arts and culture : Development News

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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Starting in August, you’ll be able to drink in the middle of Yonge Street. For a month, at least.

As part of the Yonge Street Planning Framework, a city blueprint on how to make the downtown stretch of Yonge Street a little more vibrant urban strip, Celebrate Yonge has gotten city approval to reduce the car lanes from four to two, and bars on the strip between Queen and Gerrard, will be licensed to serve alcohol on the temporary patio seating on the street.

"That's the first time in Toronto we'll be seeing that done," says councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, in whose ward the month-long festival will be held.

The strip will have 235 planters, donated by the Carpenters Union and designed by Ken Greenberg and Maryanne McKenna of KPMB Architects.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Kristyn Wong-Tam

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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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The city has decided to ask its citizens what sort of cultural spaces they need.

The massive series of public consultations, which began this month with councillor Michael Thompson's ward, will continue throughout the year and into 2013. They're meant to elicit opinions and data about what people need and where.

The consultations relate to any space that could be used for any cultural activity, including parks, community centres or church basements.

The emphasis will be on space for young people, but as Thompson says, most if not all the spaces under discussion will be multi-use. "Space is space," he says. "If you have a facility that has multifunctional space, it can be used by anyone."

Though the consultations are not off to a great start—the councillor's own consultation attracted an audience of three—Thompson, who's heading the initiative as chair of the city's Economic Development Committee, is hopeful that it will pick up steam as it rolls through the first 20 scheduled wards.

The consultations could result in new structures being built, old ones being re-purposed or public-private deals being struck for city-sponsored use of available private space.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Michael Thompson

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Last week marked the official re-opening of Osgoode Hall Law School after an extensive redesign by Diamond Schmitt Architects.

"Some cities are built at the right time, some cities are not built at the right time. Dublin was very lucky to be built at the height of Georgian elegance," says architect Jack Diamond. "Unfortunately, Osgoode Hall was not built at the height of architectural elegance."

In tackling the project on the York University campus, Diamond says, "there were several things we had as our objectives. Another flaw in the original building—it wasn't easy to find one's way around, because of the "blind" nature of the building, not only externally but internally; students never knew whether the faculty was in or out. The common room looked like a nasty sports locker room with no windows whatsoever."

The new design is a 215,000-square-foot reorganization of the 44-year-old school around an atrium, with a new 23,000-square-foot single-storey addition.

"The aim of the design was obviously to clarify the plan, to make it accessible and understandable," says Diamond, "to introduce great amounts of natural light and to improve the quality of space so that people would spend more time on campus. That whole lack of a sense of community is exacerbated now by computer, where people can work at home, have access to legal documents, without having to go to the library."

York raised $32 million for the project, which was bumped up by another $25 million through the federal and provincial governments' Knowledge Infrastructure Program.

"The net effect has been quite stunning," Diamond says of the new facility, named the Ignat Kaneff building after the lead donor, a Toronto area developer of Bulgarian extraction. "One of the problem is it's suffering from its success. It's so popular with non-law students that you have to show your law student card to get in."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jack Diamond

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The short list has been settled and the winners of the first Sustainable Design Awards open to all OCAD students will be announced tomorrow.

The awards are the brainchild of Mike Lovas, 31, a mature student with an engineering background who entered the industrial design program at OCAD last year and almost immediately realized very little was being said in his classes about sustainable design.

Lovas says, in fact, that he was "shocked at how little sustainable issues were being brought up, considering industrial design is all about mass production, pumping out lots of stuff. There wasn't a whole lot of talk at that point about the implications and impact of mass production would be on society, the environment, and people."

One of the reasons, he realized after he started talking to friends and professors about his idea for a prize, was that sustainability in this context is hard to define. The college was quick to get on board with the prize, which was offered last year but only to industrial design students.

In order to take the difficulty of definition into account, the guidelines are purposely vague, written in the form of a series of questions about material and systems. "Design" itself is open to interpretation, and the five-member jury, headed by New York editor and School of Visual Arts teacher Alan Chochinov, was open to pretty much anything.

The shortlist includes a design for a dish rack that diverts its run-off to water herbs, a plan for an "ecoburb" and another to turn the city's lane ways into green spaces.

