Praeservare illustrates a different method to designing within the constraints of heritage buildings in Toronto, Ontario.

Type: Residential and Office

Location: Toronto, Canada

Structure: Concrete and Steel

Area: 44,390 m2

Floors: 58

Year: 2017

Criteria: Preservation through adjacency and friction

Professor: George Baird (Emeritus)

School: University of Toronto Daniels Faculty

Intending to fully preserve the heritage building below, positions of adjacency and friction were implemented. The new building abuts and hovers above the old with amenity spaces the same size as the old heritage structure creating consequential drama between the new and old structures.

Important to the hierarchy between the new and old, the new building’s ground floor is simple. This simplification functions as a blender between its adjacency and surrounding context.

Accessibility became a concern as new means for disposal  (garbage and recycling) and occupant move-ins/outs happen. The rear alleyway, just large enough for one vehicle to pass, became the key to these concerns by hosting and alleviating any negative visuals from refuge collection and larger delivery and moving vehicles. Further, this allowed for a smaller entry to the resident car parking structure below grade at the front of the building.

Lastly, the structure became an apparatus of the buildings appearance and expression. Externally expressed columns created a reading of depth between it and the floor plates and windows which are modulated by the grids taken from the heritage building. This difference in depth creates privacy and a varied reading of the facade.

Praeservare illustrates a different method to designing within the constraints of heritage buildings in Toronto, Ontario.

Type: Residential and Office

Location: Toronto, Canada

Structure: Concrete and Steel

Area: 44,390 m2

Floors: 58

Year: 2017

Criteria: Preservation through adjacency and friction

Professor: George Baird (Emeritus)

School: University of Toronto Daniels Faculty

Intending to fully preserve the heritage building below, positions of adjacency and friction were implemented. The new building abuts and hovers above the old with amenity spaces the same size as the old heritage structure creating consequential drama between the new and old structures.

Important to the hierarchy between the new and old, the new building’s ground floor is simple. This simplification functions as a blender between its adjacency and surrounding context.

Accessibility became a concern as new means for disposal  (garbage and recycling) and occupant move-ins/outs happen. The rear alleyway, just large enough for one vehicle to pass, became the key to these concerns by hosting and alleviating any negative visuals from refuge collection and larger delivery and moving vehicles. Further, this allowed for a smaller entry to the resident car parking structure below grade at the front of the building.

Lastly, the structure became an apparatus of the buildings appearance and expression. Externally expressed columns created a reading of depth between it and the floor plates and windows which are modulated by the grids taken from the heritage building. This difference in depth creates privacy and a varied reading of the facade.