Toronto has seen all types of new buildings join the urban fabric in a dizzying decade and a half of booming construction, but one new proposal recently filed with city planners calls for a rooftop temple that would be unlike any other building here.
A Buddhist temple could soon be perched atop a new apartment development, with the ten-storey building standing in as a modern analogue to a rugged Tibetan mountainside.
The proposed Kagyu Monastery at 1464 King Street West, just west of Jameson Avenue, would bring a distinct presence to the major thoroughfare, with a Tibetan-inspired design fitting for the area from local firm High Park Architects that fuses aesthetics from the East and West.
The site is currently home to a group of house-form buildings wrapping around the King Street West frontage and north onto Maynard Avenue, including a low-rise building currently home to the existing Karma Sonam Dargye Ling Buddhist Temple.
Plans call for the existing structures on site to be levelled and replaced by the new ten-storey, 9,214.2 square-metre building housing rental apartments, retail and childcare, and topped by a Buddhist temple that breaks from the more restrained architectural form below.
An urban design brief attached to the project submission explains that the design “is heavily inspired by Buddhist Architecture with its red façade decorated with gold symbols. Traditional circular gilded metal medallions on the temple building elevations contain various sacred symbols including Holy Tibetan syllables, dharma wheels, and Buddhist and auspicious signs.”
High Park Architects
One of the main inspirations for the design was the Potala Palace in Tibet.
The design brief explains that Buddhist landmarks like these “are often located at the top of mountains to ensure separation from urban activities but also to stress the prominence of spiritual practice over earthly engagements.”
“While the mountain is replaced by the building below, the principle of the temple being in a prominent height is maintained. At the very top of the temple there are three spires, reaching further into the sky. These spires symbolize the three treasures that are the central pillars of Buddhist faith and practice: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.”
High Park Architects
New retail space measuring 254 square metres and an almost 329-square-metre daycare space would occupy the ground floor of the building along with separate dedicated lobbies for the rental apartments and the Temple uses above.
Levels two through six of the building would house 80 rental apartments that will range from studios up to three-bedroom layouts. Included in this mix are 19 rentals to replace existing units on site in accordance with the City’s rental housing demolition policies.
A seventh-floor mezzanine level will offer amenity space for rental tenants as well as 19 studio units dedicated as temple visitor units.
The building’s footprint shrinks to just shy of 333 square metres starting on the eighth floor, where the temple structure begins. This configuration creates a sizeable rooftop courtyard for the new religious institution, as well as a visual separation between the temple and the apartment functions below.
High Park Architects
Level eight of the building would house a mix of administrative uses including a common area, office, and reception space.
The ninth floor is where the temple’s main shrine would be situated, along with a smaller shrine and a mezzanine level for the temple lamas.
The tenth and final floor of the building is planned to house a library as well as study, meditation, and dining rooms.
High Park Architects
With the proposal site located along the TTC’s 504 King streetcar route and just a short walk from the 501 Queen route, a minimal parking component of just 30 spaces is proposed within an underground garage that would be accessed from Maynard Avenue.
