The landmark Concord CityPlace community continues to grow, with the construction of sister towers Quartz and Spectra advancing at a good clip.

Located at the corner of Dan Leckie Way and Fort York Boulevard, towers Spectra (39 storeys) and Quartz (41 storeys) were designed by local firm RAW Design on one of the last open sites in the burgeoning neighbourhood. While their forms will be distinct, both will exhibit a fractured, crystalline geometry which allows façades to be oriented to specific views using slight axial shifts, giving the development a distinct image on the skyline. 

UrbanToronto Forum member kram74 recently shot these photos of the construction sites. Crews are in the early stages of pouring slabs and erecting walls and columns.

South view of Quartz, from under The Gardiner, photo by UT forum member kram74

Spectra, photo by UT forum member kram74

Northeast corner of Spectra, photo by UT forum member kram74

Construction sites of Quartz and Spectra as seen from Bathurst Street, photo by UT forum member kram74

In contrast to the heavy podium and tower configurations of previous developments, the blocks were broken down and sculpted to minimize shadow on the adjacent greenspace and to provide a more permeable pedestrian realm. As indicated on the site plan below, open public ways will bisect the site and link the adjacent Canoe Landing to Fort York and the new pedestrian Bridge north on Dan Leckie way south to the lake, extending a pedestrian network and organizing axis which begins at Spadina. A shared community centre and extensive retail at grade will provide much needed connectivity and help bring the CityPlace neighbourhood to Bathurst Street. When completed in 2018, the entire community will include 25 buildings and be home to over 18,000 people. 

Location of Quartz and Spectra within CityPlace, image courtesy of Concord Adex

Spectra street realm, image courtesy of Concord Adex

We've got lots more info on these projects, as well as others by Concord Adex. See the links below for the dataBase listings pages, previous articles we've published on these projects, as well as the discussions taking place in the Projects & Construction Forum threads.