Residential Archives - Azure Magazine

Other Scales, Other Species: In Conversation with Andrés Jaque

Sebastián López Cardozo — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 12:48:00 +0000

Now more than ever, architects are endeavouring to design with sustainability in mind. Yet the world’s slow adoption of a climate-focused mindset signals a reluctance (or inability) to fully confront the realities of the warming planet. The COVID-19 pandemic heightens this tension, as the collective desire to return to “normal” clashes with escalating signs of environmental distress — record-breaking temperatures, haze-filled skies and devastating floods. This discord underscores a broader issue: the tendency of most new construction to perpetuate familiar comforts and the status quo. Andrés Jaque, the pioneering Spanish architect behind Office for Political Innovation (or Offpolinn, founded in 2003) understands this problem...

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Low-Rise Residential Architect

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 14:47:14 +0000

4 Architecture is seeking a Senior Low-Rise Residential Architect to join their open studio-style office in Markham, Ontario. 4 Architecture is an architectural practice with a portfolio of residential, commercial and institutional projects, and staff are given opportunities to work on several aspects of projects from beginning to end and are encouraged to grow within the company to reach their career goals through diverse project exposure and experience.

Qualifications

Advanced knowledge and application of AutoCAD and Revit.
Strong Knowledge of the Ontario Building Code and Municipal/Regional By-Laws.
Strong Knowledge of residential construction techniques using wood structure.
Knowledge of residential, institutional, commercial and mid-rise construction techniques using steel and concrete practices.
Knowledge of Engineering Standards.
Strong understanding of construction technology and building science.
Strong English communications skills (written and verbal).
Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Outlook, Bluebeam and Adobe Acrobat.
Experience producing concept, design, permit and construction drawings. With a good interpretation of different construction systems and architectural styles.
Confident to make decisions, with a will to succeed.
Strong understanding of project dynamics, with solid experience throughout all project phases.
Licensed under the OAA.
8 years of work experience minimum.

Responsibilities

Working on projects of various stages, scales and complexity.
Managing a Team of Drafters
Handling Client management activities
Overseeing and recording project Schedules and Hours.
Drafting projects in AutoCad and Revit.
Preparation and issuance of project deliverables within the project schedule (Design, Permit, Bid, Construction, etc.)
Working on multiple projects simultaneously.
Reviewing and directing employees as required.
Assisting coordination with consultants and staff on projects.
Creating and updating procedures on tasks relating to the duties of this position as requested.
Following company procedures to both their letter and intent.
Excellent management skills, superior attention to detail and the ability to take initiative to follow-through on a wide range of tasks and responsibilities.
Can successfully interact with other team members and give clear direction.
Must be able to work independently in a fast-paced environment and should be self-motivated, responsible, assertive and passionate.

Those interested in applying for the Low-Rise Residential Architect position should send their resume, references, and date of availability to join the team at 4 Architecture by email to dgoymour@4architecture.ca.

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ACDF Brings a Human Scale to High-Rise Student Housing in Montreal

Stefan Novakovic — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 21:24:29 +0000

On the west end of downtown Montreal, the Shaughnessy Village neighbourhood is a distinctive specimen of mid-century built form. While the area is full of broad, imposing concrete slab towers characteristic of the modernist era across North America, the community is distinguished by its unusually compact and street-friendly urban fabric. These are towers in the park — just without the park. Across the dense neighbourhood, tall, blocky buildings meet city sidewalks with eclectic street-fronting retail in lieu of cul-de-sacs and porte-cochères.

At street level, it makes for a surprisingly welcoming and intimate experience, although much of the density came at the expense of the city’s older Victorian and Georgian architecture. And looking up, the eye largely meets a sea of grey. For local designers ACDF, an addition to the high-rise context entailed a negotiation of the benefits of the last century’s simple, efficient high-rise forms with a contemporary emphasis on heritage preservation and human-scaled design.

They’ve pulled it off. On Lincoln Street, the 19-storey LINK student housing apartment tower is an intriguing hybrid of slab tower and sensitive placemaking. The project transforms a compact urban lot — hemmed in by older towers — previously occupied by a row of heavily dilapidated Victorian row houses. Unfortunately, the state of the buildings made full in-situ preservation extremely challenging. For the designers, it posed a dillenma.

“Did preserving only the façades necessarily mean that the project would be part of a so-called facadism approach, then rather denounced by the community? Would complete demolition, justified by the dilapidated state of the buildings, be a more appropriate intellectual and professional posture?” asks Maxime-Alexis Frappier, ACDF’s president.

Ultimately, ACDF opted to preserve the building frontages, with the body of the tower stepped back behind the historic entries. “Montreal is designated a UNESCO Design City, with a strong focus on architecture that interacts with the public realm,” says Frappier. “Establishing that dialogue was a priority, as well as creating a connection between the contemporary tower and the architectural language of Victorian-era Shaughnessy Village.”

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Across the apartment levels, meanwhile, a facade of windows and inset loggias is given further depth by a playful building envelope. Combining three colour-blocked hues, the exterior treatment frames each (bedroom and living room) window and loggia with a distinctive cutout, evoking the gabled roofs and rounded entryways of Montreal’s 19th-century vernacular — including the buildings at the tower’s base. Meanwhile, the tower’s scale and window rhythm also evokes its mid-century neighbours, a nod to context subtly amplified by the precast’s facade’s mineral texture. The result is an unmistakably contemporary high rise that maintains a dialogue with the two eras that surround it.

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Senior Interior Architect

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:59:06 +0000

The Yogo Group is seeking an experienced Senior Interior Architect to join their London office. The firm specializes in luxury home design as well as bespoke home design through their specialized Yogo Bespoke service, for which they are also seeking a flexible team member.

Responsibilities

Production of drawing packages including plans, elevations and sections
Creation of bathroom, kitchen and wardrobe packages including all specifications and finishes
Creation of lighting and electrical packages
Confident in producing construction detailing packages
Production of coloured montage elevations
Creation of Yogo Group’s renowned feature ceilings and feature wall designs
Liaising with our in-house architects, contractors and design teams on all relevant issues

Qualifications

Passionate about design
Proven work experience with architectural and/or interior design firms – minimum 4 years experience
Attention to detail
Strong organizational skills
Excellent presentation skills
Ability to work within a busy environment
Fluent in both written and spoken English
Technical proficiencies: AutoCAD, Adobe PhotoShop, SketchUp, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office – Word, Excel

Interested and qualified candidates can apply for this role at the Yogo Group by submitting their Resume/CV, Cover Letter, and Work Samples to info@yogogroup.com. Only successful applicants will be notified.

