Toronto is currently in the middle of a housing crisis, and urgently needs to deliver new supportive and affordable housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The City has partnered with the Federal Government to address this issue via the Rapid Housing Initiative to deliver new housing within 18 months from project start to occupancy. Five sites across the city have been identified as “housing-ready sites,” including 11 Brock Avenue, in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto.

11 Brock Avenue is a 4-storey, all-electric, mass timber building, designed to meet net zero and low embodied carbon requirements with 42-units of affordable, supportive housing. There is an eagerness and anticipation from the neighborhood to see development on this site, since it has been sitting vacant for several years. The design is a distinct, yet contextually sensitive building that integrates into the surrounding neighbourhood while creating a safe and secure space for its residents.

Our strategy is to utilize the site’s unique characteristics to deliver housing while prioritizing residents with quality of life, and design excellence. The building follows a courtyard typology, with a south-facing outdoor amenity at the centre, support spaces and common uses on the ground floor and single loaded corridors to the apartments wrapping around the perimeter above on three sides. The courtyard space brings natural light deep into the heart of the building and into the corridor spaces on every floor.

At ground level, an oscillating landscape wraps both street frontages creating a rhythm that alternates between native shrubs and trees, and hardscaped areas for seating and bicycle parking. A distinct entrance welcomes residents and staff into the building with views into the central light-filled courtyard. Doors open to the central courtyard providing opportunities for different kinds of programming of a variety of sizes. Staff spaces are situated along the west while service spaces are consolidated as much as possible along the south. Normally treated as a utilitarian space, the common laundry room is designed as another social space with a connection to the courtyard. Taking advantage of the eastern laneway, Type G loading and vehicular parking are tucked under the upper amenity levels.

The central courtyard provides a secluded and sun-filled amenity for the residents. It is designed as a tiered landscaped outdoor space that fosters community interaction and engagement while providing multiple programming opportunities. Window-lined corridors above along with direct views from the staff areas and indoor amenity provide “eyes on the street” and a sense of security in the building and courtyard. The lower ‘patio’ level creates space for active uses, such as games and barbecues. The second floor tier acts as a ‘balcony, with seating for smaller groups and a direct connection to a more intimate interior amenity room. Integrated green spaces such as raised accessible planting beds for gardening and native species perennial planting are located on the third-level ‘garden’ with picnic tables for residents to gather.

The layout of the residential units is optimized for simplicity and efficiency and ensures privacy as no units are facing each other. Using a regular grid layout and repeating stacked suites improves the efficiency of the design and speed of construction. It also allows us to deliver more than the required 40 units, keeping the layouts as typical as possible, with over 30% as accessible suites. An extensive green roof promotes biodiversity while also helping to control stormwater.