US architecture studio Gensler has designed an apartment complex with circular buildings and integrated electric-vehicle parking towers in Ontario.
Located outside of Toronto, the Electric Vehicle Enclave (EVE) Park development aims to integrate green technologies into a community-focused residential development.
“The EVE Park homes are designed within circular clusters with stepped rooflines that create dynamic spatial experiences between buildings and allow roof-mounted solar panels to optimally harness energy,” said Gensler principal Oliver Schaper.
“The circular clusters promote community within a shared courtyard and offer small private outdoor spaces on the outside embedded in a park-like setting, creating a residential experience centred on connection to the outdoors.”
Renderings of the design show four circular apartment buildings with cascading roofs topped with solar panels, clustered together on an L-shaped site.
Autonomous EV parking garages mark the highest point of the curved roofline and descend along one side of the buildings, covered in plants.
The garages will be integrated to reduce land occupancy of vehicles, including driveways and individual car garages, while providing more green space for the apartment’s occupants.
“At the tallest end of the building, a vertically stacked garage houses electric vehicles that will be shared amongst dwellers, reducing the community’s carbon footprint and emissions,” said Gensler.
Woods Bagot imagines electric vehicle charging stations as drive-in cinemas
Other design strategies, such as energy-efficient appliances and Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs) for air filtration, will help the complex reach net-positive energy consumption, according to the firm.
The buildings will host 84 households configured as one, two and three-bedroom condos.
Interiors will have double-height living space with multiple picture windows and large fireplaces.
The landscaping and paths will surround the apartment buildings, with further plantings placed at their centres and a pond sits at one corner.
“EVE Park is forward-thinking in its program conceptualization and demonstrates how the integration of nature and technology can usher in the community of the future,” said the firm.
It is currently under construction, according to Gensler.
Recently, legislation passed in England requires all new buildings to contain electric vehicle charging stations, while Woods Bagot designed a concept where charging stations could double as drive-in movie theatres in Los Angeles.
Images are courtesy of EVE Park/Gensler/Dror.
