OCULUS

The PATH provides great convenience for downtown pedestrians as 27 kilometres of underground shopping, services, and entertainment. It is especially useful during the colder months of the year as well as hot summer days. However, the autonomous system of shops and pathways seems disjointed from the city above – the disorientating nature of PATH is due to the user’s dependence on signage or memory while underground, never having any real connection with the life and infrastructure above.

The proposal aims to provide a connection between the two street levels of Toronto and the medium for this linkage is the Oculus.  Oculus is a series of capillaries which visually transfers information between the two levels; it punctures downtown Toronto’s streets in strategic locations, opening up the below-ground path to the above street level.  It is also an identifiable element of downtown Toronto that becomes a recognizable visual motif for the PATH.