Toronto: The Latest Architecture and News

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Landscape Architects: West 8 urban design & landscape architecture and DTAH
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Collaborators: Schollen & Company, Diamond + Schmitt Architects, Arup, Halsall Associates, David Dennis Design, Mulvey + Banani
Client: Waterfront Toronto
Project Area: 3.5 km length
Project Year: 2006–2011
Photographs: Courtesy of West 8

Department of Unusual Certainties is a Toronto-based research and design collective working at the interstices of urban design, planning, public art, spatial research and mapping have shared with us their contribution to the John Street Ideas Competition, held by the Toronto Entertainment District BIA, entitled StairSpace. The competition called for a new public space concept as the center point of what has been dubbed a major cultural axis in the Toronto – John Street. More details of DoUC’s submission after the break.

Breaking the Surface will explore the new science and aesthetic of the architectural surface, especially in regard to how the study of biomimetic form and the parametric turn in design are informing new modes of design and construction. The panelists include Cecil Balmond, an architect and designer, hailed by London’s Guardian as “one of the most important forces in contemporary architecture today,”; Professor Harry Ruda, a “surface” breaking scientist and Director of U of T’s Centre for Advanced Nanotechnology; and Nader Tehrani of Office dA, one of the designers of the new Daniels Faculty expansion and the head of MIT’s Architecture Department. This thought-provoking discussion will be moderated by Dean Richard Sommer.

Toronto-based architectural firm Hariri Pontarini Architects in collaboration with Great Gulf Homes has recently revelaed the new design for One Bloor, a mixed-use residential condominium tower in Toronto, Canada.

More images and architect’s description after the break.

Swedish architects We Are You were recently awarded 1st price in a competition for their proposal “Have a Nice Day” for a new student residential house in Toronto, Canada. You can see more images, a video, and the architect’s description after the break.

Design Challenge: The elevated Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway has been a controversial element of the Toronto skyline since it was completed in 1966. In recent years, public debate has been intensifying over whether its future should be a renovation, relocation, or complete removal. While many plans and proposals have been put forth over the years, none have produced a sufficiently compelling vision for a new urban identity and truly functional transportation system.