The Harris Square Building is a Very Good Example of an Attractive Play in Massing

The emergence of the new Corktown neighbourhoods has been a provocative and effective study of reprogramming urban spaces, and significantly elevating our collective value. This project is beautifully designed, and while it hovers in a way that nicely engages the overpass and adjacent architecture, perhaps more interesting is how it meets the ground plane - providing building access (elevator in particular), in an exciting and whimsical sort of way, pulling a facetted metal texture to a granite walking surface, wrapping the building with a vibrant colour, and framed nicely by the streets and a seamless connection to the adjacent Underpass Park.

The Harris Square building is a very good example of an innovative and attractive play in massing, form, texture, and colour to achieve a good fit on a very tight site and to integrate with the surrounding public realm. The result is a building that sits as a landmark in the heart of the surrounding development and extends a light touch to the public realm at ground level. The positioning of the building provides an attractive terminus to the treed parkette to the south and lifts “off the ground” at the entry to allow for an open and comfortable front foyer space and a continuous flow of the pedestrian realm from the treed parkette to the underpass park. The standalone single building column at the entry feels like an integrated art piece within the space. The volume of the single mass building is broken up and tempered by the twisting of the upper floor levels, the lighter tone of the ground level canopy, and the yellow splash of colour of the lower floor levels.

Minor interventions could be introduced to improve the public realm experience including making the retail space at grade more transparent to allow for visible animation and adding more of the yellow colour to the south ground level façade to help brighten the pedestrian experience. Although the building is fronted by a robust bosque of trees in the parkette, and acknowledging below grade parking constraints, more innovative streetscaping could have been considered within the site boundary to reduce the hardscape, mitigate settling of the paving seam at the property line, and create a more seamless landscape transition to the parkette (bringing the grid of trees across the street).

Project Information

Architect: Saucier+Perrotte Architectes & ZAS Architects and Interiors

Developer/Owner/Client: Urban Capital

General Contractor: Bluescape Construction Management

Photographer: Pureblink S+P/ZAS