Tag Archives: Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects

Class act on the waterfront opens to students

The north side of the new George Brown College waterfront campus, viewed here on August 22 2012 from Queen’s Quay Boulevard …

… and seen here, this morning, from the Keating channel near Cherry Street in the Toronto port lands area several hundred meters to the east

The building can be seen in this city skyline photo shot from the Keating Channel

School’s in: Health sciences students at George Brown College will have the good fortune of starting a new school term tomorrow in a brand-new building.

More than 3,000 students, instructors, administrators and other staff will bring the College’s state-of-the-art waterfront campus to life on September 4 — and provide some energetic company to the Corus Quay broadcasting and office complex right next door.

Campus construction started in late 2009 and, at this time two years ago, the building foundation was only just beginning to take shape inside the huge excavation on the city’s East Bayfront. I thought the projected occupancy date of September 2012 was a bit optimistic, but construction proceeded smoothly and on schedule. When I passed by the campus just under two weeks ago, crews were busy working on landscaping and other exterior finishing touches, while students (and their parents) were going inside to register and take a look around.

Designed as a joint venture by Stantec Architecture and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, the building has eight floors including a three-storey glass podium and a rooftop terrace. Besides classrooms and office facilities for the health care faculties, the full-service campus houses a health care clinic, bookstore, administrative offices and food service operations.

In a video in the August 23 2012 online edition of the Toronto Star, architecture columnist Christopher Hume visits the new building and comments on its significance both for the college, and for the city and in particular its eastern waterfront, which will undergo massive redevelopment over the next decade.

I previously published photos and reported on the George Brown College waterfront campus in posts on January 4 2011, February 5 2011, and April 23 2011.

Crane removed at ETFO office construction site as concrete pour, steel frame installation concludes

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April 29 2012: The yellow and black portable crane assists with the removal of the white construction crane from the ETFO office building site on Isabella Street

April 29 2012: The operator’s cab for the construction crane is slowly lowered to a flatbed truck waiting on Isabella Street

April 29 2012: A southwest view of the 4-storey building, which is being designed to achieve LEED platinum certification

This artistic illustration, one of several renderings that appeared on a New Building Construction page of the ETFO website, suggests how the building will look once construction is complete in March 2013. The organization’s headquarters was designed by Toronto’s Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects.

Nicely framed: When I last reported on construction progress at the new Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) headquarters on December 8 2011, the building’s ground floor was still beginning to take shape. Only four months later, construction crews have finished pouring concrete and assembling steel framework for all four floors of the structure, and have also installed windows along sections of the first floor. And just this weekend, crews disassembled and removed the big white construction crane that had towered above the site since the middle of last August.

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City Scenes: Looking up at Maple Leaf Square

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Design details: The various design patterns in the glass walls and balconies of the Maple Leaf Square south condo tower become evident in this photograph of the 50-storey skyscraper, shot from the east sidewalk on York Street. A project of Lanterra Developments, Maple Leaf Square was designed by Page + Steele IBI Group Architects and KPMB Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects.

Five towers: From left are the CN Tower, Maple Leaf Square south tower, a construction crane atop the PWC 18 York office tower, Maple Leaf Square north tower, and the Telus office tower. Photo was taken from a parking lot next to the Toronto Harbour Commission building on Harbour Street on February 18 2011.

High road: The Maple Leaf Square towers viewed from a parking lot located off Harbour Street beneath the Gardiner Expressway.

High life: The two Maple Leaf Square condo towers viewed from Harbour Street. The towers rise from a nine-story podium housing a Le German boutique hotel, offices, shops, restaurants, a grocery store and a bank. The South Tower, left, stands 50 floors, while the North Tower soars a little higher: 54 storeys.

Above the awning: Another view of the Maple Leaf Square south condo tower, this time from beneath the unique artistic awning that extends above the sidewalk along the east side of York Street. More pics of the entire complex — from both indoors and out — can be viewed in the Maple Leaf Square album on the Photo Sets page of the blog.

One Bedford condo tower becomes new landmark establishing Annex end of Bloor Street’s mink mile

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One Bedford condo tower viewed from Bloor Street January 9 2011

Varsity views: I remember the huge kerfuffle that erupted when plans for the 32-storey One Bedford at Bloor condo building were announced about six or seven years ago. Many people thought the tower was too big and too tall for the Annex neighbourhood, even though it would sit on Bloor Street at the southeast corner of Bedford Road, overlooking the University of Toronto campus to the south.

Watching One Bedford go up the past couple of years during occasional walks through the Annex, I’ve never thought the condo complex felt out of place. And now that the building is nearly finished, and partly occupied, I think the highrise fits into the area quite handsomely. But while it’s a nice-looking addition to the Bloor streetscape, I’m sure it will be a catalyst for a drastic change in the character and atmosphere of the entire block.

