Iconic Architecture
Creativity + Collaboration
Assemble a team of exceptional Canadian architects, engineers, and designers and give them the freedom to bring something dramatically new to the fabric of Toronto’s downtown. Throughout the course of the weekly conceptual meetings there was never any question that the building must be prestigious—the Yonge and Bloor location demanded that. The real question was, could the building become a new standard in designed urban living?
Transformation Through Design
One Bloor was designed to be a balance of energy and serenity, working from the outside in. The tower came first, articulated as a sculpture initially and then developed through a series of scale models to its final form. In the next stage, the graceful lines created by the balconies were extended to the base of building - the podium - which provides direct access to Toronto’s most dynamic retail district and the hub of the city’s public transit.
Urban Energy
One Bloor revitalizes a corner that was languishing as a mix of parking and low-density storefront. Setbacks at street level allow for widened sidewalks, contributing new energy to Toronto’s urban core. Three floors of distinctive retail space, over 90,000 square feet in total, are a fitting anchor to one of North America’s premium shopping destinations - Yorkville and Bloor Street’s Mink Mile.
Unity
At the top of the podium, there’s an interplay between the sixth-floor spa and the pools and terraces
one level above, a deliberate vocabulary of water, fire, and earth that unifies the indoor and outdoor spaces.
The extensive amenities have a fundamentally human purpose—to create a holistic environment that
nurtures the body.
There’s a movement to the walls that morphs itself into the ceilings and then introduces itself back into the floors. This continuum creates a sense of peacefulness within an environment. Even though there’s movement, it’s a movement that becomes very comforting.
– Anna Simone, Cecconi Simone Inc.
Sculptural Grace
There are over 700 residences at One Bloor, including five floors of exclusive penthouses. The form of the building was carefully thought through to maximize usable livingspace for each unit. But design is more than square footage and the liveability that comes with a superior floorplan. Design encompasses the experience of being in a space and moving through it - finishes, sightlines, and the way the rooms open to the balconies and the city beyond. The interiors incorporate the sculptural grace of the exterior, providing an inspirational refuge for the people who make One Bloor their home.
We didn’t want them to just experience the sightline directly to the outdoors, we wanted them to gradually experience the outdoors by first finding themselves comforted by their own environment, and then their outdoor space was the interim to what would eventually unfold into the landscape of Toronto….Using neutrals and being very monochromatic also enhanced the feeling of wellbeing.
– Anna Simone, Cecconi Simone Inc.
Groundbreaking
Breaking ground on One Bloor marks the first use of BEEM, an information modelling system created by Tucker HiRise to manage the complexities of constructing a massive building at one of Canada’s busiest intersections. BEEM is a powerful synthesis of technology and software, a way of seeing the interaction of all the systems in the building and then planning the most creative and efficient means of executing the project.
One of the challenges of a building this high is getting workers up and down the building. For that type of thing BEEM is just invaluable, and the future of this technology is unbelievable.
– Michael McGrath, Tucker HiRise
