How do you build on a site beside the Gardiner Expressway overlooking historic Fort York? The building is arranged in horizontal blocks that provide a robust bulwark to the Expressway – glass in metal frames at the base, continuous balconies featuring random masonry panels on Levels 3 to 7, and a floating glass cube on Levels 9 to 12. The metal-clad south walls give the appearance of having been sheared off by the Expressway as it passes by the site. Underneath the Expressway, a hard-surfaced public park connects to a series of spaces leading to the waterfront. The ground floor has been raised in anticipation of the intersection becoming a 4-way crossing point for streetcars when the Bathurst Street Bridge is reconstructed.
