Combining nature and huge structures has not always been successful design-wise and carbon footprint-wise. But over the years, we’ve seen a lot of development in green architecture, and so we see buildings, condominiums, and other developments successfully incorporate environment-friendly aspects when creating these structures. An upcoming development in Toronto will be including some of these kinds of structures, including what may become the largest residential mass-timber buildings in Canada.

Designer: Adjaye Associates

Timber House will become part of the Quayside development in Toronto’s waterfront. The building, which will be long and narrow, will house affordable residential units as well as residences for senior citizens. What will make it stand out is that it will be a plant-covered building with the facade getting crisscrossed narrow beams and incorporating patios in the structure to put up the greenery. Once completed, it will be one of the biggest mass-timber structures in Canada.

This building, though is just one of many structures that will be included in Quayside, a 12-acre development that will be built in the lakefront of Toronto. In the future, we’ll be getting not just towers and green spaces but also cultural buildings that will focus on honoring the local Indigenous nation. It will also become “the first all-electric, zero-carbon community” at this large scale, according to Waterfront Toronto.

One of the buildings that will be part of the development is Western Curve, designed by Aluson Brook Architects. It is designed to have round balconies filled with plants and the tower itself will have slender arches. Another building will be The Overstorey, designed by Danish Studio Henning Larsen and located right across Timber House. From the design, it looks a bit like a Jenga tower but with greenery all around.

Quayside will also have a community care hub, recreation places for the community that will be living there, and a two-acre community forest that will give car-free green spaces. There are no designs yet for these other parts of the development but we can expect to see more as this starts to break ground.