Intersect: Housing For All
| Location | Type | Total GFA | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Toronto, ON |
Residential |
4500m2 |
Intersect was Q4A's submission to the Kehilla Residential Programme's Moving Modular Forward design competition. The competition brief focused on developing ideas towards housing solutions which are modular, affordable, scalable, and portable in response to Toronto's ongoing affordability crisis. Q4A's response unites our expertise in prefabricated wood frame construction and mid-rise residential design in response to this problem. |
Location Toronto, ON
Type Residential
Total GFA 4500m2
Description Intersect was Q4A's submission to the Kehilla Residential Programme's Moving Modular Forward design competition. The competition brief focused on developing ideas towards housing solutions which are modular, affordable, scalable, and portable in response to Toronto's ongoing affordability crisis. Q4A's response unites our expertise in prefabricated wood frame construction and mid-rise residential design in response to this problem.
Intersect was a semi-finalist for the Moving Modular Forward Design Competition. Our design is premised on maximizing the economies of module transport, optimized at 12’x60’x10’. This efficient module creates a finite spatial resource for living. It maintains its horizontal circulation corridors within the space to limit craning requirements. As well, by varying the placement of the corridor within the module, our scheme creates a reciprocal sharing of space between neighbours. As a result, promoting a sense of community throughout the project. We chose to draw on the pushing and pulling around the central spine to economically combine modules. This would accommodate many diverse unit typologies from studios to large family units. This push and pull creates intersections of space, as well as promote creativity in the massing and the aesthetic whole of combined modules.
Module Variation
• Push and Pull concept promotes creativity of both massing and aesthetic whole of combined units
• Shifting of the central spine alters the unit sizes on either side, allowing for various unit types and sizes to intersect
• 2 typical modules are used which when rotated or mirrored create a push/pull effect
Pre-Fab Module Structure
• All modules stretch the full depth of the building, incorporating a central spine with living/eating or sleeping/bathing modules on either side
• Shafts for wet services line the central spine allowing module flexibility
• Hydronic in-floor heating delivers efficient & affordable heat while eliminating complex duct-work and bulkheads
Interior Space Fit-Out
• Prefabricated interior functional assemblies are installed into modules at the factory
• Once modules are stacked in place, single corrections are made for hot water heating, domestic water, and electricity
Exterior Cladding Assembly
• 'Second Skin' cladding panel design simplifies construction of a thermally broken, super insulated building envelope, and enables installation of a fully continuous air barrier system
• On site installation of pre-fab cladding panels allows for standardization of housing module production in factory
• Use of cladding panels allows for flexibility of exterior materials and colours to compliment and integrate into the local vernacular
• Exterior cladding panels are installed during module staging, then air-sealed to adjacent units once the module is in place
Module Transportation
• Recognition that transportation of pre-fab buildings poses significant costs and causes significant disruption to city streets and neighborhoods
• Modular housing transport (permitted) within City of Toronto is optimized at 12’ x 60’ x 10’
• To minimize transportation costs all modules are optimized, including vertical stair towers, elevator shafts (at 6 stories) & corridor ends
Site Parameters:
• Underutilized Land: these lands are currently home to parked cars but could more appropriately be home to students, newcomers, families, seniors and more.
• Affordable Housing /Activating Neighbourhoods.
• Within 5-minute walk to TTC Subway or Streetcar
405 Sherbourne Street:
A neighborhood well suited for affordable housing and an easy walk to the Carleton Streetcar. The site is large enough to accommodate two buildings with a semiprivate Garden Mews between. The scale and nature of Sherbourne is appropriate for transport and staging. The project could be built in one or two phases. The scale, density and mass of our six storey building is suitable for the existing neighborhood context. Portions of distinctive landscape features will be maintained, integrating project to neighborhood while also develop the site further by designing for bike paths.
60 units in 6 storeys on Sherbourne St.
52 units in 6 storeys on Bleecker St.
112 units total
