Design : Development News

The city is starting work on figuring out whether there's a way to help the visually impaired better determine when they're approaching an intersection.

The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee is overseeing the installation of four trial surfaces at Victoria and Shuter.

"It is our goal to make pedestrian travel as safe as possible for all residents and visitors to the city—especially for those who are visually impaired," said councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, chair of the committee, in a prepared statement on the subject. "Testing different options at the same intersection will give us an opportunity to perform a side-by-side comparison of the cost, ease of installation, durability and effectiveness of each treatment."

In addition to textured surfaces, the city is experimenting with different colours, looking for high-contrast patterns that will be more easily detectable to people with low vision.

"We're very happy that the city is undertaking this consultation," says Chris McLean, the regional director for the GTA chapter of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. "Generally, we feel that tactile walking surface indicators add an extra element of safety for blind and low-vision pedestrians."

Though the city chose Victoria/Shuter intersection because it's already slated for reconstruction at the end of next year, which is when the pilot project is scheduled for completion, McLean figures it's a better location than most, given its proximity to St. Michael's Hospital and its ophthalmological unit.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Chris McLean

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Google Canada's got some new digs.

As of the middle of last month, Google Canada's Toronto office moved from its rather inauspicious space in the Dundas Square Cineplex building to 89,000 square feet on five floors of a stately Peter Dickinson tower on Richmond Street West, just behind the opera house.

There have for years been stories out of Mountain View, California of Google's wonderful HQ with its over-the-top amenities, ad now, it seems, Google Canada's decided it worth following suit.

I took a tour of the place last week with Aaron Brindle, Google Canada's communications manager. It's not quite finished yet— there are still some cartographically themed graphics to go into some stairwells, and one floor is still entirely unoccupied, though it's fully furnished.

But they do have a DJ room. And a jam room, where employees can use the full complement of instruments and gear to play and even record. Also, there's food—lots of it.

"I don't think any employee is ever more than 150 feet away from food," Brindle said. Walking down the hallways you run into jars of candy, freezers of ice cream, the occasional mini-kitchen, all in addition to the main dining room, where meals prepared by Google's chef are served five days a week.

It's almost as if Google wanted people to have something to write about when they opened.

There are also more obviously productive spaces, like the 42 conference, phone or "huddle" rooms sprinkled about the place.

Carpets are made from salvaged fishnets, and the walls are lined with reclaimed wood, all of which was designed and executed by Google in consultation with HOK.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Aaron Brindle

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The formerly peripatetic Theatre Centre is getting a permanent home in an Edwardian library on Queen Street West at Lisgar.

Designed by city architect Robert McCallum in 1909 and funded by Andrew Carnegie, the two-storey brick building's getting a $6.2-million renovation beginning this week that will include a 200-seat performance space, a rehearsal hall and a café, which, in artistic director Franco Boni's opinion, is the most important part.

"The whole idea is that there needs to be a space open to the public," Boni says. "That glass cube at the back, the café, is the most expensive, but I also think it's the most important. Artists will make work, create work and produce work in lots of different kinds of spaces, but the one thing that is so important for a performance space is that we need to create these kinds of meeting places, a third space. We need to be building these spaces and integrating these spaces into our theatres. We can't just be open at seven at night for a show and then cart the audience out. We have to be open all day."

The old building, which has been used as a public health facility in the years since the library closed in 1964, is about 10,000 square feet. After the renovation, which should be finished by next fall, it will be between 13,000 and 14,000 square feet, with the extra space coming mostly from extensions above and to the rear.

The architect is Philip Goldsmith of GBCA, the man behind the Summerhill LCBO.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Franco Boni

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In the midst of the most crowded condo market in the world, David Mirvish has made a bet that Frank Gehry can make his proposal rise above the rest.

That, and the fact that he is proposing the city's first full-blown condo cultural centre, with a major new art museum and a new campus for the Ontario College of Art and Design.

Early skepticism concentrated on the demolition of the Princess of Wales Theatre, which Mirvish built in 1993 to accommodate a production of Miss Saigon. But at a well-attended press conference at the AGO on October 1, Mirvish did a credible job of laying money-grab fears to rest by reminding the crowd that architecture is also an art.

"I do theatre, I do art, and I'm interested in saying who we are as a people through architecture," he said at a podium set up in front of a wall full of sketches and several early models of the proposed two-podium, three-tower proposal. "Having theatres that are not full all the time is not better than having art galleries." The proposed 60,000-square-foot gallery would house Mirvish's private collection.

