Subtle surface patterns animate the exterior
Main rendering, for 1Yorkville, designed by architect Rosario Varacalli. Like the other tall buildings Mr. Varacalli is doing around Toronto – E Condominiums at Yonge and Eglinton, Exhibit on Bloor West, and others – this one echoes his dissatisfaction with the monotony that characterizes too many glassy Toronto towers. He has used subtle surface patterns (E Condos) and has even rotated the levels of a building (Exhibit) in order to animate his exteriors.
The tower component of 1 Yorkville will be clad with 3,000 vertical ribbons of shiny, silvery, twisted metal (aluminum or titanium). These three-dimensional elements, if everything works out according to plan, will give the structure a shimmering, mercurial appearance – all in sharp contrast, that is, to the stolidity of the concrete and steel skeleton underneath this fabric-like surface. Windows will be tall but not wide, and balconies will be inset behind the metallic pilasters.
1 Yorkville encompasses a $450-million revamping of Victorian shops and raising of a 58-storey tower. The project will contain 622 suites ranging in size from 475 square feet to more than 2,000 square feet and in price from the mid-$300,000s to more than $2-million.
Interior appointments, including three floors of luxury amenities, are by Allen Chan of Toronto-based DesignAgency. Landscape architect Sibylle von Knobloch, of NAK Design Group, will be greening the widened pedestrian lane that will connect Yorkville Avenue and Cumberland Street.