CreateTO and TO Live announce winner of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts design competition
A group of Toronto architects has been chosen to redesign the downtown St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.
CreateTO and TO Live announced on March 10 that they had selected the joint venture between Hariri Pontarini Architects, LMN Architects, Tawaw Architecture Collective, Smoke Architecture, and SLA to lead St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts (STLC) design competition.
The group’s winning design, called Transparence, features a high-performance transparent façade that wraps the existing structure, a landmark performing arts theatre in the heart of the St. Lawrence neighbourhood. The design also incorporates several Indigenous design elements, including the exterior which was inspired by the role of Wampum belts in storytelling, artistry and craft and the inclusion of a circular ceremonial fire at Front and Scott streets.
"Reimagining the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts is an incredibly important civic and cultural initiative for the St. Lawrence neighbourhood and broader Toronto community,” said Toronto Centre Councillor Chris Moise. “The winning submission from the team led by Hariri Pontarini Architects honours the building’s legacy while creating an accessible, uniquely flexible cultural centre with plenty of public spaces that will serve the broad cultural sector, the St. Lawrence community and people from across Toronto, all while strengthening the diverse neighbourhood.”
The project aims to create a cultural hub that combines themes of culture and community with technology, accessibility and sustainability. The new STLC is composed of the main stage theatre, acoustic hall, rehearsal/multi-purpose rooms, artist-in- residence studios, media studios, child minding space, front of house public spaces, front of house support, back of house, outdoor spaces and significant improvements to the public realm.
“In rotating the main theatre and wrapping it with a lobby open across its north and west edges to the street and a new plaza on Scott Street, the winning scheme by Hariri Pontarini Architects, LMN Architects, Tawaw Architecture Collective, Smoke Architecture, and SLA masterfully brings the theatre to the street, and the street to the theatre – creating in one deft move a seamless theatre and civic space open to the world,” said Jury Chair Meg Graham.
Five shortlisted design teams publicly presented their designs at the STLC on March 7 to more than 300 attendees in the venue’s Jane Mallett Theatre and a further 600 who participated online. The jury judged the design submissions on March 8.
The winning submission will be presented to executive committee and Toronto City Council sometime in the late summer.