60 Richmond Street East is an 11-storey sustainable urban design project on the site of a former emergency shelter and is the first housing co-operative built in Toronto since the mid-’90s. The building is home to workers in the hospitality and food industry, many of whom were relocated as part of the Regent Park social housing renewal project.
Co-ops are a unique kind of non-profit housing where the residents are actively involved in running their own affairs. Members of the co-op vote on decisions and manage their internal operations without a landlord. Some sit on the board or on committees while others may contribute in other ways, large and small. This concept of self-sustainability is the premise on which the project was designed.
Sustainability is integrated as a design principle in many different forms, such as environmental, social, and economic sustainability. The result is what the architects refer to as “urban permaculture”, a small-scale self-sustaining ecosystem.
Economic Sustainability
One of the main goals for this project was to create a housing co-op for hospitality workers that would be economical to build and maintain. That’s why social spaces dedicated to food and its production were integrated into the design. The ground floor features a resident-owned and operated restaurant and training kitchen. Further, there’s a kitchen garden on the sixth-floor terrace that supplies the residents with organically-grown vegetables, fruit, and herbs to use.
Environmental Sustainability
The kitchen garden, as well as the building’s green walls, are irrigated by rainwater from the building’s green roof, which is collected in a cistern. Compost from the kitchen is also re-used in the vegetable garden to help with organic urban farming. The terrace garden serves multiple purposes: growing produce to be used in the kitchen, drawing light into the building interior, providing outdoor green space, and helping cool and cleanse the air. All of this contributes to a reduced carbon footprint and an eco-friendly urban environment.
The innovative rainwater collection system used to irrigate the gardens, as well as heat recovery units in apartments, earned 60 Richmond a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold rating for environmental sustainability.
Social Sustainability
With an affordable, socially responsible model of renting and building management, the co-op residents are part of a community where neighbours look out for one another and make collective decisions that benefit all residents. For example, the resident-run restaurant and training kitchen on the ground floor provide supplementary income and additional experience for the residents. The community garden on the sixth-floor terrace helps residents engage with each other and build skills and a sense of community.
NAK Design Strategies worked with Teeple Architects to design building spaces incorporating a mix of indoor and outdoor food production spaces linked by a system of urban permaculture. The project’s ability to combine a high level of design with affordability achieved multiple design awards, including Best New Residential Building in Toronto, while cutting-edge sustainable strategies helped the project earn a LEED Gold certification.