CityPlace Panorama by Luigi Benetton hat do a grocery chain distribution centre, a long-lost pier and Lake Niven revelled in the design Ontario have in common? They each occupied or influenced the land leaps Concord Adex approved. W where Toronto’s CityPlace Panorama condominium is now located. “Nobody has done blue kitchens be- Both history and the present day prove interesting in the story of Panorama. In fore,” he says. the here and now, motorists easily see the tower and its base mere metres to the Few developers have ever worked south of Toronto’s major east-west downtown highway, the Gardiner Expressway. with as many design or construction Panorama has joined other large buildings that line this raised highway, ventur- constraints. Aside from the Gardiner, ing closer to the Gardiner than perhaps any other building to this point. which proved one of the elements that The only CityPlace development that “The driveway to the building is just under the Gardiner,” says Tim Gorley, ex- complicated digging and crane place- does not sit on the railway lands now ecutive vice-president of Page + Steele/IBI Group Architects, the architect of record. ment, the team responded to other occupied by a series of condominium This particular spot proved irresistible. “By virtue of its location, we can de- challenges on the site. Among the first towers, Panorama identifies with both sign a tower which is elliptical in shape to take advantage of the unobstructed of these was the water table. “The grade those towers and the warehouse. “The views all round,” says Neil Hylton, project manager for Panorama’s developer, is 1.5 metres above the water table – podium with the dark brick expression Concord Adex Development Corporation. Lake Ontario,” Day explains. (Gorley responds to the historical warehouse “Through sensitive design of the built form and clever layout of the amenity notes that the building sits in what was building to the west,” Hylton explains, spaces, this building yields a high proportion of suites with panoramic views,” once Lake Ontario.) “As soon as you “while the modern tower responds to Hylton adds. “The continuous balconies wrapping all the way around the tower put a shovel in the ground, you’re into the other CityPlace towers.” accentuate the elliptical shape.” water.” Once contractors completed a History also lay in wait during the Brian Curtner, founding principal of design architect Quadrangle Architects caisson wall to protect the dig, Day’s dig, when a pier from nearby Fort York Limited, explains how Panorama achieves so many great views: its egg shape, crew could pump water out, and keep emerged. Day recalls his own amaze- with the narrow part of the egg pointing away from Lake Ontario, will afford it out, as they dug. ment when he saw what had been residents vistas not commonly enjoyed in “straight-line” buildings. “It’s a very Niven chose to use all this nearby buried for a century: “The timbers were narrow site tucked between Lakeshore Boulevard and the Gardiner,” Curtner water as design inspiration. “The lobby barely rotted at all.” notes. “It’s creative in how it uses the land there.” is meant to feel below water level,” he “We had to call an archaeologist in Panorama’s curves required special effort from builders. “If you build a square says. “There are soft curves, shapes, when we started drilling into the site,” box, you can start in one corner and work out,” says Joseph Day, construction bubble lighting, and a metal canopy says Day, adding that crews unearthed manager for EllisDon Residential Inc. “We have to build everything curved. To that evokes an arch of seaweed.” anchors, a common find in this part of build a concrete slab, for instance, you have to lay out every point on that curve “We made it very architectural,” Toronto. n to make the windows and everything else fit within the curve of that building. Niven adds. “We took that level of There’s more effort required in the building layout to get the various pieces to finish and colour throughout the come together. You need to coordinate more with every trade.” building, so there’s a flow. We weren’t LOCATION Agha Hasan, principal of structural consultant Halcrow Yolles, very square anywhere. Everything was 450 Lakeshore Boulevard West spells out the structure of the building as “a trapezoidal foot- more freeform, more like the shape of Toronto, Ontario print, from which springs the pseudo-elliptical plate of the the building. This makes it more tac- OWNER/DEVELOPER tower.” The trapezoid, a low-rise podium, rises seven sto- tile; less severe.” Concord Adex Development reys, where it cedes the sky to the tower. The site itself easily accommodated Corporation TION A “The building is topped with a structural steel Panorama’s scale. “The foundation is ARCHITECT roof covering the mechanical and electrical equip- supported on rock,” Hasan says. “Con- ORPOR Page + Steele Architects/IBI Group C ment,” says Hasan. sequently, except for core foundations, Architects The lake-facing windows sheltering the upper column and other wall foundations DESIGN ARCHITECT floors break with the design of floors below, jutting comprise isolated footings.” Quadrangle Architects Limited EVELOPMENT D out from the tower’s ellipse to better show their Unfortunately, the importance of the distinctive dark glazing. “We maximized the value site’s neighbours added considerations CONSTRUCTION MANAGER EllisDon Residential Inc. of the high-level units facing the lake by designing to both Panorama’s design and con- unique ‘Elite’ suites with direct private elevator ac- struction. The site itself neighbours, in STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT ONCORD ADEX C cess from an exclusive secured parking area of the addition to the Gardiner Expressway, a Halcrow Yolles Partnership Inc. garage,” Hylton explains. historic warehouse. “We made sure we MECHANICAL/ All residents will experience design departures. didn’t affect that building, or the Gar- ElECTRICAL CONSULTANT Mike Niven, principal of Mike Niven Interior diner,” says Day. MCW Consultants Ltd. Design, took cues from current European designs. To mitigate the noise from one of the INTERIOR DESIGN RENDERINGS COURTESY “We came up with three city’s busiest thoroughfares, “the glaz- Mike Niven Interior Design Inc. or four units that held ing and exterior walls were designed to LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT different appliances,” certain STC ratings as determined by Ferris+Associates Inc. Niven says. “Those the acoustics consultant to maintain ac- pieces put together ceptable interior sound levels,” Gorley TOTAL AREA 495,000 square feet form the basis of a explains. “The podium roof-level garden suite. Everything else has a high sound wall on the north edge TOTAL CONSTRUCTION COST worked around those to reduce ambient noise in the outdoor $65 million pieces.” amenity areas.” FEBRUARY 2010 69.