8 Spadina at The Well

410 Front Street prominently anchors The Well, a new, pedestrian-oriented mixed-use neighbourhood, also designed by HPA. The airy quality of the ground floor, made possible by the design flexibility afforded by a side-loaded elevator core, will enable pedestrian flow through and between spaces, forming an access point into the centre of the master plan. The building consists of 34 storeys of offices atop a three-level retail podium, the building is a gateway between the shops, residences, and businesses of The Well and the nearby Financial District.

The tower isn’t designed to look like other downtown office buildings. With its location in the King West neighbourhood, this building needed to be different from the office towers in the Financial District. Matching the industrial context of the neighbourhood, a modern industrial aesthetic of exposed post and beam structure, exposed stairways, and macro-scale façade details harmonizes with the building’s context of railways and contemporary high-rises. Terracing upwards, the form of the building relates to the skyscrapers of downtown, maximizes daylight on Clarence Square, and allows for a diversity of floorplates. This building offers regularly sized office floorplates, as well as some oversized and some smaller boutique sized ones, creating office spaces unlike any other in Toronto.