New renderings have been released for North Drive Investments’ The High Park, a 12-storey condominium planned for trendy Bloor West Village. Cladding systems are a much discussed topic on UrbanToronto, with countless readers repeatedly calling for designs that stray from Toronto’s conservative “glass box” approach, and the folks at Quadrangle Architects and North Drive seem to have gotten the memo.

Stone and wood-finish cladding on The High Park, image courtesy of Quadrangle Architects

Sure there's glass, but the new renderings show that The High Park won’t just be another glass box. The building's façade will consist of a stone-finish cladding—possibly actual stone!—while a composite material, referred to by the technical term “composite cementitious material”, would be used to replicate a wood-finish for the warm accents.

Stone and wood-finish cladding on The High Park, image courtesy of Quadrangle Architects

The Ontario Building Code says you can't use wood on a structure of this size: materials must be non-combustible. The wood-pattern cladding system depicted in these renderings could be realized with Swisspearl or similar cementitious materials. Swisspearl is world renowned by deconstructivist and modern architects for its versatile range of colours and textures, but is little used in Toronto so far. 

Stone and wood-finish cladding on The High Park, image courtesy of Quadrangle Architects

Up top the building features several setbacks and a lightening of materials, through somewhat of a tumbling effect from floor to floor. The total effect allows for larger terraces, wide-open views from the interior, and an appropriate airiness as the building touches the sky.

North Drive Investments' The High Park, image courtesy of Quadrangle Architects

Beyond the cladding and form, also of note in the rendering above: the immediate proximity to the TTC High Park Station on the Bloor-Danforth subway line. With Toronto’s increasingly gridlocked roads spurring many to ditch their cars and move to transit-accessible locations, developments located along subway lines often sell out rapidly. With an adventurous architectural firm on board and a subway station located only steps away, we expect a lot of interest in this handsome mid-rise development.

In the meantime, check out The High Park’s newly updated dataBase page, linked below, complete with several additional new renderings including those which place the building in context across from High Park itself.

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