Due to gentrification along Bloor Street, rental prices have soared beyond affordability residentially and commercially. While there are plenty of small galleries operating in downtown Toronto the places for making have dwindled. Many available makers’ spaces operate with high membership fees, subpar tool availability, or as hobby spaces for professionals in other fields. Professional creative individuals who once would have rented studio and living space in the area are being pushed out of the place they assisted in gentrifying. The Maker Village is a response to this recurring problem.
The proposed building operates as a mandated corporation, similar to Artscape, to offer affordable collective housing and ample access to makers’ spaces tailored to the merging of digital and traditional means of making. Such a corporation, made up by the makers of the building, can recognize the importance of use value of their building over its potential exchange value. As Bloor street continues to gentrify the building offers the opportunity to its residents to grow into various stages of life within the versatile framework of the residence while remaining part of their vibrant neighborhood.
The publicly accessible makers’ spaces contribute to the fabric of Bloor street – currently dominated by retail and restaurants – as a forum for creative collaboration between residents of different units, and non-resident makers in the community. Thus becoming a long term home for creative individuals within the building and an intellectual home for creative individuals in the area.