Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture Designs 160 Front Street, A New LEED-Platinum 46-Story Tower, In Downtown Toronto
CHICAGO, JUNE 26, 2018 – The new iconic tower will forever alter the Toronto skyline with a shape that was designed specifically for the site at 160 Front Street. The building’s form was sculpted in response to extensive environmental analysis, one of which included that the main axis of the building should ideally be oriented parallel to the direction of the site’s prevailing winds, minimizing its resistance to the wind’s lateral loads.
“We spent a significant amount of time on analysis,” says AS+GG Partner Adrian Smith, FAIA. “The tower is tapered both at the top and the bottom, assisting the structure when resisting wind, minimizing its effect on the pedestrian realm, and creating a spacious respite to the compressed neighboring sidewalks.”
160 Front Street is contextually integrated to the street grid of Toronto’s urban fabric and enhances the pedestrian experience by creating broader sidewalks with landscaped areas both on Simcoe Street and Front Street. The adjacent 6-story masonry heritage building will be renovated and integrated into the architecture and program of the tower, providing an historical perspective to the tenants of the building.
The exterior wall incorporates state-of-the-art technologies that will help the building achieve both LEED® Platinum and WELL Building Standard® certification. To ensure continued sustainability monitoring, once completed, 160 Front Street will be subject to the rigorous standards of Green at Work® by Cadillac Fairview, the client’s award-winning sustainability program.
“We’re proud that the tower will be built to conform to LEED Platinum status from the Canadian Green Building Council, as it was designed,” says AS+GG Partner Gordon Gill, FAIA. “Many of its passive strategies add up to tremendous energy and water savings. It’s a holistic building that incorporates its form with its performance; an attribute that’s critical to its success. It’s skin, for example, is borne of its solar and glare mitigation for not only energy efficiency but user comfort. It’s beautiful and intelligent.”
The interior of the building features an expansive 33-foot tall lobby with floor-to-ceiling glazing and stone finishes. Throughout the building, 9-feet-6-inch ceiling heights, with floor-to-ceiling glass, have spectacular views of Toronto’s skyline and offer an amazing quality of light for flexible and efficient workspaces. Daylight harvesting controls will help the building yield significant savings in lighting energy consumption and maximize the energy-saving potential of the building’s high-performance curtain wall system. 160 Front Street is also incorporating unparalleled amenities including a green roof at the podium level and several outdoor ‘inlets’ with tenant access from their work spaces.
“The building was tailored for business,” says AS+GG Partner Robert Forest, FAIA. “It was designed to specifically appeal to quality conscious tenants seeking to relocate to a world-class building, in a world-class city, with a bold and distinctive Architecture that will serve to enhance the tenant’s corporate identity. We believe that 160 Front Street will herald the future of commercial development in Toronto.”
Slated to commence construction in 2019, the tower – designed by AS+GG in collaboration with B+H Architects as the Architect of Record – has 1.2 million square-feet of leasable Class-A office space; 4 levels of below-grade parking for 340 cars; and bike storage for 450 bikes.
ABOUT ADRIAN SMITH + GORDON GILL ARCHITECTURE
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) is dedicated to the design of high-performance, energy-efficient, and sustainable architecture. AS+GG approaches each project with an understanding that architecture has a unique power to influence civic life. The firm creates designs that aid society, advance modern technology, sustain the environment, and inspire those around us to improve our world. In addition to several commercial, cultural, and mixed-use projects in the United States, AS+GG is currently working projects in the United Arab Emirates, Canada, China, and Saudi Arabia. The firm was founded in 2006 by partners Adrian Smith, Gordon Gill, and Robert Forest. For more information, please visit smithgill.com.
ABOUT B+H ARCHITECTS
B+H combines strategic thinking with bold and inspiring design to transform spaces, communities, and economies. The firm enable their clients’ visions through customized designs that exceed business goals, inspiring the people that live, work, heal, play, and learn within them. B+H views every challenge as an opportunity for learning and never loses sight of the people they design for – regardless of the type of development, scale, scope, or geography involved. For more information visit, please visit bharchitects.com.
ABOUT CADILLAC FAIRVIEW
Cadillac Fairview is one of the largest owners, operators and developers of best-in-class office, retail, and mixed-use properties in North America. The company also invests in retail, mixed-use, and industrial real estate in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. With assets valued at more than $29 billion, Cadillac Fairview owns over 38 million square feet of leasable space at 73 properties in Canada, including landmark developments, such as Toronto-Dominion Centre, CF Toronto Eaton Centre, CF Pacific Centre, and CF Chinook Centre. Cadillac Fairview has been wholly owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan since 2000. Ontario Teachers’ is a diversified global investor and administers the pensions of more than 300,000 active and retired school teachers. For more information, please visit cadillacfairview.com