Where Design Meets Functionality

Hudson Kruse Design, which specializes in residential development projects across North America, is known for its ability to create a unique balance between functionality and design—yet nothing it does is formulaic. “If you look at our portfolio, you’ll see projects that range from contemporary industrial to overtly traditional,” says founder Trevor Kruse. “The solutions are based on the architecture and project rather than on what Hudson Kruse projects look like.” This approach has clearly been a success. In addition to designing some of the most notable buildings in Toronto—including Trump International Hotel and Tower Toronto—the nine-employee firm has won a number of awards, including a 2005 National Post Design Exchange Award, a 2007 Arido Award of Merit, and a 2007 IIDA Leadership Award. Most recently, the firm won an honourable mention in the Showflat category of the Ring iC@ward 2009.

The transformation of 69 acres of Toronto’s east downtown into a vibrant mixed-use community will occur over the course of six phases, but if the first phase is any indication, the project will be a success. One Cole Condominiums, developed by the Daniels Corporation at the northeast corner of Dundas Street East and Parliament Street, is the first condominium building to be constructed as part of the revitalization. The project includes 293 residential suites in two distinctive buildings (a 9-storey west building and a 19-storey east building), a number of amenity and retail spaces, and a 20,000-square-foot landscaped courtyard. In approaching the interior design of One Cole Condominiums, Hudson Kruse considered the environmentally friendly nature of the project, which is seeking LEED Platinum certification. “Interior-design details include recycled and locally sourced items, many of which were made by craftspeople from parts that could not be used in the normal manufacturing process,” Kruse says. “As a result, the overall feel of the project is contemporary but eclectic.”

When The Daniels Corporation first asked Hudson Kruse to design the interior of the Capital Condominiums, part of Daniels City Centre, a condominium community in the heart of Mississauga, Ontario, the developer was seeking a design that would appeal to a first-time buyer with no access to a weekend retreat. The idea was for the two-tower development—which has more than 10,000 square feet of amenity space, including pools and parks—to have the feel of a getaway. In response, Hudson Kruse’s first design concept “spoke directly to this sort of cabin-in-the-woods aesthetic,” Kruse says.

After the Daniels Corporation sold the project and started construction, however, it had a change of heart and asked Hudson Kruse to make the project less thematic. “They asked us to guide them toward a more contemporary boutique hotel version of the aesthetic, so we redesigned the project with a clean, contemporary look, albeit one that had a warm feel,” Kruse says. “We used natural materials, such as wood and slate, and used colours based on the maple leaf turning throughout the fall.” The end result was clearly a success: the Capital Condominiums won the Greater Toronto Home Builders’ Association’s Best Condo Building Design Award.

CHICAGO, the sixth addition to the landmark Daniels City Centre condominium community, in the heart of Mississauga, combines striking architecture with 17,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities. In an attempt to be true to the Chicago School of Architecture, the 35-storey, 484-unit residential tower was designed with three distinct architectural components similar to a classical column. The first floors represent the base; the middle floors form the shaft; and the top is a crown featuring a highly detailed and decorative cornice. That architecture, Kruse says, informed the interior of the tower as well, and that, in turn, guided Hudson Kruse’s design approach. “The interior was designed to look like an old Chicago hotel built in the 1920s, so there were many historical references and traditional details, such as corridors that feel like old hotel hallways,” Kruse says. “We injected a lot of that tradition into the interior-design solution.”