We are pleased to announce that two of Kirkor’s projects have been selected in multiple categories as finalists for the 2011 Ontario Home Builders’ Association Awards of Distinction.

The Madison

The Madison, our project on Eglinton Avenue just east of Yonge, designed for the Madison Group, is up for several awards, including Project of the Year in the High-Rise category. The project involves two towers that appear to float above the streetscape. It was important to design a façade that would not appear to dominate the city block. We did this by creating a three storey high entrance which steps back toward the slightly curved towers.

The Madison

Other awards for the same project include Most Outstanding High or Mid-Rise Condo Suite and Most Outstanding High-Rise Condo Suite Kitchen.

The World on Yonge, a mixed-use development on Yonge north of Steeles which we designed for our client Liberty Group, is shortlisted for Most Outstanding High-Rise Building. The project won a 2011 BILD Award in the category Community of the Year – Highrise, as a development that is particularly reflective of the provincial Places to Grow Act.

Cliff

We are delighted to announce that Kirkor Architects has won an award in the category of Places to Grow Community of the Year-Highrise, at the 2011 Bild Awards. As the project’s architect, Kirkor was recognized alongside Liberty Development Corporation, Montana Steele Advertising and Brandon Communications. The winning project was the mixed-use development The World on Yonge.

The World on Yonge.

The Bild awards are presented annually by the Building Industry and Land Development Association, to recognize the very best of the GTA’s new home construction industry. This year there were over one thousand submissions in 46 categories.

This award is so-called because it recognizes a development that is most reflective of the province’s Places to Grow Act, which, according to the government “makes sure that growth plans reflect the needs, strengths and opportunities of the communities involved, and promotes growth that balances the needs of the economy with the environment.”

The World on Yonge.

High density, smart growth projects are vital in areas around transit corridors and proposed subway extension routes. The World on Yonge, on Toronto’s Yonge Street north of Steeles Avenue includes hotel, office, residential and retail with internal and external publicly accessible parks.

For more information on the awards, click here

Back in November, Councilor Karen Stintz (Ward 16 Eglinton/Lawrence) who had just been appointed by 
Mayor Rob Ford to lead the Toronto Transit Commission, declared that she was in favour of bringing additional skills from members of the business community to be part of the commission.

Councilor Karen Stintz. Image: thestar.com

“We need different skill sets beyond just political skills. This is an opportunity for us to expand the competency on the commission,” she said in the National Post.
 A staff report said that candidates should have legal, financial, engineering and construction knowledge, in addition to transit planning experience.

This idea is a good one. Previously, nine councilors oversaw the TTC but opening it up to those of us with relevant experience will create an arena for more relevant and focused discussion and problem solving opportunities.

Bloor subway station at rush hour. Image: cbc.ca

At Kirkor we deal with the TTC in numerous capacities, mainly when we are working through the infrastructure challenges that go with building large-scale projects over existing or upcoming transit stations. One of the greatest challenges when working with multiple parties is to build consensus, and I very much look forward to a future when this becomes a more fluid process.

Our project Hullmark Centre, at Sheppard and Yonge will sit above two subway lines.

Given that many of the city’s new smart-growth projects are centered around transit nodes, it’s important that the GTA moves ahead with a comprehensive, intelligent approach to transit. My hope is that the new board will help achieve this. The decision will be made in the fall, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, Councilor Stintz spoke at the Economic Club of Canada a few weeks ago. Judging from the reports on her improvement plans, the TTC will benefit considerably from input from citizen representatives.

-Steve

Smart growth and urban intensification strategies may employ similar principles across many projects, but it’s vital to ensure that each project is carefully considered in terms of its individual site.

A detail of Celsius, showing the townhomes.

Not only must we ensure that we address the concerns of local residents and community groups, but also because higher density projects in previously lower density areas naturally attract more activity to an area, it’s important that the existing infrastructure be able to support it.

Whether at a significant intersection above a transit node, along a major corridor like Sheppard Avenue, or at the edge of a residential neighbourhood, the building design must respond to the site and must anticipate the site’s future needs.

An aerial view of Celsius.

One particularly challenging site was our Celsius project, which is situated between an established neighbourhood and the high density of Yonge Street. While we felt the site could handle a tower, we needed to remain sensitive to the surrounding area, so the project became a transition exercise from low to high density.

We achieved this through massing  according to height and density with the tower placed strategically at the South East corner of the site, between two neighbouring towers while maintaining an anchor to much needed open space. The low is therefore on the low side and the high on the high side. Most sites are now like this, but this one was particularly stringent. So the townhomes, which surround the tower, function as a three-storey buffer between the tower, which is 18 storey, and the surrounding residences, most of which are two storeys.

And it worked. The design has received overwhelming support from city planning and urban design staff, going through two design review panels with unanimous support. This is likely because it’s clear that every part of the design has a distinct function to the story, unfolding like a Swiss Army knife.

