Source Feed: The Globe and Mail
Author: Alex Bozikovic, John Lorinc
Publication Date: January 17, 2026 - 05:00
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How ‘single exit stairway’ buildings could make cities better and safer
January 17, 2026
When it’s done, the building will barely register as new. The three-storey apartment complex will settle onto a leafy street as if it had always been there – faced in brick, its twin balconies nudging toward the sidewalk.
But inside, this project in an older Toronto neighbourhood will express radical ambition. Its design unmakes more than half a century of North American assumptions about fire safety, architecture and how to build cities. Designed by Toronto’s Office Ou, the six-unit building will only have a single staircase, not two as Canadian building codes usually require.
Her father, Ryan Marshall, says Lexi was once confident and outgoing, but that began to change when she entered middle school. She was 12 years old when she took her own life.
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