PROJECT Bombardier Global Manufacturing Centre, Toronto Pearson Airport, Mississauga, Ontario

ARCHITECT NEUF architect(e)s

TEXT Ian Chodikoff

PHOTOS Salina Kassam

Creating an aircraft manufacturing space is a unique programmatic challenge for an architect, combining advanced technology, precision engineering, and meticulous attention to safety. When Bombardier approached NEUF architect(e)s to create its new aircraft assembly centre at Toronto Pearson International Airport, the architects embarked on a five-year-long journey to realize a state-of-art facility, with 2,000 employees manufacturing over a dozen planes at a time. 

A complex coordination challenge

Not unlike the complexity of planning for a hospital, the project required NEUF to navigate many client requirements, specifications, and workflow methodologies, translating them into a functional design. Beginning with client-supplied diagrams built in Excel, the architects worked through detailed programmatic diagrams to assimilate everything from equipment requirements to unique fire and life safety standards. The complexity was multiplied by the challenges of the site—the aeronautic campus was to be built adjacent to Canada’s busiest runway, handling over 200,000 planes annually.

NEUF partner Lilia Koleva led the project, working alongside Marco Chow and Rainier Silva to ensure every detail aligned with Bombardier’s operational requirements; Linh Truong headed up the interior design. At one point, the NEUF team had 30 staff coordinating with 120 external professionals from various disciplines and specialties, including over 75 engineers and designers from Stantec. The project began in late 2019; after nearly 400 meetings, it officially opened in the spring of 2024. 

Koleva’s ability to coalesce complex programming requirements were previously honed through her involvement with the renovation and expansion of the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) completed in 2021, where, in collaboration with CannonDesign, she coordinated a constantly evolving list of facility and equipment requirements for dozens of operating theatres. For the Bombardier facility, Chow noted the creation of over 750 room data sheets with the client, as well as over 3,200 requests for information (RFIs) for the construction phase alone, 260 sheets of drawings, 3,000 Revit wall tags, 3,718 Revit construction notes and 58,000 Revit families. The architects had to address Bombardier’s evolving corporate needs as well. During the pandemic, the facility’s footprint was reduced by 30 percent, requiring the team to adapt the program to ensure it met Bombardier’s operational and strategic goals. 

Adapting to a new site and scale

Bombardier’s previous site was a century-old 366-acre campus at Downsview Airport. To enable the move to a much smaller, irregular 41-acre parcel at Pearson, the architects had to negotiate a comprehensive site planning process, and navigate complex municipal infrastructure requirements and aviation regulations.

Upon arrival at the new facility, one first notices an enormous parking lot filled with dozens of Teslas. There is a culture within Bombardier to improve the sustainability of their business—in addition to their aircraft design—as they continue to explore environmentally friendly aviation fuel options, and to reduce waste and emissions. Over 50 percent of the energy used on-site comes from renewable sources. The facility’s expansive exterior façades are marked by barcode-like vertical strips of curtain wall and translucent polycarbonate panels, which help to maximize daylight. 88 percent of workstations have access to natural light, boosting workplace health and wellbeing while reducing energy demands. The design intuitively orients employees to the fire exits, highlighted by narrower, single-width translucent overhead panels.

The new campus is responsible for Bombardier’s Global line of business jets, marketed for use by governments and private clients. NEUF’s detailed planning was most intense for the 60,000-square-metre manufacturing building—the largest standalone building constructed at Pearson airport in the past 20 years. The extensive production floor is divided into 16 interior work centres, each measuring approximately 38 by 38 metres, and tailored to specific stages of aircraft assembly. There are eight similarly dimensioned exterior work areas. The 75-metre clear span over the production floor allows plenty of natural daylight through highly translucent fabric “megadoors,” while the large volume of space makes for considerably reduced ambient noise compared to the old Downsview production facility. Beyond the production floor are testing areas, flight simulation rooms, offices for engineers, classrooms for the aerospace program at Centennial College, and training, orientation and computer labs. Separate buildings include a 10,600-square-metre flight test hangar. 

Designing anything near an airport means the architects must adhere to strict Transport Canada and NAV Canada regulations, including the Obstacle Limitation Surface (OLS). James Lambie, Industrialization Director at Bombardier, explains that with OLS protocols, nothing can be built within 100 metres from the centreline of the nearby runway. From there, every seven feet you go out, you can go up one foot. At the tightest points, the building stays within 15 centimetres of the OLS to provide construction tolerance. Safety and environmental considerations also required integrating advanced fire suppression, ventilation, and lighting systems.

Koleva estimates that, given the number of employees and requirements for the building, the needed municipal infrastructure upgrades that Bombardier performed were equivalent to handling the needs of six or seven residential towers. The existing sewers were nearing capacity before construction. Therefore, Bombardier had to build a new sewer alongside the runway and underneath the aprons for the busy FedEx distribution centre next door. At specific points, excavations had to go down 20 metres to build a sewer that could then be tied back into the main trunk lines for the City of Mississauga. At the same time, the airport runway and the FedEx facility maintained their complete operations, without any dust or disturbance that could affect the safety of the aircraft. Similarly, the architects had to control stormwater before releasing it to the City, by installing four underground tanks. The capacity of the two largest tanks totals 7.6 million litres of water—the equivalent of three Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Integrating advanced systems and equipment

Various custom solutions were needed to accommodate large component handling, specialized racking systems for the thousands of parts on reserve, and the need for precise clearances along the manufacturing line.

Large parts like wings and fuselage sections—manufactured at other Bombardier facilities outside of Toronto—are transported to Pearson using specially designed vehicles and handling equipment, to ensure they arrive without damage. Wing sections unloaded in the aerostructures facility undergo an initial inspection, and are then decanted in a climate-controlled area. This allows the components to expand or contract back to factory-specified dimensions in the case that they have been transported in excessively hot or cold environments.

Specialized robotic arms assist in drilling and riveting, as well as performing component quality checks. These robots are programmed to perform tasks with incredible precision, and are guided by specialized GPS sensors embedded in the concrete slab. An elaborate system of sprinklered scaffolding and cranes runs overhead and underneath the aircraft components as they move along the line, eventually arriving at a point when the fuselage, cockpit, wings and landing gear are assembled. In the factory, they call this the transformation into “weight on wheels.”

The building isn’t air-conditioned, only humidity-controlled. This is because the one-metre-thick double-reinforced concrete floors that run through much of the facility act as an effective heat sink. These floors are designed to house some 1.5 kilometres of slab-on-grade trenches, which run beneath the floors to accommodate power lines, vacuum systems, and hydraulic connections. The trenches help keep the workspace free and clear of objects and hazards, minimizing the risk of foreign-object debris (FOD). Anything from a plastic wrapper to a screwdriver could cause severe damage if it were to interfere with, or contaminate, the aircraft in any way.

To Bombardier Vice-President of Management and Programs Julien Boudreault, the biggest challenge in designing the new facility is to allow listening and seeing to happen. “It is the first line of defense where you must be able to quickly see which aircraft is in position on the assembly floor at any given time, and this is our company’s culture.” Many senior management offices have windows overlooking the two U-shaped assembly lines; the offices are also positioned to allow anyone to walk out onto the assembly floor quickly. “This configuration fits within Bombardier’s ‘go-and-see’ approach,” says Boudreault, referring to the concept that the CEO, a mechanic, and an engineer can quickly resolve an issue together, during any assembly stage. 

