Tag: design

• Zaha Hadid’s Miami condo is on the market for $4,350 psf

  Today, Google is celebrating the famed Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid, who died last March (2016) in Miami of a sudden heart attack.

  She was the first woman ever to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which is the prize of all prizes for architects.

  Here is Google’s front page:

  

  The building that is featured is the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan. It’s an extraordinary piece of architecture. And in case you aren’t familiar with it, below is a Red Bull video of Maksim Kruglov skateboarding the building and its grounds. The building is just screaming to be skated. (Click here if you can’t see it below.)

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7lEGbAIU6M&w=560&h=315]

  I’m not exactly sure why Google chose today to feature Hadid. Initially I thought it might be the anniversary of her death, but she died in March. Whatever the case may be, a quick search revealed that her Miami condo was just listed for $10,000,000. That’s probably not what they are celebrating.

  It’s located at 2201 Collins Avenue (Unit 730) in the W Hotel Miami Beach. It’s 2,299 sf and features a totally separate guest apartment, which itself has one bedroom. The main suite was initially 2 units, but Zaha had them combined into a generous one bedroom.

  Only $4,350 per square foot.

  Below is a quick video prepared by the broker. You don’t need the sound on for this one. (Click here if you can’t see it below.)

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CD_xwYPbf8&w=560&h=315]

  2017.05.31

• So is this Brutalism or not?

  

  The Spaces just featured 21 Scott Street in Bronte (a suburb of Sydney) as its property of the week. (The home is currently listed.)

  Designed by MCK Architects, the home is also called the “Upsilon House” and was supposedly designed for a fashion-industry couple.

  Two things should immediately stand out to you about the house. One is how long and narrow the site and house are.

  Here is a lengthwise view of the main living floor:

  

  Based on the plans provided by The Agency (listing agency), the house is about ~3.9m wide. That’s because of its tight site. However, the clerestory windows that run the length of the house would provide ample light.

  The other thing that should stand out is all of the exposed concrete. The Spaces calls it “soft brutalism.” I personally love it, but I recognize that it’s not for everyone.

  In any event, it reminded me of a recent blog post by Witold Rybczynski in which he responded to the New York Times calling Habitat in Montreal a brutalist building. His rebuttal: that’s a gross over-simplification. Brutalism, in its truest sense, is about dramatizing the “rough character of concrete.”

  But I particularly enjoyed how he ended the post:

  “There is another litmus test of Brutalism. Buildings like Habitat remain popular with their users. If people don’t hate it, it can’t be Brutalist.”

  If that’s the case, then 21 Scott is certainly not Brutalism in my book.

  Images via MCK Architects

  2017.05.30

• Building Tour: Oben Flats Leslieville

  

  I toured Oben Flats Leslieville today, which is a 48-unit purpose-built rental building at 1075 Queen Street East in Leslieville (Toronto). It was designed by superkül. 

  Oben Flats is doing some very cool things, so I would encourage you to check them out if you’re in the market for a new luxury rental (or you just want to nerd out about property). The image at the top of this post is the west view from the rooftop terrace.

  Here are 3 things that stood out for me:

  1. One of the interior amenity spaces for the building is actually on the ground floor attached to the main entrance. There’s a fireplace, a wet bar, a set of wine fridges and free wifi. Oben Flats hosts regular events in this space, but I was told that residents also regularly hang out in it. They’ll bring their laptop down and have a glass of wine. 

  What I like about this is that it encourages social interaction within a multi-family building typology. I would love to see more of this kind of thinking. Part of the reason you live in a city is to interact with other humans.

  2. Oben Flats has developed their own signature scent and regularly curates a music playlist with the help of BELLOSOUND. Both of these items are pumped throughout the common areas of the building, which is not that dissimilar from what you might find in some luxury hotels. I have one of their candles sitting on my desk right now, so my office smells like Oben Flats. I’m into it.

