A Calming Window for a High Gable in Riverdale

The yellow bands are the DVP and the tracks. The gem at center right is the Pape Footbridge. RIverdale Park is at left. The street clipping the upper left corner is Danforth, and the little yellow chip there is Chester Station.

I made this window for a client in Riverdale, in the east end of Toronto. The brief was to explore the layout of the area as a shape, and also to celebrate a few magical places.

This was the window just before I figured out my colour logic. This map does not include every colour, as the newer ones do. Restricting the palette, as this one does, can make for a wonderful mood. This window is in a meditative room, and did not need any red. Maps can be made to match any colours.

One of the big decisions in any Toronto-based design is, how do you feel about the angle? Toronto was built 15 degrees off true. In this case, we kept the angle. Whether to keep the angle or not is always part of the debate. The angle looks better on some shapes than on others, and if you want to trace a street, you have to give it up.

The use of a border is optional. In this case, I wanted to stress a meditative quality, with a hint of Medievalism. If the border was left off, this piece would instantly become more modern.

Located high and facing south, this window screens the heat of summer from that room. It changes greatly with the seasons, in a kind of colour dance with a tree.