This exceptional degree of accessibility extends to all levels of production. The aeronautics industry is highly regulated, with many trades concentrated on the production floor. At every manufacturing stage, clusters of desktop workstations bring engineers within earshot of the production crew, so they can quickly collaborate to identify and resolve problems. Around the perimeter of the production line are areas where a new part can be replaced, modified or built—all designed so that workers in charge of those parts are within a four-minute walk from any point they need to access on the floor. Specialized tooling shops on the periphery operate around the clock to keep the flow moving.

The facility’s high-power engine run booth, unique to Pearson Airport, is designed to handle the immense power, heat, and noise generated during the testing and calibration of aircraft engines—the most expensive part of the aircraft, valued at around $10 million per pair. The extensive aircraft inspection process also includes a process known as “soaking,” where the aircraft is fuelled to its maximum capacity and left to sit to check for leaks or other issues that could affect performance.

Some bespoke aspects of the build-out are handled at Bombardier’s Montreal facility, including custom interiors, unique paint jobs, and the installation of specific equipment. Whether a customer chooses a particular sound system, carpeting, or bathroom fixture, each piece of equipment must be carefully sourced and documented—similarly to the plane’s rivets, bolts, or landing gear—to ensure airworthiness and safety. 

A complex building for a complex process

“Building an aircraft is an undertaking that rivals the complexity of a major building project,” says Graham Kelly, Vice President of Operations for Global Aircraft at Bombardier’s Toronto facility. “We needed a space that could not only handle the scale of our manufacturing operations, but also reflect our commitment to innovation and to exceeding client expectations, while ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our employees.”

NEUF became one of Bombardier’s “Diamond Suppliers” after completing the landmark facility at Pearson. Architects may not like to be referred to as “suppliers,” but in this context, it is an honour that demonstrates an earned trust with a client that lives and breathes a technical, process-driven culture.

For Koleva, designing this facility was also a personal achievement. She flew a lot with her parents as a child, and was fascinated by planes. She wanted her thesis project at McGill University to be an airport. (It ended up being an embassy.) As an architect, she always hoped to design an airport. From her perspective, “the Bombardier facility is as close to an airport as it gets, because it’s about all the requirements for moving people through space.” Bombardier builds the planes, while NEUF builds for the people who make them.

Ian Chodikoff is an architect and consultant focused on architectural leadership and business strategy.

CLIENT Bombardier | ARCHITECT TEAM Lilia Koleva (RAIC), Antoine Cousineau (RAIC), André Cousineau (FRAIC), Azad Chichmanian (RAIC), Marco Chow (RAIC), Rainier Silva, Linh Truong, Annabelle Beauchamp, Jean-Luc Bourbeau, Stéphane Claveau, Ailsa Craigen, Sophie Del Signore, Feroz Faruqi, Gabriel Garofalo, Marie-Pier Gervais, Valérie Godbout, Gary Hlavaty, Sarah Ives, Mathieu Jolicoeur, Nadia Juarez, Kazim Kanani, Madina Koshanova, Guillaume Lallier, Celia Lauzon, Alain Piccand, James Rendina, Kristen Sarmiento, Marina Socolova, Naomi Su Hamel, Sam Taylor, Serge Tremblay, Don Toromanoff, Varteni Vartanyan | STRUCTURAL/MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL/ACOUSTIC/LANDSCAPE Stantec | INTERIORS NEUF architect(e)s | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER Ledcor | AVIATION CONSULTANT BDI Blast Deflectors  | AREA  Building area–54,250 M2 ; Gross floor area–70,400M2 | BUDGET $500 M | COMPLETION May 2024 

As appeared in the November 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

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In mid-October, downtown Toronto was host to a surreal sight—a 2.7-kilometre-long run of two-metre-tall dominoes. Made of lightweight concrete, the 8,000 oversized dominoes snaked down sidewalks, meandered through parks, and even wandered into buildings: a library, stores, a condo tower lobby.

Setting up the dominoes took the better part of a day. Then, at 4:30 pm, it was go-time: the first domino was tipped over, and the chain tumbled through the city.

The production was hosted by The Bentway and curated by Station House Opera, a British performing arts company that premiered Dominoes as a way to link the five host boroughs of the 2012 London Olympics. Since then, the site-specific performance has toured to cities including Copenhagen, Melbourne, Marseilles, and Malta. For Toronto, the artists chose a path tracing the development of the city’s west end: from the Victorian residential fabric south of King West, to the industrial-inspired Stackt Market, then weaving its way through the waterfront’s high-rise neighbourhoods before ending at Lake Ontario.

Putting together the event was a logistically complex undertaking, including negotiating with city agencies for crossing streetcar tracks, getting sign-off from more than 40 site partners, and setting up with help from some 300 volunteers. Near the end of the run, the line of dominoes crossed Lakeshore Boulevard. The busy street could only be closed for six minutes—a tense window in which time the dominoes were quickly set up, knocked down, and cleared away.

The enormous effort was worth it, says Ilana Altman, co-executive director of The Bentway. She explains that while The Bentway is anchored in its eponymous space—an urban park and public art venue under the raised Gardiner Expressway—the organization’s mission centres on revealing opportunities and connections in the urban landscape. “Dominoes helped Toronto to really see these possibilities in a compelling and convincing way,” says Altman.

The Bentway is looking to make those connections more permanent. Its own site is growing: its first phase, designed by Public Work, opened in 2018, and this fall, the organization named Field Operations and Brook McIlroy as the designers for its second phase. Earlier this year, Toronto City Council endorsed a public realm plan that outlines a comprehensive vision for the remainder of spaces below and adjacent to the 6.5-kilometre expressway.

Beyond the physical links that were created by the line of dominoes, the event created important social connections. “It was quite moving to see the level of interest we got from volunteers,” says Altman. “People were passionate and invested in it; people were meeting neighbours for the first time.”

On show day, my seven-year-old son and I delighted in rediscovering pockets of downtown, in chatting with the volunteers setting up the dominoes, and in seeing the clever ways that the white slabs had been laid to climb hills, zigzag through open areas, and even hop over a park bench. It was a sunny fall afternoon, and hundreds of people were out, engaging with an openness facilitated by the charming installation. As 4:30 pm approached, the crowds grew along with the sense of anticipation. My son and I were stationed at the end of the run, and cheered alongside a throng of Torontonians as the dominoes fell one by one—and the last domino splashed into Lake Ontario.

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The Bentway Conservancy, in partnership with the City of Toronto, has announced the launch of design work on a new site called The Bentway Islands.

Field Operations and Brook McIlroy have been appointed as the design team working to transform three large-scale traffic islands, which span 11,500 square meters between Dan Leckie Way and Spadina Avenue into vibrant public space.

Field Operations, a landscape architecture and urban design firm known for projects such as Waterfront Seattle and High Line in New York, along with Brook McIlroy, a Canadian expert in planning and architecture, were chosen from a competitive international call for proposals. A jury, featuring representatives from The Bentway, the City of Toronto, the local community, and an Indigenous engagement advisor, all oversaw the selection process.

The Bentway Islands will act as a “sister site” to The Bentway’s existing Phase 1 location, and will provide additional outdoor space for the fast-growing population.

“The Bentway Islands marks an exciting next chapter in our ongoing mission to solidify a new future for the Gardiner Expressway,” said Ilana Altman, co-executive director of The Bentway. “This site will offer new opportunities for recreation, play, culture, and retail, promote biodiversity, and set a benchmark for low-carbon landscape design. Most importantly, it will continue to transform a long-standing barrier into a better connector and gateway.”