In a speech that referred to artists Frank Stella (who was in attendance), Ron Davis and Gaudí, Mirvish told the press that he had spent his life travelling, looking at paintings and architecture, making the proposal sound more like an ambitious art project than a development deal. "I am not building condominiums," he said in what has already become the most quotable quote from the announcement. "I am building three sculptures for people to live in."

Gehry spoke after Mirvish, revealing, among other things, that we might have had several more Gehry buildings in Toronto, the architect's native city, but he had been beat out repeatedly in competitions and calls for proposals by Jack Diamond.

These buildings, he said, would "connect to the John Street cultural corridor, which is a great idea. As a kid, I used to go up and down John Street, and to think of it now as a major cultural corridor is exciting. I hope, I pray, it happens."

The proposal will now begin the approvals process, and if everything goes perfectly smoothly, which it rarely does, the towers, between 80 and 85 storeys each according to the current design, would be ready for residents by 2019.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: David Mirvish & Frank Gehry

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The main drag of the Dundas West strip is about to break ground on its first condo.

The mid-rise Abacus, developed by Daz and designed by Richard Witt, is on schedule to begin construction in November, says developer Antonio Azevedo.

The building, with its floors swivelling out over the sidewalk, will be a distinctive addition to the still largely Portuguese neighbourhood around the corner from the Ossington strip. The height is right, says Azevedo.

"I don't see a high-rise there," says Azevedo, who bought the old garage across the street from the LCBO two years ago. "It could probably work, and I know this sounds cliché, but it would be bad karma."

The building is one of a new generation of mid-rises going up, in part in reaction to the city's Avenues and Mid-Rise plan, meant to intensify the city's east-west corridors.

Azevedo predicts the building will be ready for occupancy in June 2014.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Antonio Azevedo

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One of Victorian Toronto's few surviving Yonge Street mid-rises is getting a new lease on life.

iQ Office Suites has taken two of the four storeys of 140 Yonge Street, at the northwest corner of Temperance, and spent about $1 million turning them into full-service, flexible office space.

The offices will be launching October 1.

Partners Alex Sharpe and Kane Willmott, who plan to expand  iQ into other, similar properties, see what they do as a sort of more accessible version of Woodcliffe's renowned character office spaces. They spent about eight months in renovation, with much of the time and expense devoted to exposing or restoring original details of the Renaissance Revival building. "The building was pretty neglected for the better part of 60 years," Sharpe says.

The interiors were stripped to the original brick, copper detailing around the windows was exposed, and a blacksmith was hired to restore the exterior ironwork. The exterior renovations were funded by the building's owner, Commercial Realty Group, the company that recently bought the Gooderham Building from Woodcliffe. The renovations were overseen by Empire Restoration.

Office space is available from $1,500-$4,900 a month.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Alex Sharpe

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The old Sutton Place will get nine new storeys and about 20,000 square feet of retail before it turns into The Britt at the end of 2015.

Barry Fenton, president and CEO of developer Lanterra, whose purchase of the venerable hotel went through about six weeks ago, will officially unveil the plans tomorrow, including the addition by Page and Steele architects, and the new interior design—based on inspirations Fenton collected several months ago on a trip through some of London’s highest-end hotels—which will be executed by Munge Leung, who recently handled the design of Vancouver's Rosewood Georgia Hotel. Fenton says his intention with The Britt is to cultivate "old elegance in a new building."

In addition to the approximately 700 condo units Lanterra hopes to renovate and built (pending an application currently before the city), they'll be retaining 20 rental units, which will be in the eight-storey podium to the south of the main tower.

Fenton says many of the recognizable items from the old Sutton Place are being donated to Mount Sinai Hospitals neonatal unit to auction off, and many of its beds are being given to the Toronto Community Housing Corporation.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Barry Fenton, President & CEO, Lanterra

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Global consultancy KPMG has named Waterfront Toronto one of the world's best infrastructure projects.

In its report, Infrastructure 100: World Cities Edition, KPMG includes the massive project—the biggest urban renewal project in North America—alongside Abu Dhabi 2030, Rio's Olympic Park and Manhattan's World Trade Center redevelopment.

