Lake Shore West Towers Proposed in Toronto

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2002 Lake Shore Boulevard West is a proposal for a pair of 21 and 26 storey condo towers from Marlin Spring Developments that is seeing the final plot of vacant land developed among thenew high rise communities nearby per Urban Toronto.

The project is being designed by Graziani + Corazza Architects and is wedged between Lake Shore to the south and the Gardiner Expressway to the north, stretching between Windermere Avenue and the on-ramps from the South Kingsway. The plans were presented to Toronto's Design Review Panel this past week. 

The proposal includes a western 21 storey triangular shaped tower connected to an eastern 26 storey elliptical shaped tower by a 6-7 storey link building. All of this sits atop of a 1-3 storey rectilinear podium. The development contains a total of 607 residential units, 60 percent of which will be one-bedroom units. Retail and commercial space is proposed for the ground floor fronting on Lake Shore.

This development will join a rapidly densifying community along the waterfront between High Park and the Humber River. Just to the east across Windermere, two 38 storey towers at Mirabella Condominiums are to be built on a vacant lot. Adjacent to that are two 18 storey Park Lake Residence towers that were completed in 2010. To the north, are the 28 and 35 storey NXT and NXT2 condo towers that were completed in 2013 and north of that are the 26 and 29 storey towers that are proposed at Southport Square.

The Panel was presented the project at a very early stage in its design, so Panel members had quite a bit to say about potential refinements and adjustments to the proposal. Their criticism was mostly regarding the height and massing, retail and public realm of the project.

Panel members were nearly unanimous in their desire to see taller, slimmer towers with a smaller podium. They felt that the triangular building was too imposing in its slab-like form, and that the elliptical building felt stunted. They pointed out that slimmer point towers would help preserve views to the lake for the residents to the north and that carrying the geometry straight to the ground, rather than having the the towers dive into a conventional rectagular podium, would create a more elegant building. The taller point tower concept would also reduce the tower floor plate size which currently exceeds the City's recommendations and reaches upwards of 920 square metres. 

As far as the retail spaces are concerned, the proposal includes about 988 square metres across four units. Adjacent tower developments include either one small commercial unit or no retail at all. Panel members questioned the viability of retail at this location and had strong reservations that it would not succeed. They argued that due to the hostile traffic environment and surrounding heavy parkland, it would make it very difficult to support retail. 

The Panel suggested that removing the retail would give them freedom to reconfigure the podium and design a more interesting public realm around the building which could include more green space. They strongly encouraged the design team to rework the ground plane to provide a more interesting environment.

 

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