When the time came to build on the northern end of the block, GPA embraced the opportunity to push the boundaries of mid-block public space – literally. With careful consideration for the building’s ground level configuration, we discovered we could provide a new outdoor space for the community of the block while also creating an alternate more sheltered public space parallel to Queen’s Quay.

The North Block is designed to respond to the nuances of its immediate urban context on the ground, to virtually expand the unique yard to the south, and to contribute creatively to the large-scale context of Toronto’s Waterfront, as it rises above.

Not a courtyard or a lane, the new mid-block space acts more as an industrial yard: space adjacent to the building that serves a functional purpose for the creative community who use it. It’s designed to be a walkable public space to linger or sit while providing spill out space for the cultural programs. The podium houses a university with grade related retail, galleries, and residential lobbies for the residential towers above.

The podium, accordion-like, pushes and pulls around its perimeter to create depth and shelter that invite people in. Its intricacy is balanced by the simplicity of the towers above, where ceramic frit patterns, inspired by the nearby wind and water, provide texture to its otherwise simple forms and construction. A two-dimensional treatment employed to create three-dimensional movement whether approaching from the nearby elevated expressway, from the water, a distant point in the city, or even looking up from the street below.

The simplicity and economy of the towers allow the podium to become more richly responsive to the context at street level by focusing architectural intensity on the public spaces shared by all inhabitants and visitors of the building. The result is a new urban refuge for creativity in its many forms.

Every great partnership is defined by how each partner responds to the needs of the other. Working in partnership with Daniels, one such moment defined the project. “In order for us to create this new idea of the yard and podium the towers have to be simple.”