This Is What Homes In Toronto Could Look Like In The Future

[biguc]

A frontage on Dundas, like pictured, is about 6 metres. That's about the same as St. Mark's Place, which does have buildings up to 6 floors. It's also a beloved street and a gold standard for North American urbanity.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7289...7i16384!8i8192

Who wouldn't want that? Astonishingly, these buildings even have windows along the sides--something architects figured out how to accommodate 150 years ago despite what smartasses on the internet claim.

[C.]

The Toronto example less than 20ft across, while the former tenement buildings along St. Marks are closer to 30ft wide. This is why so many on this thread has pointed out that building at this height becomes much more feasible if two lots are acquired rather than one.

If windows were added to the Toronto example then the interior of the building would have to be as thin as a narrow hallway! It will end up being an inefficient use of space just so an architect can earn an A on their capstone.

[iheartthed]

Maybe I'm missing a key distinction, but this type of infill has been going on all around NYC over the past decade:

https://goo.gl/maps/3Y6b54fmP3ek1MQz7

https://goo.gl/maps/XuJWtVt1sfXH9hJN9

[C.]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Maybe I'm missing a key distinction, but this type of infill has been going on all around NYC over the past decade:

https://goo.gl/maps/3Y6b54fmP3ek1MQz7

https://goo.gl/maps/XuJWtVt1sfXH9hJN9

Nope. Just the Toronto example is more narrow than the NYC sites, but otherwise it's the same concept that already existed being presented as something new for some reason.

[MolsonExport]

The 100-year old solution is better than the one invented for today's time.

yep.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Speaking of homes, I know I'm an SSP traitor for saying this, but I'd take this over an overpriced shoebox in the city any day of the week.

(...)

If you don't have a big family and lots of money to spend with housekeepers, gardeners, a big house where you have to drive to do anything, seems a liability to me.

[biguc]

Originally Posted by C.

The Toronto example less than 20ft across, while the former tenement buildings along St. Marks are closer to 30ft wide. This is why so many on this thread has pointed out that building at this height becomes much more feasible if two lots are acquired rather than one.

If windows were added to the Toronto example then the interior of the building would have to be as thin as a narrow hallway! It will end up being an inefficient use of space just so an architect can earn an A on their capstone.

Both St. Marks and Dundas frontages are about 6 metres. Go into google maps and measure it yourself (satellite view, right click, measure distance). While you're at it, look at the small window shafts in the sides of the buildings along St. Marks. It doesn't take much.

My current apartment is oriented long-side to the street (about 12m) but is 6m deep. That's plenty of space for light shafts if I needed them.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by C.

Nope. Just the Toronto example is more narrow than the NYC sites, but otherwise it's the same concept that already existed being presented as something new for some reason.

I don't think it's being presented as a new concept so much as it is just a vision of a multi-family housing typology that could become more common in Toronto as zoning restrictions are loosened (the City is currently "studying" the possibility of removing single-family-only zoning and allowing higher density structures like these city-wide).

[C.]

Originally Posted by biguc

Both St. Marks and Dundas frontages are about 6 metres. Go into google maps and measure it yourself (satellite view, right click, measure distance). While you're at it, look at the small window shafts in the sides of the buildings along St. Marks. It doesn't take much.

My current apartment is oriented long-side to the street (about 12m) but is 6m deep. That's plenty of space for light shafts if I needed them.

Do you have an address for the Dundas location the architect was using? The St Marks looks wider to me, but willing to check.

Either way, iheartthed shared this Google Streetview from NYC that bares a striking resemblance and doesn't have the side windows.

[shappy]

Originally Posted by biguc

Both St. Marks and Dundas frontages are about 6 metres. Go into google maps and measure it yourself (satellite view, right click, measure distance). While you're at it, look at the small window shafts in the sides of the buildings along St. Marks. It doesn't take much.

My current apartment is oriented long-side to the street (about 12m) but is 6m deep. That's plenty of space for light shafts if I needed them.

The frontage with the proposed vision is 3.3 metres (or ~11ft). Victorian era lot widths were taxed in Toronto so you get tons of super thin lots in the old city. I may not have understood, but all the frontages in that photo add up to 20m but that's not what's being proposed.

[C.]

Originally Posted by shappy

The frontage with the proposed vision is 3.3 metres (or ~10ft). Victorian era lot widths were taxed in Toronto so you get tons of super thin lots in the old city. I may not have understood, but all the frontages in that photo add up to 20m but that's not what's being proposed.

Thanks! I knew the Toronto vision was much less than the other examples.