60 Richmond Win
One measure of an excellent building is whether it’s one you want to wander into. Those examples scattered across the city that have you cocking your neck, wondering what’s inside? That’s Teeple Architects. (see: U of T’s Early Learning Centre or East End Community Health Care if you don’t already know what I’m talking about.)
The 60 Richmond Housing Cooperative is rife with Teeple signatures: exceptional detailing, an expressive palette, green street cred… Most importantly, it’s the logical consequence of a strong concept.
The intersecting volumes have clear functional roles: the positive volumes define the corner of Richmond and Berti and the negative volumes carve out the green spaces, fostering a mini eco-system within the central artery.
It takes courage to build conceptually and in times of ubiquitous glazing Teeple brought back the framed view.
I’m reminded of Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky’s dissection of transparency. Transparency isn’t just an inherent quality of material. Transparency is an organization of space: a simultaneity and fluctuation of space. 60 Richmond is the transparent antidote to the monotony of Toronto glass tower projects.
So congratulations to the home team for their recognition in ArchDaily’s buildings of the year awards. Toronto’s 60 Richmond won the housing category this year. And thanks to the folks at Teeple for yet another city site we’d like to trespass on.
More praise for 60 Richmond:
Watch Stephen Teeple on the difference between architecture and a “collage of niceties”
photos: Shai Gil
