Raymond Moriyama's celebrated mid-century former Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) building at 123 Wynford Drive in Don Mills could be transformed if Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment, and Site Plan Approval applications to the City of Toronto are successful. Compiled by Goldberg Group on behalf of Originate Developments and Westdale Properties, the applications seek to preserve parts of the heritage listed building, integrating it into the base of one of two high-rise residential buildings that would soar to 48 and 55 storeys.
Looking northeast to the site location at 123 Wynford Drive, Toronto. Image from submission to the City of Toronto.
The 12,138m² site that the current former JCCC occupies is located on the south side of Wynford Drive, just east of the Don Valley Parkway (DVP). The neighbourhood is also characterized by a series of existing mid-century high-rise apartment buildings, including Wynford Heights Crescent and Wynford Tower, which utilize concrete slab constructions. Beyond them and some other Tower-in-the-Park style properties to the east is the Charles Sauriol Conservation Area, which forms part of a more extensive natural heritage system associated with the Don River, and to the west, on the opposite side of the DVP, is The Aga Khan Museum, designed by Maki and Associates and the Ismaili Centre Toronto, designed by Charles Correa.
Existing north elevation of the former Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. Image from submission to the City of Toronto.
Built in 1963 as the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre with a design by Raymond Moriyama Architects and Planners, the two-storey brutalist-style building was repurposed by the Noor Cultural Centre, with a series of alterations in 2003. The Noor Cultural Centre closed its doors in October 2021, and sold the site. The now vacant pre-cast concrete frame building occupies the southeastern portion of the lot, abutting the Ravine and Natural Feature Protection area and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority regulated area to the south. These natural areas occupy a substantial portion of the site, predominantly towards the south and west, and have been accounted for in the siting of the northernmost tower.
A redevelopment of the 123 Wynford Drive site would benefit from Eglinton Line 5, which will have stops at Wynford Drive and Aga Khan Park and Museum, the former of which is located a few minutes walk about 250m southeast of the site. Both stations will be operational this time next year, providing rapid transit to and from Downtown Toronto via a transfer to Yonge Line 1. Ontario Line 3 is targeted to be operational in about 2030, and will offer quicker access to Downtown after a transfer at Science Centre station, close by the the west.
Looking northeast to the proposed towers of 123 Wynford Drive. Image from submission to the City of Toronto.
Moriyama & Teshima, now under the leadership of one of Raymond Moriyama's sons along with ten other partners, look to sympathetically incorporate Raymond Moriyama's building into the proposal of two residential towers echoing the neighbourhood's emerging high-rise residential developments. The design is being development in association with Kirkor Architects and Planners.
In the northwest corner, a 55 storey / 175.25m tall tower would be built from scratch, and would serve as the tallest of the two towers. Its siting is stipulated by a Top of Bank 10m offset established by Toronto and Region Conservation Authority in July, 2021 and the City of Toronto Ravine Bylaw. Rising to 48 storeys / 150.75m, the shorter tower is set above the listed heritage building that encroaches on these protected areas. Its proposed northern façade would be stepped back 10.3m to emphasize the mid-century jewel below.
Proposed view from Wynford Drive looking south. Image from submission to the City of Toronto.
A refined cost-driven palette of pre-cast concrete panels, glass, and wood drove Moriyama to be pragmatic in his detailing, with deceptive, seemingly weightless structural overhangs and intricate pebble-embedded panelling. This philosophy has been applied to the new design, which utilizes many attributes that made the former JCCC design so effective. The tower façades, therefore are a welcome break from the recent glass-abundant high-rise towers dominating Downtown Toronto's skyline.
Here, the architects opted for intricate glass fibre reinforced concrete panels that evoke memories of Chamberlain, Powell and Bon's Barbican Centre in London. Flared wrap-around balconies that resemble a traditional Japanese pagoda define the first ten stories of both towers, these transition into individual Ivory-coloured concrete balconies from the podium upwards, giving the structure a woven-like quality. Recessed glass bands carefully break up the monolithic masses and help to provide some vertical variation. This banding ensures the tower is visually separate from the mid-century building below. Champagne-coloured aluminium framing helps bring the former and latter together by echoing the warm wood panelling tones of Moriyama's scheme.
Proposed balcony detailing. Image from submission to the City of Toronto.
The proposed development consists of 1,128 residential units comprising 660 one-bedroom units (58.5%) and 321 two-bedroom units (28.5%), and 147 three-bedroom units (13%), which meets the City of Toronto's requirements for percentages of family-sized unit types. A proposed Gross Floor Area of 78,660m² will give the site an FSI of 6.48.
Existing surface parking has been removed in favour of five levels of underground parking, while a landscaping scheme by PLANT Architect unifies the grounds around the towers. The garage would provide 466 parking spaces accessed via a dedicated ramp contained within the northwestern tower and fed by an existing driveway from Wynford Drive that deals with the site's level differentials. Bicycle parking would be provided for 1,159 bikes on levels one and two. Indoor and outdoor amenity space has been sporadically offered at varying levels of the development.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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