Maple Leaf Square will create a bold and energetic 24 hour sports, entertainment and residential precinct in downtown Toronto. Situated between the Toronto Financial District to the north and Harbourfront to the south, and anchored by the adjacent Air Canada Centre, the new complex will consolidate this precinct into a vital sports and entertainment district in the city.

The design integrates two slender residential towers with a mixed use podium comprising retail, entertainment, hotel, daycare and office space. The podium, or base, is distinguished by a frit glass 'wrapper' floating above the retail base that carries large-scale signage visible from the Gardiner Expressway. The glass wraps continuously around the podium, interrupted only at the northwest and southeast by stone corners. The roof of the podium will be landscaped into a series of courtyards and terraces for hotel, daycare and residential uses.

The towers are composed of a combination of pre-cast masonry, large expanses of vision glass, and clear and frosted glazed balconies. The diagonal shift of the frit glass from the base is reiterated in the design of the west façade of the south tower and the east façade of the north tower. The residential units within the towers will offer a series of dramatic views of the city skyline to the north and Lake Ontario to the south.

Site
15 York Street, Toronto, Ontario

Client
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd.

Program
Two residential towers of 40 and 44 storeys set atop a nine-storey mixed-use podium.

Construction Cost
Withheld

Architects
Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, Architect of Record Page + Steele

Project Team
Bruce Kuwabara (design partner), Shirley Blumberg (partner-in-charge), Andrew Dyke (associate-in-charge), Claudio Venier (project architect), Matthew Krivosudsky, Bill Colaco, David Constable, Richard Wong, Norm Li

• 2006 Home Builders Awards, Best Building Design
• 2006 Annual Home Builder Awards, Community of the Year Award