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Since topping out at its final 150-metre height in late 2017, Great Gulf's Monde Condominiums has taken the title of the tallest building in Toronto's nascent East Bayfront community. The 44-storey condominium tower by Israeli-Canadian-American architect Moshe Safdie in partnership with local architects Quadrangle continues to make progress, and exterior cladding now seals off all but the uppermost few levels of the tower.
Monde's podium is now practically fully clad in ivory-coloured precast concrete, with blue-tinted punched windows. Above, the tower is clad in a blue curtainwall glazing with horizontal white bands covers the slabs, punctuated by balconies which alternately project from the building or hug it. The balconies are just beginning to be protected with glass guards, finished with simulated acid-etch solid frit and clear glazing with a minimal frit pattern. The first of the balconies to be clad are visible near the base of the tower on the right side of the image below.
An acute view of the tower's upper floors shows how unit ventilation has been incorporated into the underside of the balconies' concrete slabs, the discrete vents making for a clean exterior.
On the tower's slender south facade, the two-floor expanses of glazing between balconies have been filled in with brise-soleils—sun-shades—to block some direct sunlight getting into the units, and reducing cooling costs in the summer.
At street level, the building's relationship with Sherbourne Common to the immediate west is becoming clearer.
Glazing has been applied to the park-fronting retail spaces and a sheltered mid-block pedestrian connection through the site. Angled cuts are visible in the concrete columns that form the podium's colonnade, marking where an angled glass canopy will soon be installed.
The completed development will introduce another 552 new homes to the rapidly growing waterfront community. While the tallest in the neighbourhood for now, Monde will eventually be dethroned by residential towers in the nearby Daniels Waterfront and Lakeside Residences developments.
Additional information and renderings of Monde can be found in our database file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Visit the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment in the field provided at the bottom of this page.
