Site A historic wine-storage building in Toronto’s Distillery District.
Program A 248,500-square-foot mixed-use tower.
Solution Montreal-based Saucier + Perrotte Architectes reused a historic building as the base for a glass-enclosed tower. The existing building’s walls are perforated to incorporate a new hotel within its volume. Residential apartments are located in the tower, which is broken up in five-story increments by recessed terraces. The curtainwall increases in reflectivity as it rises to become more ephemeral. “It’s a bold engagement with an existing vernacular building,” juror Ann Beha said. “I think with a building like that you should feel … [that] it’s a massive, powerful building that was there and you should feel you can make a response that’s equally robust.” The contrast resonated with several jurors. “What I think is really great about this is it’s completely, uncompromisingly different,” juror Cathy Simon said. “It’s not just different materials, but it’s [a] different view of the contemporary.”
Project Credits
Rack House D, Toronto
Architect Saucier + Perrotte Architectes, Montreal—Gilles Saucier (lead design architect); André Perrotte (partner-in-charge); Dominique Dumais (project architect); Charles Alexandre Dubois, Vedanta Balbahadur, Jean-Philippe Beauchamp, Greg Neudorf, Lia Ruccolo (project team)
Heritage Architect ERA Architects
Structural Engineer Jablonsky, Ast
Mechanical Engineer Able Engineering
Electrical Engineer Able Engineering
Interior Designer Saucier + Perrotte Architectes
Landscape Architect Planning Partnership
Size 248,500 square feet
