Address – a building with ‘address’ means its front door faces a public street.
Amenity – those architectural and landscape elements in and at the edges of open space that promote the comfortable use of a space.
Articulation – the layout or pattern of building elements including walls, doors, roofs, windows, cornices and belt courses.
Blockform – the architecture of a building which is compact in nature and contributes to the creation of a larger city block.
Build-to Line – a line on a property, up to which a part or all of a building must be constructed.
Courtyard – a landscaped open space in the centre of a city block with no street frontage.
Discretionary Building Zone – a space between a building’s setback and the property line in which the construction of small-scale additional building features is permitted.
Driveway – an individual parking pad that leads to a private garage.
Façade – the exterior parts of a building visible to the public, that represents the building, tells people about the building, what it is, how to enter and the nature of the interior uses.
Forecourt – an open space between the public sidewalk and the main entrance of a building.
Houseform – the architecture of a building which is residential in nature irrespective of its use.
Massing – the size and shape of a building above grade.
Pattern of Building – the repeated physical characteristics of buildings within an area, on a
street or block, including the building footprint, organization and massing.
Pavilion – a building that stands distinctly on its own surrounded by landscaping.
Plaza – an animated gathering space predominantly hard-surfaced with a complementary landscaping.
Private shared lane/driveway – a small road surface under private ownership, accessed from a public thoroughfare and used as a circulation route through a development either with or without parking; for services and access to garages; does not provide pedestrian access or address for buildings.
Public Art – site specific artwork created to enhance publicly accessible space through artistic interpretations that range from independent sculpture to integrated architectural treatment and landscape design).
Public Realm – streets and lanes, parks and other open spaces and the accessible parts of public buildings.
Soft Landscaping – an open, unobstructed area that supports the growth of vegetation such as grass, trees, shrubs, flowers or other plants, and that permits water infiltration into the ground.
Street – a significant part of the City’s open space system. Streets provide vehicular, pedestrian and utility access, address and light to individual lots and blocks within the urban fabric. In addition they are landscaped and lit in the evening and provide a setting for social interaction and neighborhood activities.
Street-wall – occurs where the sides of buildings touch each other and the building facades visually join together into one long wall defining a street space.
Street Proportion – the ratio of the height of buildings along the edges of a street and the width of the space between the building faces on each side of the street (includes setbacks).
Urban Design – the analysis and design of the city’s physical form.
Urban Garden – a landscaped open space of intimate scale providing a tranquil setting adjacent to a city street.
Walkway – a street level exterior publicly accessible pedestrian way through the middle of a city block.
June 2004