20211130. The building beside Fire Station 311, a 1911 Queen Anne Revival building by Robert McCallum and National Historic Site, is an example of contextual architecture with its keystones, fenestration and garage opening inspired by the station.
Tag Archives: contextualism
The condominium behind this lovely 1891 Gothic Revival building is a bad example of contextual architecture – a principle of design in which a structure is designed with reference to its surroundings.
20190213. This part of the Globe and Mail Centre’s podium has a sympathetic aesthetic in that it follows the height of neighbouring buildings.
20181016. Postmodern Contextualism at Church and Charles. Contextualism is a principle of design in which the structure is designed in response to its specific urban and natural environment.
20171227. Strong lines relate the modernist Burton Tower (McLennan Physical Laboratories) to the contemporary One Spadina (John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design) north facade.
20161219. The Art Deco facade’s fenestration compliments the contemporary condo curtain wall at Burano Condos.
20161208. The nearly finished SQ Condominiums in #Toronto’s redeveloping Alexandra Park, contrast strongly but fittingly with the turn of the century mid-rise commercial buildings of Spadina Avenue.
20160502. TTC’s Davisville substation buildings provide a fine example of contextual design in shape, orientation and detailing.
Pardoning the architectural nomenclature, note:
a) how the base course on each building (the stone band running the length of the building) is at the same height;
b) the cornice of the newer building is at the same height of the older building with the additional height of the former in a different colour
c) the masonry is similar in colour and the stone bands equal in number
d) the windows are similar; and
e) although hard to see, the older building and the newer building are each trapezoidal in shape and both buildings fit into a combined trapezoid.
The result is a simple yet elegant addition to a historical building.
20140623. Contextualism #2: The distant building addresses its context in terms of the materials, forms and details of the closer building.
If all of Peter Dickinson’s high-rises (foreground) are demolished, a memory of them will exist in 90 Sumach (background).
Note the similar forms and details: colour of brick, shape of each patch of brick, the window style and the way each building features vertical lines of windows.
20140131. Contextualism. The rear building addresses its context in terms of the materials, forms and details of the building in front of it.