This is the first physical realization of the Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan, a vision for underutilized spaces below and adjacent to the Gardiner, developed by The Bentway with the City of Toronto, and approved by Toronto City Council in April 2024.

“The Bentway’s innovative approach to transforming public spaces is exactly what Toronto needs. Over 100,000 residents within a 10-minute walk will enjoy this future space and new gateway to the waterfront. I’m proud of The Bentway and City of Toronto’s partnership and initiating this exciting phase of work that begins to make our Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan a reality,” said Ausma Malik, Councillor (Ward 10 Spadina – Fort York) and Deputy Mayor, City of Toronto

The Bentway Islands design will integrate findings from The Bentway’s six years of experience at its Phase 1 site, and from several off-site demonstration projects along the Gardiner.

The design will also incorporate insights from local residents, Indigenous communities, and technical experts from the City of Toronto.

Funding for this early design has been provided by the City of Toronto, with support of The Bentway from its family of supporters including Manulife. Future financing is expected from a range of both public and private sources.

Initial concepts are expected to be unveiled in 2025, with construction following the multi-year rehabilitation of the Expressway planned for the area.

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The Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) is returning to the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto next month to deliver three days of global contemporary cinema.

The Canadian festival in Toronto, presented by Eventscape, will take place from October 23 to 26, 2024, and will be showing documentaries about architecture and design from around the world.

“Each year we screen over 350 films to uncover the most compelling and beautiful stories. Our goal is to entertain, educate, and foster community around the love of architecture and design. This year many of the films shed light on the singular genius of people who were challenged to fight the status quo and stay true to their vision to leave a lasting impact,” said ADFF founder and director Kyle Bergman, AIA.

ADFF: TORONTO will kick off with the world premiere of Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines, a documentary that follows the rise and fall of architect, Arthur Erickson. The film showcases his innovative structures and includes revelations of the man behind the story, as well as the relationships that shaped his life.

Another highlight of this year’s edition of ADFF is Stardust – The Story of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, which is a portrait of two influential architects of the last century. Filmed by their son, Stardust, over the span of two decades, the film follows ‘Bob and Denise’ as they look back to the events and buildings that inspired a partnership and love affair of more than half a century.

Other films include E.1027 – Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea, which features a love triangle of jealousy in the Parisian art scene of the 1930s. This is brought to life in a docufiction about artist and architect Eileen Gray, who built her modernist dream house on the Riviera, only to be upstaged by Le Corbusier.

Schindler Space Architect showcases the life of architect R.M. Schindler whose mid-century career blends the influences of early 20th Century Vienna, the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright, the pueblos of Taos and the realities of postwar Southern California.

Several films will be followed by panel discussions with high-profile speakers and special guests organized in collaboration with the Toronto Society of Architects (TSA).

After Toronto, the Festival will continue with ADFF: Vancouver from November 6 to 10, 2024, ADFF: LA from November 19 to 23, Mumbai from January 9 to 12, 2025, and ADFF: Chicago from January 29 to February 2, 2025.

For more information, click here.

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Park(ing) Day, an annual worldwide, public art project that reimagines parking spaces into pop-up parks and social spaces for a day, is returning to Toronto this week.

The event, which will take place from September 20 to 22, 2024, will see people around the world repurpose on-street, boulevard, or lot parking spaces, and convert them into tiny parks and places for art, design, play, and activism. Organized locally by Dubbeldam Architecture + Design, Park(ing) Day will invite citizens, artists, and urban planning activists to reimagine public spaces through creative, temporary installations.

Park(ing) Day puts a spotlight on the need for improving access to public open spaces in densely populated urban areas. It also aims to promote civic engagement as well as raise awareness about the need for more green and social areas in our urban environments. The event’s goal is to celebrate the use of urban public space for people and challenge the dominance of the automobile in cities.

Park(ing) Day began in 2005 as a design activism project by the design studio Rebar, transforming a single parking spot in San Francisco. Since then, it has grown into a global movement that has featured hundreds of installations in more than 35 cities worldwide. It provides an opportunity to engage in an ongoing conversation about the design and construction of cities and highlights the necessity to enhance the accessibility and quantity of public open spaces in densely populated urban zones while emphasizing the significance of these spaces for social and environmental interactions.

Park(ing) Day Toronto’s inception was in 2022 and has been gaining momentum since. Last year, it saw five independent activations, and this year is set to feature over 30 registered activations.

This expansion is mainly due to a grant program that was initiated by Dubbeldam Architecture + Design, in partnership with SvN Architects + Planners, Arup Canada, DTAH, and MASSIVart, to stimulate more activations throughout the city. The grant has enabled more than 12 activations hosted by non-profits, student groups, local community organizations, and individuals, who are all contributing to the conversation about re-prioritizing public spaces for people as opposed to cars.

This year’s event will showcase various installations across the city, including a pop-up pickling parkette, a colourful balloon grove, and bike-themed activations such as tune-up workshops. Visitors can also enjoy pop-up tailoring and alteration services focusing on adaptive reuse of clothing, a HIIT class, dance and music performances, an outdoor street garden, a planting workshop, and a beading workstation with a local DJ, among other installations.

“Park(ing) Day is about rethinking how we allocate public space in our cities. It highlights the importance of prioritizing open, green spaces that foster community, rather than reserving these areas for cars. By transforming parking spots into temporary parks and social spaces, we hope to inspire larger conversations about how we can create more accessible, vibrant urban spaces as our cities become increasingly dense,” said Heather Dubbeldam, principal of Dubbeldam Architecture + Design.

“We are all so busy, it’s difficult for people to find time for activism, but it’s been said, ‘Be the change you want to see.’ This is our humble way of making a change for just one day, with the hope that it will spark further discussion and action around the concept of reclaiming public space for people, especially in underserved and more densely populated areas of our city.”

Each installation will take place on a designated day between Friday and Sunday.

For specific times and locations, visit www.parkingdaytoronto.ca.

Those who are still interested in participating may reach out to hello@parkingdaytoronto.ca.

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The Suicide Magnet: Inside the Battle to Erect a Safety Barrier on Toronto’s Bloor Viaduct
By Paul McLaughlin (Dundurn Press, 2023)

In 2003, the Luminous Veil—a suicide barrier designed by Dereck Revington Studio along Toronto’s Bloor Viaduct—opened. Revington’s full vision did not come to completion until a full 12 years later, when the steel strings were finally illuminated with a ribbon of 35,000 LEDs. As it turns out, the journey to erect the barrier in the first place was also long and hard-fought.

The push for erecting a permanent safety barrier for the Bloor Viaduct started with a series of widely reported suicides in the mid-1990s, which brought light to the fact that the bridge had the second-highest rate of suicides in North America, after San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. MacLaughlin recounts the stories of several of the 400 people who died of suicide from this spot, the trauma and mental illness that led to their deaths, and their choice of the Viaduct as their jumping place. As the families of the deceased, medical specialists, and advocates learned about how a suicide barrier might prevent future deaths, their efforts became concentrated around two men: retired salesman Al Birney and journalism student Michael McCamus. Together, Birney and McCamus spent close to five years lobbying Toronto’s City Hall to create a safety barrier on the bridge.

After laborious discussions and meetings led by the two men, City Council greenlit a design competition for the barrier. The competition was ultimately won by Revington, working with two students at the time, Geoffrey Thün and Jonathan Tyrrell. The project overcame a crucial challenge with the help of architect Ellis Kirkland, who led a private fundraising campaign when bidding came in $4 million above the original budget. (The initiative ultimately faltered, and the City absorbed the extra costs for the barrier’s construction.) Funding for the illumination of the Veil materialized a decade later, with the impetus of Toronto’s hosting of the 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games.

