Daily insights for city builders, delivered every morning at 6 AM ET. I’m Brandon Donnelly — a Toronto-based real estate developer and founder of Globizen. I’ve been writing here since 2013.
We have been working with Vanderbrand for many years. They are the creative agency behind both Junction House and One Delisle. We love the work that they do. It’s beautiful, and they have always managed to get our vision behind each project.
In the case of Junction House, we wanted something clean and simple that at the same time responded to the creative edginess of the Junction neighborhood.
And in the case of One Delisle, we wanted something elevated but that wasn’t traditional or typical. One Delisle is all about pioneering architecture and the brand needed to reflect that (we ended up creating our own typeface that will be carried through into the completed building).
If you’re interested in learning more, Vanderbrand has just updated their website to include a full “case study” on One Delisle. You can check that out over here. Below are a few of my favorite images.
In the world of development, there is something known as a floor space index (FSI). Some places call it a floor area ratio (FAR), but they mean the same thing. It is one measure of density. To calculate it, you simply divide the total building area by the site area. For example, if you had a 25,000 square foot piece of land and you were to build a single storey building that occupied every bit of the site (also 25,000 sf), you would have an FSI or FAR of 1.0. If you built a two storey building on only half of the site, you would similarly have an FSI or FAR of 1.0. The area didn’t change, you just moved things around. That’s how FSI’s work.
A ratio like this tells you how intensely you may be using a piece of land, but it doesn’t tell you everything or necessarily give you the full picture. Which is why I find it silly when too much emphasis is placed on this singular number. I don’t think anyone in the history of the world has ever traveled to a city — let’s take Paris — and remarked how beautiful it is because of its floor space indices. Nobody thinks like this. It’s way too esoteric. What guides our experiences is built form, the ground plane, relationships to streets, materiality, light, context, and many other important things.
To give a specific example, let’s take One Delisle. This project was in effect approved twice. After it was approved by City Council in July 2020 an adjacent land parcel was acquired. It wasn’t absolutely necessary to do this, but we felt it made for better city building and so we did it. (We wanted to look back knowing we did the right thing.) That meant that we needed to go back to Council to revise our approvals, which ended up happening at the beginning of this year (public staff report, here). There was no change to the tower and and no change to any of the key setbacks or stepbacks. But the overall FSI did go down!
Will anyone notice or care about this lower ratio? I doubt it. Which is why I think it’s silly to try and plan our cities around them. It feels like design by spreadsheet. Thankfully, I think many people recognize this.
Some of you might remember that back in June I wrote about One Delisle being a finalist for four 2021 BILD Awards. One of them was the People’s Choice Award, where I also mentioned that voting would open in August. Well, it is now August (yes, already) and voting is open. If you’d like to cast a vote, you can do that over here. (No login necessary.) There are some wonderful projects on this top 10 list. But in my entirely biased opinion, One Delisle is the project for you.
This is probably the most noteworthy awards program in the development industry here in the Greater Toronto Area. And so I am pretty excited to announce that One Delisle is a finalist for the following awards:
Project of the Year, Mid/High-Rise (Pinnacle Award)
People’s Choice Award (Voting Opens August 2021)
Best Suite Design, Large — West Penthouse Residence
Best Innovative Suite Design – Sky Collection Suite
The full list can be found over here (PDF). All of the finalists’ work is also going to be posted on the BILD Awards website before the end of this week.
The actual winners will be announced this fall at the Awards Gala on October 7, 2021. I’m not sure if it has been decided yet whether it will be in person or online, but we all know that in person would be much better. Let’s hope that will be the case.
Given the good news, our office decided that it was probably a good idea to make a few margaritas this evening:
Whatever the end result, we are thrilled to be a finalist.
We are also a past recipient of the “Best Innovative Suite Design” award, which was given to our House Collection of suites at Junction House. So I guess we like working our floor plans.
Congratulations to the full One Delisle team. This is well deserved.
Last week was the official broker launch for One Delisle. In normal times, we would have packed the house and done a fun in-person event involving food, and probably some negronis. Instead, Lucas, Riz, and I did a livestream from the sales gallery at Yonge & St. Clair.
That video is now available online (embedded above and here). You’ll have to get past our hair (Lucas and I are both in desperate need of a cut), but otherwise it’s pretty cool. Shoutout to Veronica for pulling everything together and making it awesome.
If you’d like to schedule an appointment at the sales gallery, send a note to sales@onedelisle.com. Please also feel free to contact me directly (or copy me on the email to the sales team). If you’re interested, I would encourage you to act quickly as demand has been incredibly strong.
