King Loggia

King Loggia

Toronto

King Loggia is a recognizable and historical urban form, albeit transformed by a set of pop-art actions – colour application, distortions, exaggerations, and material substitution. Through these transformations, an iconic sculptural urban space is created. 

King Loggia, like its historical precedents, is an unprogrammed space and thus becomes a joyful, colourful setting or stage for the theatre of daily street life. Sometimes a covered sidewalk café, a busker’s stage, a place to meet a friend in the shade, and other times empty and quiet, King Loggia both encourages and provides for an enhanced street life.  

Constructed with a simple metal frame clad with curved, marine-grade plywood sheets and anchored to a platform base to provide ballast, the construction ironically replicates a masonry cross-vaulted structure. This construction technique furthers the idea of a set for the theatre of street life. 

The piece will be designed to maximize off-site pre-fabrication with modularized sections to simplify transportation and set-up.The form of the loggia is perfectly suited for the long, narrow sites and can easily be adaptable in length.