Why can’t we build this in Toronto? 

This is the question that animates On the Courtyard: Learning from European Blocks, a new architectural study by Francesco Valente-Gorjup (HBA 2007 Victoria) and Aleris Rodgers of Studio VAARO and Gabriel Fain (HBA 2007 UC, MArch 2011) of Gabriel Fain Architects, commissioned by the Neptis Foundation for the inaugural volume in its Impossible Toronto series.

The publication's contributors include alumni and Studio VAARO interns Caleigh MacDonald (MArch 2025), Julia Miclaus (MArch 2025), Negar Mashoof (BAAS 2022, MArch 2025) and current MArch student Nathan Shakura. 

The series explores the various constraints that stand in the way of realizing certain types of architecture and construction in Toronto and how we can benefit from policy and regulatory changes that would unlock new ideas, approaches, and solutions to the city’s perennial design and construction woes.

The culmination of a year-long research project, the book examines why the courtyard block — a time-honoured residential typology found across cities in Europe — has proven so successful. The authors spotlight the regulatory barriers and policy frameworks that currently prevent us from being able to build this elegant and practical architectural form in our city and ultimately propose a new answer, grounded in an old typology, to Toronto’s enduring missing middle quandary. 

The collaboration between Studio VAARO and Gabriel Fain Architects goes further than critique, however, to offer pragmatic suggestions for where review and reform could begin.  The team identifies opportunities for how the courtyard block could be integrated into Toronto’s urban landscape and also addresses the attendant challenges. Detailed, design-driven drawings and renderings ultimately show what could be possible in the city, were the regulatory and planning conditions different than they are today. 

“On the Courtyard is a detailed and technical analysis of how to transform the housing patterns of Toronto,” says Professor Robert Levit, acting dean of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. “It is also a work of great imagination. The authors do not lift ‘whole cloth’ the models that have inspired them. Instead, they have developed a future history of Toronto that demonstrates what steps can be taken, how change can continue to unfold at the neighbourhood level, and what that final destination looks like. They have a uniquely Toronto strategy that could usher in an entirely new future for the city.” 

Studio VAARO is a multidisciplinary architecture practice engaged in local and international research that reimagines urban conditions and advances the quality of the built environment in Toronto and beyond. Aleris Rodgers and Francesco Valente-Gorjup cofounded Studio VAARO in 2021 after a decade working abroad in Los Angeles, Switzerland, and Hong Kong. Their award-winning work has been featured in a range of international publications, including Dwell, Dezeen and Azure, among other publications. 

Valente-Gorjup has contributed to a range of international residential and cultural projects, including Hong Kong's M+ Museum, with a focus on innovative façade design and complex building envelopes. Francesco graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and English Literature and earned a Master of Architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is also a sessional lecturer at the Daniels Faculty.  

An Assistant Professor in the Teaching Stream at Daniels, Rodgers earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, majoring in Psychology, and her Master of Architecture from UCLA, where she studied alongside Valente-Gorjup. Prior to settling in Toronto, she worked for a number of international architecture practices including, most recently, Herzog & de Meuron. Her work and teaching focus on housing and contemporary urban form. 

Gabriel Fain Architects is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary design studio that operates at the intersection of architecture and urbanism, with a focus on reimagining urban living through innovative approaches to mid- and high-rise residential design. Principal Architect Gabriel Fain graduated with a Master of Architecture from the Daniels Faculty, where he was awarded the prestigious Heather M. Reisman Gold Medal in Design. He is a frequent guest critic and a regular contributor to Canadian Architect Magazine.

To ensure broad public access, all Impossible Toronto publications are available as a free PDF download. Print editions can be purchased at impossibletoronto.ca, the Canadian Centre for Architecture bookstore and at TYPE Books (883 Queen St W), where the On the Courtyard team will be mounting a storefront exhibition as part of the DesignTO Festival, January 23 – February 1, 2026.