McLaughlin’s chronicle is a detailed telling not only of a suicide barrier, but of Toronto’s complex politics, and the people who battled through its challenges to get the Luminous Veil built and illuminated. It is, as well, a plea to recognize the struggles associated with mental illness, including among friends and family, and for design and architecture’s role in creating compassionate cities where all may live and thrive.

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Harmony Commons Student Residence at the University of Toronto Scarborough is officially the largest Canadian building to receive Passive House Classic certification.

The 24,620 square-metre building by Global design office and green-building specialists Handel Architects, met the standards for sustainable materials, energy efficiency, and renewably-sourced power required by the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt, Germany.

The announcement marks another addition to Handel’s portfolio of Passive House projects, and makes Harmony Commons the largest Passive House building in Canada, along with the largest dormitory in the world to qualify for certification.

Armed with an $8.5-million (CAN) revolving fund for carbon-reduction projects, green construction was a primary aim of both the designers and their client.

The University of Toronto is currently pursuing a one-third cut in total greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030. To reach that goal, Passive House was identified as an ideal approach for the Harmony Commons project.

Every detail of the project was fine-tuned to make sure the building used less energy than any comparably-sized student residence. The structure’s airtight enclosure and high-efficiency heat pumps allow the building to remain warm while keeping its carbon footprint minimal.

Passive House certification is assessed through a set of performance criteria, and requires attention to various technical details, along with a holistic understanding of the fundamentals of architecture.

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Park(ing) Day, an annual worldwide, public art project that reimagines parking spaces into pop-up parks and social spaces for a day, is making a comeback this September.

Taking place from September 20 to 22, 2024, the project will see people around the world repurpose on-street, boulevard, or lot parking spaces, and convert them into tiny parks and places for art, design, play, and activism.

Park(ing) Day began in 2005 as a design activism project by the design studio Rebar, transforming a single parking spot in San Francisco. Since then, it has grown into a global movement that has featured hundreds of installations in more than 35 cities worldwide. 

Park(ing) Day provides an opportunity to engage in an ongoing conversation about the design and construction of cities and highlights the necessity to enhance the accessibility and quantity of public open spaces in densely populated urban zones while emphasizing the significance of these spaces for social and environmental interactions.

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Alison Brooks Architects has announced that the University of Toronto has selected their practice, in collaboration with Executive Architects Adamson Associates, to revitalize the Claude T. Bissell Building for the Faculty of Information, a world-leading center of excellence for research and education in information studies.

The building, which was completed in 1973, is 7,000 square metres in size and one of three heritage buildings that form the John P. Robarts Research Library complex.

This landmark project will support the Faculty’s growth and overall mission to leverage technology for human good as well as to make knowledge, information platforms, and systems equitable and accessible to all.

The commission includes a comprehensive reimagining of the Bissell Building’s social, teaching, and research spaces to modernize the identity of the Faculty of Information and create a new front door to the St. George Campus.

Research and design labs, classrooms, and makerspaces—all of which will be newly accessible, inclusive spaces—will support the Faculty’s combined model of experiential, experimental, and empirical learning.

“This revitalisation project represents a historic opportunity to work with a brilliant client to transform one of the University’s most memorable Brutalist icons into a place that fosters open collaboration, active learning and impactful research,” said Alison Brooks, founder of Alison Brooks Architects and creative director.

“We’re inspired by the Bissell Building’s considerable artistic legacy which we will enhance and honour with our work. We look forward to collaborating with the University, the Faculty and our wider consultant team to sensitively transform this significant piece of Toronto’s built history, to support the University’s Climate Positive Campus Plan and secure its architectural legacy for future generations.”

Javed Mostafa, Dean of the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto said, “As a fan of Brutalist architecture—be it the Bissell Building, where I now work, or the National Parliament Building in Bangladesh, the country where I was born—I am thrilled to have Alison Brooks in charge of this renovation. Under their architectural stewardship, I expect the new Bissell Building to emerge an even more welcoming human and social space that will foster engagement and create further connections to the city and our communities.”

Full Project team:

Alison Brooks Architects – Design Architect

Adamson Associates – Executive Architect

ARUP – Sustainability, Electrical, Mechanical, Structural, Envelope, Civils, Transport, Wind, Fire Protection

David T. Fortin Architect – Indigenous Architect

ERA Architect – Heritage Architect

The Planning Partnership – Landscape Architect

A.W. Hooker – Cost Consultant

HGC Engineering- Acoustics

ENTRO Communications – Wayfinding

Soberman Engineering – Vertical transportation

LMDG Consultants – Code & Accessibility

Upper Canada – Hardware

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Over the last two years, The Bentway and the City of Toronto have collaborated on a vision for underutilized public spaces below and adjacent to the Gardiner Expressway, from Dufferin to the DVP.

Earlier this month, City Council formally endorsed the plan which means it will now be used as a guide for the development of a public realm under the highway.

“Council approval of The Under Gardiner PRP represents a collective acknowledgement of the importance and potential of spaces below the Gardiner Expressway. Together with the City of Toronto and the Province of Ontario, we are excited to play a key role in ensuring the plan informs and supports future development of the expressway from end-to-end,” said Robert McKaye, senior manager of planning and design at The Bentway.

With City Council’s endorsement complete, the next step will include the formation of an interdivisional working group with representation from several City departments, The Bentway, and the Province of Ontario. The group will work together to develop an implementation strategy for the plan, including a prioritization framework and funding strategy.

Development of the Under Gardiner PRP was led by the Bentway Conservancy in partnership with the City of Toronto, along with an integrated team of urban designers, architects, climate engineers, and consultation experts including PUBLIC WORK, Two Row Architect, Frontier, Transsolar KlimaEngineering, and Third Party Public.

The Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan (PRP) was developed with input from various City divisions and The Bentway, as well as through extensive public consultation.

The Under Gardiner PRP is a joint effort between the City of Toronto and The Bentway Conservancy, and represents a collaboration of subject matter expertise, bringing together different perspectives on how the Under Gardiner spaces could better serve a range of civic needs.

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Toronto-based WZMH has launched its digital online recladding guide at BuildGreen Atlantic, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

For over 60 years, WZMH has been designing office towers and has amassed over three decades of experience in renewing these buildings.

The WZMH Recladding Guide focuses on how building envelope redesigns can revitalize an aging office tower by updating its performance and appearance, while also enhancing occupant comfort.

The guide explores the “why’s” and “hows” of recladding and presents multiple case studies. Additionally, it outlines WZMH’s proven, seven-category suite of recladding options, ranging from the tactical replacement of one element, such as cladding panels or glazing, through to a complete reskinning.

WZMH principals Nicola Casciato and Harrison Chan and WZMH strategic business development lead Jennifer Davis recently presented a seminar at BuildGreen Atlantic based on the recladding guide’s content.

While the need to replace building components nearing end-of-life is often what prompts building owners to undertake a recladding project, projects of this type are an increasingly important means of achieving an expanding range of objectives.

“A recladding is a real opportunity to give a building a new voice in many different ways – from an aesthetic standpoint, from a sustainability standpoint, and from a user comfort standpoint,” states Casciato in Remake It Better.

Chan adds that growing emphasis on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations, in combination with an increasingly holistic concept of sustainability, has recontextualized recladding. “As recently as a decade ago, our clients were primarily interested in recladding for reasons related to capital repair work and perhaps also rebranding,” he said. “These are still important considerations, but now ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon’ are often the words that kick-start the conversation.”

