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Architects: CORE Architects Inc.
- Area: 283000 ft²
- Year: 2014
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Manufacturers: Owens Corning, Tremco, Dow Building Solutions, Allan Windows, Atlas Schindler, Flynn, Global Architectural Windows, Global Precast, Henry Company, Living Art, Miller Waste Solutions, Probel, ROCKWOOL, System Drywall
Text description provided by the architects. Fashion House seeks to recapture the eclectic and creative energy of the historic Fashion District. The project is a unique interface of developer, architect, community and interior and fashion designers. Fashion House is a juxtaposition of business drivers with raw creativity within a community setting.
The client wished to maximize the density on the site, and provide a significant outdoor amenity space that had sun all day and downtown views. Community space and public venues are important to this development. Trying to avoid the cloistering effect of urban high-rises, the street level features public spaces. Attentive to pedestrian connectivity, public thoroughfares pass through these buildings at street level, connecting Morrison Street to the heritage building and King Street. Given the heritage building designation, CORE worked with the city of Toronto through the site plan approval and permit process to insure that the original design and programmatic needs of the client were realized.
The zoning constraints would ensure that the bulk and mass of the building would be setback from the Heritage Building and not penetrate a 45-degree angular plane, which was drawn from the opposite side of the fronting street (King Street West). The massing of Fashion House, a series of offset and stacking volumes, was largely determined by the existing zoning permission that was granted on the site for the area behind and beside the Silver-plate Heritage Building (currently the Keg Restaurant). The building massing developed from that into two long bar-shaped elements set at 90-degrees to each other. The podium element was meant to be a flush, glazed glass box to act in counterpoint to the heritage brick building; the condo entry is between these two volumes. CORE accomplished this by placing building massing where it would have the least impact on the neighbourhood, heritage building and still comply with the zoning by-laws, the result was a stacking of “building blocks” that created a large roof terrace on the south-east corner of the site at the 11th floor, ideal for an exterior pool.
CORE challenged the notion that a building should use typical floor plates in a regular pattern, and opened up to the possibilities of using multiple floor plates that cantilever, offset, shift and overlay each other to achieve a more dynamic form that also complies with the site-specific bylaws. The red curtains (white on the interior) are a metaphorical reference to the garment district of Toronto in which this project is located. Young Toronto fashion designers were given the task of creating a signature art piece, in the elevator lobby area for each floor in the condo.
There are 334 units at Fashion House, ranging in size from 464 to 1,566 square feet. Some of the stylish features and finishes include 9’ and 10’ ceilings, European designed contemporary kitchens with stainless steel appliances, exposed concrete ceilings and columns, stone counter-tops, pre-finished engineered hardwood flooring, floor-to-ceiling windows and a rooftop infinity pool. Fashion House is located in King West, which was once Toronto’s garment district.
The neighbourhood has steadily become gentrified by young urban professionals, both singles and couples seeking a lifestyle that is close to their downtown offices and leisure entertainment. As one of Toronto’s fastest growing neighbourhoods, King West has been compared to New York’s SoHo. The warehouses have now been converted into offices and stylish boutique condos, while high-end restaurants with names like Crush, Blowfish and Buca populate the neighbourhood. A block south Wellington Street is dominated by many of the city’s top advertising and media companies and loft-style condos, with several in the million-dollar range. Fashion House is effective because it has become an iconic landmark at the centre of the fashion district of Toronto. It appeals to the younger demographic of condo buyers, who are very interested in modernist design principles, and how both fashion and architecture can come together and be more than just “packaging”.
Fashion designers from each floor (designed murals) include:
2nd Floor – Beckermans
3rd Floor – Dean Davidson
4th Floor – Jeremy Laing
5th Floor – Adrian Wu
6th Floor – Jenny Bird
7th Floor – Ashtiani
8th Floor – Peach Berserk
9th Floor – Smythe
10th Floor – Jay Godfrey
11th Floor – Bustle
Penthouse – Greta Constantine
