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Hariri Pontarini Architects craft mixed-use tower
Toronto-based architectural firm Hariri Pontarini Architects in collaboration with Great
Gulf Homes unveiled the design for One Bloor—a mixed-use residential
condominium tower at the south east corner of Yonge and Bloor streets in Toronto.
The site inspired the architects to bring an ‘urbane sculptural quality’ to the design.
At a location where two distinct subway lines converge the 100,000-square-foot site is one of Toronto’s
most prominent intersections. A development at the northern corner of the site in the early 1970s diminished the importance of the area by locating the retail below grade. The design aims to increase density while enhancing public function such as new connections to mass transit, street-level retail and improved pathways for pedestrians.
Atop the street-level podium with retail and commercial space sits a 65-storey residential tower with sculpted, undulating balconies. Carving into the existing zoning envelope, the six-storey
podium steps away from the street with terraces as it stretches northward to reduce the impact of the building mass on the corner site. The balconies add a playful function to the façade that the architect said distinguishes One Bloor apart from the surrounding modernist high-rises.
The interior core maintains a more regular form to
avoid compromising the suites, and serves as the backdrop for the emerging curving façade.
The fritted glass balconies spin around the building, increasing in
size for the corner units. The flowing lines of the facade will carry through to the sloped rooftop above, and stretch out into the podium below, marking the main entry into the building, which will house 690 residential units.
This high-rise residential tower includes more than27,000 sq. ft. of resort-inspired amenities on
the sixth and seventh floors designed by Cecconi Simone, plus an additional 19,000 sq. ft.
of outdoor space on the seventh floor by Janet Rosenberg + Associates, Landscape Janet Rosenberg + Associates, Landscape Architecture / Urban Design.
“At its core, One Bloor is a simple contemporary high-rise building with the aesthetic and
purity of modernism. We didn’t want to overwhelm the intersection. So we conceived
a transparent envelope at street level. We looked at how the building sits in the skyline,” said David Pontarini, partner at Hariri Pontarini Architects.
Jennifer Potash
News Editor
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