The City Sublime: Enabling the Arts by Engaging With the Urban Environment

Abstract

This thesis explores the ways in which architecture can be used to enhance and support creativity in music by engaging with the urban environment. The investigation will take the form of designing a community scaled performing-arts incubator in downtown Toronto. The arts incubator program is familiar across North America, but often takes the form of either a pastoral retreat or an urban revitalization tool with a focus on community development. This thesis aims to combine both ideas and create an arts-focused facility within the urban environment. Elements of the creative process of music are translated to program-specific, arts-focused design elements that are then described by their relationship to each other and to the city. This thesis aims to create a series of spaces that will enhance the capability of urban musicians to practice their craft and in turn elevate the cultural identity of the place.