-Simon

We are thrilled to announce that the OMB has approved our Shops on Steeles redevelopment in Markham. See our previous blog post.

The Ontario Municipal Board agreed with our assessment and expert opinion that a reduction from 1787 dwelling units down to 1235 units is a significant concession by Bayview Summit, the Town of Markham and the ratepayers. We believe that all sides have won in reaching this agreement.

Conceptual rendering: Shops on Steeles, Mixed Use Development. Steeles Avenue East & Don Mills Road, Markham, ON.

The proposal will result in a much-needed revitalization of an existing mall and will serve as a significant gateway to this major intersection.

Current site of “The Shops” at Steeles and 404 in Markham

The redevelopment proposal will be phased with the existing plaza redevelopment occurring first, followed by a phased construction of the residential component. It is anticipated that the construction program will occur over 10-12 years.

Conceptual rendering: Shops on Steeles, Mixed Use Development. Steeles Avenue East & Don Mills Road, Markham, ON.

The other important party involved with the application – and the appeal – was the City of Toronto, led by councilor David Shiner. In it’s findings, the OMB made the following comments:

Board Findings and Reasons:

At this juncture before the Board delves into its findings and reasons, this panel of the Board makes the following observation. Toronto, in opposing the settlement, chose not to call any expert witnesses to proffer evidence in support of its position and to address its issues on the approved Issues List. Toronto decided to advance its case before this Board by relying on its Counsel’s cross-examination of the aligned Parties expert witnesses, the concerns of the Participants and the closing arguments of its Counsel. This the Board views as unusual particularly in light of the motions passed by Toronto Council strongly opposing the settlement. Particularly the motion of April 12, 2011, which gave notice to the Town and the Region of its intention to close access to the existing shopping mall from Steeles Avenue at Townsend Road.

In making its findings, the Board gave consideration to the evidence of the expert witnesses, the filed witness statements, the submissions of Counsel and the concerns of the Participants that spoke at the hearing.

The only expert evidence given at this hearing were those proffered by the expert witnesses qualified in their respective fields in support of the redevelopment proposal. This expert evidence included urban design, traffic, servicing, and planning. The Board finds that the testimony of these experts was unshaken under cross-examination by Toronto.

We are looking forward to the next phase of this exciting project, taking our great ideas and turning them into reality. This project will become a model of greyfield intensification throughout North America.

- Cliff

I recently gave a presentation at the Transforming & Revitalizing Downtown Summit, which took place on June 14th and 15th in downtown Toronto. I was happy to meet a number of planning professionals and politicians from Cincinnati, Cobourg and Belleville to Smiths Falls, all gathered together to discuss how best to approach smart growth strategies for their communities.

Cliff addresses attendees at the Transforming and Revitalizing Downtown Summit, June 14, 2011

Often associated with outlying urban areas intent on curbing sprawl, mixed-use development and smart-growth principles can also benefit small and mid-sized downtown communities. We talked about how smaller communities can plan from the early stages using intensification principles to achieve a better use of space and more opportunities for well-designed green spaces, bike lanes and walkable public areas. Through this process we pre-determine where growth is best suited to happen taking into account nodes, corridors, cross road, transit lines, etc.

One of the attendees asked how a smaller community with demand for growth should begin to plan responsibly. It’s important to note that every situation is different. It’s always about scale and how much growth is needed… but in my experience, the mixed-use, smart growth model works. With proper planning and responsible collaborative planning processes to gain public and peer review input, community members benefit from increased property values, better services and livelier, more welcoming streetscapes — and more sustainable communities.

Together, these perspectives showed that while we all can agree on the need for intensification and the principles of smart growth, individual communities must develop in ways that suit them, taking into account projected population growth and diversity, existing planning regulations and the perspective of the communities. A one-size-fits-all approach is not sustainable.

“Where you put it” and “How much is enough” is the role of the design professional to guide communities through this process.  Through town hall meetings, design charettes, peer review process and community working group sessions, we at Kirkor have worked with many groups to create this vision.

-Cliff

Thanks to everyone who came out on Sunday, May 8th for our Jane’s Walk! The sun was shining as senior partner Cliff Korman led a group of about 40 enthusiastic people west from Yonge street along the soon-to-be redeveloped Sheppard avenue corridor.

Cliff discusses the Hullmark Centre project at the SouthYonge and Sheppard. Photo: Yvonne Bambrick

Cliff began by discussing our upcoming project Hullmark Centre, at the corner of Yonge and Sheppard, which sits above two subway lines and will become the heart of North York City Centre. The development broke ground in November and will be the area’s key mixed-use development, to include a plaza that will dramatically open up the corner to pedestrian traffic.