The guide’s five case study buildings are all located in Toronto’s Financial District and illustrate how WZMH’s approach to each recladding project is tailored to client objectives and existing building conditions.

An example of this is 121 King Street West, a 25-storey tower that opened in 1984. The impetus for recladding was to replace overly reflective glass that was mirroring interior views back to the building’s occupants, rather than affording clear views to the outside. The recladding, completed in 2023, resolved this issue, while also improving airtightness and updating the building’s appearance through the replacement of its horizontal spandrels. On this project, as on many other WZMH recladdings, most of the renovation work was done from the exterior via mast-climbing platforms, enabling the building to remain occupied by its tenants throughout construction.

Another case study, the 16-storey 1960s Bell Canada building at 76 Adelaide Street West,
involved completely removing the deteriorated main façade and reskinning it with large, curved
glass panels. Inspired by the geometry of sound waves, the building’s striking new look
embodies the dynamism of telecommunications.

Throughout Remake it Better, comments from WZMH’s in-house recladding experts, building
envelope specialists on case study project teams, and Cadillac Fairview Senior Director Carlo
Guido – a client team lead on the 95 Wellington Street West case study building – highlight the
evolving and expanding rationale for recladding in the era of ESG, net zero, and
decarbonization

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Toronto architect John van Nostrand’s firm, SvN, has long worked with housing at all scales—from individual cottages, to highrises and masterplans. In doing this work, van Nostrand was keenly conscious of a problem exacerbated during the pandemic—a “gap in the housing continuum” between the growing population of unhoused people in shelters and encampments, and the currently available supply in affordable or supportive housing. 

The non-profit he founded to address this problem, Two Steps Home, aims to fill that gap, 50 people at a time. Its prototype cabin was unveiled at Toronto’s Interior Design Show  this winter.  It’s a mass timber, peak-roofed, tiny dwelling, sized to be moved on the back of a flatbed trailer. Developed with the support of prefab manufacturer CABN, the Two Steps Home is intended to be durable, sustainable, and—most of all—pleasant to live in.

The compact housing units are “designed to Passive House standard,” explains lead architect Aaron Budd. In contrast to many poorly constructed temporary dwellings, the units include robust thermal insulation, reduced thermal bridging, quality windows and doors, and heat recovery ventilators. Each cabin has a lockable door and a small canopy over the entrance that allows for interactions at the threshold. 

Inside, the exposed mass timber “gives a sense of warmth, a sense of home,” says Budd. At IDS, many visitors approached Budd saying, “I would love one of these in my backyard”—a positive sign, to him, that the cabins would be welcoming places, rather than second-rate shelters.

Manufacturer CABN helped further refine SvN’s design, with energy performance, durability in use and transportation, and material efficiencies in mind. Through its non-profit arm, CABN Foundation, the manufacturer was able to apply lessons from the R&D from its for-profit lines of prefab buildings. It will build the cabins for cost plus a minimal seven percent.

The efficient, affordable use of mass timber is at the heart of CABN’s work, says founder Jackson Wyatt. “These are a true home rather than a steel box—that’s something wood can bring. Because the wood walls are 4 ½” thick, there’s a sense of security you feel from that, as well as the ability to transport and repair it, that make these a healthy place to live—regardless of where you are in life.”

While the dwellings don’t have their own plumbing, SvN envisages communities of 50 cabins that would share communal kitchen and washroom facilities. The cabin communities would be located on development sites that are in limbo, near to future affordable housing. As that affordable housing was completed, residents would move from the cabins into permanent housing, and the cabins could be moved wholesale to another site—ready to house new residents taking their own first steps towards housing security.

 
As appeared in the April 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

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Winter Stations, launched by RAW Design, Ferris + Associates, and Curio in 2014 has launched the winning stations selected from hundreds of submissions.

This year, the theme for Winter Stations, which is back for its 10th year, is Resonance. As a result, designers were challenged to go on a journey to reinvent and reimagine cherished installations from Winter Stations history.

The selected winners saw their visions realized by the support of Anex Works, a Toronto-based fabrication group. The nine public art installations will be on display from now until the end of March and can be found at Woodbine Beach, Woodbine Park, Kew Gardens, and Ivan Forest Gardens.

The winning designs are being showcased alongside three student installations that were designed and built by the Toronto Metropolitan University, the University of Waterloo, and the University of Guelph, respectively. Two designs from the Winter Stations Archive are also on display.

“The launch of Winter Stations brought smiles to the hundreds of people, families, and dogs that came out to see this year’s exhibit. After ten years of consecutively bringing bright and bold art to Toronto’s public realm, the impact of Winter Stations resonates directly with our innate playful nature and we hope to continue this impact for the years to come,” said RAW Design architect Dakota Wares-Tani.

Plans are currently in development for more exhibits later in 2024, sponsored and hosted by Northcrest Developments.

This year’s competition was made possible by the support of RAW Design, Northcrest Developments, and the Beaches BIA along with CreateTO, Sali Tabacchi Branding & Design, Meevo Digital and Micro Pro Sienna.

The 2024 Winter Stations winners are:

We Caught A UFO! by Xavier Madden and Katja Banovic, Croatia and Australia

“We Caught a UFO!” builds upon the project “In the Belly of a Bear,” which used the lifeguard chair by lifting the public above ground into a cozy space, transporting them into a new world. This station reimagines these qualities by referencing the rumours and whispers of the many UFO sightings across Lake Ontario.

A KALEIDOSCOPIC ODYSSEY by Brander Architects Inc (Adam Brander, Nilesh P., Ingrid Garcia, Maryam Emadzadeh), Canada

A KALEIDOSCOPIC ODYSSEY invites viewers to step into an experience where they “challenge where reality ends and imagination begins.” Visitors are able to explore the limitless depths of perception with this adaptation of Kaleidoscope of the Senses, 2020.

Making Waves by Adria Maynard and Purvangi Patel, Canada

Making Waves is a whimsical piece of furniture that represents “the ways that simple actions can ripple outwards to ‘resonate’ across time and space, moving and impacting others in surprising ways.” The installation takes the form of an exaggerated couch and forms an unusual urban living room where neighbours can gather and sit by the water.

NIMBUS by David Stein, Canada

This station was inspired by the airy strands that make up the 2016 installation Floating Ropes. Nimbus’s playful shapes and colours evolve the concept and materials by adding  blue ropes hanging below a bubbly white structure. The station asks visitors to “consider the presence and absence of rain in our contemporary world by referencing both severe storms and flooding” as well as trends of lack of rain, drought, and desertification.

Bobbin’ by Max Perry, Jason Cai, Kenneth Siu, Simon Peiris, Yoon Hur, Angeline Reyes, Oluwatobiloba Babalola, Yiqing Liu, Kenyo Musa, Ali Hasan; University of Waterloo School of Architecture

Bobbin’ invites visitors to a place where moments and memories result in reflection. The seesaws draw from the playground-like Sling Swing and Lifeline projects and its form within the landscape reflects HotBox and Introspection. Each material has been sourced from previous student projects and salvaged materials from the community of Cambridge.

Nova by Jake Levy, Emily Lensin, Luca Castellan, and Nathaniel Barry; Toronto Metropolitan University – Department of Architectural Science

Nova is a star that has crashed on top of a lifeguard station and illuminates Woodbine Beach throughout the night. This station highlights TMU’s past decade of Winter Stations, inspired by the origami, materiality, and form of Snowcone, Lithoform, and S’Winter Station. Nova also introduces 3D printing, a textile canopy, and an elegant steel pipe connection to create a pavilion with “Resonance.”

