Broadview and Eastern Toronto, Canada
Broadview and Eastern is a 12-storey mixed-use urban development for Toronto’s Riverside district, located between the popular Queen Street neighbourhood and the new, buzzing East Harbour development. Replacing a series of derelict townhouses and a car dealer’s showroom, the aim is to revitalise the intersection of Broadway and Eastern Avenue by turning this prominent location into a new gateway to the district while honouring its inherent atmosphere.
The project consists of 340 residential dwellings, including 15 townhouses with private courtyards for residents, and will help create attractive urban environments by adding 800 m2 of retail space and a new public park towards Eastern Avenue. As such, the urban development will activate the area and create a vibrant local neighbourhood with a range of resident offerings.
The building’s architecture completes the streetscape along Broadview and rounds the corner at the avenue intersection, creating an elongated, hockey-stick-shaped volume. The building adjusts to the scale of its surroundings and mediates the transition to the pedestrian experience by dividing the front street wall into three horizontal, slightly offset bands. This creates a building base that complements its neighbourhood with activities and transparency at street level, topped by two residential volumes housing the condos.
The horizontal direction of the overall volume is “punctured” by a series of angular cut-outs in the street-facing facades. They serve to further reduce the building scale, to optimise views and daylight conditions in selected sections, and to accentuate the corner towards the intersection. Furthermore, the cut-outs’ golden-metallic surface creates a contrasting material palette alongside the predominant brick facades in red and brown tones, contributing to a warm, welcoming atmosphere of varied textures.
