The practice of orienting a home to the path of the sun is as old as civilization itself, and in nature, significantly predates it. Just as plants and flowers orient themselves to the sun through phototaxis, the newest building designed by ODA New York, appears to be doing the same.
Designed for the emerging Lakeshore region of Toronto, this Bayside project focuses on several novel manipulations. By extending beyond a simple stepped distribution and strategically pivoting and sloping what began as an L shaped mass, ODA New York opens the vast percentage of its mass to the adjacent waterfront and it?s parks and promenades.
Almost as if planted from seeds, this building uses a staggered cascading orientation of the firms often modular approach to create a residential building where a staggering 71% of the units (163) have water views (100% above the 13th floor) compared to the far more traditional 25% in a standard extrusion. Always seeking to provide and enhance connections to nature in urban settings, a simple 45% twist of the modules alongside creative staggering of the volumes – a hallmark of the firm – allows the creation of an astounding 68,550 square feet of terrace space. As a result, 221 out of 228 units (97%) have terraces, and 163 units (71%) have water views.
With a further tilting of the mass, this torsional shift opens 43% of 90 ?back facing units? to water views, increases the size of the south facing terraces and even restores the water views to...