The Florian continues to be one of our favourite projects currently under construction in Toronto. The latest condominium residence by Diamante Development, the 25-storey tower has been topped off for a while now where Bay Street ends at Davenport Road. Designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects with Young + Wright / IBI Group Architects, the building is characterized by its deep purple precast brick - the best we have seen in the city - framing darkly tinted windows, and featuring white Carrara marble accents on the podium. That marble has been showing up in ever greater amounts lately, and areas like overhangs - which get little attention in most projects in this city - are seeing a great deal of care taken here. Here are the most recent shots:

The Florian by Diamante Development, image by Craig White 2012.01.18

The Florian by Diamante Development, image by Craig White 2012.01.18

Marble accents at The Florian by Diamante Development, image by Craig White 2012.01.18

Marble accents at The Florian by Diamante Development, image by Craig White 2012.01.18

Marble accents at The Florian by Diamante Development, image by Craig White 2012.01.18

Some have wondered why construction on The Florian has seemed to move so slowly lately. So, why do some buildings take longer than others to build? In this case we believe it's the attention to detail and top-notch materials that are doing it. Not that we have not seen that level of attention in Diamante's earlier work - their buildings have always gone beyond the ordinary - but the renderings for The Florian are certainly being bested by the project itself. As a reminder, here is all we could have initially expected:

Rendering of The Florian by Diamante Development

Rendering of The Florian by Diamante Development

The Florian never looked bad in the renderings: we are just getting better than what was promised, and that's always a nice surprise.

You can see all of The Florian's renderings in our dataBase entry for the project, linked below. You can also join in on the discussion by clicking on the link for the associated Projects & Construction Forum thread.

Related Companies:  Arcadis, Ferris + Associates Inc., Hariri Pontarini Architects