Tag / real estate
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Community Centres as Pivots of Our City
We are slowly getting tired of hearing news about new commercial and residential developments happening in Toronto, so let’s talk about community developments. How often do we hear about community centres opening? In 2015 only, merely two community centres opened throughout Toronto.
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Who is responsible: The OMB or City?
There is not a single week that goes by without having any news about condo developments happening and being proposed in Toronto. We’ve reached the point where questions like whether this is a matter of supply and demand have emerged and words like ‘housing bubble’ or ‘housing crisis’ are starting to hover around us. But…
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Success and Failure: Thoughts on OAA Awards
Last Monday on March 6th, the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) has announced twenty Design Excellence Finalists of this year’s OAA Awards. Scrolling down through the list, I experienced a spectrum of emotions: hope, excitement, bitterness, unease, a very mixed feeling, just like the other hundred or so architects!
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Committee of Adjustment: Friend or Foe?
You have a brilliant idea for this new renovation project (that you almost feel genius!). The client wants to create a new lot for a fairly large detached house on a prominent residential street in this growing, hot real estate market right here in Toronto. Everything seems perfect, but does the City agree? Well, the Committee…
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Why I Do NOT Agree with Toronto Chief Planner, Jennifer Keesmaat
2016 has been an incredibly dynamic year here in Toronto, especially with so much developments happening — don’t we all agree? Some are exciting and hopeful, while some are controversial and debatable. Needless to say, countless number of condos have been built and proposed. Let’s forget about condos for now and sit back to reflect…
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Finding Opportunities in Undesirable Space
Cities are full of activities, interaction, and gatherings. As discussed previously in one of our blogs ‘All public spaces are not created equal’, the psychology of social gathering and sitting is associated with fundamental architectural and design criteria — light, materials, openness and access. And the absence of these often makes space look undesirable (hint:…
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How we work: Focus on Added Values
One casual day of April, one of our past clients of Studio Jonah approached us with an unusual, unique mission: to assist her to choose the right condo unit to purchase. Often, potential clients’ request for help starts like “I have a project in mind. What is your fee (all in one sentence)?”, but this…
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Condos, Condos, Condos
We’ve heard enough; in fact we’ve seen enough too. With the rapid densification and developments in Toronto, the housing demand keeps on rising and so do the condo towers. If you have been keeping your eyes on recent condo trends in Toronto, you’d notice these three significant, recurrent patterns.
