November 23, 2009

WILLIAM CONWAY/PROGRESS PHOTOGRAPHY

Toronto Community Housing project includes a mix of housing types and a host of energy-saving features.

Toronto Community Housing transforms dilapidated buildings

IAN HARVEY

correspondent

Common wisdom suggests public housing projects are usually stripped down and functional, with little emphasis on design. That’s not the case with Toronto Community Housing projects like 88-90 Carlton Street.

A run-down, termite-infested multiple-housing building on Mutual Street was turned into a mixed housing unit with cutting edge sustainable technology and livable design while preserving the structure’s historic façade.

“On a site visit to measure up, I literally went through the floor,” recalls architect Drew Hauser of Stanford Downey Architects Inc. which specializes in heritage buildings. “The termites were so bad, residents had them in their furniture. It was terrible.”

The reinvigoration of TCH’s downtown housing stock is evident in the innovative partnership with Daniels Group in Regent Park where condos and rent-geared to income housing have just come on line even as more new buildings are in the works.

At Carlton, the plan was to turn the existing, privately owned, low-rent housing units into more livable spaces with more amenities, modern infrastructure and expand upwards to create more units.

The result after the $20 million investment is a 12-storey building with 110 units in a variety of configurations from bachelors to unheard of — in modern times — four-bedroom units with wraparound balconies. The building features high-tech glazing, sun shades, passive solar heating for pre-warming domestic water, a green roof and geothermal heating and cooling system which features 60 tubes drilled 400 feet below the basement.

“At first, TCH said they didn’t want to design for families,” says Hauser. “But there are two schools (nearby), which suggests there are a lot of families in the area. And then when we looked at the costs, the building was economical at 12 storeys, more than the original three storeys.”

As a result TCH agreed to increase the scale of the project, with townhomes at street level each having their own mailing address, and then family units on the first few floors and single units after that.

The project was remarkable, says Hauser, not just because TCH took a long view of payback but also in how the client, architect and contractor, H&R Construction Management, collaborated.

In taking that long-term view, says Hauser, TCH also specified high-quality finishes, such as a brick exterior and more hardy fittings inside.

“I’m proud of this project because it doesn’t look like public housing and it’s built better than most condominiums,” says Hauser.

“At the open house we had people from other TCH units putting their names down to get on the list to move in. When you get that kind of reaction, it makes you feel good as a designer.”

“It was a wonderful experience working with H&R and everyone involved, I really hope we can work together again,” Hauser says. “We all learned so much from this project.”

Indeed, the passion is mutual, says Michoel Klugmann, vice-president of H&R, which specialized in social housing projects.

He says the approach TCH took will pay off in lower maintenance and operating cost, critical to the agency because of its long-term ownership.

“What was great was that they looked at green technology around the efficient lifecycle of the building,” he says. That meant while the investment in the technology would be higher the costs of running the building would be lower over that period and eventually offset that investment.”

For TCH it was a bottom-line decision.

“We’re not a condominium developer who is responsible for two years plus a day,” says Barry Gulas, TCH manager of development and construction.

“We pay the bills. So early in the project, it was obvious we needed to drive energy costs down and employ some green initiatives and at the same time reduce our carbon footprint.”

The plan originally was to simply redo the interior and add some units but the termite infestation killed that off since all the wood needed to be removed. As the scope grew so too did the thinking, adding townhomes to street level to mimic similar TCH townhomes on nearby Wood Street.

“The building also has some history in that it was one of four built in pairs around 1928 to house labourers working on Maple Leaf Gardens,” Gulas says. While preserving the Italian art deco façade created headaches both in term of design and mechanics, the net result is worth it, agree the three principals.

Print | Email | Comment