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From lot study to permit.

Plexa designs every Kplex building and takes it to the building permit: four stages, one studio, and drawings shaped by what the building will cost to build and how it will be lived in.

  1. 01

    Lot study

    Before anything is drawn, we find out what the lot can take. We read the zoning and the survey, walk the street, and work out the number of homes, the floor area and the height the rules allow, along with anything that limits them.

    • Zoning and bylaw review
    • Survey and site visit
    • Unit count and floor area
    • Trees, servicing and setbacks
  2. 02

    Concept

    We test a few ways of placing the building on the lot: how tall, how deep, how the homes are split up and how people get to them. Each option is checked against the bylaw and against the project budget, so the one we develop is one that can be built.

    • Massing options
    • Unit mix and layouts
    • Early cost check with Plexy
    • Exterior direction
  3. 03

    Design development

    The chosen concept becomes a building: floor plans, elevations, sections, materials and details. We bring in the structural, mechanical and energy consultants and coordinate their work with ours.

    • Plans, elevations and sections
    • Materials and details
    • Consultant coordination
    • Building code review
  4. 04

    Permits

    We prepare the building permit drawings and answer the City’s comments until the permit is issued. Where a project needs a minor variance, we prepare the drawings for the Committee of Adjustment as well.

    • Building permit drawings
    • Responses to City comments
    • Committee of Adjustment drawings, if needed
    • Zoning review submissions
Building types

What we design

Four building types, from five homes on a residential street to sixty on a major one.

Hillcrest: rendering of a three-storey four-plus-one multiplex
01

4+1 multiplexes

5 units

Four homes in the main building and a garden suite at the back, at the scale of the houses on the street.

Hillcrest, Highland Creek

Danforth: rendering of a three-storey, six-unit multiplex
02

Six-plexes and 6+1

6–7 units

Three and four storeys, for the parts of the city where six units are allowed, with a garden suite where the lot can take one.

Danforth, Cabbagetown 1

Morningside 1: rendering of a ten-unit building with a rooftop terrace
03

Ten-plexes and stacked townhouses

10 units

Ten homes on wider lots, including stacked townhouses on a corner and a building with a rooftop terrace.

Morningside 1, Cabbagetown 2, Crescent Town

Bayview Village: rendering of a five-storey, 60-unit brick building on a major street
04

Mid-rise on major streets

12–60 units

Apartment buildings on Toronto’s major streets, scaled to the street and to the houses behind them.

Bayview Village, Henry Farm, Bendale

Own a house in Toronto?

Find out what your lot could become.

Plexa designs the buildings Kplex develops. To see what could be built on your property, start with Kplex.

Start with KplexContact the studio