In the month since our last construction update, the impressive progress of Oxford Properties' EY Tower has begun transforming the streetscape of Adelaide West in the Financial District, and is now just hinting at the unique crystalline form it will bring to a high-rise vista otherwise dominated by straight lines. With the meticulously reconstructed heritage facade of the Art Deco Concourse Building now beginning to take shape as well, a unique addition to Toronto's architectural landscape is asserting itself in the city's core. 

Looking east on Adelaide, image by Jack Landau

The skeleton of the tower now reaches approximately half of the building's final height, as the rising canted columns begin to outline the kinetic form brought about by the shifting floor plates. A subtle sense of movement is now evidenced looking up the building, lending the EY Tower a unique aesthetic that will only be further accentuated as the project continues to rise.  

Looking south from Nathan Phillips Square, image by Jack Landau

Designed by Kohn Pederson Fox Associates in partnership with WZMH Architects, the 40-storey tower features the restored art deco facade at its southeast corner, with heritage preservation work by Goldsmith Borgal and Company Architects. Over the last few days, the first of the heritage components have been installed, with the ground-level of the building now seen clad in rich grey granite at the southeast corner. 

A close-up of the heritage base, image by Jack Landau

Up above, cladding continues to be installed along the length of the tower, as curtain wall units continue to be pulled in along the chamfered northeast corner, which, with cladding partially installed, is now beginning to draw a sight-line along the sculptural body of the tower. The solar fins that can be seen attached to the mullions on the tower's glazing also add an element of visual interest, while reducing the future energy consumption of a project targeting the Canada Green Building Council's highest possible LEED Platinum environmental certification.  

Construction workers pulling a curtain wall in, image by Craig White

The EY Tower's unorthodox form and extensive heritage facade reconstruction distinguish the project from many of the city's other high-rises, and despite the huge stylistic contrast between the kinetically charged glass and steel tower and the art deco facade, the two elements are beginning to come together in an unorthodox cohesion.

Rendering of the completed project, image courtesy of Oxford Properties

A sense of interplay is gradually becoming visible between the two forms, with the modern tower seeming to rise out from behind its predecessor, almost hugging it. This energy contrasts many facade retention projects where the heritage components seem ensconced in—and sometimes lost in—the monolithic 21st century towers that rise up around them.  

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