Thoughtful designs for a city’s essential main street building stock

Thoughtful designs for a city’s essential main street building stock

As projects that enrich their communities in Toronto’s Upper Beaches, the intricacies of Phase 1 and 2 of the Southwood were carefully considered to fit within their urban fabric in their own ways. While both structures are cost-effective, mid-rise structures of six storeys—clad in modern grey brick masonry to reflect the neighbourhood as well as composite dark bronze metal panels and window wall systems for architectural expressions—each has a unique approach to achieving synchronicity with the street they share.

As an infill residential structure, Phase 1 stands out through how it merges with its site’s constraints. At street level, its use of landscaping separates ground floor residences from the sidewalk with a green screen of trees and bushes framed by concrete planters for greater privacy, which also creates public space alongside the building. Situated on a site that slopes down into the valley behind it and designed around surrounding heritage trees, Phase 1’s context focuses on and fulfills a balanced separation between end users and the public while leaving room for nature to flourish around it.       

By contrast, Phase 2 of the Southwood exhibits a greater permeability between private life and the community. As a cornerstone of its neighbourhood, its structure embraces its central address by offering a mixed-use environment with a retail offering on its ground floor. Above, amply balconied floors with bird-safe glazing place residents in greater contact with their street, all crowned by a penthouse unit with views of Lake Ontario. On its eastern side, Phase 2 nimbly transitions into two, three-storey townhouse structures to maximize its site with a sensible approach to its preexisting neighbourhood. In doing so, Phase 2 was able to include space for its parking garage’s entryway below the townhouses, accessible via a rear laneway.

Diligently designed to offer much-needed density to Toronto’s essential main street building stock, both Phase 1 and 2 of the Southwood may contains their own intricacies, but they are united in their approach: Creating calm and gentle addresses that serve the next chapter in a city’s exponential growth with thoughtful, community-minded structures.