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Roughly three and a half years since the Guvernment/Koolhaus complex was torn down to make way for a mixed-use community at Toronto's Lower Jarvis and Queens Quay intersection, the first phase of the Daniels Waterfront - City of the Arts development is open for business. Known as 130 QQE, the RAW and Rafael + Bigauskas Architects-designed office condominium building has been the territory of trades doing interior fit-outs for a few months now. Yesterday, the opening of one of its marquee spaces, the Artscape Daniels Launchpad, was celebrated.
Operating as a not-for-profit social enterprise, Launchpad offers state-of-the-art creative learning, experimentation & collaboration space to Artscape members. Housed on the fourth floor of the building, the 30,000 ft² creative hub features a number of spaces for artists, designers, and creators. Featuring interior design by Quadrangle, the facility has been crafted "to create a welcoming and inspiring environment". A statement issued by Caroline Robbie, Principal and Interior Design Director of Quadrangle, reads “A great new interior isn’t something that artists and designers expect when they think about where they create. We wanted to change that perception by making a polished interior that balances creativity and professionalism in equal measure. Launchpad is the first creative co-working space of its kind in Canada.”
Among these spaces, Sugar Hall offers 6,200 ft² of rentable premium event, meeting & performance space. The dividable space—capable of hosting multiple events at once—includes a multipurpose room home to Launchpad’s Creative Entrepreneurship Programs and Workshops. Other features include a modular lighting grid that can be altered to add theatrical lighting or props.
A 2,510 ft² Digital Media Lab features space for visual effects or sound recording projects ranging from VFX to live recordings and post-production. The lab includes a 621 ft² photography studio with an 18-foot long cycloramic wall, doubling as a green screen, a 231 ft² recording studio and 202 ft² control room, a pair of edit suites (66 and 116 ft²) offering professional post-production equipment, and a 947 ft² VFX control room with a 24-channel analog mixing board.
The Commons is a 2,603 ft² gathering and co-working space offering project rooms and a kitchen area. The space also features views of the city through its floor to ceiling windows, as well as a large outdoor terrace. This terrace can also be rented out to members to host events.
A 1,458 ft² Textiles + Fashion Studio provides Artscape members with tools, equipment, and materials required to design and create textiles. This space features a dye kitchen, a pressure washing room, silkscreening room, and the specialty TC2 Jacquard Digital Loom, one of only a handful in Canada.
A Fine Metals + Jewellery Studio features equipment for jewellery production including a range of welding, vulcanizing, streaming, casting, carving, sandblasting and soldiering equipment, as well as a range of drill presses. The 1,029 ft² open studio is accompanied by a 145 ft² hot room for use of hot and odour producing machines, and a pair of 95 and 79 ft² project rooms.
A 568 ft² Woodworking Studio offers a range of hand tools as well as mitre, table, scroll, and bandsaws, table sanders, and a computer controlled CNC machine. Similarly, an 863 ft² Digital Fabrication Studio provides a space for prototyping, offering tools including a 2D laser cutter and 3D printers. Linked to the woodworking and digital fabrication spaces, an 871 ft² Electronics Studio will offer a range of equipment including breadboard prototyping, a digital oscilloscope, digital multimeter, and soldering stations.
Artscape Launchpad is also home to a 510 ft² boardroom capable of hosting up to 28 people, a 313 ft² computer lab offering a mix of PC and Mac workstations, a trio of 132 ft² meeting rooms, a 139 ft² green room, and 8 project rooms ranging from 55 to 136 ft².
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 thread, or leave a comment in the space provided at the bottom of this page.
