Adjaye Associates designs mass-timber building covered in plants for Toronto's waterfront

Architecture studio Adjaye Associates has designed a plant-covered building called Timber House as part of a developement on Toronto's waterfront that will include buildings by Alison Brooks Architects and Henning Larsen.

Set back from the waterfront, the long and narrow Timber House will reportedly be one of the largest residential mass-timber structures in Canada, when it completes.

Set to contain affordable housing units as well as homes for senior citizens, the building's facade will be crisscrossed by narrow beams and have patios for greenery.

It has been announced as part of the Quayside development in Toronto, alongside structures by Alison Brooks Architects and Danish studio Henning Larsen.

Adjaye Associate's mass-timber building (top) will be built as part of Toronto's Quayside development (above)

Designed for developers Dream Unlimited and Great Gulf, Quayside will include five towers, urban green space, and cultural buildings dedicated to the local Indigenous nation.

It will occupy 12 acres along the lakefront of the Canadian city.

Timber House will have rooftop gardens and greenhouses

According to Waterfront Toronto, a governmental organisation leading the development of the site, Quayside will be "the first all-electric, zero-carbon community at this scale".

"We set out to make Quayside the kind of community that meaningfully improves the lives of its residents, neighbours and visitors," said George Zegarac, president of Waterfront Toronto.

An urban forest between the buildings will be a car-free zone

The proposal includes more than 800 units of affordable housing across all of the buildings.

In addition to Adjaye Associate's Timber House, Quayside will include Western Curve, an Alison Brook Architects-designed tower that rises up from slender arches. Sited directly next to Western Curve will be Dutch studio Henning Larsen's tower called The Overstorey.

Alison Brooks' Western Curve will be covered in round balconies and plants

A community forest by SLA Landscape Architects will occupy the space between the narrow Timber House and the row of towers. This two-acre space will provide "a network of car-free green spaces for residents and visitors".

The design for teh developments cultural buildings has not yet been revealed, but it will be geared towards celebrating the Indigenous community.

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"As Host First Nation, we will continue to work to ensure that Quayside will be a place that celebrates Indigenous history and presence and lays the foundation for a good future based on inclusion, respect and reconciliation," said Stacey LaForme, chief of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation.

There will also be a community care hub for healthcare and "offering a range of programs and services to support aging-in-place" as well as infrastructure for recreation for the community.

Henning Larsen's Overstorey building will be situated across from Adjaye Associates block

Previously, the site was going to be developed by Sidewalk Toronto, a project of Sidewalk Labs, the subsidiary of Google.

Those plans included designs by Snøhetta and Heatherwick Studio for a smart, mass-timber neighbourhood. The plans were ultimately scrapped in 2020 because of the pandemic.

Other projects under development in Toronto include Safdie Architect's Orca, a set of housing blocks connected by bridges as well as plans by Diamond Schmitt Architects to transform Ontario Place into a wellness destination.

The images are courtesy of Waterfront Toronto.

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Studio Vural envisions Manhattan tower draped in colourful flowers

US firm Studio Vural has conceived a mixed-use skyscraper covered with Asian lilies as a "powerful image" to promote low-energy design.

A conceptual project, the Lilly tower has been envisioned for a site alongside Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan. Renderings show a skyscraper with a curved apex that rises near the American Radiator Building – a Gothic-style tower dating to 1923.

The Lilly would be a mixed-use skyscraper covered in Asian lilies

The Lilly's shape was informed by the steep rice fields found in parts of Asia, "where every square inch of fertile soil matters", said Selim Vural founder of Brooklyn-based Studio Vural.

The Lilly building would be triple glazed and partly covered in vegetation, which would provide natural insulation.

The planting system would consist of lightweight, concrete beds supported by a steel frame

Vural envisions using Asiatic lilies, a hearty and low-maintenance plant that blooms every spring and remains green the rest of the year. The flowers come in a variety of hues, including red, yellow and orange.

"A flower field is a powerful image, which is fitting to Lilly's message – clean construction technology with an aesthetic statement," he said.

"Without the aesthetics, it is not architecture. It is just building."

Renderings show a skyscraper with a curved apex

Vural said the tower would be similar in spirit to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, which features exposed structural and mechanical systems on the exterior. Centre Pompidou was designed by Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano and Gianfranco Franchini and opened in 1977.

"It is the same effect as Centre Pompidou, but with flowers," Vural said of his tower.

Lilly has been envisioned for a site in Midtown Manhattan

The planting system would consist of lightweight, concrete beds supported by a steel frame. Water would come from rainwater and greywater, along with city-supplied water if needed.

