As one of Toronto’s fastest growing neighborhoods, King West has been compared to New York’s SoHo and the design attributes that the Freed/CORE team have brought to the architecture of the strip may have something to do with it.
Their most recent project – Fashion House – is now complete and fully occupied, and captures the diverse and creative energy of the historic fashion district. A LEED-rated, heritage-designated infill project, the building is not only diverse architecturally, employing the stacked box design which has become a signature of CORE Architects in Toronto’s downtown, but also incorporating premium, one-of-a-kind retail and a unique collaboration with local fashion designers (murals featuring fashion from young Toronto designers line the elevator areas on each floor of the condo building).
The heritage-designated component (which now houses The Keg and was a former maintenance garage/private pump station for Co-Op cabs) was an interesting design challenge as the architects were mandated to preserve the industrial brick facade as a nod to the warehouse feel of the historic garment district. Bricks had to be sourced from Britain as no local suppliers could match the clay originally used. A sea of red curtains face the street from the condo building, set next to and adjoining the heritage-designated building, as a modern nod to these historical design attributes.