Changes to the city’s antiquated policies on housing in laneways have been exhilarating and, with the current housing shortage, completely necessary
It’s like Darwinism, but expedited. That’s what it’s like watching laneway houses in the city of Toronto.
It has been exhilarating. And with the current housing shortage, completely necessary. But it feels as if a sameness has already crept in. With height restrictions, angular setbacks, window limitations and a dozen other regulations, creativity seems limited to cladding.'There’s a weird bylaw here that the total interior floor area of the laneway house has to be less than the total gross floor of the main house,' says Tom Knezic. 'So, we added a third storey.
“So, we added a third storey,” he recalls with a laugh. “It’s hard to understand what the rationale was, exactly. … Nobody standing here looking at this knows that this is 49 per cent total internal floor area of the gross floor area of .”The team decided the new laneway house should have a basement. That was complicated by the height restrictions, which meant they would need to dig fairly deep – and would need the co-operation of the homeowners on either side.
Those carve outs also make for an interesting – and not the same old, same old – laneway building. In fact, with its visually heavy top, the bold, muscular, brick-clad building resembles a hammerhead shark.“We just wanted something different,” says Mr. Leddy. “We didn’t want a tin box and it was consistent with the neighbourhood.”Kira Noel Photography/Supplied
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