Governor General's Medals in Architecture — 2014 Recipient

Located in downtown Toronto, this LEED Gold housing co-operative provides an alternative to the ubiquitous local glass towers. Terraces are carved out of the building’s solid mass to create social spaces and gardens on various levels. The project houses relocated hospitality workers from Regent Park, a deteriorating social-housing community undergoing redevelopment. The residents operate a restaurant and training kitchen on the ground floor and a community garden on the sixth-floor terrace. The garden provides food for the restaurant and uses organic waste generated by the kitchens as compost. This creates a self-sustaining condition called “urban permaculture.”