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Senior Interior Designer

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 18:06:04 +0000

Kristina Zanic Consultants is seeking experienced Senior Interior Designers to join their new studio in London.

The firm’s projects span across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with particular focus on five-star luxury hospitality and high-end residential projects.

Project Types:

Hospitality (hotels and F&B)
Private residences and residential developments
Office spaces
Retail locations, e.g. malls, shops, cafes, forecourts
Leisure spaces, e.g. cinema, recreation complexes

Responsibilities:

Creating and developing design concepts, creating initial design ideas, conceptual frameworks acquiring key information about potential projects and delivering all phases as per project contract requirements
Understanding and proficiency in managing client needs
Developing design concepts and narrative following client/operator brief
Working closely with seniors and the design team throughout all project stages and on-site as required
Leading team coordination/ensuring that everyone is aligned with the design vision, deliverables, project programs, etc.
Preparing detailed working drawings, designs, plans, models and schemes, often using computer-aided design (CAD) and/or BIM or other relevant software
Sourcing products, for example FF&E, decoration and dressing and providing samples for clients
Preparing specifications and material boards and production of drawings
Considering materials and costs according to set budgets and reviewing quotes from suppliers
Producing ‘sample’ or ‘mood’ boards for the projects
Using FF&E specifications on DOTstudio or other related FF&E software
Quality control of drawings and specifications for ensuring that the final design meets high-quality standards
Establish and monitor flow of projects, man-power, CAD, BIM and 3D resources at team level
Preparing and monitoring project/resource program and ensuring to highlight any potential risks or delays
Preparing minutes of meetings to record all discussions and issue it to the client within three working days prior to the approval of the DD
Coordinating with key stakeholders throughout all project phases
Coordinating with suppliers and having a knowledgeable grasp of technical details and requirements
Working closely with quantity surveyors to establish costs and work schedules on projects where required
Working with architects and other design professionals to determine the best use of space and with manufacturers and contractors when required in a specific phase
Mentoring, training and leading junior and intermediate designers

Qualifications and Experience:

Bachelor’s degree in interior design, architecture or equivalent
A proven record of success in a senior interior designer level
Eight-plus years’ design experience of management of multiple project and resources
Extensive knowledge and experience in designing interior spaces for various projects, including hospitality, high-end residential and F&B design
An understanding of financial management and wider management principles and techniques
Advance presentation skills including presenting to the client/operator/project stakeholders
Good understanding of technical design, including drawings and specifications
Able to handle situations with an appreciation of the demands of conflicting interests and of meeting both project and statutory requirements
A very high level of commercial awareness
Excellent leadership, communication, organisational, project management, analytical and problem-solving skills

APPLY NOW

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Neri&Hu’s Elegant Zhishan Residences Rise in Taipei

Elizabeth Pagliacolo — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 20:39:50 +0000

For the Beijing firm Neri&Hu, a deep understanding of the site condition yields the richest results. The Zhishan Residences in Taipei, or (more poetically) The Lattice, is a prime example. It’s situated in Zhishan, an area in the Shilin District that was “a gateway for foreign cultures.” And the architects drew from the city’s variegated street character to craft the project. “Alongside new glassy tall buildings, there co-exists charming arcaded low rises from the ’70s,” the firm notes in a press release, “while the sub-tropical climate allows for a lush greenery to thrive and interweave throughout the urban landscape.”

At first glance, those arcaded Taipei low rises are perhaps the most visible inspiration for the Zhishan Residences, with its high-end apartments ringed by copper-finished balconies featuring railings that appear as inverted arches. The scalloped motif is part of the firm’s aim to “embody a timeless aesthetic through the use of tectonic forms and tactile materials.” And it softens the scale of the building, which soars 17 stories while still feeling connected to the street.

On the north side of the site, the high-rise meets the street with a strong square edge. Its south side, by contrast, appears as a stepped, saw-toothed profile. The massing’s appearance, therefore, shifts with one’s perspective – heavy and assertive on the main elevation, dematerializing on the side. Adding to the nuanced effect is the grid-like facade: The open-cornered detail where the grey granite–clad columns and beams intersect feels sculpted – as if this high rise facade has been carefully carved into. The attention to detail here is another calling card of Neri&Hu’s.

The delicate metalwork lattice, again, emphasizes this. Within each frame of the facade grid, this inverted catenary screen of copper-toned metal both encloses the exterior spaces and adds a layer over the glazing behind them. Here, Neri&Hu is reinterpreting – and elevating – the many “flower grid” screens found on top of windows in old buildings throughout Taiwan. “The two opposing elements of structure and screen are working in harmony to achieve a delicate balance between masculine and feminine, historic and modern, cool and warm, rational and expressive.”

Inside, the common spaces are defined by a palette that honours classic, warm materials: terrazzo, stone, tile, walnut and brushed bronze all play major roles. It begins in the double-height lobby, an arched space sheathed in warm grey terrazzo – a neutral, pebbly blanket that further ensconces the mailbox area, lift lobby and lounge space. In the last of these spaces, the Vancouver brand Bocci has created a custom bronze and hand-blown glass pendant installation that provides a central focal point.

On the second floor, the small library overlooking the lounge also features a wide arch. These vaulted spaces again recall the buildings of old Taipei. And from the rooftop, where the city comes into full view, the amenities include a gym, an outdoor kitchenette and an event area — “all surrounded by lush plantings, with views outward towards majestic Yangming mountain and beyond.”

Neri&Hu is renowned for its works that celebrate the character of a place. In 2024, its Nantou Guesthouse in Shenzhen (or “Incision”) won an AZ Award for its considerate retrofit of a destitute high-rise into a building that puts the past in dynamic dialogue with the present. By layering the city’s many meanings into their works – both new-builds and renovations – the firm honours the collective memory of a place will helping it to adapt and evolve to today’s needs.

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Is the Future of Toronto Designed in London?

