Plans have been submitted to the City of Toronto's Committee of Adjustment for a four storey office building at 22 Geary Avenue. On the northwest corner of Geary and Somerset in Toronto's Davenport neighbourhood (just northwest of Dupont and Ossington), the street has seen an influx of entrepreneurship over the last few years, populating the area with "a great brewery, a distillery, good coffee, a great neighbourhood bar, lots of art and still some small-scale light industrial" according to UrbanToronto Forum contributor "adHominem". RAW Design is both architect of and tenant in the new building, which will also become the new home of Worsley Urban Partners who are redeveloping the site, currently an automotive garage.

Looking northwest to 22 Geary Avenue, image courtesy of RAW Design

Although unusual for its neighbourhood, the 16,361 square foot office building is not blind to its context, with a cafe planned at grade to follow the continuum of fine grain retail and small businesses along Geary Avenue. The cafe itself will have 1,453 square feet of space, and share the first floor with RAW Design, which will take the remaining 2,211 square feet here.

Current Condition of the Site, image via Google

The second level will be entirely composed of work space for RAW Design, mostly workstations, with a mix of formal and informal meeting spaces at the north and south ends. Thanks to the project's rather elongated form, vertical circulation, washrooms, and facilities are all positioned along the west wall throughout the entire building, preserving the open views on the east and south walls. The building will be clad in metal siding on all floors of the building including the mechanical and elevator access box, with windows alternating on the facade, as if the cladding were an industrial quilt. 

Aerial View of the Site, image via Google

The third and fourth floors will be the new home of developer Worsley Urban Partners. With a total of 3,391 sq. ft. of space on each floor, the new space will also house a mix of formal and informal meeting spaces, and walled offices. The top of the building will house a private landscaped roof deck for employees to enjoy on their break—or even to have informal meetings. 

We will keep you updated as the project develops and more information becomes available, as this project is just in its infancy. In the meantime, make sure to check out our Database file, linked below. Want to share your thoughts? Leave a comment on this page, or join the ongoing conversation in our associated Forum thread.