"The Toronto Waterfront was selected because it is a truly transformative project that highlights how even highly developed cities can evolve their infrastructure," KPMG said through one of its PR operatives, Cynthia Innes.

Waterfront Toronto is redeveloping 800 hectares of land into a series of neighbourhoods that will ultimately include 40,000 new homes, a similar number of local jobs, new transit and 300 hectares of parks.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source; Cynthia Innes, Edelman Canada

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When Quadrangle Architects was commissioned to re-work what partner Brian Curtner calls a traditional office building, they saw some potential in the space, and decided to move in themselves.

Taking lessons learned from doing the interiors of the Corus building on the eastern waterfront—whose exterior and basic structure, by Diamond Schmitt, might also be called traditional (or just basic)—Quadrangle was able to transform the building in general, and its new seventh-floor home there, into what Curtner describes as "funky new offices spaces."

The new space, at 20,000 square feet, is all on one floor. Their current offices at 380 Wellington, which they will be leaving the weekend of August 10, are just 13,000 square feet, spread over two floors. Since Quadrangle has doubled its staff over the past couple of years, to a total of 105, the company certainly needed the extra room. Their current offices are also not accessible, with neither elevators nor accessible toilets.

In addition to their floor, Quadrangle renovated the building's common areas, the exterior, the building's atrium and, in Curtner's words, "fixed up" its elevators.

Curnter and Ted Shore were the partners in charge of the project, which was managed by Caroline Robbie and Rob Dyson.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Brian Curtner

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Toronto now has a fully accessible playground for children of all levels of physical and mental abilities, right in the heart of Forest Hill.

The $1.3-million Neshama Playground in Oriole Park, just northwest of Upper Canada College, near the junction of Yonge and Chaplin Crescent, opened this week.

"The project was initially the brainchild of Thomas Caldwell [of Caldwell Financial] and Toronto lawyer Steven Skurka, who enlisted Theo and Brendan Caldwell and recruited friends and associates who became known as 'A Bunch of Guys,'" says Rob Richardson of the city's parks department. "A Bunch of Guys raised over $700,000 to create a state-of-the-art, inclusive playground experience for all children. The site was chosen for its central location, access to public transit and proximity to numerous organizations who cater to persons of various abilities."

According to an interview Caldwell gave to Metro Morning this week, the playground came about when Caldwell found himself seated next to Skurka on a flight eight years ago, after Skurka had read a magazine article about accessibility and playgrounds. They went to see then-mayor David Miller, who got his parks department on it.

The playground was designed by Beverly Ambler of PMA Landscape Architects. Work began in 2010 and the majority of it was completed last year, with finishing being added into this past spring.

Neshama is the Hebrew word for "spirit" or "soul."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Rob Richardson, Manager of Partnership Development, Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Department

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The penthouses at the Imperial Plaza have just got the Toronto good condo-keeping seal of approval.

This week, David Feldman, president and CEO of Imperial Plaza developer Camrost-Felcorp, announced that Joe Brennan will be the designer for the high-end, high-altitude suites.

Brennan—who did most of the interiors for the Hazelton condos among many, many other high-end properties around the city's tonier postal codes—is, roughly speaking, the condo-equivalent of Brian Gluckstein, designer-of-record for a huge proportion of Forest Hill and Rosedale interiors.

On the crest of St. Clair overlooking the city, the Imperial penthouses have what people in real estate sometimes call forever views, ones that will not in the foreseeable future be obstructed by future development, so the suites, going for $4.1 to $14 million, are especially desirable for a certain set.

Imperial Plaza, the former corporate headquarters of Imperial Oil Ltd., is one of the best adaptively reused condos in the city, with Camrost-Felcorp, who are also re-doing the old Four Seasons, maintaining many of its mid-century modern charms, including the large lobby mural by York Wilson, titled The Story of Oil.

The penthouses remain unfinished, with Brennan being on-call to design each one according to its owners' wishes. Richard Mariani, Camrost-Felcorp's director of marketing, says the first penthouse will probably be finished in the spring of 2014.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Richard Mariani, Director of Marketing, Camrost-Felcorp

CORRECTION: The date of completion for the first penthouse was originally stated as being October, 2013, which is the estimate for the completion of the rest of the tower's renovation.

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The "passivhaus" for which Germany has become so famous was actually born in Canada in 1977, says Ross Elliott, the man looking to bring the idea back home.