Stefan Novakovic — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 15:26:31 +0000

In almost any city on the planet, the scale and density alone would be enough to turn heads. Indeed, the 1.2-hectare, 598-unit Keybridge Estate is now among the densest places in London, its jumble of volumes prominently capped by a 36-storey height peak. For a visitor from Toronto, however, the scope is almost banal: Across Canada’s largest metropolis, former strip malls, warehouses and sprawling parking lots are now routinely transformed through master-planned developments, many of which dwarf the Keybridge Estate. Yet, a walk through the tight-knit network of cobblestoned mews and laneways unfolds with uncommon intimacy, framed by ample seating, greenery, and an assertive red brick architecture seamlessly knit into the surrounding urban fabric. We’re not in North America anymore.

Designed by local architects Allies and Morrison, the development in the neighbourhood of Vauxhall forms part of an impressive portfolio of master-planned communities across London. At the recently completed Goodluck Hope, for example, 841 homes fill out a 2.72-hectare site on the River Thames promontory animated by a staggered array of brightly coloured ceramic brick volumes and generous — and largely car-free — shared spaces. Touring the place with Angie Jim Osman, a Canadian-born architect with the firm, we stop in the midst of elegantly narrow mews, fronted by a row of townhouse-style homes. Every volume’s brick face sports a distinct pastel hue. Osman turns my attention to the entrances, each of which is framed by a low partition that doubles as a bench. I ask what it’s for. “You can set down your groceries as you get out your keys,” she says. A few moments later, we glimpse a resident do just that.

The Keybridge Estate by Allies and Morrison. Photo by Tim Crocker.

It is a fleeting moment, but one that epitomizes a neighbourhood where urban density is combined with a quiet, comfortable and distinctly sociable milieu. A far cry from the sterile character often associated with new development, the place already feels lived in and settled; it’s complemented by retail, including a bakery and a farm shop, and greenery. Up close and afar, the collage of towers, mansion blocks and maisonettes feels of a piece with London’s eclectic urban fabric, down to the brick textures and rows of gabled roofs. It’s a sensibility that’s set to cross the Atlantic, with Allies and Morrison designing a pair of pivotal projects in Toronto: the 11.5-hectare Mr. Christie’s cookie factory site on Lake Shore Boulevard and the 2.79-hectare Beltline Yards.

Good Luck Hope.

For the English designers, both Canadian projects will be among the firm’s largest built works, scaled to meet the enormity of Toronto’s fast-growing population and acute housing shortage. And they’re not alone. As Allies and Morrison get set to take on transformative private-sector developments, the City of Toronto has engaged London-based public housing specialists Karakusevic Carson Architects to lead the final phases of mixed-income redevelopment in both Regent Park and Alexandra Park. On the waterfront, meanwhile, one of Toronto’s most high-profile sites is set to be capped with a landmark tower by London architect Alison Brooks.

The British influence on Toronto is far from new. A product of the erstwhile empire’s settler colonialism and persistent Indigenous erasure, contemporary Toronto retains no shortage of imperial monuments, as well as long stretches of quaint Victorian row housing, now wielded as a political wedge between heritage preservation and the urgency of sustainable population growth. As the city grew into an unlikely metropolis, British designers continued to shape the architectural landscape into the 21st century, with marvels like Will Alsop’s Rosalie Sharp pavilion at OCAD U and civic beacons such as RSHP’s soon-to-open St. Lawrence Market North. Even the high-rise boom bears its share of trans-Atlantic authors: WilkinsonEyre recently designed the CIBC Square office complex and Foster & Partners is responsible for a pair of luxury condominiums, including The One, a controversy-plagued super-tall.

What’s happening now is different. While Allies and Morrison, Karakusevic Carson, and Alison Brooks are all acclaimed designers in their own right, their vocabularies are not drawn from the global lexicon of starchitecture but from the realities of housing needs and the ambitions of community-building. For Toronto, such commissions represent a departure from the Bilbao era–flexing of architectural star power, the gateway to the cringe of early 2000s “world-class city” aspiration. Instead, their designs accomplish the more modest yet meaningful goal of introducing welcome departures from urban design norms. These are new recipes for tomorrow’s fabric buildings.

The vision for 2150 Lake Shore integrates a wide range of building types into an eclectic urban realm.

At both Beltline Yards and the Mr. Christie’s site, Allies and Morrison are working within — and challenging — well-established local typologies and pro formas, transforming post-industrial sites well beyond the city’s expensive, amenity-rich downtown and its occasional architectural bijouterie. For Karakusevic Carson, meanwhile, the redevelopment of social housing communities in downtown Toronto represents a North American expansion of the firm’s affordable housing portfolio, which exclusively serves public sector clients.

A scale model of the Regent Park redevelopment, led by Karakusevic Carson Architects.

On the waterfront, Alison Brooks’ Quayside tower comes closest to the architecture of spectacle. Poised to transform the eastern bayfront site once earmarked for Google’s Sidewalk Labs, the 70-storey residential building — now marketed as The Western Curve by developers Dream and Great Gulf — will form the height peak of a prominent new district also set to include designs by Henning Larsen and Adjaye Associates. Distinguished by its sculptural balconies, ceramic detailing and (hopefully) vibrant high-rise greenery, the elegant yet assertive form promises to draw the eye. It will also welcome pedestrian activity at street level, where a series of arches gently delineates the body of the building to a more intimate scale, eschewing the common North American strategy of “breaking up the massing” to create the superficial impression of multiple smaller buildings.

Back at the Allies and Morrison office in Southwark, architect Alfredo Caraballo joins Osman to offer an in-depth look at their upcoming Toronto projects, starting with the complex at 2150 Lake Shore. Even by Toronto standards, the scale of it all is staggering. Led by developers First Capital, the master planned mixed-use community envisions some 7,500 planned homes spread across over 30 buildings, expanding the density of the Humber Bay Shores into a wedge-shaped lot that is awkwardly tucked between the Gardiner Expressway and Lake Shore Boulevard. Belying the imposing scope, the public realm is artfully broken down into a network of nooks and crannies — punctuated by a larger shared space and framed by a collage of forms and textures. “There is not a single right angle between a building and another building,” says Caraballo, describing the careful layering of buildings as an “urban picturesque.”

