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new condominium building at 400 Wellington Street West in Toronto has been designed to match its neighbouring heritage warehouse buildings. "There are a lot of older brick warehouse buildings on the street," says Andrew Sorbara, development manager, Sorbara Development Group. "The intent was to match the existing character of the street. We spent a lot of time considering the type of brickwork and the bricks themselves and our construction manager spent quite a bit of time making sure the mason who was installing the brick was up to the challenge." The brick-work detail is one of the main features of the new 15-storey building, says Sorbara. "We did emulate the other buildings on the street, and have received a very positive response from the public and the city," says Geoff Kelly, construction manager, Sorbara Development Group. "Monarch Knitting was one of those buildings. It has a red brick facade and punch windows, which you don't see often." Many urban developments take the form of tall buildings, whereas this building is mid-rise in nature and relates well to the existing context and streetscape, says Daniel Cowling, partner, SMV Architects. "We are very proud of how well, without being overly historicist, this project adds to the existing streetscape and provides a human scale experience from the scale of the unit masonry to the scale of the building massing on the street and adjacent lanes," says Cowling. The development derives its imagery from two periods of existing masonry by Angela warehouses in the area – the pre-war buildings featuring masonry pilasters in a vertical expression and the post-war buildings featuring horizontal bands of contrasting masonry, says Cowling. "The massing is distributed to assume two connected buildings above a landscaped forecourt which is an extension of the broad treed avenue of Wellington Street West," says Cowling. "The site was very tight and allows for little room for tolerances in design and construction. At the same time, those restrictions have made for a very intimate and urban development." The building is a cast-in-place concrete structure, says Jeff Stephenson, managing principal, Stephenson Engineering Ltd. "On the second and ground loors, transfer beams and slabs are used to accommodate ground- loor amenity and retail space, along with underground parking on a tight site," says Stephenson. "One of the surprises that were encountered was that of buried services, which we didn't know about until excavation, that had to be maintained through the building. Challenges included the small downtown site and neighbouring buildings requiring support from shoring walls and the new building." The building is predominantly clad in masonry, says Cowling. "The front mass features a vertical pilaster expression in a red-brown brick masonry in a metric norman size with French balconies between the pilasters," he says. "The rear mass features the same base ield brick masonry but is accented by horizontal bands of contrasting charcoal grey ground face architectural block in an elongated 100-millimetre by 590-millimetre size. Custom precast concrete lintels, sills and bases at grade in a warm grey colour highlight and add detail to the masonry openings. Glazing has a light grey tint in frames pre- inished in a dark bronze colour. The whole A presents a sober digni ied exterior to the street and the lanes adjacent." This development has more landscaping than one might typically ind in downtown Toronto, says Kelly. "It has a special low of water that comes off the green roof," he says. "A very large scupper takes the water out and it runs down a stainless steel mesh and then runs through wet areas. Thinc Design put a lot of time and effort into it." A great amount of attention was given to the landscaped courtyard, says Sorbara. "The use of rainwater pouring off the roof to irrigate a series of planting beds is a nice feature," says Sorbara. "There will be a lot of bamboo used as hedging material on the exterior. We have a creative landscape team and they suggested that we try using a new cultivar of bamboo and I think it is going to work out really well. It is going to be a unique-looking courtyard area at the front of the building." The building has three levels of underground parking and the ground loor has six commercial units. "The site is surrounded on the north and west by a public out. We are getting a lot of praise for its look and the quality of the landscaping features and also for the historic design. It's not what people are normally building right now. It's not one of those glass towers you see on every block." "The quality of this building is very livable," says Kelly. "It's cosy and people are comfortable with it. We are getting extremely positive feedback on it. The project has gone very well." ■ 400 Wellington West PHOTOS: PHILIP CASTLETON Altass 400 Wellington West p.64-65Wellington West.indd 65 lane and even with our commercial units we have tried to respect the surroundings," says Greg Tanzola, director of highrise construction with the Sorbara Development Group. "Some of the commercial units are accessed off the common lane on the north and west sides." The public lane was taken into consideration during the design of the development, says Sorbara. "We're hoping that when our commercial spaces are occupied, it will help to increase the amount of activity in that laneway," says Kelly, noting that cooperation with the neighbours was tantamount in such a tight site. The 113,000-square-foot, $25-million project has progressed smoothly, on time and budget, says Tanzola, adding that occupancy of the building started in January and neighbours are pleased with the end result. "It has taken about two years to build and we are getting a lot of kudos on it," says Tanzola. "The building truly stands LOCATION 400 Wellington Street West Toronto, Ontario DEVELOPER/BUILDER Sorbara Development Group ARCHITECT SMV Architects STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Stephenson Engineering Ltd. MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT M.V. Shore Ltd. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT THinc Design TOTAL AREA 113,000 square feet TOTAL COST $25 million JUNE 2012 /65 5/25/12 12:05:26 PM

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