"Europe took what the Canadians learned back in the early '80s and developed this passive house certification and sort of sent it back across the ocean to us," says Elliott, president and CEO of Homesol Building Solutions. The voluntary certification promotes ultra-low energy buildings with small carbon footprints.

Elliott, alongside Russell Richman, Ryan Abendroth and Graham Irwin, are bringing their own German certification training to Toronto in July to teach their first nine-day course on passive house construction.

The course, which will count for 32 credits, or two years' worth, of professional continuing education for architects and LEED professionals, will teach students how to build houses that use as little as 15 kilowatts per square metre per year for heating. The average house now uses between 150 and 160 kilowatts. The goal for the total energy load for the passive house, including heating, ventilation, lighting and other services is 120 kw. The standard for retrofit houses is 25 kw per square metre for heating annually.

"It's not pie-in-the-sky stuff," Elliott says, pointing out that there are about 25,000 such houses across Europe, and eight now on the drawing board in Ottawa, where he's based, with about 30 likely to be in the works by the end of the year.

The course runs July 31 to August 4 and August 20 to 23 and costs $2,250 plus HST, with an extra $250 charge to take a certification exam.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Ross Elliott

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It started with a fundraising lake cruise in 2006, and it finished just last week, with the official opening of the therapeutic terrace for the residents of the Lakeshore Lodge.

With the help of landscape architect Viive Kittask of Vertechs Design, the municipally owned long-term care home now has a lake view, a gazebo and a raised garden, part pre-planted, and part left fallow for those of the home's 150 residents to plan themselves.

The lodge also invested in a floor specially designed for its residents.

"For people who may be shuffling, it's a perfectly level floor," says Rob Price, the lodge's administrator, speaking of the Buzon system. "It's a technology that was borrowed from Belgium. It's like little piano stools underneath each corner of the floor slabs. They're raised and lowered as needed to make the floor level."

The budget for the project, Price says, was in the neighbourhood of $30,000.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Rob Price

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There's a small lawn in the middle of Olive Square Park, the city's newest public park because residents of the Yonge and Finch area wanted at least some green in the otherwise highly developed area.

"There was a series of two working groups meetings where we presented a couple of options," says David Nosella, a capital projects supervisor with the city. "The selected the concept on which the final design was based."

Nosella says there were between 20 and 25 residents in each group, who worked with designs provided by Michael Prusetti of MEP Design. "The planting is all irrigated," Nosella says. "There's a central, raised law area, which the community was adamant they wanted. They wanted at least some open lawn space."

The 1,600-square-metre park is otherwise designed as an urban square, fronting onto Yonge Street, with limestone from Owen Sound along the frontage, a bioswale to filter rainwater before it makes it into the sewer system, and LED lighting throughout.

There are also lots of benches.

"It's somewhere on Yonge Street to come and eat your lunch or sit and read your book," Nosella says.

Work began on the park in November, and was substantially completed in early May on a budget of $950,000. The park officially opened this week.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: David Nosella

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The RCMI is dead. Long live the RCMI.

When the Royal Canadian Military Institute signed the deal with Tribute Communities to have a condo tower built on top of its HQ, the idea was that the original 1912 façade (upgraded from the 1907 version on the same spot) would remain as part of the building's design. The deal also stated that the institute would continue to operate out of the same address they have for the past century, sharing the space with the new tower.

Then came the demolition, and heritage architect ERA's decision that the façade on its own was not in any condition to stand or be incorporated into the new structure.

"It was in extremely poor repair," says Col. Gil Taylor, president of the RCMI, "and to be perfectly honest, we didn't have the money to bring it back to the state it should have been in."

So it came down as well, with a decision to reproduce it. But not only is the façade being reproduced, the RCMI's space and facilities are being greatly expanded, by about 100 per cent in Taylor's estimation, up to 36,000 square feet across six floors (the old structure was a three-storey building).

The RCMI will also own those six floors. "We aren't part of the condo corporation," Taylor says. "We do have some mutual areas, part of the lobby for example, and part of the exterior. There'll be some shared maintenance cost, but as far as the institute is concerned, it'll be freehold."

The Governor General will lay the cornerstone for the RCMI on Saturday at 4pm, following in the footsteps of predecessors Earl Grey, who laid the first cornerstone in 1907, and the Duke of Connaught, who laid the cornerstone for the fully renovated building in 1912.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Gil Taylor

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