There will be prizes for first, second and third, as well as a student choice award, with first prize being $1,000. There were 51 entries.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Mike Lovas

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It's been vacant for 25 years, but things are finally stirring inside the venerable old Canadian Bank of Commerce building at 197 Yonge Street.

Bought by Montreal's Parasuco jean company about a decade ago, the building's been through any number of attempted re-uses, but everything's fallen through, until now.

Work has finally begun on renovating the interior of the neoclassical, Darling and Pearson-designed bank building, which will within six weeks be serving as a showroom for the Hariri Pontarini-designed condos slated to be built on top of it.

The tower, which is still being considered by the city, would be 60 storeys with 689 units.

According to restoring architect Michael McClelland of ERA, the fact that the building is finally moving ahead is a reflection of the changing face of the downtown core.

"Developments are quite large and this has been regarded as quite a small site," he says. "It's been very difficult to figure out how to make this site work. There's all kinds of complex easements for the Elgin Winter Garden theatre and Massey Hall.  You have to be very patient landowners to make this happen."

And until recently, it's not really been worth it. But now, with the city's large plots mostly spoken for, the smaller ones are looking better and better.

The vacant lot on the north side of the site will, as a result of a stipulation in the sales agreement, become a Parasuco Jeans shop, that will include some form of commemoration for the old Colonial Tavern that once stood there.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Michael McClelland

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If you're going to have a sales centre in the gallery district, you may as well make it a gallery.

Adam Ochshorn, the man behind Curated Properties and developer of Edition Richmond at 850 Richmond Street West, has lit on a pretty basic idea. If you have a typical condo sales centre, typical condo buyers will likely drop in. But if you make it a gallery, people who didn't know they were looking for a condo might get their appetites whetted.

"Along the Queen West and Ossington Avenue strip are a fair number of contemporary galleries," Ochshorn told the Star this week. "So we thought, why not try to create our own gallery space and feature some artists' work?"

The sales centre cum gallery is in an old garage, with high ceilings. Ochshorn hired Ceconni Simone to whitewash the place, and tomorrow, March 8, it will host a one-night only performance piece called Outside-In, directed by Maggie Groat. The line between the art and sales is a thin one in this instance. Groat describes is as "intended to remind people of their everyday activities, the small moments that make up how we live," while the PR material  calls is "a live-art performance and commentary about Toronto's condo craze."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Adam Ochshorn

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Adam Vaughan was surprised by the reaction the public meeting gave the design for the proposed new Globe and Mail tower.

"I haven't had a building this warmly received in six years," the six-year City Hall veteran says.

Vaughan says between 75 and 100 people were in attendance earlier this month when KPMB founding partner Marianne McKenna presented the firm's twisted L-shape design.

"It's a modest building," Vaughan says, referring the variances it will need from the city to get planning approval, "and the design is quite startling, and the animation for that corner above and beyond the current use is quite welcome in the neighbourhood." There will be 200,000 square feet of office space for the Globe and 20,000 square feet above and beyond that for another tenant. "So the live-work thing will get a real shot in the arm."

The audience consisted largely of local residents and members of the Wellington Place Neighbourhood Association.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Adam Vaughan

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KPMB are making one of the first moves away from what's become Toronto’s standard-issue podium-and-tower design for the proposed new Globe And Mail headquarters.

The redoubtable Toronto firm, which is also responsible for Winnipeg's brash Manitoba Hydro Place, has configured the 18-storey design into a sort of twisted 'L' shape, with the six-storey podium forming a more integral base than is usual in this city's more recent architecture.

The plan is to build the 480,000-square-foot building, which Globe editor-in-chief John Stackhouse describes as "a town square of 21st-century Canadian media," to LEED Gold standards.

The project, once considered by public meetings and if approved by city council, would be complete in 2015.

Writer: Bert Archer

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Diamond Schmitt's latest contribution to the GTA's oeuvre of arts architecture opened last week in Burlington.

The Burlington Performing Arts Centre has a 720-seat main theatre and a 260-seat studio theatre, both connected to a "city room" meant for community use when the theatres are dark.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended the opening and spoke of local jobs and economic growth.

The design makes great use of wood, much like Diamond Schmitt’s recently recognized Harbour Light facility for the Salvation Army on Jarvis. The floors are terrazzo, and the main theatre features a cantilevered balcony that juts out over the orchestra seating.

