The project, a modern commercial area and offices, integrates trying to preserve the historical tradition of the preexisting buildings, which are protected.
This intervention by Hariri Pontarini Architects tries to integrate into the urban fabric. A plinth of Victorian buildings serves as the basis for intervention, creating a unified project. A contrast is generated between the stone facades of the preexisting buildings and the glass of the intervention to differentiate them. The building is set back to preserve light and views and produces an effect in which the tower seems to float.
 

Description of project by Hariri Pontarini Architects

Hariri Pontarini Architects worked in close collaboration with St. Thomas Commercial Developments Inc. to design 7 St. Thomas, a building that harmonizes retail and commercial design through an inventive interplay of form and light, blending Victorian and contemporary materials to create a unified work. Six heritage townhouses are integrated into a three-storey podium, with a sinuous six-storey tower above. The development houses retail at ground level and condominium office spaces throughout, blending high design, ecological responsibility, and civic enhancement.

“We see this project as representative of the quality we see globally, in cities such as London and New York, but built locally”, stated David Pontarini, Founding Partner of Hariri Pontarini Architects. “It is a testament to the willingness of Patrick Quigley, President of St. Thomas Commercial Developments, to push the City and the boundaries of design in Toronto.”


Located around the corner from the busy Bay/Bloor intersection at the corner of Sultan and St. Thomas Streets, the design was born from a desire to seamlessly integrate into the existing fabric of the neighbourhood and to contribute to the urban environment.

“It’s such a difficult process with the city,” Quigley explains. “But you end up with a much better project when you take contextual issues into consideration.”


The building peels back from neighbouring context to preserve the light and views of existing residential buildings. A piazza-like square at the corner of St. Thomas and along Sultan Streets form a public amenity in the densely built area. 

The podium wraps around and incorporates the heritage buildings, elegantly balancing the proportions and using glass and stone to contrast and enhance the existing façades. The tower is wrapped in an undulating fritted glass veil. Stepping back from the Victorian base, the tower appears to float above.

The heritage façades of the six row houses built in 1880 were meticulously restored by ERA Architects, returning the original charm to the masonry, windows, trim, dormers and sloped roofs. The entrances of the street oriented retail spaces were modified for inclusive accessibility while preserving the heritage character of the buildings. Inside the reconstructed town homes have been maintained as individual office suites, in order to preserve the quality of space within old homes and break-up the lower levels into smaller multi-level commercial suites creating a fine-grained street-level experience.

7 St. Thomas is amongst the first of its kind in Toronto, offering exclusive commercial ownership. Common shared elements are refined and sophisticated. A marble-clad lobby, designed by Studio Munge, with a stark white pallet and graphic black chrome accents expresses the horizontal fluidity of the architecture through vertical lacquered panels, unifying in their wave-like motion and modernity. A board room with state of the art presentation technology and washrooms on each floor are common areas for the suite owners to share. The design allows for size adaptable suites to accommodate a wide array of businesses.

The building contributes to the urban environment through various features including high performance curtain wall with a ceramic frit that reduces thermal transmission, large capacity rain cisterns which feed back into the building’s grey-water system, and water-efficient green-roof terraces on the third and ninth floors. Capitalizing on its position in the midst of a growing residential neighbourhood, the close proximity to multiple transit lines and high acceptance of walking and cycling make 7 St. Thomas a functionally integrated development and model for urban sustainability.

 

 

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Architects
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Hariri Pontarini Architects
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Project Team
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Heritage Consultant.- ERA Architects. Landscape Consultant.- GH3. Interior Design Consultant.- Studio Munge. Interior Design Consultant-Suite 606.- STOA Design Collective
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Hariri Pontarini Architects is a Canadian firm founded by Siamak Hariri and David Pontarini founded in Toronto in 1994. Today, the practice is formed by 130 people.

Over the past 25 years, their work has garnered the firm over 75 national and international awards, including being the recipient of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s 2013 Architectural Firm Award. Most recently, they received the Governor General’s Medal in Architecture for Casey House.

Siamak Hariri, founding Partner, holds deep respect for the transformative potential of architecture. He specializes in creating works of enduring value, for clients seeking to lever change through design. Siamak brings to every project a profound interest in light, form, site, material, and craft.  His portfolio of nationally and internationally recognized public and private buildings has won over 50 awards, including the Governor General’s Medal in Architecture, the 2010 World Architecture Best Unbuilt Civic Building Award, and the 2013 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Architectural Firm Award.

David Pontarini, founding Partner, focuses on building better cities through quality urban developments that channel the best aspects of their site and program into finely executed architectural and public realm designs. Over the past 30 years, he has built an award-winning portfolio of complex, variously scaled urban high-rise and mixed-use developments in cities across Canada and the United States. David’s design-led approach to smart development solutions together with his understanding of urban issues contribute to his reputation as one of Toronto’s leading architects and to the recognition of HPA, by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, as winners of the 2013 Architectural Firm Award.

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Published on: February 16, 2018
Cite: "7 St. Thomas by Hariri Pontarini Architects" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/7-st-thomas-hariri-pontarini-architects> ISSN 1139-6415
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