Toronto Kagyu Monastery | 48.82m | 10s | KSDL | High Park Architects

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Well........this one is certainly not typical.........

it's a proposed Buddhist Monastery!

Proponent: Karma Sonam Dargye Ling

Height: 10s

Architect: High Park

Site as is (per streetview)

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The App:

www.toronto.ca

Application Details

www.toronto.ca www.toronto.ca

The renders

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Site Plan:

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Ground Floor Plan:

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Landscape Plan:

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Comments: The overall scale is not outrageous, though a lack of transition to lowrise to the north may be seen as an issue. The streetwall is 1-2 taller than directly across the street. However, the proposal is a rezone from Neighbourhoods. (I view this as supportable, but its something to keep in mind)

The home on the corner does not have any heritage protections.

The ground floor relationship to King doesn't seem as well thought out as it could be, and would benefit from further refinement.

The landscape plan is a problem. There is no provision for either streetscape (boulevard) landscaping or soft landscaping on the King side.

While typically I would want to see a landscape zone between the curb and the sidewalk, that would be atypical for this section of King. As such, I could be fine with softscape (lawn/shrubs/flowers) with a couple of trees. But the total absence of landscape on the King side just doesn't work.

****

I think I'll finish up by looking at the Block Context Plan and the separation distances........ I see issues here:

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4M separation? from adjacent, with windows up/down those elevations? There is definitely a privacy/overlook issue based on existing use. But more curious to me is why with the precedent established here you wouldn't assume the adjacent block of properties wouldn't also be assembled for something similar in scale. Absent and LDA (Limiting Distance Agreement), this seems very problematic, and it would likely serve to make the adjacent properties undevelopable.
 
Very interesting, and a good location for this. Separation distances would concern me in terms of developability, but based on the existing built form (facing side yards in both directions), I am less certain overlook is such a problem.

The big issue for me is how it addresses King Street. This is an opportunity to extend the more animated portion of the street west that should not be missed, or achieved with poor design.
 
A Torontonian Now said:
Very interesting, and a good location for this. Separation distances would concern me in terms of developability, but based on the existing built form (facing side yards in both directions), I am less certain overlook is such a problem.
Click to expand...

It faces back yards, the key here is that the facing elevations are fully windowed, the distance is below what would normally be required for midrise separation. We'll see how the City addresses it.

A Torontonian Now said:
The big issue for me is how it addresses King Street.
Click to expand...

Definitely.

A Torontonian Now said:
This is an opportunity to extend the more animated portion of the street west that should not be missed, or achieved with poor design.
Click to expand...

Not so sure about that. This is the view facing east from the site, towards the more animated portion of King:

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There is no retail on the north side of King until almost Dufferin (see below)

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That's quite a stretch to connect this to the more vibrant, retail-centric portions of King.
 
I think this is what I would call a horizontal trade-off- the existing houses are relatively interesting for the local vernacular (and could do well spruced up), and the lower half of the new building is quite mediocre- but then having a giant temple on the top makes up for these losses, and more importantly, keeps Toronto interesting.

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...so is the residential component is gone now or significantly reduced?
 
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