2150 Lake Shore.

A covered galleria anchors an eclectic public realm animated by retail, office space and a hotel, as well as a daycare, school, public library and a community centre. The energetic convergence of commercial and civic uses is complemented by the porous, winding network of laneways that culminates in a broad spine of greenery framing a new streetcar loop through the heart of the complex; here, a retained industrial water tower bearing the Christie’s logo retains pride of place. While the sprawling site is currently a vacant lot, the firm’s renderings convey an interplay of brick surfaces that immediately distinguishes the plan from its blue-glass surroundings.

A covered galleria anchors the public realm at 2150 Lake Shore.

At first glance, the spectrum of solid brick tones and textures forms the project’s prevailing aesthetic signature. Yet, the sensitivity to urban placemaking is more acutely a reflection of Allies and Morrison’s departure from Toronto’s urban design norms. At Humber Bay Shores and across the city, 21st-century high-rises are characterized by slender towers atop bulkier “base buildings.” In principle, the setbacks — formalized via the Tall Building Design Guidelines — lend commercial streets a welcoming, pedestrian-friendly and human-scaled urban grain while limiting shadows. Has it worked?

A new Humber Bay Shores streetcar loop will help ensure a transit-friendly neighbourhood.

After a two-decade condo boom, a walk through Toronto’s most radically transformed neighbourhoods yields little of the intimacy or variety that defines the city’s older commercial streets. Just as breaking up the massing fails to meaningfully turn large buildings into small ones, low-rise podiums (and the big box corporate retail tenants that typically occupy them) offer unconvincing simulacra of their urban antecedents. “Sometimes, the rules create quite lateral buildings, with setbacks on setbacks on setbacks, which can feel a little bit alienating as a pedestrian,” says Osman. In other words, I’d much rather take a stroll through Keybridge Estate or Goodluck Hope over Humber Bay Shores, Liberty Village or CityPlace.

The range of building types at 2150 Lake Shore.

Yet the difference is a matter of relatively simple strategy. While Toronto’s development guidelines push for mid-rise base buildings and high-rise towers to be integrated into a single form, Allies and Morrison are leveraging the size of master-planned sites to create a diversity of housing types and street-level experience with varied typologies. In lieu of a tower stacked atop a mid-rise base, why not a sequence of tightly packed individual buildings? “We can create new types of public spaces, while still maintaining a diversity of typologies and housing types,” says Caraballo.

And the spaces are appealing, with the mews and laneways creating pleasantly quiet nooks for a café or restaurant patio. “Parks and large shared spaces are very important, but it’s also nice to have intimate moments where you feel more sheltered and comfortable,” says Osman. Throughout Allies and Morrison’s Humber Bay Shores site — which features landscape architecture by DTAH — there are very few straight lines or 90-degree angles across the public realm, inviting a sense of exploration, with a similarly angular composition of buildings as backdrop.

A rendering of the vision for Beltline Yards.

As the colossal 2150 Lake Shore project, set to be developed in phases, continues to progress through the City of Toronto planning process, Allies and Morrison’s more recently announced Beltline Yards is poised to push the envelope even further. Led by design-driven developers Hullmark and BGO, the project will transform the Canada Goose industrial complex at the corner of Caledonia Road and Bowie Avenue. Like Etobicoke’s Christie’s site, the project takes on an awkwardly shaped lot that hugs the curvy western terminus Beltline Trail, a linear park popular with pedestrians and cyclists. Here, the plans call for light industrial uses and maker spaces to be re-integrated into a community, celebrating the local heritage (and economy) of manufacturing.

The public realm at Beltline Yards embraces the nearby cycling and biking path.

Alongside nearly 2,000 homes (divided between rentals and condominiums), the eclectic master plan envisions nearly 28,000 square metres of industrial and commercial space, along with a 1,000-square-metre community centre. Developed in partnership with local architects SvN, the landscape plan retains half of the 2.79-hectare site as open, shared spaces. In classic Allies and Morrison fashion, the public realm is a jumbled tapestry of greenery and hardscaping; a procession of laneways connect to the Beltline Trail and lead to a central square. The site’s size allowed the architects to strategically situate the mandated loading and servicing areas — another vibrancy-killing bane of North American urbanism — at the corners of the lot to minimize their incursion onto the public realm, a strategy also employed at 2150 Lake Shore.

Ranging in height from five to 42 storeys, Beltline Yards’ buildings are a characteristic jaunty jumble of bricks and sawtooth roofs. While the effect is whimsical, Allies and Morrison’s portfolio is defined by deeply rational buildings. “We actually design very simple, spatially efficient rectilinear buildings, but the way that they are staggered across the site is what creates a sense of variety, along with a few chamfered edges at the corners,” says Osman. Yet, there’s something undeniably playful about Beltline Yards, where the tropes of Toronto urbanism are gently turned on their heads. Across the high-rises, the massing is visually varied, with multiple colours and textures employed across the body of the towers. But instead of quietly disappearing into a blue-glass sky or imitating an older streetscape, these buildings stick out all the more. Here, the effect is not camouflage but emphasis.

Leaving the Allies and Morrison office, I cross the Thames and walk north. In Hackney, I meet Paul Karakusevic, whose acclaimed firm works exclusively for public sector clients. Across London, Karakusevic Carson Architects has collaborated with local councils to revive and reimagine affordable housing for the 21st century. Celebrating local architectural heritage and emphasizing civic engagement, the firm’s portfolio is distinguished by handsome buff brick forms, an embrace of street-level activity, and thoughtfully well-resolved residential interiors, all with an emphasis on high quality material finishes. In downtown Toronto, the firm is undertaking some of its largest projects to date: It is leading the design of the final phases of the landmark Regent Park redevelopment and taking part in the ongoing revitalization of Alexandra Park.

For Karakusevic, the projects may present a different geographic and cultural context but they are driven by the same set of values. “It starts with deep engagement with the local community, and is guided by a series of listening sessions and consultations,” says Karakusevic. As the early vision for apartment buildings and a community centre at Alexandra Park takes shape, the plans for Phase 4 and 5 of Regent Park offer a preview of the firm’s architectural language. Developed in close partnership with local heritage experts ERA Architects for Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) and Tridel, the mixed-income community will feature almost 3,000 new homes across a 6.5-hectare site, with the residences divided between affordable homes (40 per cent) and market-rate condominiums (60 per cent). In addition, the plan calls for nearly 8,000 square metres of retail and office space, along with a 3,500-square-metre community centre and a 2,300-square-metre public library.

A drawing of Phases 4 and 5 at Regent Park by Karakusevic Carson Architects.

