Andy Song
Most people have probably overlooked the bustling plot of dirt, steel and machines at King and Spadina, but it's soon to be one of the greatest architectural landmarks in all of Toronto. A joint project between BIG Group and Diamond Schmitt Architects, KING Toronto -- targeting gold-level LEED certification -- will be a paragon of sustainable architecture right here in the heart of downtown Toronto.
KING Toronto is a high-end apartment building currently under construction (set to open in the upcoming years). In this blog post, I'll be going over the inspiration of the project, how KING Toronto connects to the case study, and observations about KING Toronto's unique design.
Case Study: Habitat 67 & Prefabrication
To begin, let's take a look at the architectural project that inspired Ingels to design KING Toronto this way -- Israeli architect Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67 from Expo 67. Habitat 67 explored 2 main themes considered revolutionary in architecture at the time: prefabrication and experimental apartment design.
Prefabrication, "the assembly of buildings or their components at a location other than the building site" (definition brought to you by Encyclopedia Britannica), works much better with modular compartments like that of Habitat 67 and KING Toronto because it's cheaper and more efficient; in a controlled manufacturing environment away from the site of the building, more skilled workers can work with higher productivity. The process is also more sustainable than orthodox construction because extra materials and waste can be collected to be reused or disposed of properly.
So, a question that popped up in my head immediately was: how do these "prefab" compartments stay connected and stable? My understanding before was that larger-scale buildings required some sort of foundation (like a concrete column grid) to keep it firmly standing. I ended up doing a bit of research, and found that prefabrication uses something called inter-module connections to hold each module together (I also found that this stuff was way above my pay grade, so I'll probably revisit it in the future).
As shown in this image, the inter-module connectors are basically joints holding each module's columns together. I'm still not sure how prefab buildings support the weight of all these levels, which is probably why they tend to be shorter.
KING Toronto's Connection to Case Study
One of the key philosophies behind Habitat 67 was to provide each module of the apartment building with qualities of a surburban home, which Safdie thought entailed privacy, gardens, and direct access (streets over corridors). Safdie had a catchphrase, "for everyone a garden", that emphasized this idea.
Comparison of KING Toronto (left) and Habitat 67 (right)
Bjarke Ingels says:
"With King Toronto, we wanted to find an alternative to the tower and podium you see a lot of in Toronto and revisit some of Safdie's revolutionary ideas, but rather than a utopian experiment on an island, have it nested into the heart of the city. It would be strange if one of the most diverse cities in the world had the most homogenous architecture."
KING Toronto's staggered ascending levels allow for every module to have a penthouse view, with their own rooftop gardens -- building off Habitat 67's core ideas. Furthermore, KING Toronto's modules are built to mimics mountains and valleys, another connection to nature subtly implanted in this project's design.
Observations and Conjectures
One of the defining features of KING Toronto is its tilted modules -- at exactly 45 degrees relative to the street; along with the massive panes of glass, this feature maximizes the natural light every module gets in a day, which is crucial for such a large condo complex. The greenery on the facades of KING Toronto isn't just there to further the concept of "for everyone a garden" but it also adds to aesthetics -- masking the boring metal compound behind.
From this image, one drawback I would note is the light pollution from the reflective surfaces (and those weird orbs at the top right of the image). The lush greenery covers a lot of it up, but the final result might change with how construction goes, as the project is still in the works.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, I doubt I'll get to see the final product for a while because construction in Toronto is pretty slow; local readers all understand the struggles of going through the construction chaos on Eglinton Avenue. However, I'm keeping my expectations high and I'll be eagerly following the project as it develops.
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