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AUGUST 2017 | 53 The Globe and Mail Centre RENDERINGS COURTESY DIAMOND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS The Globe and Mail Centre by PETER STENNING E ven though its unique design was intended to break down mass in a highly congested area, the appearance of The Globe and Mail Centre is entirely appropriate for a media headquarters in that it resembles a random stack of books rendered in glass curtain wall, 17-storeys tall. Snug between, and rising above traditional masonry edifices, the building is a striking juxtaposition of the old and new, and David Gerofsky, CEO for developer and owners First Gulf, says its recent completion "represents the final phase of a two- city-block redevelopment by First Gulf that will add over 5,000 jobs to the revitalized King East office district." For David Dow, principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects, the project is the outcome of a close relationship between the design team and the owners, characterized by the latter willing to take a leap of faith early on. "There's no other way to describe it," he says. "First Gulf was developing a site in an area in the midst of transition and could have easily opted for any number of conservative building types. But they fell in love with a very aggressive design and undertook a challenging zoning process in order to ensure that the vision became reality." The 500,000-square-foot building was intended to anchor the emerging St. Lawrence neighbourhood as a hub of urban activity and corporate offices, and The Globe's interest in occupying the top five floors of the facility came about when its parent company, Woodbridge Company Limited, cancelled plans to build a new tower adjacent to the newspaper's former headquarters on the west side of downtown. The site is historically significant in that it occupies two blocks of the original 10-block grid of the former Town of York, where Toronto began. "So it made sense for The Globe, which began publishing in 1844, to locate here," says Dow, adding that before the newspaper came into the picture, his firm was retained to create a facility that would have a residential component. "The initial thoughts were to go half office and half residential, and then all office, and with each change of plan came an evolution of design and forms – and frankly, as dramatic as the final form appears, it broke down the mass the best." Above a sizable ground floor lobby that extends through the building from King to Front streets, the 17-storey building presents a sequential stacking of alternate-sized floor plates interlaid with terraces that give the structure a distinctive and contemporary profile. Although Dow concedes that the zoning process "was a task," he says, "to be honest, once we got the approvals and negotiated the neighbourhood context, this was as close to a dream project as imaginable. "Part of the excitement over our design was that in a neighbourhood of 100-year-old buildings, newer buildings had tried to mimic their red brick appearance with varying degrees of success. We wanted to avoid that entirely. As for breaking down the mass, that was vital because densification is increasing in this region, and we wanted to accommodate that without causing an undue imbalance of scale." Dow describes the tower construction process as "smooth, no major snags; although the structure is a series of cantilevers, creating them was actually more simple than one might assume." However, great skill and care had to be paid to installing the high-performance building envelope and advanced glazing that would contribute to the tower achieving LEED Gold standards. "The tower reached its full height in December of 2015, at which point there was a topping off ceremony," says Dow. Adrian Norris, creative director for The Globe and Mail, says, "We wanted a clean, modern, open-plan look that made best use of our panoramic views and natural daylight, an environment that compels staff from different departments to collaborate and connect naturally. We achieved this with an open interconnecting stairway linking all floors, shared serveries on each floor, one lunchroom and furniture arrangements that allowed for quiet time and group conversations." The fit out of The Globe's levels 13 through 17 interiors was overseen by construction manager Turner & Townsend. All of the offices and meeting rooms around the central core are smoked grey contiguous glass by Unifor, designed by Renzo Piano. Accent wood textures include a lattice-style ceiling in the main lobby areas on each floor, the meeting room and interstitial furniture tops. Large format tile and dark grey 9:06 AM 12:43 PM

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