  3. Another unique feature of the building is the fully automated hydraulic car-stacking system. Here’s a photo of what the guts of that looks like:

  

  There are 3 platforms in each bay (the bottom one is below-grade in the above picture). And there’s always one empty spot so that the platforms are able to shuffle around both horizontally and vertically. However, as a user, you never see this. You simply hit a button and drive into your bay. It’s always the same one.

  I’ve said many times before on this blog that I think we will see way more of these types of parking solutions

  in the city

  going forward.

  There are other cool things I could mention about the building, but it’s far too nice out to sit at my desk any longer. Before I sign off though, I should mention that this is in no way a sponsored post. I simply admire what Oben Flats is doing. 

  See you tomorrow.

  2017.05.18

• We’re working with superkül

  

  Today I am excited to announce that we are working with superkül architects on a new mid-rise condo project here in Toronto. Details about the site and project to follow.

  I am excited about this for a few reasons.

  It should go without saying that I love their work. Check out Compass House, SHIFT Cottage, Harbord Towns, and Oben Flats Queen East.

  You may also notice that they work at a variety of different scales and have a lot of single-family / custom home work. This was important to us because one of our goals for this project is to create really great homes within a boutique building. Emphasis on home.

  The other exciting piece is that one of the founding principals of superkül – Meg Graham – was one of my professors in architecture school. So there’s a sense of coming full circle.

  This matters to me because when I became a developer I told myself that I was going to be the kind of developer that gave a shit about design and actively worked to improve the built environment.

  I guess what I’m saying is that there’s a feeling of continuity. I haven’t forgotten where I came from, which was the world of architecture.

  Image: Blok Design

  2017.05.09

• A sneak peek of One Spadina Crescent

  Earlier this week I got a sneak peek of One Spadina Crescent – the new building for the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto. 

  The renovation and addition was designed by the Boston-based firm NADAAA. And let me tell you, it’s absolutely spectacular.

  I was in a rush at the time and I didn’t have my real camera on me, but I managed to quickly grab this snap:

  

  It’s of the third floor. 

  What you see in the middle are steps leading down to an “open bleacher space” that functions as a crit space and as an oculus that brings light into the core of the building. In the middle of the building is a large flex space.

  Because the building effectively sits in the middle of Spadina Avenue, the windows on the right side (above) look directly up the street, as if you were standing in the middle of it. I wish I had betters photos to share with you all.

  When you’re an architecture student, you spend almost all of your waking time in studio. I can certainly think of worse buildings to be cooped up in. I’m excited to see it in full swing come September.

  Click here if you’d like to see renderings of the building.

  2017.05.05

• Introducing lanewaylove.com — my laneway house is back!

  One of the most widely read posts on this blog is this one here, called: Why it’s next to impossible to get a laneway house built in Toronto. Clearly, there’s a tremendous amount of interest in this housing type both here in the city and elsewhere.

  Since I wrote that past over 2 years ago, I have been bombarded with emails from people asking me the status of the project and if I could help them achieve something similar on their properties. And my response was always the same: sorry, the project is on hold.

  But over the last few years, things have changed. Home prices have risen dramatically in this city. At the beginning of 2017, the average price of a detached house reached almost $1.6 million – representing a year-over-year increase of nearly 30%!

  In part because of this, laneway housing has also entered mainstream consciousness thanks to groups and initiatives such as The Laneway Project, Lanescape, Evergreen, the University of Toronto, and so on. There are now Councillors advocating for them within City Hall, which was not the case even a few years ago.

  Given all of these changes, I decided that it was time to dust off my laneway house design and make a serious go at it. So I called up my architect friend Gabriel Fain and asked him if he would help me pioneer this new housing typology. He immediately said yes.

  Last week a revised version of Mackay Laneway House was submitted to the city, kick-starting the approvals process. Here’s a rendering showing the north elevation (view from existing house):

  

  The next step will be a trip to the Committee of Adjustment to obtain the necessary variances. But even with all of the momentum building in the city right now around more affordable housing solutions, this will not be a slam dunk. 

