Is this infill suitable for Toronto?

[RedRocket191]

The building itself is ugly, but I like how it steps back from the street before going up. It's good planning, just bad architecture / choice of colour.

 

[junctionist]

Toronto can always spread outwards and there are endless spots to build condos in Toronto. If not at Queen street west why not near Queen and Gladstone???


See NY has these set urban area where it can't really expand while Toronto can just keep on expanding its urban core into the less urban areas no problem.

That is why TO or even Chicago cannot become like NY/

Toronto has many heritage retail areas that people want to live because they're pedestrian friendly and have interesting shops and restaurants. Established low rise neighbourhoods create barriers to the expansion of downtown. The major roads are where a lot can be added, but at the expense of losing heritage blocks. This building style shows that the existing streetscape doesn't have to disappear for intensification, and the addition also works well in the sense that it respects the original width.

The building itself is ugly, but I like how it steps back from the street before going up. It's good planning, just bad architecture / choice of colour.

Those are my thoughts exactly.

 

[janschot]

My firm designed the beige stucco-covered building on the left of this one in the first photo. Our building is one of the last single room occupancy buildings (SROs) on the Bowery, which used to be home to many of them.
One of the noteworthy aspects of this infill project is that it lines up with the end of Spring Street, providing a nice bookend to a path through NoLIta.

 

[Edward Skira]

janschot finally returns to UT. Welcome back.

 

[Tewder]

See NY has these set urban area where it can't really expand while Toronto can just keep on expanding its urban core into the less urban areas no problem.

That is why TO or even Chicago cannot become like NY/

True, though zoning and planning restrictions could intensify a more compact and dense urban centre, between the Don and the Humber for example. Wouldn't this be ideal, after all? Would help support a more extensive public transit infrastructure and would help curb outward sprawl. Of course, the burbs would have to do their part too.

 

[Conrad Black]

There are plenty of places across the GTA that could go this way. Would love to see it.

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

Aesthetically, I think it's nothing special but probably could've used a colour other than dark grey.

What's more interesting is how this building makes any sense. The floorplate can't be more than 2,000 sf, and I assume that NYC requires two sets of stairs. I would also be surprised if there weren't at least two elevators, given the 14 floors they must service. So, between the elevator shaft(s), staircases and utility conduits, there can't be much more than 1300 sf left in which to build out units.

Any of the gothamists on this board have insight?

 

[adma]

How would some of Toronto's "slivers" compare (eg. the one next door to the Travelodge-formerly-Executive on King nr Bathurst)

 

[JasonParis]

Or even the hostel on Church St, just south of Adelaide St E.

 

[RedRocket191]

Aesthetically, I think it's nothing special but probably could've used a colour other than dark grey.

What's more interesting is how this building makes any sense. The floorplate can't be more than 2,000 sf, and I assume that NYC requires two sets of stairs. I would also be surprised if there weren't at least two elevators, given the 14 floors they must service. So, between the elevator shaft(s), staircases and utility conduits, there can't be much more than 1300 sf left in which to build out units.

Any of the gothamists on this board have insight?

1300 square feet could work as luxury two-bedroom condominium, while 600 square feet is considered a "large studio" according to Stinson (but we all know the results of his decisions).

 

[wyliepoon]

It's no surprise that Hong Kong is also a hotbed for 'sliver' towers. With height restrictions lifted over Kowloon since the closing of Kai Tak Airport, developers have taken advantage of this to build tall, slim towers on top of small, narrow tenement lots.

Examples...

Sheung Wan district on Hong Kong Island... mostly made up of 'sliver' towers

The ultimate sliver tower

 

[interchange42]

Mein Gott.

Yowza.

42

 

[adma]

 

[salvius]

The ultimate sliver tower

I'd feel quite uneasy about living in that.

 

[Hydrogen]

I think adma has hit upon a new range of possibilities for possible condo names.