Don Mount Court, Rivertowne

The regeneration of Don Mount Court, renamed Rivertowne, relies on the integration of a new mixed income community with the surrounding neighbourhood, as a means to establish a sense of community and place within a dense urban block.

The original Don Mount Court (circa 1968) provided housing for low income households. At the time, typical designs replaced city streets and houses with frontage with four and six storey buildings set in a self-contained property. The ground plane was largely taken up by parking and residual open space. As a result of this approach, these early projects were isolated from the surrounding community, allowing for increased crime and alienation.

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Location

Dundas Street, Toronto, Ontario

Gross Project Area

7.7 acres, 475,444 sq. ft.

Client

Marion Hill/Intracorp/ Toronto Community Housing Corporation

Status

Completed 2011

Project Value

$102 Million

Project Team

Kearns Mancini Architects, in joint venture with Montgomery Sisam Architects

Project Awards

Toronto Home Builder Award - Best Low-Rise Project | 2007

In Association with

Montgomery Sisam Architects

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The regeneration of Don Mount Court (renamed Rivertowne) relies on the integration of a new mixed-income community with the surrounding neighbourhood. Integration is achieved through an archetypal Toronto pattern of urban squares, streets, and lane ways that connect with the existing city fabric.

These urban infrastructures are completed with small garden pathways and private terraces to create a granularity that breaks up the massing of the housing developments, offering both fully public and fully private elements. These blended elements help to engender interconnections within the community.

With the redesign of the housing development, the original 232 affordable rental units are replaced with geared-to-income stacked townhouses and a fully accessible four storey apartment building.

The site also incorporates 187 market condominium townhouses and achieves an overall density of 54.4 units per acre. Ultimately, the project returns to a blended street-frontage typology. By animating streets with varied massing and accommodating tenants from a range of demographics, the design of Rivertowne adds to the vibrancy and health of the greater community.

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View across Don Valley Parkway

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University of Toronto Scarborough Campus Passive House Student Residence

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