User:Jpmasangkay/sandbox

G+C Architects and the Evolution of High-rises

GC Architects is an architectural firm located in Mississauga, Ontario. The firm consists of senior and non-senior associates as well as the three main principles, Enzo Corazza and Berardo Graziani, the two principal Architects, and Domenic Biase, the principal Certified Engineering Technologist.

Enzo Corazza:

B.arch, OAA (Ontario Association of Architects), MRAIC (Member of Royal Architectural Institute of Canada) Studied and graduated from the University of Toronto, highly regarded with designs that reflect aesthetics and sensibilities to condominium and mixed-use projects.

Berardo Graziani:

B.arch, OAA (Ontario Association of Architects), MRAIC (Member of Royal Architectural Institute of Canada) Studied and graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1986. Has been viewed and sought out for his experience in dealing with urban issues and proper urban development.

Domenic Biase: C.E.T (Certified Engineering Technologist)

The firm believes in sustainability within a design. They build towards a future that tackles environmental issues, both locally within the GTA and globally. Working on design challenges from large-scaled builds to small, from community-based, to institutional, GC Architects interact with multi-leveled projects with the intentions of the community and environment.

Core Beliefs:

Their signature of work revolves around contemporary and modern building styles that range from large building complexes and skyscrapers to local commercial and residential buildings. The firm brings a level of simplicity with a level of complexity with its use of materials, form, and space that complements the standards of today. They bring a unique outlook to how large building complexes operate. Designing buildings that take full advantage of their size, function, and form, while still providing uniqueness to the design with refinement and allure. Instead of a static building, they look for opportunities to really liven up the design that invokes movement and freedom that a lot of large building complexes typically do not show. High-rises from the past tend to operate more towards the functionality of the building, whereas for example, the Burlington Concept and Auberge on the park show a level of design that allows the complexes to feel mobile and open with the different uses of forms that range from curves to different layers.

Sustainability is one of the firm’s major key incentives; designing and constructing a community that helps promote and achieve an improved environment and increase the impacts on human health positively. Looking at the firms’ projects, there will be a number of designs that really emphasize the relation the building has with the surrounding environment and continue to work around that rather than overwhelm with another structure.

Anxiety and Truth about High-rises:

High rise living has continued to grow within the past several years, with a study showing that around 30% of living situations revolved around buildings higher than five stories. The number of high rises is continuing to grow, thus resulting in that percentage to grow as well. These studies tend to look at the dangers and harmful results that living in high-rises provides today.

Modernism in architecture has led to the creation of large-scale projects from the results of innovation of construction, to different choices of materials. This led to a fast increase in high-rises and skyscrapers. However, this fast increase did come with a cost of poor building layouts, and it turned into more of a race to see how could create the most and largest buildings to date. With poor design and building layouts, high-rises and skyscrapers were not used to their fullest capabilities and did not serve their purpose as well as they should have. Most cities that have a populated number of high-rises tend to clutter these large buildings extremely close to one another. Le Corbusier in ‘The Radiant City’ describes these large buildings needing space from one another. Spacing these out would allow for a proper amount of the already large facades to be open and free; to be able to take as much of the natural surroundings such as sunlight, rather than being shaded by other buildings beside it. With this massive cluster, they were these overbearing and overshadowing forces that would merge on top of one another engulfing the surroundings and users. We live in a society that did not carefully plan out the future of a lot of these high-rises.

Known benefits of high rise Living:

With cons overlooking the topic of high-rises, many do forget the benefits this type of living can provide when designed in a way that looks to include the users as a main priority. High-rises provide benefits to healthy living that are harder to achieve in smaller homes. Living in a high-rise creates large facades that when done correctly, should be higher than any other buildings surrounding it, and if that is the case, sun exposure is obtained quite easily, allowing for a great source of natural lighting and the natural benefits that come with a good amount of exposure with sunlight. With the higher living situation, air quality is slightly better than the closer exposure to low-ground pollutants such as vehicle exhaust. GC Architects approach these projects with the awareness of how to achieve these benefits. Looking at one of their other projects ‘Nautilus’, an apartment building located in Etobicoke, brings a great example of the different methods in which help create a better environment for these high-rises. In the photo provided, there is a plentiful amount of space that the building is given, which allows for that solar gain. The surroundings of the building is designed in a way that complements the large structure that creates a community that revolves around that area.

G+C Architects Approach to High-rise Living:

Located in 1095 Leslie Street, Toronto, Auberge on the park is a set of 3 high-rise buildings set to be completed in 2021. Auberge on the park sets to create an environment and circulation that revolves around and within this project. It blends residential, with commercial and recreational spaces into one common area. This approach of creating a self-sustaining environment allows and provides a great additional benefit to the users. Typical high-rises tend to focus on functionality within the building and do not really focus on the exterior experience a user would feel. With a combined number of 113 stories, it aims to create a community that is interwoven in-between the high-rises. The goal is to create a space that combines different styles of living, from open terraces and large green spaces for relaxation to a private living space nearby.

How the buildings are spaced optimizes the façades for proper solar gains, which is a typical high-rise and urban setting is quite difficult to achieve as high-rises tend to block each other’s access to sunlight.