The group gathers at an empty lot on the North West corner of Yonge and Sheppard. Photo: Yvonne Bambrick

Cliff address the group. Photo: Yvonne Bambrick

As the group progressed along Sheppard, Cliff pointed out that many of the small single-family houses on Sheppard had already been purchased as speculative properties and rented out, whose owners were simply waiting to sell to developers for high land value. There are also many two-storey office buildings along the land that will be put to much better use as high-density, higher rise development.

Kirkor is already at work on a number of projects in the area, including lower-rise condominiums at Sheppard and Faywood and the transit-oriented Metro Place at Sheppard and Dufferin.

Walking west along Sheppard Avenue. Photo: Yvonne Bambrick

The group in front of a two-storey strip mall. Photo: Yvonne Bambrick

The walk came to an end in front of one of North York’s many strip malls, which will soon be replaced with much more intense development, including green spaces, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and less visible parking.

Brent

Now that spring has arrived, it’s time to think about green spaces. Landscaping is a much-discussed issue for large-scale re-zonings, and in new developments, a certain amount of land must be set aside for parks. If it isn’t, then developers must pay a parkland dedication fee.

An arial view of the Avonshire community.

Naturally, we prefer to provide the land in the development plans at the beginning. So one solution that we do is to create strata plans, by drawing up the land into lots and common property. We create urban parks on either green or hard surfaces, at grade. The condominium takes ownership of the parks, and takes responsibility for programming it, the developer saves money and the public benefits from it.

Another reason why we prefer this route is that the community always benefits. If we were to choose to pay the fee, then the fee goes to the city, which may decide to build the park elsewhere.

The Aristo towers at Avonshire.

An example of good parkland use is our masterplanned project Avonshire, east of Yonge Street, north of Highway 401, where we built a transition project on a group of almost 300 walk-up apartments that were run-down and non- repairable. We rezoned it to create more density, built a replacement rental unit to house the tenants, and now there’s an eco-friendly park surrounded by the condo residences. Construction on the project is currently well underway. It’s a great project in part because the city got rental replacement.

The land now holds many condo units which the city sold and profited from, and they got a public park too. The development has garden villas and townhomes which border the park, helping to create a cohesive and focused neighbourhood.

Cliff

There’s an interesting talk that will take place in Toronto next Wednesday, May 11th at the Design Exchange, at 234 Bay Street.

Organized by the PUG Awards, the panel discussion is titled Planning – A Building Challenge. Panelists will discuss the complex planning process that is required to allow large-scale developments to go ahead.

On the one hand, the process can be fraught with difficulty, giving rise to the need for consensus building strategies, a fact that we acknowledged in our talk at Construct Canada on collaborative planning and the art of negotiation.

On the other hand, the complexities of development make the planning process necessary. The panel is moderated by Stephen Diamond of Diamond Corp. and speakers include urban planner Paul Belford, David Bronskill, partner at Goodmans LLP whose practice focuses on municipal, planning and property tax, Howard Cohen of Context Development Inc and Ward 5 councilor Peter Milczyn.

For more information, visit the Pug Awards website.

As we know here in Toronto, our new mayor Rob Ford dislikes the idea of implementing light rail transit, and is much more in favour of subways. But in Alberta, both Calgary and Edmonton are actively pursuing light rail.

One of Calgary's Light Rail Transit trains.

You may have read a recent article by Globe and Mail writer Marcus Gee, called ‘Calgary’s C-Train: Light rail that works‘.

As he points out, the system now consists of three lines with a fourth under construction and two more planned. It seems to be working well. Light rail is less expensive and has a broad reach. But I believe the emphasis must change from bringing far-flung residents from the ‘burbs into the city centre and university districts, to an aggressive plan of opportunity creation along both existing and extended transit lines.

Calgary postal code map showing approximate locaiton of C-Train LRT lines.

Time and again, these mass transit lines pass through low-density neighbourhoods all leading to the core and a singular municipal hub. Trendy neighbourhoods surrounding the business centre of the city is the prairie model.

But what if this model was revised? What if the established, inner-city neighbourhoods (in Calgary, 17^th Ave, Kensington, 4^th St, Stephen Ave. Mall) were partners to an expanding mesh of vital, neighbourhood hubs supported by a strong residential spirit scattered throughout the city?  I believe that Calgarians are and will continue to seek these diverse neighbourhoods out, as excitement grows in the Ramsey, Inglewood, Bowness, and even the edge communities of Fish Creek.

A street view of the Garrison Woods neighbourhood, Calgary.

It would be interesting to see what shape prairie cities like Calgary would take if a light rail network was to be implemented in a way that allows for this mesh of neighbouhood hubs to develop.

My point is that there is room for different models of intensification, each one tailored to the particular scenario that speaks to today’s market and also to the potential and look of future growth. Above all, it is vital that the design of each mixed-use, high-density, smart growth community embrace the unique qualities of its environment.

Brent