Spread across a three-block row between Gerrard and Oak Streets, the scheme comprises a series of simple but confident brick courtyard buildings, anchored by a central pedestrian spine of greenery that spans the length of the site. In a slight contrast with Karakusevic Carson’s British portfolio — which mostly comprises freestanding towers and mid-rises — the vision utilizes the tower-and-base-building typology favoured by City of Toronto planners. Yet, while the form is familiar, the architectural expression is uncommonly confident and cohesive. Largely free of jogs and setbacks, the simple rectilinear buildings are unified by a common brick language that spans across both the mid-rise and tower volumes, their efficient forms interrupted only by strategically chamfered edges to create a more welcoming public realm.

The public realm at Regent Park is defined by porosity through the site, with a central east-west promenade flanked by quieter spaces.

Crucially, the values informing the design have crossed the Atlantic intact. “I have a strong belief that all of our buildings — wherever they are — should last 300 years,” says Karakusevic. “For the public sector in particular, it’s crazy to design a building with a lifespan of just 40 or 50 years. And then what happens? Unlike a private developer selling condominiums, you have a long-term economic stake in the community. Using quality materials and building great homes with generous spaces and lots of natural light is an investment in the future. And whether we’re working in London or Toronto, the priorities are the same: How do we design for a thriving community? How do we create the most livable and comfortable homes possible?”

A drawing of the public realm at Regent Park.

In North America, these questions aren’t typically asked. According to ERA’s Graeme Stewart and Ya’el Santopinto — who played a key role in bringing Karakusevic Carson to Toronto — local planning and architecture is often more reactive in nature. “In Toronto, we worry about how a building fits into the zoning envelope and meets urban design guidelines,” says Santopinto. “It’s part of the reason why we’ve ended up with a lot of mid-rises that have a ziggurat form, for example, because the form of the building was primarily designed as a response to planning limitations. Within that form, you’d then try to fit in as many units as you can.” It’s a recipe for awkwardly shaped homes and carbon-intensive buildings.

“In British architectural practice — and particularly for Karakusevic Carson — their approach is more from the inside out,” says Santopinto. “You start by designing good homes, good residential layouts, and then the rest of the building emerges to support that.” In some respects, we used to follow this same paradigm in North America, too, but abandoned it as a byproduct of misguided mid-century planning. “Arguably, the modernist tower block offered a more generous unit than more recent buildings. Optimistically, we’re now starting to have these conversations, and to see these conventions evolve,” says Santopinto.

King’s Crescent by Karakusevic Carson Architects. Photo by Pete Landers.

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Branch Place by Karakusevic Carson Architects. Photo by Pete Landers.

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Bacton Estate (Phase 1) by Karakusevic Carson Architects. Photo by Tim Crocker.

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Understanding how and why we build the way we do necessitates historical context and consciousness. As Stewart explains, much of the city’s regulations emerged in response to the mistakes of the 20th century. “A lot of our design and planning conventions and regulations are rooted in a response to the problems with mid-century planning, with Le Corbusier-inspired design, and with the ‘tower in the park’ model of urbanism,” says Stewart, recalling an era when thriving neighbourhoods were regularly demolished for highways and residential towers were erected with little regard to surrounding built and cultural context.

“We can connect a lot of our norms and regulations to Jane Jacobs’ values about protecting fine-grained urban retail and preserving connections between neighbours and across communities,” says Stewart. “And I think that those are generally good values. But what we sometimes forget to ask ourselves is how well all of our rules actually end up supporting those values.” It’s a question worth raising. Do setbacks and base buildings really create a fine-grained retail street? Does a 45-degree angular plane for mid-rises meaningfully protect the character of surrounding residential neighbourhoods? And for that matter, should it? Are two exit stairs and double-loaded corridors required to ensure fire safety? Over the last two decades, there’s ample empirical evidence to suggest otherwise.

As my return to Toronto approaches, the question of values stays on my mind. On my last day in London, I’m due to meet Alison Brooks. Before heading to her Kentish Town office, I stop at King’s Cross. Immediately north of the station, an ambitious mixed-use redevelopment has transformed a long-derelict site into a civic showpiece, including a new British headquarters for Google. Led by Allies and Morrison, the plan has integrated a range of residential and commercial settings along the water’s edge of Regent’s Canal.

At the heart of the neighbourhood, a pair of Victorian warehouses have been restored as Coal Drop Yards and the new civic square in between them is topped by a striking pair of “kissing buildings” by Heatherwick Studio. To create the spectacle, the roof of each warehouse was rebuilt to curve out above the square and meet its counterpart in an embrace. I’d seen the photos, but in person, I’m surprised to find it feels somewhat bulbous and unresolved. Then again, starchitecture sometimes works out that way. But it’s not what I’m here to see: From the square, Heatherwick’s kissing buildings frame Cadence, a recently completed apartment building by Alison Brooks Architects.

Cadence by Alison Brooks Architects. PHOTO: Paul Riddle

Perched on the north end of Lewis Cubitt Park, the 16-storey tower meets the green space with an elegantly slender southern face; a simple and rectilinear red brick punctuated by a syncopated rhythm of arches, loggias and fenestration. The effect is both graceful and assertive. From the trio of arches that cap the uppermost storey, my eye is intuitively drawn down to the sidewalk, where the building’s broader base is articulated by another row of arches, delineating the public realm into a series of more intimate spaces, including storefronts and residential entrances. It invokes a fine urban grain — and adds a sense of depth – while maintaining a confident and aesthetically consistent architectural language.

PHOTO: Paul Riddle.

And in Toronto, Brooks is designing her tallest building yet; the 70-storey Western Curve on Queen’s Quay. Like Osman, Brooks is a Canadian architect in London, making the project something of a homecoming for the Welland-born and Waterloo-educated practitioner. It promises to be some homecoming. Distinguished by its terracotta cladding and rounded balconies, the building boasts a series of arched entries that elevates the public realm. And like Cadence, the Toronto tower conveys a consistent architectural language all the way along its tall body. Along the lower levels, the balconies give way to a porous emerald-green base, creating an inviting environment at the human scale.

A rendering of The Western Curve, situated alongside buildings by Henning Larsen and Adjaye Associates.

