Toronto, Ontario, Canada
“This project is a perfect example of how private and public partnerships can help reimagine Toronto and build up the city,” said John Tory, Mayor of Toronto.
“This will provide a better experience for commuters, revitalize the entire area with a new elevated park over the railway and give a boost to the city.”
WilkinsonEyre and Adamson Associates, following an architectural design competition, have completed the first new, 51-story, 250-meters-tall skyscraper for the new CIBC Square urban project for developers Hines and Ivanhoe Cambridge with a stunning undulating glass façade covered with three-dimensional diamonds immediately recognizable on the Toronto skyline.
Located in Toronto’s Central Business District, a second 45-story nearly identical skyscraper, which is set to be completed in 2024, will be built alongside the building to complete the development.
A fully landscaped one-acre public park was built four stories above street level to eventually link both buildings.
Both towers feature a lightly folded glazed façade, creating a diamond pattern that repeats every ten stories, adding a vertical scale and modulation contrasting with the surrounding buildings.
The three-million-square-foot CIBC Square (known during the early stages of development as Bay Park Centre) was largely a response to the style of the nearby Toronto Dominion Centre, a series of towers designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1969.
For the development, WilkinsonEyre master-planned three linked sites of 33,000m² for commercial use, adjacent to Union Station in Toronto.
The masterplan provides twin 250m-high towers positioned on opposite sides of a rail corridor and linked at high level by a sky park.
The overall development integrates closely with Toronto’s public transport system providing a new bus terminal for Metrolinx, as well as new connections to Toronto’s Union Station, subway, and light-rail (LRT) systems.
The transformative development comprises state-of-the-art offices, collaborative spaces, a one-acre park, and a variety of Toronto’s best food and beverage offerings across two highly innovative office towers.
Among CIBC Square’s most distinctive features is the one-acre elevated park that will span over the rail corridor and link the tower’s fourth floors above street level, the first of its kind in Canada.
Other amenities include direct links to all Toronto transit channels, a conference center, a first-class fitness facility, bicycle storage, Food Hall, and a white-tablecloth dining option.
The first, completed tower, created as the headquarters for bank Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, also serves as the transit hub with a bus station in the podium with connections to Union Square, a busy transit station in Toronto.
The building has a glass facade that covers the distinct volumes that make the building look like it is two conjoined skyscrapers.
The shape of the exterior appears to float as a “veil” or “skin” above a more solid interior volume.
This results in a stepped profile and an expression of a “crown” to each building, which provides an interesting and dynamic addition to the skyline of Toronto.
The overall development with CIBC as the anchor tenant is due for completion by 2024.
Project: CIBC Square
Architects: WilkinsonEyre
Executive Architects: Adamson Associates
Landscape Architects: Public Work
General Contractor: EllisDon Construction
Planners: Urban Strategies Inc.
Developers: Hines and Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc.
Photographers: Sikander Iqbal