WINTERACTION by University of Guelph – Department of Landscape Architecture (Afshin Ashari, Ali Ebadi, Jacob Farrish, Cameron Graham, Ngoc Huy Pham, Ramtin Shafaghati, Zackary Tammaro-Cater) and Ashari Architects (Amir Ashari, Sara Nazemi, Anahita Kazempour, Hakimeh Elahi, Yasaman Sirjani, Zahra Jafari)

WINTERACTION resonates with OneCanada and WE[AR] projects and is a dual installation in Iran and Canada that fosters solidarity and social interaction between the two nations. Visitors are invited on a journey through a labyrinth that appears when an AR app is activated on their phones, which symbolizes a challenging quest and leads from “confusion to enlightenment, to reach inner peace.”

The two stations set to make their return from the Winter Stations Archives are CONRAD by Novak Djogo and Daniel Joshua Vanderhorst, and Delighthouse by Nick Green and Greig Pirrie.

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PROJECT The Well, Toronto, Ontario

ARCHITECTS Hariri Pontarini Architects (Masterplan and Office), Adamson Associates Architects (Executive Architect), BDP (Retail, Canopy, Landscape Architect), CCxA Architectes Paysagistes (Landscape Architect—Masterplan and Public Realm), Giannone Petricone Associates (Wellington Market), Wallman Architects (Residential Midrises), architects—Alliance (Residential Highrises), Urban Strategies (Urban Design and Planning)

PHOTOS RioCan, unless otherwise noted

TEXT John Lorinc

The elevating history of Toronto’s upward trajectory is a story that can be told in chapters, beginning with suburban slab apartments and downtown bank towers (1960s-1980s), moving through the era of arterial point tower clusters (on Bay, the Kings, North York City Centre, downtown Yonge, Jarvis) and on to massive industrial conversions (Liberty Village, the railway lands). Half a century after David Crombie imposed his infamous 45-foot freeze, height passes muster almost anywhere, and, despite policy efforts to stoke low- and midrise residential, there’s little to indicate that Toronto’s verticality will subside anytime soon.

What is quite new in the narrative of the city’s intensification is the advent of the mega-site—not just large-ish former car dealerships and the like, but precinct-sized projects that come fitted out with all manner of planning riddles, such as relationships to transit, abutting neighbourhoods, and architectural vernaculars. These sites include large inner city and suburban supermarket and mall properties, with their acres of blacktop, as well as marquis projects, such as the redevelopment of the 9.2-acre Canada Square site, at Yonge and Eglinton, by Oxford Properties and CT REIT working with Hariri Pontarini and Urban Strategies, and the former Honest Ed’s/Mirvish Village lands, which are being converted to mixed-use rental by Westbank with Henriquez Partners Architects, Diamond Schmitt Architects, Urban Strategies, and Janet Rosenberg Landscape Architects.  

Most (though not all) of the developers pursuing these large-scale gigs recognize they require a more extensive tool kit—intentional architectural variety, unconventional massing, new public open spaces and, crucially, porousness to prevent such developments from becoming too monolithic. 

In the case of the Galleria Mall, Almadev, working with Urban Strategies and Hariri Pontarini Architects, cut a deal with the city to build a new grid-busting diagonal road through the site and swap land to create a central park. With Mirvish Village and a future Ontario Line project at the Corktown station at King and Parliament, the designers and city planners carved out mid-block pedestrian cut-throughs, which, with the exception of a few examples in the downtown office core, represent an entirely new type of car-free public space in the city. (The Corktown site plan, prepared by SvN, includes two intersecting mid-block connections.)   

The first of these mega-projects to cross the finish line is The Well, a much anticipated and heavily publicized collaboration between RioCan and Allied Properties REIT. The 7.7-acre site—which belonged to the Thomson family, owner of The Globe and Mail, whose flagship facility stood on the site for many years, and much else—includes 1.2 million square feet of office space, 320,000 square feet of retail, and some 1,700 condos and rental units. The developers estimate it will eventually house about 11,000 residents and employees, whose comings and goings are expected to sustain the retail space and provide a major boost to a somewhat ragged corner of the King West district. 

Several design firms were involved in the project, including Hariri Pontarini Architects, which was responsible for the office tower and led the masterplan in collaboration with Urban Strategies and CCxA. BDP led the retail components, architects—Alliance designed the residential towers on the southern half of the site, and Wallman Architects oversaw the residential midrises on the northern half. The late Claude Cormier’s practice, CCxA, developed the landscape plan, while Adamson Associates served as executive architect. 

The complex features a huge underground cistern—thus, “the well,” a name that also nods to the adjacency with Wellington Street. The reservoir is not just a fixture of the project’s internal heating/cooling infrastructure, but will also serve as a means of extending the city’s deep lake water cooling network (owned and operated by Enwave) into the western part of the core.  

The Well’s headlining feature, however, is the covered passageways physically linking the various buildings that open onto Front Street, Spadina and Wellington. These mid-block, multi-level connections—lined with shops and colonnades, and then topped by a undulating latticed glass canopy—are unlike anything else in Toronto, with the possible exception of Santiago Calatrava’s smaller enclosed galleria in Brookfield’s BCE Place.   

This space can be seen and experienced in two overlapping ways: as an inside-out mall, and as a means for pedestrians to move between the three streets that delineate the property.  These internal lanes have no doors, and as such the passageway will function as a “privately-owned public space” (POPS), a formal designation created about a decade ago by the City of Toronto’s planning department as a means of expanding the pedestrian realm in an increasingly vertical downtown. 

The most literal inspiration for The Well’s covered mall can be found in many parts of the U.K. “This idea of having a roof like an umbrella, rather than an enclosed space, is something we’ve done in the U.K. a lot,” says Adrian Price, a London-based principal at BDP, noting that British planning rules in the 1990s didn’t permit enclosed malls. He cites examples like Victoria Square in Belfast and Cabot Circus in Bristol. But, as David Pontarini notes of those U.K. projects, “They’re all mixed-use residential-retail-office sites, but they don’t work at the density [The Well] is working at. This is kind of a European-combined-with-Asian model.”

The canopy—designed collaboratively by Hariri Pontarini, BDP, and Adamson, working with RJC Engineers—extends between seven buildings. It is held aloft by V-shaped supports, relying on what Price calls a “continuous walk-in gutter” that extends around the edge of the structure to provide stiffness. The supports, in turn, are designed to have enough give to accommodate building movement, while the panels of engineered glass sit atop the lattice. “It’s the largest structure of its type in North America,” says Price.

The internal passageways of the mall provide the most intimately scaled evidence of the project’s strategy to pack the site with diverse architectural elements: the office and retail blocks facing the promenade are rendered in distinct styles and materials, including red brick, white terracotta, and metal fins. As a whole, the complex includes seven connected buildings, ranging from tall glass office towers to mid-rise brick residential blocks that step down towards Wellington, self-consciously referencing the scale and massing of the King West brick-and-beam warehouses immediately to the north. The north face of the office towers features a glass elevator, offering commanding views of the west end, while a rooftop restaurant provides sweeping vistas of downtown. 

Two of the residential towers on the Front Street side are aligned, sensibly, off the customary Toronto grid so as to avoid direct exposure to morning and afternoon sun. Thus situated, they bear a certain resemblance to the off-centre orientation of every sun-destination hotel or condo. But this decision reflects an important and all-too-often ignored reality about the thermal loading that is endemic in so many high-rise glazed residential towers in Toronto.

