Hines and Tridel have tapped Danish firm 3XN to design the next building at Bayside Toronto, a 13-acre mixed-use development in Waterfront Toronto’s burgeoning East Bayfront. The team gives Bisnow the lowdown.

We snapped Hines’ Bayside program director Michael Gross with 3XN principal Kim Herforth Nielsen and Tridel’s Andrew DelZotto and SVP Jim Ritchie at an event last week to preview preliminary designs for the condo. Michael tells us the building (14 floors, 200-plus units) will include 7k SF of retail, lining a cobblestone high street. He says 3XN’s site-sensitive L-shape design will maximize waterfront views and ensure ample sunlight reaches public areas at ground level. “The solution they came up with for this unusually shaped site is brilliant.”

The building is the third of six residential phases at Bayside, a $1.1B development that at build-out will boast 2M SF of residential (1,800 units) and commercial space, including two LEED Gold office towers, Queens Quay Place. New green space, Aitken Place Park, will tie in with adjacent Sherbourne Common and the Water’s Edge Promenade. Jim with Tridel (Hines’ exclusive residential project partner) notes the majority of units will be 1,500 to 2k SF, targeting end users who want a home with direct waterfront access. “That’s what makes this a unique value proposition.”

Kim says inspiration for Phase 3's design came from cottages he and his team observed during a Toronto Islands excursion. “We tried to implement that into a bigger context in this building." The vertical neighbourhood of stacked cottages has large garden terraces that will activate the facade and give it texture, colour and depth. The openness of the stepped-back structure is meant to visually connect residents, and promote interaction. “We are social human beings," Kim tells us. "We like privacy from time to time, but we also like to connect. This is living in the city.”