From a planning standpoint, the design promises to achieve many of the outcomes championed by planners (and articulated in Toronto’s Tall Building Guidelines) while largely eschewing North American design norms. And in a skyline dominated by generic blue-glass window walls, the terracotta cladding, bronze balcony railings and high-rise greenery promises to be a focal point. For Brooks, the tower’s assertive bearing is deeply intentional. “At a certain point in my architectural evolution, I thought ‘why do we want to make buildings float?’” she tells me in her London office.

The street level at the Western Curve.

In a philosophical sense, it is a question of architectural honesty. “Loads want to meet the ground, and one of the most poetic, expressive moments in architecture is that point of arrival with the earth,” Brooks says. “If you think of it as coming from the sky to the ground, it’s sort of celebrating that moment: ‘Here I am, I am a big building, and I’m a very heavy thing.’ In a way, a mission of mine is to restore the idea of gravity, mass and permanence in architecture. It’s making that moment where a building meets the public realm something to celebrate.”

The Western Curve is contoured to create a sheltered plaza.

On a more prosaic level, the building’s solidity signals the future. To wit, the updated Toronto Green Standard calls for a reduced window-to-wall ratio, limiting inefficient glass facades that invite solar heat gain. At The Western Curve, the use of terracotta is more than an aesthetic choice. “It’s about reducing overheating through passive design, and it’s using an earth-based material — as well as low-carbon concrete — that’s fully recyclable,” says Brooks. Not for nothing, it’ll look better than back painted spandrel glass.

While Allies and Morrison’s and Karakusevic Carson’s design languages arguably carry notes of Victorian nostalgia, Brooks’s contextually attuned buildings are also boldly contemporary. At Oxford University, for example, the rhythm of a preserved Edwardian Baroque building is translated across a new stainless steel roof that nods to its surroundings without succumbing to imitation.

The Cohen Quad at Oxford University by Alison Brooks Architects.

The contrasts are deeply intentional. “I think it’s important to be unapologetic,” says Brooks. “One of the things that happened to us as contemporary architects is that it’s weighed down by this idea that anything we build is going to be worse than anything that was there before 1900. If you’re doing an addition to a house, for example, it’s okay as long as it’s totally invisible. And, at a larger scale, the damage done to cities throughout 20th-century urban renewal — particularly in North America — has obviously shaped how we think. But I think the important thing is not to defer to history, but to be in dialogue with it.”

For a Torontonian, the point hits home. While our best practices in architecture and urban design remain heavily rooted in the idea of mitigating harms and “impacts” while preserving character, the city’s rapid evolution and radical diversity is also our cultural signature. Like most of us, I was born outside of the country, speaking another language. And I feel right at home in a city whose official motto is “Diversity, Our Strength.” Yet, this evolution often feels at odds with a building culture that treats the Victorian past as a prelapsarian Eden to be preserved at all costs. If we’re proud of the city’s evolution, shouldn’t our architecture express that? If we believe the Toronto of 2050 will be a better place than the Toronto of 1950, why does our design culture so often seem to convey the opposite idea?

It’s not up to the British to provide the answers. While the trio of architects is set to reshape the urban fabric for the better, their presence is only a complement to our own evolving culture, putting another architectural language — and the different civic values it represents — in conversation with our own. As Allies and Morrison shape new communities, standout designs by Canadian practices like Hariri Pontarini, SvN and Henriquez Partnership Architects are also driving an evolution in form and thought for master planned urbanism. Meanwhile, many of the city’s boutique practices — including gh3*, Superkül and Partisans — are experimenting with new high-rise paradigms. As Brooks puts it, it all creates a dialogue. For now, after all, the British projects are just ideas on a screen, with the messiness of construction and visible value-engineering yet to come. But it should be enough to get us thinking.

Leaving Brooks’s office, I’m running late for the flight back home. No matter the destination, I inevitably find myself excited to be back in Toronto. As the plane makes its approach to Pearson, I crane my neck out the window and snap photos of the skyline, like a tourist visiting the place for the first time. It looks different — and bigger — after every trip. This time, we’re landing in the middle of a summer haze. The sun is in my eyes and I can’t make out much. Somewhere on the horizon, the skyline is an impressionistic blur. I see the outline of a city, and my imagination fills in the rest.

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ADHOC Brings Student Housing to Montreal’s Technopôle Angus

Stefan Novakovic — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 22:44:41 +0000

There’s housing, and then there’s student housing. While the build quality of new homes varies massively across the board, apartment buildings intended for Canada’s growing post-secondary population often feel notably cheaper or more haphazardly assembled than their market-rate counterparts. Not so at Montreal’s Technopôle Angus, where local architects ADHOC have added a sensitive, sustainable and affordable new residential complex to a fast-growing neighbourhood.

Situated adjacent to the striking Cité Angus II — a recently completed residential complex notable for its innovative indoor-outdoor circulation — the six-storey Rose des Vents student apartment building comprises 123 suites, which are divided between studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments, with loft-style suites taking advantage of the tall ceilings across the top floor and the ground level. At grade, a café also animates the public realm, along with student services provided in partnership with the developer, non-profit student lodging organization UTILE (Unité de travail pour l’implantation de logement étudiant).

The infusion of affordable student housing — which helps address a long-standing local shortfall —makes the project notable in itself, but the building also asserts a distinct architectural presence alongside its design-driven neighbours. Seamlessly integrated into the generous and pedestrian-oriented public realm that ties together the Technopôle Angus community, Rose des Vents is distinguished by its aluminum mesh outer building envelope. Serving as both a solar shield and a guardrail, the locally sourced aluminum skin lends the structure a visual identity and a sense of depth, creating a sense of visual rhythm amplified by the varied fenestration.

The aluminum scrim draws the eye, but the cladding behind it plays just as pivotal a role in maintaining the building’s low energy performance. The visually simple structure features efficient high-performance rigid insulation, which is applied continuously to the exterior of the building’s structure, eliminating the extensive thermal bridging that hampers the performance of interior insulation systems. By the same principle, the exterior aluminum and steel structure carefully wraps the building without introducing thermal bridging to the interior. While such insulation systems seldom result in visually dynamic architecture, the careful and creative integration of the aluminum outer skin fosters a surprisingly elegant presence.

As part of the Technopôle Angus complex, the Rose des Vents residence also forms part of the neighbourhood’s district energy loop. The technology facilitates energy exchange between nearby buildings, optimizing efficiency on a larger scale. According to the architects, the “building achieves a 35.5 per cent better energy performance compared to a reference building meeting the 2015 CNÉB standard and shows a 51.5 per cent reduction in GHG emissions.” (In addition, three green roofs top the building).