To maintain the vegetation, Vural said "brave landscapers" would pass through access doors leading to steep ladders. Drones could potentially help, as well.

Studio Vural suspects that lilies would thrive in this context

Vural suspects that lilies would thrive in this context, based on advice from landscape architects and his own personal experience. An avid urban gardener, Vural has a 1,000-square-foot (93-square-metre) farm on his roof in Brooklyn.

"I grow vegetables and flowers, compost, and use bottom fertilizing through custom-made water tanks," he said. "Over the 15-year history of my deck, lilies and lilacs were the main thrivers in frigid weather and extreme winds."

As for the building's program, Vural envisions 21 floors dedicated to commercial space and 18 levels for residential units.

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"The tower caters to the pandemic-generated remote workforce, providing residences close to co-working spaces with large conference spaces and recreational amenities," the architect said.

Daylight would stream in through large stretches of glass, and fresh air would enter through operable windows in the residential portion. Heating and cooling would be provided by a geothermal system, with heat exchangers helping minimize energy loss.

Vural said the tower would be a passive house building – a highly energy-efficient building that follows standards that originated in Germany decades ago. Those standards include an airtight envelope, careful management of solar heat gain and the inclusion of a heat-recovery system, according to the Passive House Institute US.

The studio said that the building would be energy-efficient

The term passive house can refer to all building types, not just houses.

Vural was inspired to create the Lilly tower after seeing a number of passive houses popping up in Brooklyn.

Lilly is currently a conceptual skyscraper

"There is a silent, sustainable revolution in Brooklyn, which started with solar panels ten years ago and is in full swing with townhouses and brownstones purchased by gentrifiers," the architect said.

He described the revolution as "silent" due to passive houses blending in with more traditional buildings, in terms of visual appearance. The systems that enable a home to be highly energy-efficient are often invisible.

"In my projects, I want to make it visible, if not screaming," he said. "Architecture must make an aesthetic statement that is holistic to all layers of the project, which is what I am after in Lilly."

"If we had a hundred Lillies in Manhattan, it would be a very different city," he added.

Other conceptual projects by Studio Vural include a holiday dwelling in Cape Cod that is carved into sand dunes and operates without relying on public utilities.

The renderings are by Studio Vural.

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Project credits:

Principal architect: Selim Vural

Junior architect: Ceren Kalayci

Renderings: Dom Wipas

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Watch our live talk with Stefano Boeri about his new book Green Obsession

Dezeen teamed up with Italian architecture studio Stefano Boeri Architetti to host a live talk marking the launch of Stefano Boeri's book exploring the relationship between nature and architecture.

Titled Green Obsession: Trees Towards Cities, Humans Towards Forests, the book explores the work that Boeri's eponymous architecture practice has been doing for the past 15 years to redefine the relationship between the city and nature.

Moderated by Dezeen's founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs, the talk explored some of the book's central themes, including the role and importance of integrating nature with architecture and urban planning.

The book highlights the importance of architecture and urban planning co-existing with nature instead of replacing it

The book, published by Actar Publishers and supported by Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, aims to give voice to an ecological transition within architecture, in which cities are designed to support not only human life but all living species.

"We have an obsession: that of creating buildings for trees, which can also be inhabited by humans and even birds," Boeri said.

"We are also obsessed with designing forest cities, where plants and nature have no less of a presence than humans, and where both create a habitat in which mineral surfaces are reduced to the minimum amount needed for life."

Boeri created an urban planning proposal called Smart Forest City in Cancun, Mexico, which is designed to host up to 130,000 inhabitants

Other topics explored in the book include the role that communication, politics and economics play within the climate crisis. It includes contributions from ethologist and conservationist Jane Goodall and American environmentalist Paul Hawken, among other experts.

Boeri is best known for designing plant-covered buildings to combat air pollution and counter the effects of deforestation while fostering the connection between humans and nature in urban landscapes.

Amongst his most notable architectural projects is Bosco Verticale, which translates to vertical forest, a pair of high-density residential towers covered in trees in Milan.

More recently, Stefano Boeri Architetti completed its first vertical forest in China, comprising two 80-metre residential towers covered in over 400 trees and plants.

Stefano Boeri Architetti's most notable project is the Bosco Verticale residential towers in Milan

The book also includes masterplans of Boeri's The Green River design, an urban reforestation project for Milan's unused railways which proposes 45,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide could be absorbed while producing 1,800 tonnes of oxygen.

Partnership content

This talk was produced by Dezeen for Stefano Boeri Architetti as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership contenthere.

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