Toronto’s Queen’s Quay Terminal receives Ontario Association of Architects award

A project that transformed a long-derelict warehouse into a mixed-use development that attracts year-round visitors to the Toronto waterfront has received a 2010 Landmark Award from the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA).

Completed in 1983, Queen’s Quay Terminal features a dramatic eight-storey atrium that creates a visual link between the interior of the building and the waterfront.

A shopping arcade, located on the east side of the building along the quay, has multiple entrances and rolling glass doors that allow pedestrians to stroll along the waterfront year-round.

The complex has two levels of retail space, five office levels organized around three atriums, a theatre, rooftop condominiums and parking spaces.

The renovation was completed at a cost of $70 million.

“We are thrilled to have Queen’s Quay Terminal’s contribution to the revitalization of Toronto’s central waterfront recognized by the OAA,” said Tarek El-Khatib, senior partner in the Zeidler Partnership Architects (ZPA).

“From its inception, it has been a very special project for (developer) Olympia & York Developments Ltd., Zeidler Partnership Architects and all others who worked on it.”

The Landmark Award recognizes a project, built prior to 1985, that “demonstrates architecture’s beauty and endurance and lasting contribution” to the community and to society.

The original rugged 1920s warehouse building was a L-shaped, eight-storey, massive concrete structure. Architect Eb Zeidler’s design removed one “lumpish” arm of the L and transformed the remaining rectangle into a “truly mixed but integrated use development that opened itself to its waterfront setting to attract visitors year-round,” ZPA said.

Four new floors were added, to accommodate 72 condominiums arranged in a ring around the perimeter, all looking outwards over Lake Ontario and inwards to a common, central garden with 40-foot-high trees, a waterfall, a bridge, an indoor pool and terraces.

The mix of uses, starting at ground level, includes retail facilities and restaurants as well as one floor of parking.

The next five floors are offices arranged around atriums carved into the building mass. Offices are located no more than 35 feet away from windows.

A third shaft carved into the building mass partially accommodates a courtyard for the offices, but also houses the 450-seat Premiere Dance Theatre.

“The design recognized the inherent beauty of the original rugged, concrete structure by cutting through it to create the atria while exposing its huge round columns, conical capitals and drop panels,” ZPA said.

The original structure was exposed in the retail areas by using a simple, open grid to “somewhat conceal” new mechanical and electrical services while maintaining views of the structure.

Over the years, additional renovations have been carried out.

“But the revitalized building maintains all its original concepts intended to attract people to its mix of uses and engage them actively in a dialogue with the waterside setting which has since been enhanced by the city,” ZPA said.

“Queen’s Quay Terminal was a pioneer and is still an essential attraction on the central waterfront.”

The award will be presented during a celebration of excellence at the OAA’s upcoming conference.