For ADHOC, a local firm recognized for its thoughtful additions of modest density into the urban fabric, Rose des Vents marks an impressive addition to the built portfolio, characterized by deft structural innovation within an economy of means.

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Step Inside the Pink House in Toronto by Local Firm SHEEEP

Elizabeth Pagliacolo — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 13:19:00 +0000

A home is so much more than a house. Even before its transformation by local firm SHEEEP, the humble property of Nick and Chris in Toronto’s Little Portugal has long served as a cultural hub with a tacit mi casa es su casa open-door policy. It’s the favourite hangout for a group of friends that gather regularly to watch movies projected onto the home’s back wall on summer nights, to share meals and just to “crash.” The 130-square-metre abode is itself something of a social creature: It’s situated in the middle of a set of row houses dating back to the late 1800s on a lot that was cheaply built up, possibly to accommodate rail workers.

When they bought it over eight years ago, the couple split the residence into two apartments — one...

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Make Good Projects: Architecture as a Public Service

Stefan Novakovic — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 17:05:31 +0000

If you’ve ever attended an architectural talk, walking tour, film screening or panel discussion in Toronto, odds are you already know Joël León and Kurtis Chen. At the very least, you’ve seen them around. As leaders within the volunteer-led Toronto Society of Architects (TSA) — where León was recently named executive director — the pair are part of a nimble organization that punches leagues above its weight as a locus of civic advocacy. To the degree that architecture ever enters Toronto’s public consciousness, we have the TSA to thank. Not for nothing, what other architectural advocacy body could inspire such an energetic presence at Pride? And even if you’ve never been to an event, you’ve probably seen the group’s uncommonly forceful public letters on Ontario Place and the Science Centre, advocating for preservation of the city’s threatened public heritage.

While Chen and León’s work with the TSA makes them an ever-present part of the city’s architectural scene, their new firm Make Good Projects draws on the duo’s eclectic career paths and life experience to redraw the boundaries of design practice. Chen, a multiple Juno Award-winning filmmaker and producer turned Certified Passive House Designer, and León, an erstwhile political staffer and public servant who was recently named one of the youngest-ever RAIC Fellows, make for a refreshingly unconventional pair of architects. Appropriately, Make Good Projects is an emphatically unconventional studio.

The TSA’s Queer Spaces of Toronto at Pride.

Launched in 2023, the duo’s nascent firm integrates architectural and interior design with everything from storytelling and film production to graphic design, social media, research and writing projects — all with an emphasis on sustainability. It makes for a seemingly haphazard grab bag of services, but the multi-faceted identity is deeply intentional. Just as the TSA is committed to expanding the boundaries of architectural culture to engage broader publics, Make Good Projects leverages the pair’s unique skillsets to push design beyond the narrow confines of industry norms. How does that work? I caught up with Chen and León to find out.

I’ve known you both for years. For every talk or Toronto event I’ve ever been to over the past decade, the TSA has probably been involved with a good 70 per cent of them. But then, when you launched Make Good Projects last year, I was surprised and kind of embarrassed to realize I knew relatively little about you as practitioners. For architects, who love nothing more than talking about their own work, that’s pretty unusual. So how’d you get into design?

Joël León

Well, I grew up in Venezuela, which really shaped my career path and my outlook on life in general. I lived in Caracas until I was 18, and I remember in high school I either wanted to become a visual artist or a politician. And being a politician is a really high-risk sport in Venezuela — I knew that wasn’t going to work out. So I think I saw architecture as a middle point between the two, as something expressive and artistic but that can also engage social and political realities. And I’d always planned to come and study in Canada; my mom is Canadian, so the idea was that my siblings and I would live in Venezuela but then also come here and sort of experience both worlds. So then I studied at the University of Toronto.

For a while afterwards, I was kind of wandering between architecture and politics. I worked at Toronto City Hall and I worked for City Councillors, and I’d also worked at architecture offices. But neither of those things particularly satisfied me.

Kurtis Chen

I grew up in suburban Kingston in a family of first-generation immigrants, and architecture actually never occurred to me as a possibility – or even a profession really. So I didn’t study architecture to begin with. I actually started out studying film. I did my undergrad at TMU and then started working in the field right out of school. I started a production company while still in undergrad with some partners, and it actually took off. We won two Juno Awards, and a Cannes Young Lion. I don’t think we really appreciated it at the time — we were basically still just kids who were given these incredible opportunities through luck and circumstance. So it was a really amazing experience, which became especially clear in retrospect.

But it always felt like the work was temporary. The amount of effort that comes together to create a music video or TV commercial, like, the labour is incredible. The creative output is incredible. And then it lasts a moment. And then it’s over. While I was in school, I really thought I want to be a cinematographer. And when you’re looking at things as a cinematographer, you’re always framing people as subjects relative to the spaces that they’re in. But when people are watching a movie, they’re aware of the fact that they’re consuming media. Whereas in everyday life, it all feels really unexpected and subtle and almost insidious. Anyway, I guess as time went on, I became more and more interested in the spaces themselves, and I eventually went to architecture school. What’s more permanent than a building?

Chen’s film and photography work forms a crucial part of the firm’s practice. PHOTO: Yianni Tong.

Those are both atypical backgrounds for architects. The profession has a — probably somewhat toxic — mythos, where design is elevated to a sort of lifelong calling. And it’s pretty full of people who’ve never done anything else. How do your backgrounds shape your relationship to practice?

Kurtis Chen

Even when I was still thinking about going to architecture school, everyone was like “Kurtis, don’t do it. The work is boring. The money’s bad.” And before I went back to school I actually worked for an architecture firm in their marketing department, because that was the only job I could get.

And to be honest, I only really went to Daniels [the University of Toronto architecture school, where Chen got his Masters] because I didn’t want to do another undergrad, and I wanted to stay in Toronto. So I tried not to be naive about it, even though we all tell ourselves that our experience will be different, that it’ll be better somehow. But I thought, alright, let’s give this thing a go.

