Prototype targets gentle density and sustainable living
By LGA Architectural Partners
Completed in the spring of 2025, Ulster House, Toronto’s first multiplex condominium, exemplifies gentle density, market affordability, thoughtful design, and environmental responsibility. The infill project comprises four condominium units with a total floor area of 377 m² and a 56 m² laneway suite.
Completed in the spring of 2025, Ulster House, Toronto’s first multiplex condominium, exemplifies gentle density, market affordability, thoughtful design, and environmental responsibility. The infill project comprises four condominium units with a total floor area of 377 m² and a 56 m² laneway suite.
A self-initiated project by LGA principals Janna Levitt and Dean Goodman, the development challenges policies and perceptions, paving the way for a new housing typology. It presents a viable, sustainable infill strategy to introduce medium-density housing into established neighbourhoods.
To maximize natural light and take advantage of walkable services and amenities, Levitt and Goodman purchased a corner lot in Harbord Village, a mature Toronto neighbourhood. They replaced a deteriorating two-storey single-family home and rear garage with a three-storey multiplex and a laneway suite, creating five condominium units. Their goal was to design homes that are as desirable—and in many ways superior—to conventional Toronto condominiums in terms of cost, livability, and long-term value.
High-Performance Design with Lower Environmental Impact
The cornerstone of the project is its commitment to the environment, adhering to passive design principles, with sustainability integrated from the outset. Collaborating with Juliette Cook, at that time a University of Toronto graduate student and now a partner at Ha/f Climate Design, the team analyzed embodied and operational carbon emissions, benchmarking the building’s Global Warming Potential (GWP) against the Architecture 2030 Challenge,
As a result, the complex meets the sustainability metrics set by the Passive House standard as well as the Architecture 2030 Challenge, which initially calls for a 40% reduction in carbon emissions compared to current industry standards, and ultimately the elimination of fossil fuels for energy generation altogether.
This rigorous approach led to strategic material choices: including replacing steel framing with light wood framing and decreasing the quantity of cement in concrete components. Such decisions reduced the building’s GWP by almost half, surpassing the targeted benchmark. In addition, Ulster House has no gas line and operates entirely on an all-electric HVAC system supplemented by a rooftop photovoltaic array, further enhancing energy efficiency.
The authors are the LGA Project Team: Dean Goodman (Partner-in-Charge), Janna Levitt (Partner-in-Charge), Kara Burman, Andria Fong, Megan Cassidy and Joshua Giovinazzo.
PROJECT TEAM
- Architecture and Interior Design
- LGA Architectural Partners
- Structural Blackwell Engineering
- Mechanical and Electrical RDZ Engineers
- Civil Blue Grove Engineering Group Inc.
- Landscape Designer Lorraine Johnson, Native Plant Consultant
- Code Consultant David Hine Engineering Inc.
- Building Science RDH
- General Contracting Desar Construction Studio inc.
- Acoustics Thornton Tomasetti (TT)
- Photos Doublespace Photography
The authors are the LGA Project Team: Dean Goodman (Partner-in-Charge), Janna Levitt (Partner-in-Charge), Kara Burman, Andria Fong, Megan Cassidy and Joshua Giovinazzo.
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