Backlane Condos?

Visionary designer Trevor Kruse has a "plan to transform downtown Toronto's back lanes into 'horizontal condominium' projects that seems as far-fetched today as the transformation of crumbling warehouse districts into trendy lofts and nightclubs used to -- until it happened.

His idea is to convert the little-used alleyways lined with decrepit garages that crisscross Toronto's downtown neighbourhoods into condominium communities with funky little two-storey dwellings that don't interfere with the big houses on residential streets.

The compact 600-, 900- and 1,200-square foot units would face each other across a strip of hard-and-soft-landscaping, presenting a blank back wall to the backyards of existing homes on the streets, which would not lose any garden space and would be given a parking space underground."