A proposal in the works for Toronto's Annex neighbourhood promises to break the mould of local development trends, harkening back to the good old days of apartment building design in the city.

Gabriel Fain Architects shared a preview of a development application planned for the southeast corner of Lowther Avenue and Dalton Road, posting a rendering of the upcoming project to the firm's Instagram account in late October.

The firm thanks city planning staff and neighbourhood associations in a message revealing their new 11-storey rental apartment project planned for 171-175 Lowther Avenue, one that designers claim could "redefine mid-rise policy in the city."

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Currently occupied by a group of three single-family homes, the proposal would see 173 and 175 Lowther demolished to make way for the new building, while the newly-heritage-listed property at 171 Lowther would be incorporated into a base that reads as a modern interpretation of the Victorian residential vernacular of the Annex.

The building's upper levels, with framed white balconies punctuated by a crown of dagger-like spikes protruding from the roofline, evoke the architectural style of the late Estonian-born Canadian architect, Uno Prii (1924-2000).

Prii was the visionary behind some of Toronto's most notable mid-century residential buildings — including a handful of examples in the surrounding Annex neighbourhood.

"We want to usher in a new era of architecturally driven housing," states the firm, promising to introduce "dense housing that speaks to history, context and people, not archaic policy with no regard for how we want to live."

The post decries Toronto planning policies that result in prescriptive shapes for mid-rises, promising that "gone are the days of angular planes. Away with terracing and wedding cake-shaped buildings. Heights and setbacks based entirely on context. Very soon, shadow studies will no longer define the built form of our city."

The team stresses that this is not your standard cookie-cutter development, noting the plan to build much-needed rental housing designed for life in Toronto.

This means eschewing the glass-wall design popular with condo investors for punched windows and thermally broken balconies, which Gabriel Fain Architects hope will "capture the spirit of our thinking on city building."

Further details of the application have not been made publicly available on the City's development portal as of writing.