New Condo Complex for Toronto

Bjarke Ingels Group wants to bring an incredible mountain-like condo complex to Toronto

Proposed for the city’s Fashion District between King Street West and Wellington Street, the pixelated modular development would rise like a ziggurat to create five apartment-filled “peaks.” The development, unofficially known as “Habitat 2.0,” would be covered in trees and, as Bjarke Ingels told the Globe and Mail, will create an effect akin to “a Mediterranean mountain town.”

The dramatic Habitat 2.0 proposal draws inspiration from Moshe Sadie’s Habitat 67, a similarly experimental and blocky housing complex in Montreal that’s also widely revered as a major architectural landmark. Commissioned by developers Westbank and Allied REIT, BIG’s high-density design would comprise 725,000 square feet and over 500 one to three-bedroom apartment units. The mixed-use development clusters retail and other commercial uses at the base of the structures, while the apartments will be located at the top of the five “peaks” for the best access to natural light and views. Most units will also have access to private landscaped terraces.

When seen from above, Habitat 2.0 looks like a hollow rectangle anchored by a central green courtyard. In elevation, however, the buildings will be broken up into cuboidal 12-by-12-foot modules and rotated at 45 degrees to frame views at oblique angles. The mountain-like buildings would rise to a height between 15 and 17 stories. BIG has yet to finalize the materials for the project.