The site’s intentional mix of architectural forms and styles holds up a mirror to the extraordinary variety in built form in the chunk of King West that extends from Spadina over to Tecumseh. The precinct now includes everything from early-19th-century workers’ cottages to the Bjarke Ingels Group’s King Toronto—a Habitat-esque confection, created with developers Westbank and Allied Properties, and designer Diamond Schmitt Architects. Hariri Pontarini worked on another mixed-use Allied/RioCan project across the street from where King Toronto is under construction—the King Portland Centre. The King Portland Centre and The Well share a strategy of leveraging the network of mid-block passageways which have long been a feature of the area.

Indeed, The Well’s urban design is its most distinctive feature. The entrance portal from the corner of Spadina and Front—for years, a car dealership—is now all show business, while the north-facing edge, just around the corner, seems to want to blend into, but also define, a rather staid stretch of Wellington. The project planners are to be commended for providing a generous and well-landscaped sidewalk allowance on this side of The Well. However, it remains to be seen whether the former buzz of that stretch of Wellington, with its industrial businesses, bistros and oddball clubs, will ever come back—or if it is now destined to remain a kind of high-end residential interstitial space between Front and King. 

As for the south side, the passageway and adjoining condo entrances opening onto Front are likely to spend the next 10 to 15 years staring at what will become a vast construction site. The five-tower Rail Deck District project is to be cantilevered over the GO/VIA rail corridor, after prevailing in a tense air-rights battle with the City of Toronto over the latter’s plan to build a multi-billion-dollar park above the tracks. Metrolinx also has a block of land reserved across Front Street from The Well for a future shoulder-station.

For the time being, the question posed by The Well and its highly deliberate urban design choices is a variation on the one that Eb Zeidler’s Eaton Centre posed when it opened in the late 1970s. Will the mall’s gravitational pull suck King Westers, in all their guises, away from King and Lower Spadina? Or does its porousness—a feature that serves as a notable point of differentiation with the Eaton Centre—represent a meaningful addition to the urban connectivity of that neighbourhood? 

It feels trite to say here that time will tell. Yet the breathtaking dynamism of King West’s urban form can lead to no other conclusion for the moment. The enormous project has enormous ambitions, setting out to meaningfully address itself to the three streets around it, and to create a new downtown hub. But it begins life as a kind of island of high density within a mid-rise neighbourhood that’s very much in flux. How well The Well serves the future and evolving King West is an open question, yet one whose answer is revealing itself bit by bit—and now mega-block by mega-block—with each passing year.   

John Lorinc is a Toronto journalist who writes about planning, public space and development for Spacing and The Globe and Mail. Follow him on X at @johnlorinc. 

CLIENT RioCan REIT, Allied | RESIDENTIAL CLIENT TRIDEL, RioCan Living, Woodbourne Capital Canada | ARCHITECT TEAMS Hariri Pontarini Architects—David Pontarini, Michael Conway, Douglas Keith, Ali Soleymani, Shuan Liu, Elnaz Sabouri, Michele Hauner, Dorna Ghorashi, Alyssa Goraieb, Asem Alhadrab, Brad Moore. Hariri Pontarini Architects (Interior Design)—Cathy Knott, Danielle Tsisko, Victoria Kwon, Paloma Pontarini, Emma Craig. Adamson Associates Architects—Bill Bradley, Domenic Virdo, David Jansen, Alex Richter, Jack Cusimano, Steve Carroll, Deni Di Filippo, Navjit Singh Matharu, Rasha Mousa, Anna Satchkova, Gianni Meogrossi, Gordon Adair, Pam Bruneau, Chuck Comartin, Martin Dolan, Alfredo Falcone, Ana Gadin, Sarah Gilbert, Margarita Goyzueta, Dwayne Keith, Negar Khalili, Jimin Kim, Mike Koehler, Gilles Leger, Tonino Ottaviani, Theresa Prince, Dan Rubenzahl, Arlene So, Gintaras Valiulis, Gabriel Virag, Ashley Wewiora. BDP—Adrian Price, Steve Downey, Roberta Massabo, Maarten Mutters, Greg Froggatt, Lauren Copping, Marco Cosmi, Paul Foster, Malcolm De Cruz, Catherine Griffiths, Ivan Popov, Michelle Wong, Hoa Quan, Maria Martinez, Simon Perez, Trevor Pool, Luminita Musat, Emilie Kwapisz, Daniele De Paula, Millan Tarazona, Peter Coleman, Waimond Ip, Adriano Scarfo. BDP (Interior Design)—Justin Parsons, Sean Rainey, Cora Granier, Amy Simpson, Vivien Kerr, Anna Carnevale, Melodie Peters. Concept Lighting—Colin Ball, Sarah Alsayed, Mim Beaufort, Jono Redden. BDP (Landscape)—Mehron Kirk, Lucy White, Cedric Chausse, Bethany Gale, Martyna Dobosz, Dalia Todary-Michael. Wallman Architects—Rudy Wallman, Rod Pell, Khodayar Shafaei, Michael Panacci, Aleksandra Mazowiec, Tristan Armesto, Shaun Oldfield. CCxa Architectes Paysagistes—Claude Cormier, Guillaume Paradis, Logan Littlefield, Yannick Roberge, Marc Hallé, James Cole, Yi Zhou, Hélio Araujo, Georges-Étienne Parent, Nicole M. Meier. Architects—Alliance: Peter Clewes, Adam Feldmann, Oliver Laumeyer, Barb Zee, Helen Tran, Nicolas Peters, Sophia Radev, Dele Oladunmoye, Robert Connor, Lisa Maharaj, Anna Wan, Jason DeLine, Carl Caliva. Giannone Petricone Associates—Ralph Giannone, Andria Vacca, Cassandra Hryniw, Carlo Odorico, Katherine French, Amy Piccinni, Tracy Ho, Shane Alharbi, Yoland Senik, Hung Hoang. Urban Strategies—George Dark, Dennis Lago, Geoff Whittaker, Craig Cal, Pino Di Mascio | STRUCTURAL RJC Engineers (Daniel Sokolowski) | STRUCTURAL (RESIDENTIAL) Jablonsky Ast & Partners | ELECTRICAL/IT/COMMUNICATIONS/AV/SECURITY/LIGHTING Mulvey & Banani (Eric Cornish, Olumide Joseph, Nirojan Ketheeswaran | Mechanical The Mitchell Partnership (James McEwan, Camille Williams) | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL (RESIDENTIAL) Novatrend | CIVIL Odan/Detech Group, Inc. | ACOUSTICS & VIBRATION HGC Engineering | HARDWARE Trillium Architectural Products | TRANSPORTATION/PARKING BA Consulting Group | WIND RWDI | FIRE/CODE/LIFE SAFETY/ACCESSIBILITY LRI Engineering, Inc. | VERTICAL TRANSPORTATION Soberman Engineering | SURVEYOR J.D. Barnes | EXTERIOR BUILDING MAINTENANCE RDP Associates | ice/snow Microclimate Ice & Snow Inc. | WASTE MANAGEMENT Cini-Little International, Inc. | LANDSCAPE (RESIDENTIAL) Janet Rosenberg & Studio, MBTW | SUSTAINABILITY EQ Building Performance | SHORING AND EXCAVATION Isherwood Geostructural Engineers, GFL Environmental | CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS EllisDon, Deltera, Knightsbridge  | CODE LRI (Steven Grant) | STRUCTURE AVENUE-verdi jv | CLADDING & ROOFING Bothwell-Accurate | CANOPY Gartner GMBH | CONCEPT LIGHTING BDP | LIGHTING Mulvey & Banani (Stephen Kaye) | WAYFINDING kramer design associates | LANDSCAPE SUBCONSULTANTS Albert Mondor (planting); Joe Carter (irrigation); Peter Simon (urban forestry) | AREA 7.67 acres | BUDGET Withheld | COMPLETION November 2023

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When RDHA was commissioned to design a new emergency generator tower to service Toronto’s Union Station, its architects saw an opportunity to design something more than a standard metal box. The enclosure, says principal Tyler Sharp, instead creates “an object of intrigue” for people driving past on Lakeshore Boulevard and the Gardiner Expressway.

