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One Bloor Street East

This is a project by Hariri Pontarini Architects and it is located at Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Project's program: Mixed-use project of residential, commercial and retail spaces. There are six images for One Bloor Street East.

: © Hariri Pontarini Architects

Project details

Project name: One Bloor Street East
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Program: Mixed-use project of residential, commercial and retail spaces
Area: Site area: 754,000 sf • Total area: 1,310,000 sf • Retail/commercial area: 100,000 sf • Residential area: 690,000 sf
More details: Cost: $350M budget • Building height: 234.4 meters • Units: 732 • Stories: 70 • Retail: 3 levels (lower level, ground, 2nd level) • Parking: 6 levels underground (531 parking spaces)
Client: Great Gulf Homes
Project by: Hariri Pontarini Architects
Team: Principal designer: David Pontarini

Project images

Designer's statement

Positioned at the south east corner of Yonge Street and Bloor Street, this notable site sits atop two converging subways lines and marks the eastern threshold into Canada’s premier shopping district, making it one of the most active and prominent intersections in the City of Toronto. The Northerly corners of the area were re-developed in the early 1970’s, but failed to celebrate the importance of this destination by locating the retail below grade, effectively turning their back to the street. Redeveloping this site—with the goal of increasing density while contributing to the public realm —with new connections to transit, street level retail and improved pedestrian thoroughfare is the source of both the constraints and opportunities which form the project.

The new building is the instrument which restores the urban experience of the street, while signifying the corner as a landmark location. The building is comprised of a street level podium with retail and commercial space, and a 70-storey residential tower with sculpted undulating balconies. Carving into the existing zoning envelope, the six storey podium terraces away from the street as it stretches northward; dissolving the corner mass and preserving the existing street scale. This allows the tower to be present at the intersection without dominating the area and permits south light to penetrate to the street below.

At grade, a rolling glass façade surges back and forth; generating increased sidewalk widths and moments of pause along the flanking streets. A mid-block public pathway will serve as a new connection to the Bloor Yonge TTC station and underground retail. The project will be integrated into the Bloor Yorkville revitalization development, and will include improved walkways, public art and continuous planting areas with mature trees and shrubs.

The undulating curved balconies produce a façade that possesses qualities of both playfulness and control, and dramatically contrasts the surrounding modernist high-rises to the north. The interior core maintains a more regular form to avoid compromising the suites, and serves as the backdrop from which the curving façade emerges. The frit glass balconies pin wheel around the building; increasing in size for the larger corner units, while capitalizing on view and light. The flowing lines of the façade will carry through to the sloped rooftop above, and stretch out into the podium below; marking key entryways into the building.

The introduction of heavily landscaped rooftops, high performance curtain wall in place of window wall, and utilization of state of the art energy modeling; demonstrate a commitment to environmental stewardship through design. The most significant aspect of its environmental posture, however, is established by the very nature of its urban character. The project’s greenest feature arrives from the embodied efficiency of concentrating 700 units over a one acre site; organized around a public transit system and compact networks of civic services. The low per capita energy use, high acceptance of walking and transit, and small carbon footprint per resident; make this a model pattern of urban sustainability.