The site includes several historic buildings which King Toronto wraps around like a new organic frame. Each building unit is set at the size of a room, rotated degrees from the street grid to increase exposure to light and air. The resulting urban volume is an alternative to the tower and podium typology prevalent in Toronto. It echoes some of Moshe Safdies most revolutionary ideas from Habitat in Montreal, but rather than a utopian experiment on an island, it is nested in the heart of the city.
The entire store unfolds itself on the ground floor and creates a bright new urban living room for brand activations, fashion shows and other special events. A grand staircase, which doubles as an auditorium during events, takes visitors to the mixed-use space on the first floor which features creative and emerging brands, as well as a denim lab, jewelry display, limited edition sneakers and tech products.
The Village is conceived as a central living room a dynamic hub surrounded by a collection of spaces tailored to the needs of the Hopkins community. The building negotiates the sloping grade of the site to allow direct entry from all four levels of the building, while maintaining a human scale and providing several accessible routes across the site. Arriving on Charles Street, students and visitors are greeted by an open building façade with dining areas spilling out onto an adjacent plaza.
The building comprised of timber in its upper structures, bridges and slabs features a long and slim footprint covering an area of ca. , m. SBC makes full use of the allowed maximum building height of . m across seven floors, and is based on an ideal office bar typology measuring m in width. Instead of one single zig-zag volume, as envisioned in the masterplan, BIG’s design consists of two stacked and rotated zig-zagging bars.
The bikes form the foundation of the Biomega collection, sharing a common design language based on simplicity, practicality and iconic features. All bikes are designed with high attention to detail with the goal of making the bicycle a visually coherent product that feels holistically designed. Models range from the small and foldable BOS for smaller dwellings, to the lightweight electrically assisted OKO and the urban hauler PEK.