TORONTO’S NEXT BIG BUILDING
02 Mar 2016
A staggered roofline and verdant terraces are the central highlight of the latest design from BIG studio. Incorporating private green spaces, the modular design promises to become a unique feature of the Toronto skyline.
Barke Ingels' firm has unveiled designs for a major residential development in downtown Toronto that shows a pixilated-looking roofline creating a series of rising peaks, which are topped by verdant rooftop terraces with impressive city views. The project will be BIG’S third project in Canada.
Located between King Street West and Wellington Street in Toronto’s entertainment district, the unconventional multi-storey building will house 500 apartments of varying sizes and layouts, set around a central courtyard.
Renderings of the design show a stacked cube arrangement beneath a roofline of varying heights, topped by an abundance of greenery on private terraces. The cube-shaped modules that make up the design will sit at different angles, allowing more light to filter into the spaces and creating the unique profile of the building.
While the project is predominantly designed for residential dwellings, the lower floors will offer a range of retail and commercial spaces. A courtyard at the centre of the building will serve as a communal space for residents, but openings at ground level will also allow public access for pedestrians to walk through the courtyard.
Developed by Westbank and Allied Properties, the building’s five ‘towers’ will stand between 15 and 17 storeys in height an cover approximately 67,000 sqm. It is described by Ingels as “A Mediterranean mountain town”.
Ingels claims, "The scale of the project is so broken down that it almost looks like a bundle of homes rather than a big new building”.
