It might seem a bit premature to include in a guide to Toronto’s housing, a building that will not be completed before its publication, but doing so might not be unreasonable at a time when new building types and approaches are emerging with startling rapidity. District Lofts is one of the most adventurous of the many new residential buildings that have been made possible by the declaration in 1995 of a “Reinvestment Area” south of Queen Street. The relaxed zoning made it feasible to build on an otherwise unpromising centre-block site in the dense warehouse district just east of Spadina Avenue.

The architects have responded to the difficult site with a parking-podium solution that specifies three levels of parking for residents below grade and three more public-access parking levels above grade. Although the parking garage may not improve the street, which is one-way and carries fast and heavy traffic, it will elevate most of the units above the 401 Richmond building that stands directly to the south, thereby improving views and exposure. The building is organized as two narrow slabs parallel to the street, forming an interior courtyard. This creates a condition where half of the units will not have an orientation to a major street, and it is hoped that the dual exposure of the two-storey through-units that begin at the seventh floor will compensate for the increased enclosure. The circulation in the building is more complex than the Twenty Niagara condominium by the same architects; here 148 units are served by the same number of elevators that serve 21 units at Twenty Niagara. Exterior bridges will span the west side of the courtyard linking the required exits. The courtyard itself, begins on the sixth floor, above the parking and communal facilities, but it will be eight stories deep, something quite untried in Canadian residential building.

Kenneth Hayes