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New construction is in the process of creating new residential and employment lands in Toronto's nascent East Bayfront district. Among the pioneering developments set to prime the new neighbourhood with commercial, institutional, and residential density, Daniels Waterfront - City of the Arts aims to establish itself as the community's nerve centre with a healthy mix of office, education, retail, residential, and public spaces. The development's initial phase—with a focus on commercial, institutional, and public space—will create the necessary conditions for a healthy neighbourhood before the addition of residential coming in the second phase of development.
Designed by RAW and Rafael + Bigauskas Architects, the commercial component—known as 130 QQE for its Queens Quay East address—got underway at the start of 2015 with the demolition of the Guvernment/Kool Haus entertainment complex at the northeast corner of Queens Quay and Lower Jarvis. In the two-and-a-half years since, shoring and excavation laid out the groundwork for the initial phase, followed by the start of forming. Concrete had risen above grade by the fall of 2016, and in the last few weeks, forming work on the office component's 11 and 14-storey volumes has approached the top of both.
Work has begun on the shorter eastern volume's recessed mechanical penthouse level, marking the volume's final height. To the west, work is now underway on the 14th and final level of the west volume, to be followed by its mechanical penthouse level.
As the building's superstructure comes closer to completion, work is well underway on the installation of 130 QQE's exterior envelope. While the shared four-storey podium is being finished primarily in red brick panels, the two west tower is being differentiated with a darker brick.
With large sections of the brick panels installed, some interesting elements have begun to appear, including chamfered edges on the brick section dividing the shared podium from the east tower volume. At the base of the podium's east end, the first windows are now visible, in the form of a reflective glazing framed in black mullions.
130 QQE will introduce 280,000 ft² of office and institutional space to the East Bayfront District, including new facilities for George Brown College, OCAD University, and a new Artscape space featuring a design by architects Quadrangle. At street level, the projects addition of 27,000 ft² of retail space and a northerly extension of Sugar Beach will help to tie the project in with the local public realm.
Additional information and renderings can be found in our dataBase file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment using the space provided at the bottom of this page.
