Felted forms, backlit mesh, and large pillows create an atmosphere designed to offer mental and physical respite. Photo by Harry Choi
When we first imagined remaking One Spadina Crescent into a new home for the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, the site was in a state of disuse. Our scheme, developed with NADAAA and a large team of talented consultants, was to reinstate the format of the old Knox Presbyterian Seminary, and integrate a bold new addition within the north court of the original cloister.
During construction, our contractors discovered a problem: the north-facing, basement-level foundations of the old building needed shoring up with a concrete ?shelf.? We already knew that a large, long-buried coal bin had to be removed from the old court, but then we found out that all of the contaminated soil surrounding it also needed to be removed. The expedient approach would have been to extract the coal bin and tainted soil, fix the foundation, and cap the whole area with clean fill. I had something else in mind. After some difficult negotiations with the university and our project team, I managed to align everyone behind an alternative plan: rather than fill the void, we?d transform it into a 700-square-metre concrete ?shell? and plan for its future use as an experimental gallery space. After the main phases of the One Spadina project were complete in 2017, we raised the funds to fit out this found space as a proper exhibition area. We opened the A...