Bigger streets can accommodate bigger buildings

The City of Toronto is now allowing “small apartment buildings” - up to 6-storeys and 60-units - for residential-zoned lots on streets categorized as “Major Streets”. Up to 3 existing parcels can be combined to build a “small apartment building”. Parcel sizes and their relationship to the street and the neighbourhood varies greatly throughout the city. Click through the “ILCHUNO” chart below to see sample designs that combine modular shapes to respond to different lot sizes and orientations.

In the City of Toronto, Zoning By-Law 569-2013 amendment XXX was passed in 2024 to allow for the construction of Small Apartment buildings and townhouses on lots abutting most “Major Streets”. Major Streets in Toronto are highlighted in the map below.

Prewar Neighbourhoods (pre-1941):

Located closest to the downtown core, feature narrow parcels, often include laneways, and are characterized by gridded streets without driveways, and a mix of home types favouring attached and semi-attached homes.

Postwar Neighbourhoods (1941-1967):

Situated farther from the downtown core, with larger parcels, predominantly detached homes, and roads that curve to follow the topography. These neighbourhoods typically feature garages in the front or rear and have few laneways.

Metroburb Neighbourhoods (1967-2006):

Farthest from the downtown core, have more structure in their road networks than Postwar areas while not being so confined to a grid as Prewar areas. These neighbourhoods feature mostly detached homes on mid-sized parcels with front-facing attached garages and very few laneways.

Making shapes, making space

Apartment buildings can take many forms depending on stair types, hallway configurations, unit size, unit distribution, and many other factors. The shape of buildings is often governed by maximizing rentable floor area and typically results in a ‘bar’ or ‘cube’ shape building. However, shapes other than ‘bars’ can be equally efficient while providing opportunities for new kinds of balconies, friendly corridors, common areas, and better access to natural light and ventilation.

Meet the shapes: ILCHUNO

Using the shapes of 7 letters - I L C H U N O - we have designed small apartment buildings that offer the density needed for affodability while providing variety in the units and spaces they offer and how they respond to their site conditions. Click through to see sample designs!

   

In addition to the lot types, each lot can have a specific orientation in relationship to the street. Each lot configuration presents particular restrictions and opportunities regarding the design of parking, services, entrances, and common spaces. Each project in the catalogue combines a lot type with a lot configurations.

Front Lots: Only the front part of the lot faces a street and has other lots directly adjacent to its sides and back. This is the most common type of lot.

Flank Lots: Face 2 intersecting streets, and are often larger. Also known as corner lots.

Reverse Lots: Lot where the side of the lot opposite to the front faces a second street or laneway. Laneways are common in prewar lots but not found in postwar or metroburb lots.

In a city like Toronto, housing is built in big batches - either as suburban subdivisions or as super-tall condo towers. These models require large areas of razed land and privilege large developers with access to huge amounts of financing and risk-taking. Middle-scale buildings on the other hand, are able to fit on smaller lotswithin existing neighbourhoods but still provide increased density. Though building smaller is seen as “less efficient,” with appropriate front-end research that facilitates the early stages of design, as well as with responsible development techniques led by citizen developers, small buildings can be both financially efficient and more able to deliver what Torontonians need. We’ve come up with a number of early-phase strategies to reduce the cost of design and construction of these small apartment buildings.

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