What is a mid-rise building?

Mid-rise buildings are the ‘in between’ scale of building, they are bigger than houses but smaller than towers. Mid-rise buildings have a good scale and relationship to the street. They define or make walls to the street that are tall enough to feel like a city and provide lots of usable space, but low enough to let the sun in and open the view to the sky from the street. They support a comfortable pedestrian environment, and animate the street by lining the sidewalk with doors and windows with active uses including stores, restaurants, services, grade related apartments, and community uses. Mid-rise buildings may contain a single use like an office or residential apartment but they usually contain a mix of uses which may include retail, office, community service, and residential all in the same building. The height of a mid-rise building varies from street to street, as we define mid-rises as buildings that are no taller than the width of their adjacent street right-of-way (the width of the publicly owned portion of the street). In Toronto, on the narrower 20 metre wide streets in the downtown, a mid-rise is 5 or 6 stories high. On the wider arterial streets outside of the Downtown, a mid-rise may be taller up to a maximum of 11 storeys on the widest Avenues. Mid-rises typically are designed with step-backs or terraces at upper levels to make them appear lower in height from the street, and to allow sunlight and sky views on the sidewalk.