Like so much of the revision of the city's landscape, the Ice Condos at York Centre is a product of the sustained and strong market demand for condominium units. Rising from one of the few remaining large tracts of undeveloped land to the south of the financial district, Ice occupies a prominent location adjacent to the some of the city's highest traffic districts. As an extension of the employment zone to its north, the development contains a mix of residential and commercial uses with a 32-storey office tower slated to join the 57 and 67-storey residential towers currently under construction once a lead tenant can be secured. Developed by a collaboration of Lanterra and Cadillac Fairview, the decision to award the design to architectsAlliance is a welcome one given the firm's proven ability to produce buildings with strong architectural merit. In a departure from their usual preference for rectilinear structures, the embrace of a fluid, curvilinear form for the project stands in contract to not only their previous projects, but also the neighbouring developments. Below is a quick photo update on the development:

A view of the project with the final phase of Infinity Condos rising to the west, image by caltrane74

Looking east across Grand Trunk Crescent, image by Jack Landau

Below is a picture that shows the cladding that has started to be applied to the 57-storey tower. With a minimal use of spandrel and the choice of a translucent glass panels for the balconies, the reception on the Forum has been positive for what is clearly an investment in a higher-grade of building material. The decision to refrain from using green glass is also welcome as it offers relief from the homogeneity of the surrounding residential towers.

Cladding on the 57-storey west tower (Phase I), image by Jack Landau

Looking west toward the development. The tower in the foreground will be the taller of the two when completed, rising 67-storeys, image by Jack Landau

Below is a site plan for the development showing the two residential towers in relation to the 32-storey office building. The podium will include much needed retail space as well as a courtyard. Offering a human scale, the courtyard will present residents with a more intimate space in a neighbourhood otherwise bereft of similarly scaled environments.

Site plan for the project, image courtesy of Cadillac Fairview

A rendering of the project as it will appear when completed. Construction is slated to finish in 2014.

Rendering of the residential towers, image courtesy of Cadillac Fairview & Lanterra

To learn more about the development, a link to a dataBase page on both the residential and commercial phases of the project can be found below. Interested in contributing to the discussion? Share your thoughts on our Forum thread here.