homeland.
Disparishun
Active Member
That kind of ethnic-magnet development is quite typical of Vaughan.
Certainly the Peace Village development strategy is identical to that of the Spring Farm project (named after the previous landowner) built by the Tanenbaums around the promise, and eventual delivery, of what is I believe one of the largest Orthodox synagogues in the world.
Almost the same thing is is about to be repeated with the Lebovic Community Campus in terms of Maple, Thornhill Woods (already booming), etc. -- except that that ethnic anchor tenant doesn't appear to have invested in the surrounding real estate. (In effect a direct subsidy by charity dollars of neighbouring landowners and builders, I guess.)
Certainly the Peace Village development strategy is identical to that of the Spring Farm project (named after the previous landowner) built by the Tanenbaums around the promise, and eventual delivery, of what is I believe one of the largest Orthodox synagogues in the world.
Almost the same thing is is about to be repeated with the Lebovic Community Campus in terms of Maple, Thornhill Woods (already booming), etc. -- except that that ethnic anchor tenant doesn't appear to have invested in the surrounding real estate. (In effect a direct subsidy by charity dollars of neighbouring landowners and builders, I guess.)
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Vaughan Mills mall is another ( secular ) example. When I went on a pre-opening tour I was told that the surrounding land, which they owned, would eventually be developed in smallish lots as retail outlets that complemented the mall.
Disparishun
Active Member
There are indeed strip mally kind of outlets surrounding the mall; we like the Faema cafe. (Don't know whether the surrounding development is typical of the Mills properties or not.) But there's no residential there, though.
A better example would be the Promenade, where they have gradually begun to build condos in the parking lot lands surrounding it (Royal Promenade I-II, Promenade Towers I-III, Promenade Park I-II) and kind of bleed that into what's happening at the same time on the other side of Centre (Vista, Centre Park Condos, I believe).
Of course, the YRT/VIVA Promenade Terminal still gets to be stuck in the middle of a vast parking lot. No Rideau Centre, that...
wyliepoon
Senior Member
... with some modifications, of course. One example I see is how South Asian families tend to use their garages as "patios" or outdoor living rooms if they don't have one in their homes, while families of other ethnic backgrounds would simply see the garage as a place to keep their cars and power tools.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
... and in Little India, on Gerrard East, the sidewalks are used as an extension of private space by members of the community sometimes well into the evenings. People gather to chat, and eat Indian fast food cooked in the cafes, and promenade - especially on weekends. It's quite a different approach from nearbye Chinatown East, where the sidewalks are extremely busy when the stores are open during the day but deserted as soon as they close. And they seem to close earlier than in Little India.
( There's a street festival in Little India this weekend, by the way ).
I've been back to the DX exhibition a couple of times, mining it for more. As someone primarily interested in aesthetics and how the design process responds to peoples' needs, I think it's one of the more informative things put out there since Concrete Toronto was published. It made me confront some preconceptions about the 905, consider ways in which immigrant cultures are changing our culture as a whole, think about the new structures that express those cultures, how neighbourhoods evolve, how buildings are adapted to new uses, and how the way people use space is constantly evolving.
( There's a street festival in Little India this weekend, by the way ).
I've been back to the DX exhibition a couple of times, mining it for more. As someone primarily interested in aesthetics and how the design process responds to peoples' needs, I think it's one of the more informative things put out there since Concrete Toronto was published. It made me confront some preconceptions about the 905, consider ways in which immigrant cultures are changing our culture as a whole, think about the new structures that express those cultures, how neighbourhoods evolve, how buildings are adapted to new uses, and how the way people use space is constantly evolving.