The firm's other arts buildings include the Betty Oliphant Theatre, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts and the School of Image Arts at Ryerson University.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Paul French

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"We’re not tearing down walls and starting from scratch," says Alan Black about the Bloor Cinema renovations going on now until the end of the year. Black is senior manager of client services at Hot Docs, which will be operating the cinema when it reopens. "The general idea is to embrace the curves in the building, embrace its heritage."

The words will come as a relief to the century-old cinema's fans, who may have been justifiably concerned, in light of the rash of rep cinema closings, that "closed for renovations" might be code for "going out of business," or "closed for transformation into a multiplex."

Hariri Pontarini are the architects in charge of the restoration and renovation. In addition to ground-up work like 783 Bathurst and Great Gulf Dallas, they're the firm responsible for Atom Egoyan's Camera and the proposed Alliance Française expansion on Spadina Road.

In addition to a new and bigger screen, the seats on the lower level are being replaced with what Black describes as "bigger, more comfortable" ones, meaning the capacity will be reduced slightly, to 750 from 840. The balcony seats are being refurbished (and more importantly, retained), the concession stand is being redone and the façade is being extended to meet the street, bringing the box office indoors. Black says there will also be a complete technical overhaul, replacing the audio system and allowing the Bloor to show digital films.

The Bloor Cinema was bought several months ago by Blue Ice Films, which in turn is owned by filmmakers Steven Silver (The Bang Bang Club) and Neil Tabatznik (Shake Hands with the Devil).

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Alan Black

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Though it's been open for more than a year, the final touches have now finally been finalized and a plaques going up on the old Roxy Theatre.

Originally known as the Allenby, this 1935 theatre is now an Esso station and a Tim Horton's after years of desuetude.

"It's very exciting," says Councillor Paula Fletcher, who's ward it's in. "Michael McClelland at ERA Architects is who they hired… to restore the façade. It looks beautiful, better than it has in 60 years."

Fletcher suggests that the reason so much work went into the restoration is that Imperial Oil needed several variances, which the councillor implies she was able to use as tools in her negotiations with them. And according to her, they ended up going all out. "Even the ticket booth has been restored," she says, adding that the interior has also been decorated with pictures of the old interior, which was demolished.

A plaque outlining the building's history and paid for by ERA, will be unveiled next month.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Paula Fletcher

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The men behind The Social and Parts & Labour are opening an event space tonight at King and Bathurst.

The 8,000 square foot Hoxton will be a general entertainment space, the first of which will be a DJ show on Sept 3.

The building itself, once a printing factory, according to Hoxton principal Jesse Girard, was most recently the State Theatre night club.

"We completely gutted it," Girard says., "We changed the entranceway, we built a stage at the end of it. It used to be a very dark, cluttered space. We moved all the washrooms."

The design was conceived by Castor, the same people behind Parts & Labour. The renovation cost $750,000.

Girard and his partner, Richard Lambert, handled the contracting themselves on the project, which they started in February. "That's something I'll never do again," Girard says. "It's too much hands-on work. We tried to save some money. But it was an interesting experience."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jesse Girard

Photos courtesy of Notable.ca, Canada's digital publication for young professionals.

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A transition from a major thoroughfare to a quiet city street that has been increasingly troublesome since the 1960s is finally getting a redesign.

Since it was built, there has been no physical indication of the point at which the Bayview extension transforms into Bayview Heights Drive in Bennington Heights. This has meant that cars traveling 50km/h or more up the extension have taken a while to slow down to 40 km/h or slower for this child-heavy, sidewalk-free neighbourhood.

According to councillor John Parker, residents had just lived with their concern about the situation, which to his knowledge has never resulted in any injuries, until several years ago when several trucks were parked on the road right at the transition point doing some sewer maintenance. This gave residents the idea that a form of traffic slowing might help.

So the city is now building a bend at the end of Bayview Drive, a 90-degree turn to let people know they're leaving a big street and entering a small one.

"Instead of a straight-line transition from Bayview Avenue into Bayview Heights Drive, we now have the top end of Bayview Heights Drive taking a bend to the east," Parker says.

They are also putting in a sidewalk.

According to Parker, the project will be finished by the end of the month.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: John Parker


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