  So in parallel to all of this, we have also launched a new website called lanewaylove.com. Here you will find general information about laneway housing, as well as floor plans of the proposal. But most importantly, we hope it will serve as a tool to generate support for this and other laneway houses in Toronto.

  At the bottom of the site is a link that will allow you to support Mackay Laneway House by submitting your name, email, and postal code. The reason it also asks for your postal code is so that we can anonymously match supporters with specific areas of the city. We think this will be valuable information going forward.

  If you believe that Toronto would be well-served by more affordable and sustainable housing solutions, I would encourage you to sign your name at lanewaylove.com and share this post with your network. We would greatly appreciate your support.

  Here we go!

  2017.05.01

• E20_Private Residence

  The private residence below is located on a quiet street in the village of Pliezhausen – about 30 km south of Stuttgart. Designed by Steimle Architekten, the house is 376 square meters and sits on a 658 square meter property. Its insulated concrete shell is 50 cm thick. All photos by Brigida González.

  

  2017.04.25

• rain gravity heat cold

  

  Today I got a copy of rain gravity heat cold. It’s a book by the Toronto-based architecture firm superkül and it’s meant to celebrate their first 10 years of practice. 

  The book itself was put together by Blok Design. Blok has also done a new – yet to be rolled out – identity for superkül. (Definitely worth a click through.)

  One thing I wanted to highlight from the foreword of the book (written by Kiel Moe) is this line: “Great design does not respond to a static sense of context but rather perhaps transforms its flaws into assets and certainly amplifies the potential of site.”

  We often talk about contextual architecture. That is, architecture which responds to and is sensitive to its surroundings. But here’s the idea that responding is, in fact, not enough. The ambition should be “amplification of site through design.” 

  I like that a lot.

  If you’d like a copy of the book, it can be found on Amazon, at the University of Toronto bookstore, as well as, I’m sure, other places.

  2017.04.01

• Short term, lasting impact

  

  NXT City and Pavilion Project are hosting an event on March 23, 2017 here in Toronto (at the Drake Hotel) called Short Term, Lasting Impact. 

  It’s all about how “temporary, low-cost and scalable [urban] interventions” can bring about lasting / meaningful change within our cities.

  Here’s some info on the panelists / topics:

  Matt Rubinoff, Tusk Global // STACKT

  This temporary shipping container market proposes a visionary complex with everything from retail and restaurants to studio spaces and a brewery. What are some of the challenges of bringing an unconventional project to life?

  Rui Pimenta & Layne Hinton, Art Spin // IN/FUTURE ART FESTIVAL

  This art experience reclaimed a beloved Toronto space, transforming it briefly through a multidisciplinary art and music festival. What opportunities can site-specific events bring to celebrate underused spaces?

  Michael McLelland, ERA Architects // PORTLANDS PROJECT
  

  There are many long-term and competing visions for Toronto’s Portlands. How do we make best use of this prime city site today? How can short-term planning inform a future agenda and create critical cultural space in the near-term?

  I know the folks behind both of these non-profits (NXT City and Pavilion Project), and so I am happy to support this event. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here.

  2017.03.09

• Die Es

  

  To celebrate the launch of their Guide to Cosy Homes (2015), Monocle Films produced a number of home tours. 

  Die Es, pictured above, is the home of South African architects Gawie and Gwen Fagan. They started building their home in 1964, just as they were starting their practice. 

  Because of this, they had little money and had to do a lot of the work themselves. They sold their car to buy a concrete mixer.

  Although they didn’t set out to explicitly design a “Cape” house, it ended up that way, with heavy thermal masses, white walls, and so on. 

  The architecture also relates very closely to the surrounding landscape – as it should – in the way in which it frames views of the water and mountains. 

  The mediterranean climate also really comes through in the materiality of the home and the connections to outside.

  If you’d like to watch the 5 minute tour of Die Es, click here.

  2017.02.17