With its limestone-clad podium, One Bedford certainly classes up a corner formerly occupied by some rather dumpy-looking low-rise buildings that housed several fast-food restaurants, including a busy Swiss Chalet location. However, shops and reasonably-priced eateries catering to the area’s huge University of Toronto student population probably can’t afford the rents at One Bedford.

Two more upscale condo projects on the same block — Museum House, currently under construction, and Exhibit Residences, now in the pre-sale marketing stage — will probably push out even more student-oriented businesses.

A Bank of Montreal branch opened in part of One Bedford’s street level retail space three months ago, and I won’t be surprised if high-end designer shops eventually lease out the remainder, extending Bloor Street’s famous “mink mile” upscale shopping district west to Bedford Road.

Perhaps the transformation was inevitable, since this stretch of Bloor Street has developed into an important culture corridor boasting such attractions as the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, and the Bata Shoe Museum.

One change I’ve noticed already is that the Bloor-Bedford intersection feels windier with the tower on the corner. Every time I’ve walked on the southern stretch of Bedford Road in the last year, either on the east side right next to the condo tower, or on the west between Bloor and the St. George subway station entrance, I have felt like I was walking through a wind tunnel. I don’t recall being blasted by such strong gusts on Bedford before the condo was built. But I suppose it’s possible all my Annex visits just happened to be on breezy days.

A project of Lanterra Developments, One Bedford was designed by Bruce Kuwabara of Toronto’s Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, with Page + Steele as architect of record. The artistic rendering (above) is from the One Bedford website.

Below are some of my One Bedford photos; you’ll find more in the One Bedford album on the Photo Sets page of the blog.

CN Tower view of One Bedford condo building (left) on November 2 2010

One Bedford viewed from corner of Bloor and Devonshire Place November 1 2010

Upper floors of One Bedford condo tower viewed November 1 2010

One Bedford streetscape along Bloor viewed on November 1 2010

One Bedford condos Bloor Street podium viewed November 1 2010

One Bedford condos viewed from Hoskin Avenue on November 1 2010

Looking up at the tower from Bedford Road

Ongoing construction work in main entrance courtyard off Bedford Road

Fireplace and building nameplate on an exterior courtyard wall

Northwest corner wing above Bedford Road

Condo facade integrates the studio of Toronto architect John Lyle (1872 – 1945)

One Bedford podium viewed from the west along Bloor Street on January 9 2011

Interior design work orders taped to the windows of a tower suite

Main entrance courtyard (still under construction) viewed from Bedford Road

North side of One Bedford complex viewed from Bedford Road on January 9 2011

North side of tower viewed from Bedford Road near Prince Arthur Avenue

One Bedford viewed from corner of Bedford Road and Prince Arthur Avenue

Upper floors of One Bedford condo tower viewed from Prince Arthur Avenue

CN Tower view of One Bedford (upper right) overlooking the University of Toronto

CN Tower view of Museum House (right) under construction near One Bedford

Residents in south-facing suites at One Bedford will enjoy a great view of sports events at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Stadium directly across the street

On the waterfront: $175M health sciences building is first phase of new George Brown College campus

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Rendering of the new George Brown College waterfront campus

Lakeside learning: George Brown College is giving the new Corus Quay office building some company on the waterfront.

Corus Quay, headquarters to the Corus Entertainment media company, opened last fall at 25 Dockside Drive near the foot of Jarvis Street — right beside the similarly brand-new urban park, Canada’s Sugar Beach. Along with the beach and nearby Sherbourne Common, which also opened last autumn, Corus Quay was the first project finished under Waterfront Toronto’s massive East Bayfront revitalization program. Since they moved into their new digs, the 1,100 Corus Quay employees have had the Muskoka chairs and custom park benches at Sugar Beach and Sherbourne Common mainly to themselves during weekdays. But that will soon change.

The second major Waterfront Toronto project is the George Brown College Health Sciences Centre campus, currently under construction between Corus Quay and Sherbourne Common. Scheduled to open for the 2012 fall semester, the 330,000-square-foot building will accommodate 3,500 students in the the schools of Dental Health, Health and Wellness, Nursing and Health Services Management.

Designed as a joint venture by Stantec Architecture and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, the building will have eight floors including a three-storey glass podium and a rooftop terrace. Besides classrooms and office facilities for the health care faculties, the full-service campus will house a health care clinic, bookstore, administrative offices and food service operations. The project cost is $175 million, of which $61.5 million is being paid by the Ontario government, and $30 million by the federal government.

That’s just phase one of the campus development; the facility will grow further in its second phase, for which the College is still seeking to raise funds from individual and corporate “partners.” And in several years’ time, the College plans to add a third campus in the vicinity. Once all the college faculty and students start joining the Corus employees on the waterfront in 2012, the East Bayfront lakeside promenade and boardwalk should be buzzing with activity all year long.

Those lucky kids won’t even have to cut classes to hit the beach — they’ll be able to catch some rays or walk along the lake during lunch breaks or between labs and lectures. Below is a college webcam photo of construction progress at the campus site, along with some of my photos of building activity between last August and this past Thursday.