Re-Thinking the Conventional Stacked Townhouse Typology The upper unit is entered from the uppermost level at the living room, from where it is possible to go one level up to the rooftop or one level down to the bedrooms.
Conventional 3-Storey + Basement Stacked Townhouses Limitations:
Conventional 4-Storey Stacked Townhouses Limitations:
• Underground parking is 1.5 storeys below grade - expensive. • Lower unit receives inferior daylight, open space and privacy. • Access to the upper unit wastes space and frontage at the first level. • First level of upper unit is two levels below the rooftop terrace.
• Lower unit has less privacy because upper level residents pass in front of their windows and front yards. • Access to the upper unit wastes space and frontage in two levels. • Access to the upper unit requires going up two levels and is hard for accessibility, strollers, etc. • First level of upper unit is separated by two levels below the rooftop terrace.
Major Code Implications Four-Storey Conventional Stacked vs. Gallery Access Implications: • Both conventional and the proposed four-storey townhouses allow combustible construction, if sprinklered. • Both types require two exits from the upper units. Conventional stacked arrangements require measures to compensate for not providing two exits; the proposed design provides two exits without need to compensate. • When using an open access gallery (unlike an interior corridor in an apartment building), units can have windows to the gallery.
192 Spadina Ave #300 Toronto, ON M5T 2C7 647-687-4474 nblonder@smartdensity.com
Proposed: 4-Storey Stacked Townhouses with Gallery Access:
Access to the upper unit uses an open gallery; stairs and elevators are consolidated at the edges and waste little space.
Residents of the upper units don’t pass in front of the lower units. The upper unit can be accessed through an elevator and is friendlier for accessibility, strollers.
Front Yards on top of the parking garage Underground parking is only 0.5 storeys below grade.
The Typology can be further improved by forming an interior courtyard organization: the density gained by “filling� the open edges is used to provide larger distances between the units and a common open space. It also requires less exist stairs.