COMPETITION / 227 King Street West

3B students Claudia and Penny won this year’s Masonry Worx award for their design of a mixed-used masonry building in Kitchener.

Claudia Jaegerman & Penny Unni’s project at 227 King Street West, Kitchener

Masonry Worx Award, 1st Place

The site of this project in downtown Kitchener situates this eight-storey mixed-use residential structure aside neighboring buildings of different uses and qualities of masonry. The site is located in the heart of downtown, aside small storefronts and restaurants. The strategy of an infill structure respects the building at the posterior, does not challenge City Hall, and extends the activity and liveliness of the street by meeting the edge of the sidewalk with an arched stone arcade that leads into an artisanal bakery at the ground floor.

The building is supported by a CMU block structure, a stone frame and brick facades both on the inside and outside. The strategy towards the brick weave that is located along the length of atrium and key public spaces at the terrace level. The materiality of the perforated brick facade filters light and creates unique environmental qualities for the residents. The white stone frame defines each individual unit and creates a continuity between buildings in the downtown fabric.

In an effort to accent the variety of brick and stone found at the site, namely that of the imported red sandstone and domestic granite of the Kitchener City Hall, a chromatic study was done to generate the ideal tones and materiality of brick, block and stone in the building.