Truly innovative designs for residential projects, like Abacus Lofts by developer DAZ and builder 59 Project Management, are still rare in Toronto, so it's worthwhile celebrating when when buildings this unique appear. UrbanToronto certainly hopes to see more envelop-pushing architecture as the city pushes for more intensification in the form of mid-rise development on arterial roads like Dundas Street West where Abacus is located.

Cladding on the north facade of Abacus Lofts, image by Edward Skira

Designed by Quadrangle Architects and RAW, the boutique condominium development brings an inventive and bold design to Dundas near Dovercourt, the highlight of which can be found in the form of a series of wedges on the building's northern façade, fronting onto Dundas. While the ground level frontage is parallel to Toronto's grid, with each floor above, a wedge is positioned at a progressively more acute angle than the one below, ending in the fifth floor, which is flush with Dundas Street's off-grid alignment. The angles once again recede after the fifth floor, before the effect terminates at the eights and final floor.

Abacus Lofts viewed from the west on Dundas, image by urbandreamer

In the image above, one can just make out that a large portion of the windowless west façade has been clad in a charcoal-toned brick. This façade, along with the similarly windowless east façade, have been left blank to allow for future redevelopment of abutting properties. In the following image, we are given a close-up look of the same charcoal brick being applied to the eastern façade of the building.

Charcoal bricks covering Abacus' blank east facade, image by urbandreamer

Once construction of the new boutique condominium is completed, residents of the 39-unit development will be situated in close proximity to the growing selection of eclectic restaurants, cafes and shops located along trendy Dundas Street West between Lansdowne and Bathurst.

Rendering of Abacus Lofts, image courtesy of DAZ

Additional information and renderings can be found in our dataBase file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment using the space provided at the bottom of this page.

Related Companies:  BDP Quadrangle, MGI Construction Corp., RAW Design, Tarra Engineering & Structural Consultants Inc