Joël León

I saw Venezuela go from being a very wealthy country to becoming a very poor one. And one of the things that’s stayed with me is the sense that nothing is guaranteed in life. So you have to follow what you really want in life, and do what you’re passionate about. But I also know that passion has these really terrible connotations in Canadian architecture — that passion is something that always gets exploited. Because unless you really like it, it’s not a good field to be in. But it’s a job that can have a big impact.

I think that something Kurtis picks up on as a filmmaker is that the quality of the space that we’re in can have a huge influence on our health and wellbeing. And the framing of the space helps us notice its beauty. And I don’t know if this is something that Canadians are generally aware of, but the the quality of our built environments also leads to some really bad experiences, when we treat our surroundings through the lens of what’s most cost effective.

Developed in collaboration with Victoria Taylor Landscape Architect, a design by Make Good Projects received an Honourable Mention at the OAA Landscape Reconnect competition.

Before starting Make Good Projects, both of you worked for a variety of design firms. How did those experiences shape your outlook? And what prompted you to start your own practice?

Joël León

A big part of it is rooted in how architecture intersects with the politics of wealth and social equity. To be fair, we can definitely accept that there are wealthy people who can do things that the rest of us can’t. So you can have luxurious homes within a society, but then, you’d better conserve those homes so that they can become converted to something else in the future. In many countries, you go to an opulently beautiful public building that used to be someone’s palace. So the good thing about those expensive private villas is they can eventually become public. But that isn’t the relationship we have with our buildings in North America. We build out these private houses with such an insane degree of customized luxury — and then the next buyer never wants to keep it. It all gets completely renovated or outright demolished and all of that value is lost.

It gets really hard to work on those kinds of projects. It’s basically impossible to be a good designer when you no longer have empathy for your clients. I got to that point. I remember one project in particular, I was designing someone’s closet in Rosedale. This closet was bigger than my apartment, but they were complaining that it was too small. “Where are my husband and I supposed to put our stuff?” And I’m like, “I don’t know?” I couldn’t relate to their life at all. And if I can’t relate to my client, and I can’t have empathy for them, then how can I design for them?

Kurtis Chen

I think that’s why we both left our jobs. I’ll admit to the fact that I’m a terrible employee, I never last anywhere, and it was always inevitable I’d leave whatever job to do something like this. But feeling disconnected from our clients was a big factor. Like Joël, I reached a point where I didn’t have empathy anymore. Like you have clients complaining about the size of their dog shower. I don’t care.

And architects are like that too. The reality is that if you’re the principal of an architecture firm today, more than likely your parents are loaded. And look, to be sitting here having this conversation at all, it means that all of us are really privileged and lucky, but neither of us come from that type of background. Either way, I don’t think our profession should be about serving that class of people.

León on site at a laneway house by Make Good Projects.

Joël León: It all depends on how you understand the politics of architecture. Living in a country with huge income disparities, you understand the value of housing differently. 50 per cent of Caracas is shanty towns, it’s self-built housing. People build their own homes in an earthquake region, and they’re all built on top of each other — you have up to a million people living in what is essentially one continuous building. The problems with it are obvious, and it gives rise to this idea of architecture foremost as a social service, as a way of trying to address and repair that condition. It’s the idea that serving the public is the most fundamental part of architecture. I don’t think that idea really exists yet in North America.

Maybe we’re taking small steps to get there. Make Good Projects broke ground on a laneway rental home at the turn of the year, and you’ve worked with artist Safoura Zahedi to create a short film about her “Journey Through Geometry” installation. The firm has also produced video work for the TSA’s portfolio and resume clinic, and was recently awarded an Honourable Mention for the OAA’s Landscape Reconnect competition. How do these projects reflect your ethos?

The firm is nearing completion on a laneway rental property in downtown Toronto.

Joël León

We take on projects that are value-aligned. As a small practice, you obviously have to balance your ideals with paying the bills, so oftentimes firms end up taking projects that aren’t a great fit. We don’t have an office and I have another job [as executive director of the TSA], which allows us to stay afloat when there’s not a lot out there. And it’s not glamorous. We work out of my home office, and it’s messy and it’s too small. But that’s how it is.

But we’re trying to stay true to our principles. With the laneway house, for example, our client wants to rent it out. And Kurtis and I are both renters, so we always try to see the project from that point of view. What would a renter want? It can be something as simple as getting an IKEA kitchen, because the first thing a renter is gonna do is buy whatever shelf or accessory and seamlessly put it in there. And we discuss every choice in detail to to specify sustainable, long-lasting materials.

For whatever project we take on, the hope is that our interdisciplinary outlook can lead to more creative, honest problem-solving. We talk to the client and try to come up with the best possible solution. Maybe you need a new building? Maybe you actually need to renovate your building, or rethink the program? Or maybe the crux of the problem is actually just wayfinding? In some cases, maybe the most effective solution is actually to design a new website.

Kurtis Chen

We want people to love our buildings, and we want people to love buildings in general, because the greenest building is the building that you don’t need to build. And a big part of fostering that realization is having advocates, because we can see that when the community stands behind a building or project, it can be very, very powerful thing. So what we preach as part of the TSA is also what we try to do as a practice. To promote an honest and accessible approach.

And that goes for how we think about photography and media too. When we photograph the laneway house, will we just show it as a pristine, empty and spotless place? Do you photograph it before? Do you photograph it after? Do you rent furniture just for the photoshoot? I think we’ll also take photos with the tenant moved in, and even if the walls are a little scuffed up, it shows the reality of living in this place.

However the tenant chooses to live is part of the story of that space. I think it’s part of the storytelling that we do as communicators, but also something that we can learn from as designers. What are the qualities of the house that they enjoy and that we didn’t anticipate. I think that’s a lot more interesting than the fly through videos that every architecture firm commissions for some reason. You don’t get anything from them. It’s just a more expensive version of a photo.

And even though the laneway house budget was tight, we didn’t compromise on the fee. We pretty much stuck to the RAIC fee guide, which I know is often more aspiration than reality. But I think we can deliver real value without devaluing ourselves.

***

Make Good’s Kurtis Chen will be speaking at a workshop on adaptive reuse and low-carbon retrofit strategies as part of our Human/Nature conference. AZURE is also partnering with the TSA for an immersive field trip across the Toronto waterfront during the two-day event.

Want to learn more? AZURE’s Human/Nature Conference takes place at the George Brown College Waterfront Campus on October 24-25. More information is available via our dedicated website. Tickets are on sale now!

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