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Throughout October UrbanToronto is featuring a special State of Housing 2026 editorial series to examine the pressing housing challenges we face.
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At Princess and Albert streets in Kingston, 'GEOpark' brings low-carbon design into the daily experience of rental housing. Opened in 2025, the six-storey, 176-unit rental building was developed and constructed by Podium Developments, and designed by Enform Architects and Lemay, with interiors by the latter. The Williamsville project earned the 2026 Canada Green Building Council Inspiring Home Award, as well as the 2026 OHBA Architectural Design award for a mid-rise building, and is Kingston’s first building certified under the Zero Carbon Building Design Standard. UrbanToronto spoke with Julia Pascutto, Lemay's Design Director, Architecture, about how its neighbourhood response, energy strategy, and shared spaces came together within the project’s financial constraints.
GEOpark’s triangular lot helped shape a compact building that responds to solar orientation and Williamsville’s streetscapes. Kingston’s limestone buildings, Victorian architecture, and Craftsman houses informed its proportions and material expression, with step-backs mediating between Princess Street’s newer development and the smaller residential scale along Albert Street. Keeping the form straightforward reduced structural complexity and unnecessary enclosure area. “The simple form, which was driven by the site, actually lent itself to being a much more sustainable and energy-efficient building form,” Pascutto explained.
Early energy modelling by Introba tested massing and enclosure options against daylight, comfort, energy demand, and operating costs, informing a window-to-wall ratio of approximately 38%. The team prioritized useful daylight, outdoor views, and operable windows, giving residents more control over suite conditions. “Comfort isn't just having a large window; it's about having the ability to control their comfort by having an operable window, and having a suite that feels bright and comfortable and healthy throughout the year,” Pascutto said.
Continuous insulation, airtightness measures, and thermal isolation detailing at roof junctions, cladding attachments, and window frames helped limit heating and cooling demand. Double-glazed windows combine Low-E coatings, argon fill, and thermal spacers to support that enclosure strategy. “So the double glazing did help achieve the project's performance targets without requiring triple glazing throughout,” Pascutto said, explaining that coordinating the window and wall assemblies helped balance construction costs with environmental goals and resident comfort.
Kevin Stelzer, Principal at Enform Architects, points to the longer-term benefits of that approach: “Equally important, these strategies increase building resilience by reducing stress on mechanical systems and providing greater protection against evolving weather conditions.”
A geoexchange heat pump system financed and built by the building ownership supplies heating and cooling, with CO₂-refrigerant air sourced heat pumps serving domestic hot water. "As an enveloper-operator, creating sustainable efficiency is central to our long-term strategy. From the outset, this project focused heavily on energy design and operational performance. The outcome validates every decision made along the way: a beautiful, future-proof building that optimizes utility consumption and curtails operational expenditure without compromising tenant comfort," says Jill Duncan, Director, Operations & Assets at Podium. Each suite has demand-controlled ventilation with enthalpy heat recovery, adjusting airflow to occupancy and recovering energy from exhaust air. Onsite fossil fuel use is limited to emergency generation. Concrete mixes incorporated up to 50% supplementary cementitious materials, contributing to a reported life-cycle embodied carbon intensity of approximately 359kg CO₂e/m².
The team reports that hard costs rose approximately 40% during design and construction largely as a result of COVID-led hard cost inflationary pressures. A construction management approach brought trades and suppliers into the process early and allowed flexibility in awarding contracts, helping deliver GEOpark on schedule and within budget. Zero Carbon Building and Fitwel targets were embedded in the Basis of Design, giving designers, developers, and financing partners a common reference. According to the team, certification helped substantiate projected energy savings and reduced long-term risk, supporting applications for CMHC-backed financing.
“The CAGBC Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) Standard is a powerful and adaptable tool that enables designers and owners to deliver buildings that achieve both low-carbon outcomes and high-value financial performance,” Stelzer said.
Pascutto credits Podium’s early commitment to linking environmental performance with resident wellbeing and financial viability. “The project team approached carbon reduction, well-being, and financial viability as interconnected goals,” she said. “So improvements to the building envelope reduced the energy demand, which then enabled smaller mechanical systems, and then smaller mechanical systems reduced costs and freed up space that could be reinvested in resident amenities, comfort, and community building spaces.”
On the roof, compact mechanical equipment is grouped and screened, leaving room for a pickleball court, dog run, barbecue areas, and gathering spaces. A panoramic terrace overlooks Kingston, with green roof planting bordering the amenity area. “In many ways, the roof sort of embodies the philosophy of the project, building better performance and creating more space for people,” Pascutto said.
Inside, study rooms, lounges, a shared dining room, and five live/work units at-grade provide settings for focused work and social connection, supported by organized resident activities. GEOpark’s Fitwel two-star certification reflects its attention to health and wellbeing. Colour-coded floors and a playful graphic character named Alby guide residents into the stairways, encouraging movement through an inviting alternative to the elevators.
GEOpark was fully leased at opening, with a waitlist. Resident feedback highlights the rooftop and common spaces, suite layouts suited to individuals and roommates, and the building’s neighbourhood fit. Residents praise the natural light and individual heating and cooling controls, with one reporting little need to switch on lights.
For teams pursuing comparable housing projects, Pascutto points to setting carbon, energy, and wellbeing objectives early, recording them in the Basis of Design, and assembling a team committed to those goals. That shared direction allows costs, building performance, and resident needs to inform the same decisions. “The most important decisions happen before design is advanced,” she said.
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Throughout October, UrbanToronto will be publishing features that examine the housing crisis in depth. Follow along as we present stories and perspectives that capture the state of housing today, and the ideas shaping how the region meets its growing need for homes.
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UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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UrbanToronto's research and data service, UTPro, provides comprehensive data on construction projects in the Greater Golden Horseshoe—from proposal through to completion. Other services include Instant Reports, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter, New Development Insider, that tracks projects from initial application.
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Thank you to the companies joining UrbanToronto to celebrate State of Housing Month.
| Related Companies: | Aercoustics Engineering Ltd, Arcadis, Fotenn Planning + Design, Lemay, RJC Engineers, Vortex Fire Consulting Inc. |