The last year has been challenging for the hospitality industry. But at the same time, it was a good year to renovate. The W South Beach recently unveiled a $30 million renovation project that includes all 357 rooms. Designed by local studio Urban Robot Associates, the project directive was an interesting one. The team was asked to reimagine the hotel for the “new Miami.” A Miami that is more grown up and cultured, but that, of course, still has a bit of an edge. With all of the attention that Miami and Florida are getting right now, this project feels timely and indicative of something broader underway. Indeed, it’s hard not to acknowledge that Miami is having a moment right now. This also happens to be one of the last hotels that I stayed at prior to last March’s lockdown. So I have a clear “before” in my mind. It’s fun to see how much it has changed over the last year while I was mostly sitting at home. (Shameless plug: I also love the pale wood herringbone floors, which, coincidentally, will also be on offer at One Delisle.)
The Urban Land Institute Toronto is hosting an event and panel discussion on April 8, 2021 about the future of high-rises in our cities. Here’s the blurb:
Against the backdrop of the pandemic and its toll, what is the future of high-rises in our cities? What role do tall towers now play in shaping Toronto’s identity? While the pandemic has accelerated existing large trends, residential tall towers are proving the durability of a quality urban centre and hyper-urban lifestyles in Toronto and around the world.
An introduction will be provided by James Parakh (author, Fellow of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, and Urban Design Manager for the Toronto & East York District) and then a discussion will be moderated by Robyn Player (Director, BTY).
The discussion will be focused on what ULI is calling three of Toronto’s most exciting tower projects under development: Pinnacle One Yonge, One Delisle, and 11 Yorkville.
I will be on the panel (talking One Delisle) alongside Lee Koutsaris (VP, Sales and Marketing, Metropia) and Anson Kwok (VP, Sales and Marketing, Pinnacle International).
If you’d like to register, you can do that over here. It should be a great/timely conversation.
Last month I wrote a post introducing the One Delisle video series. Well, in case you missed it, the next two episodes in the series are now out, which you can watch over here. My personal favorite (so far) is episode two. It’s about city building at Yonge & St. Clair and a goal that Slate set for itself to do “one cool thing each year.” That thing has ranged from murals to streetscape improvements, and has included work from artists such as birdO (aka Jerry Rugg). If you aren’t familiar with his work, have a look over here.
Today I am excited to share the first episode in a new film series about One Delisle and the surrounding neighborhood of Yonge and St. Clair in midtown Toronto. Created for Slate Asset Management by the award-winning UK filmmakers, Raspberry and Jam, the series is about telling the story of how Studio Gang’s first ever project in Canada came to be. (Hint: It started with a neighborhood and not with an individual building.) Episode one is called “A Renaissance at Yonge and St. Clair” and you can view it over at onedelisle.com. Stay tuned for episode two and for the upcoming launch of One Delisle this spring.
Toronto will soon be home to One Delisle — the first residential building in Canada designed by visionary architect, Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang.
Jeanne Gang is known for challenging the stylistic and technical parameters of architecture. Named one of the most influential people in the world by TIME 100 in 2019, Gang is a MacArthur Fellow and a leading advocate for gender equality in the field of architecture and design.
Gang and her eponymous studio are responsible for some of the world’s most diverse and compelling buildings and spaces. One Delisle, as seen in the rendering above, will break from convention and refresh Toronto’s skyline. The rhythmic exterior maximizes natural light, views, and outdoor living for residents.
One Delisle was revealed this evening for the first time to a select group of Toronto’s top real estate brokers. Follow #onedelisle on IG for some of the reactions. It was done online via a livestream, which was exceptional for what it was, but is obviously not as great as being in one room together. That time will return.
At this point, we are thrilled to announce that we are opening up “limited registration” for the project. If you’d like to register your interest, you can do that now at onedelisle.com. However, to register at this phase of the project, you’ll need to pay a one-time fee of C$150.
Why are we doing that?
We’re doing it to ensure that those who are genuinely interested in a One Delisle residence get first access to the project when it launches next year. Anyone who registers during this “limited registration” phase will be guaranteed a private appointment at our sales gallery before the general public.
So what else do you get?
In addition to first access — including first access to the project’s terrace suites — limited registrants will receive a copy of Studio Gang: Architecture (retail price, US$100), an invitation to our One Delisle Film Series, an invitation to our launch event (including a talk with Jeanne Gang), as well as other exclusive news and updates.
The other thing I’d like to point out about the project’s website is that the animation you see on the homepage (pictured above) will, in fact, change depending on the time of day wherever you are and when you visit the website.
This allows you to get a feel for how the architecture might respond to light and shadow throughout the day and how it might be illuminated at night. What you’re seeing above is an artist’s impression of that night view.
For more information and to register your interest, visit onedelisle.com.
