Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/109465
Aura at College Park by Yvan Marston ith a planned height of 78 storeys, it���s easy to see why Aura, Canderel���s new condominium development on Yonge Street at Toronto���s College Park, is getting a lot of attention. Its 272 metres are rising to challenge the Trump Residences��� 276.9 metres, and the yet-to-start Ten York, a 258.7-metre condo from Tridel. From the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTUBH) criteria, Trump Tower is the tallest residential building in Canada, because the spire is considered to be a part of the tower. Indeed, roof to roof, Aura is taller.��Aura will also hold the record of placing the residents at the highest level. While this is good buzz for the nearly sold-out project, architect Barry Graziani knows that the height claims are both relative and temporary. To his mind, what is indisputable is the value of the adjacent three-acre park. ���There aren���t many park spaces like this downtown,��� says the principal at Graziani + Corazza Architects Inc. ���It���s totally hidden ��� only people who work and live at College Park seem to know it exists so we wanted to connect it to Yonge Street and bring in some of that pedestrian traffic,��� he says, adding that the development will serve to contribute to the revitalization of Toronto���s best-known thoroughfare. With a 30-foot glass curtain wall at its base looking out onto the park, the increased activity outside would serve to animate the Aura���s cavernous main lobby on the building���s northwest corner. ���And at night, it���s the lobby that will animate the park,��� says Graziani. His firm has been a long-time Canderel collaborator and is involved not only in a number of other tall condo developments (the 49-storey Lago in the west end and the 60-storey 460 Yonge, at Grenville), but also with the site itself. Graziani + Corazza designed the residences at College Park One and Two and is working on additions to 777 Bay Street, the office tower that rises handily on the north end, just west of the art deco College Park building. The original program called for a two-tower scheme ��� a 20-storey and a 60-storey tower ��� that would frame the park. But simply building higher made more sense, both financially and esthetically since a tall tower done right wouldn���t crowd the park by maximizing the separation distances between it and the existing buildings, explains Graziani. No stranger to building high, Graziani���s biggest challenge didn���t come from the usual slew of complications typical of such project, but rather from the city. To approve a residential tower of unprecedented height, the city wanted Canderel to hold a competition and choose an international designer. ���To their credit, Canderel stuck with us and said: No, these guys can do it. And we could; we were building 51-storey residential towers before anyone else in the city,��� says Graziani. As a compromise, an international panel of architects reviewed the project, made some recommendations to modify the podium and ensure that it would properly engage with Yonge Street, but left the tower mostly untouched. At street level, Aura is a four-storey retail centre with W renderings courtesy Graziani + Corazza Architects Inc. 13-01-10 11:48 AM february 2013��� p58-63Aura.indd 59 ��� /59 13-01-22 3:38 PM