Sharp’s concept took inspiration from the generator tower’s immediate neighbour: the 1930 Scott Street signal tower, a hip-roofed, Italianate structure designed by the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Chief Engineer of Buildings at the time, John Wilson Orrock.

The generator structure replicates the heritage building’s dimensions, tripartite massing, and roadway setback. In place of brick, it is rendered in lightly polished aluminum. Sections of the panels are angled open to allow for natural ventilation of the machinery within, adding texture and detail to the sculptural form. While the enclosure is rarely occupied, a service door is concealed at the east end of the façade. The result is a shimmering, abstracted twin of the nearly century-old structure.

Between the generator building and the signal tower, a concrete retaining wall is detailed with equal care: a curve at the base recalls the signal tower’s round-topped windows and gently curved roof lines, and a planter at the top will allow for ivy to cascade down its surface.

“We often get these down-and-dirty projects, and we fight to elevate them,” says Sharp. He reflects how in the 1930s, it was normal for utilitarian buildings such as the signal tower to be treated as civic architecture. “That was a generation where they put effort into infrastructure.” RDHA’s work on the accompanying generator tower aims to revive that spirit: “This is a generation that is trying to put effort into infrastructure.”

Even though the level of design involved is more complex—and convincing clients to invest in such projects can be challenging—the effort is worth it, says Sharp. “There’s so much that can be beautified in the city.”

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Winter Stations, launched by RAW Design, Ferris + Associates and Curio in 2014, which is back for its 10th year, has revealed the four winning designs selected from hundreds of submissions.

The winning designs will be showcased alongside three student designs from Toronto Metropolitan University, Waterloo Department of Architecture and Guelph University as well as two designs from the Winter Stations Archive.

The competition aims to capture the imagination of designers, artists, and architects to create thought-provoking designs and will launch nine public art installations this season.

The lifeguard stands at Toronto Woodbine beach will once again transform as there are plans for six new stations along the east end beaches. Additionally, three stations, one 2024 winner and two from the Winter Stations Archives, will be displayed along Queen Street East at Woodbine Park, Kew Gardens, and Ivan Forest Gardens.

To celebrate its 10th milestone, this year’s theme is Resonance. Designers were challenged to go on a journey to reinvent, reimagine cherished installations from Winter Stations history.

“Over the past 10 years of Winter Stations, we’ve created incredible works of art that have moved people in incredibly meaningful ways during a season that can feel gloomy otherwise. We hope that the impact of bringing bright and joyful stations to Toronto’s east end continues to resonate,” said RAW Design Architect Dakota Wares-Tani.

The 2024 winning installations are set to launch on Family Day weekend and will be on display until the end of March with plans for more exhibits later in 2024 being sponsored and hosted by Northcrest Developments. Details will be announced in the late spring.

“Winter Stations is an incredible example of creating vibrant spaces through inspiring, interactive art. Aligned with our focus on sustainability and the intersection of creativity and play, we’re proud to be supporting this year’s work and providing a North York location for extended viewing of the winning designs by the public,” says Mitchell Marcus, Executive Director of Site Activation & Programing with Northcrest Developments.

This year’s competition is made possible by the sponsorship of RAW Design and Northcrest Developments along with CreateTO, Sali Tabacchi Branding & Design, Meevo Digital and Micro Pro Sienna.

The 2024 Winter Stations winners are:

We Caught A UFO! by Xavier Madden and Katja Banovic, Croatia and Australia

“We Caught a UFO!” builds upon the project “In the Belly of a Bear,” which used the lifeguard chair by lifting the public above ground into a cozy space, transporting them into a new world. This station reimagines these qualities by referencing the rumours and whispers of the many UFO sightings across Lake Ontario.

A KALEIDOSCOPIC ODYSSEY by Brander Architects Inc (Adam Brander, Nilesh P., Ingrid Garcia, Maryam Emadzadeh), Canada

A KALEIDOSCOPIC ODYSSEY invites viewers to step into an experience where they “challenge where reality ends and imagination begins.” Visitors will be able to explore the limitless depths of perception with this  adaptation of Kaleidoscope of the Senses, 2020.

Making Waves by Adria Maynard and Purvangi Patel, Canada

Making Waves is a whimsical piece of furniture that represents “the ways that simple actions can ripple outwards to ‘resonate’ across time and space, moving and impacting others in surprising ways.” The installation takes the form of an exaggerated couch and forms an unusual urban living room where neighbours can gather and sit by the water.

NIMBUS by David Stein, Canada

This station was inspired by the airy strands that make up the 2016 installation Floating Ropes. Nimbus’s playful shapes and colours evolve the concept and materials by adding  blue ropes hanging below a bubbly white structure. The station asks visitors to “consider the presence and absence of rain in our contemporary world by referencing both severe storms and flooding” as well as trends of lack of rain, drought, and desertification.

Bobbin’ by Max Perry, Jason Cai, Kenneth Siu, Simon Peiris, Yoon Hur, Angeline Reyes, Oluwatobiloba Babalola, Yiqing Liu, Kenyo Musa, Ali Hasan; University of Waterloo School of Architecture

Bobbin’ invites visitors to a place where moments and memories result in reflection. The seesaws draw from the playground-like Sling Swing and Lifeline projects and its form within the landscape reflects HotBox and Introspection. Each material has been sourced from previous student projects and salvaged materials from the community of Cambridge.

Nova by Jake Levy, Emily Lensin, Luca Castellan, and Nathaniel Barry; Toronto Metropolitan University – Department of Architectural Science

Nova is a star that has crashed on top of a lifeguard station and illuminates Woodbine Beach throughout the night. This station highlights TMU’s past decade of Winter Stations, inspired by the origami, materiality, and form of Snowcone, Lithoform, and S’Winter Station. Nova also introduces 3D printing, a textile canopy, and an elegant steel pipe connection to create a pavilion with “Resonance.”

WINTERACTION by University of Guelph – Department of Landscape Architecture (Afshin Ashari, Ali Ebadi, Jacob Farrish, Cameron Graham, Ngoc Huy Pham, Ramtin Shafaghati, Zackary Tammaro-Cater) and Ashari Architects (Amir Ashari, Sara Nazemi, Anahita Kazempour, Hakimeh Elahi, Yasaman Sirjani, Zahra Jafari)

WINTERACTION resonates with OneCanada and WE[AR] projects and is a dual installation in Iran and Canada that fosters solidarity and social interaction between the two nations. Visitors are invited on a journey through a labyrinth, which symbolizes a challenging quest and leads from “confusion to enlightenment, to reach inner peace.”

The two stations set to make their return from the Winter Stations Archives will be CONRAD by Novak Djogo and Daniel Joshua Vanderhorst and Delighthouse by Nick Green and Greig Pirrie.

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