Richmond Street through Toronto's Entertainment District is rapidly changing, with the addition of 3 new buildings near the corner of Richmond and Peter. While all 3 feature strong architectural features, Picasso Condos, a joint project by the Monarch Group and Goldman Group, looks like it could become the star.

Render of the completed building, looking east on Queen Street

Picasso is now approaching its final height, just shy of topping off. The tower, designed by Teeple Architects, is set to rise 39 storeys above Richmond and Peter. Since we last looked at the project, the exterior white cladding on the building has now started to be applied. 

Picasso approaching its ultimate height. Image by forum contributor scamander24

Picasso's cladding is a window wall system with projected pre-finished aluminum panels for the wall sections, giving the tower a distinctive look when compared with the standard glass spandrel used extensively for opaque sections on Toronto condominiums. It complies with the Ontario Building Code's new regulation stating that no more than 40% of exterior cladding can be vision glass, and provides a varied, interesting facade for the building.

Exterior Cladding on Picasso, image by forum contributor Urbandreamer

The red cladding on the inside edge of the protruding 'boxes' lining the exterior facade of the building provides a bright relief to the structure, and highlights the unique design of the building. Limited use of balconies allows for a smooth, continuous exterior face, more typically seen in office buildings.

White and red cladding of Picasso, image by Forum contributor Urbandreamer

The project is quickly becoming one of the most promising in the city, and we would love to hear what you think about it in the comments section provided below. If you want more information and renderings, check out our dataBase file, linked below, or join the conversation in our associated Projects and Construction thread.