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The Element Building
Toronto,Canada
The Element Group
A Sensuous rebirth brings new life
to Toronto’s Little Italy
© Steven S. Miric/Tor |
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For more photos click on 'photos
& drawings' above.
To see the people and products
behind this project click on 'people & products.'
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The Element Group, a firm of architects
and designers, purchased and renovated a brick warehouse,
making only modest changes to the exterior facade. A few spatial
and structural moves transformed this old industrial building
in downtown Toronto into an imaginative, welcoming, and elegant
set of offices. Though the interventions were contemporary,
the architect preserved the original plan and materials.
The Element Building has two entrances—one
leading to the stairs for the floors above and the other opening
into the reception area of a ground floor suite of offices.
The ground floor is a long, narrow space stretching back from
the glazed transparent front of the building which houses
a boardroom exposed to the street. The architect deliberately
took advantage of what may have been the building's drawback
(length and narrowness) and further exaggerated this perspective
by the introduction of a corridor running lengthwise. The
corridor leads to a sequence of intimately scaled rooms of
discrete elegance, terminating in a bamboo garden at the back.
In some respects, the Element Building
recalls the architecture of streets in Rome where ateliers
or boutiques operate on street level. With three modestly
sized floors, this building brings new life to this residential
street in an Italian neighborhood of downtown Toronto.
Click here to see September 2001's
Record
Interiors.
Formal name
of project:
The Element Building
Location:
Toronto,Canada
Gross square
footage:
7,000 sq ft
Total Construction
Cost:
$600,000
Client:
The Element Group Inc.
Architect's
firm:
The Element Group
298 Markham Street
Toronto, Canada M6J 2G6
Tel: (416) 921 8899
Fax: (416) 920 7789
info@theelementgroup.com
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