Aurora Mews is a townhouse development in Aurora, Ontario, that organizes five townhome blocks around two shared mews. The project uses the mews typology in a “people-first, car-second” approach to create a compact residential layout that balances parking, access, outdoor space, and a more pedestrian-oriented environment.
Rather than treating internal drive aisles as only vehicle routes, the project reimagines them as shared spaces that support everyday movement, interaction, and safe outdoor activity for families.
CLIENT:
STATUS: Approved
LOCATION:
Aurora, ON
SCALE:
Townhouse Complex
PROJECT DURATION:
2022 –
The Challenge: Ensuring Shared Space Is Not Dominated by Vehicles
In suburban townhouse developments, parking and garage access are often necessary, but they can easily dominate the site. Internal streets, drive aisles, and surface parking areas can reduce the quality of pedestrian space and limit opportunities for shared outdoor activity.
For Aurora Mews, the challenge was to provide the required amount of parking while maintaining a family-friendly residential environment. The site needed to work for vehicles, but not be shaped entirely around them.
The Solution: A People-First, Car-Second Approach
We used the mews typology to create a shared internal space that supports both access and community life. The mews provide vehicular access to individual garages while also functioning as traffic-calmed spaces where residents can walk, gather, and children can play more safely.
The layout provides 57 parking spaces, including 39 garage spaces and 18 surface spaces, while keeping the ground-level treatment focused on people rather than cars. Compact garage arrangements, careful ground-level design, and traffic-calming elements help reduce the visual and spatial impact of vehicles.
The buildings are designed to support this pedestrian-focused environment. Entrances along the mews include separation between units, opportunities for planting, and space for urban furniture. The exterior uses simple white massing, wood, glass, and operable wood panelling, with planting opportunities integrated into each façade.
The unit layouts also reflect a family-focused approach. Shared living spaces are located on the second floor, bedrooms occupy the upper levels, and each unit includes balcony access. Additional at-grade space can function as an office or fourth bedroom, giving households flexibility as their needs change over time.
