“Toronto developers have never had to work that hard for their sites,” says Quadrangle’s Richard Witt, the architect who is leading the project. “And now, suddenly, they’re going to.” For Mr. Witt, a talented and ambitious architect who‘s now a principal at Quadrangle, this call from the West Coast represents a challenge on several levels.
He describes the building as “a kinked tower,” but in fact it’s more like three buildings: two L-shaped blocks, each four storeys tall, arranged to frame a courtyard, and a five-storey bridge across the middle from one to the other. The forces shaping those forms are many: rail lines, zoning rules, views and, yes, a fair bit of artistry.
The exterior of the building may take things a step further with an unorthodox façade treatment. “The building is flat, but I didn’t want it to be flat,” says Mr. Witt. “We wanted it to move.” So Quadrangle is designing it with a bold decorative pattern of chevrons, made from high-quality Austrian fiber cement panels. It is gutsy and its success will lie in the detailing, but in concept it looks ravishing.
The presentation centre for Enigma opens tomorrow. Front page story here.
Does anyone know how sales are going for this project? I had a look at their model suite ages ago, but now they are opening a new presentation centre. Does this mean sales aren't going well so they are restarting the process?