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.”