Primrose Hill is a playful approach to humanizing purpose-built rental development, with a focus on civic regeneration, affordability, and community-building. Located in Moss Park, a historically underserved neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, the project prompted a series of guiding questions: How do we reinvigorate our existing urban fabric, creatively and responsibly, on sites that are in relative disrepair and can accommodate more intensification? How can we build social equity and density but also bring joy, colour, and visual intrigue to the staid and sterile development landscape that characterizes Toronto’s downtown core?
Our proposal resuscitates an aging tower-in-the-park development that currently houses two 1970s Brutalist apartment blocks. The scheme introduces two new vibrant towers (39 and 40 storeys, respectively) for a total of 692 new rental units and a whimsical skybridge that creates coherence and connection. The towers’ shifting volumes — stacked in a collage-like fashion, like oversized building blocks — invert traditional high-rise massing by growing larger as they rise, leaving more open space at grade for community use. We’re exploring the facade’s colour palette alongside British artist Adam Nathaniel Furman. The base and mid-level volumes feature precast arches that reference the Brutalist context.
The skybridge is the project’s defining architectural gesture: perched above the roof of an existing apartment block, the bridge frames the latter and provides a physical connection between the two new towers at the 17th floor. Featuring an elevated terrace, infinity pool, and panoramic views, the bridge doubles as a communal space in the sky, granting tenants access to an exhilarating amenity experience.
These technical maneuvers are extensions of the project’s LEED Gold sustainability mission. The project features lightweight systems that reduce embodied carbon, a 60/40 solid-to-glass façade ratio, and advanced mechanical systems including air source heat pumps, in-suite energy recovery ventilators, and stormwater reuse tanks.
