A playful façade composition gives individual identity to the condominium units in the white Phase 2 building
PROJECT River City?Phase 1 & 2, Toronto, Ontario

ARCHITECTS Saucier + Perrotte Architectes / ZAS Architects Inc., in joint venture

TEXT Alex Bozikovic

PHOTOS Jose Uribe
?I have a project in my mind,? says Gilles Saucier, FIRAC, ?which is a black object of 14 storeys?slowly changing, descending into the ground, going under a highway?and then re-emerging in a tower of 28 storeys, with something white and precious contained in it.?
The Montreal architect isn?t talking about some fantastical piece of paper architecture. He is describing River City, a four-phase multi-family housing complex in downtown Toronto. What?s more remarkable is that his vision is in large part being realized. Emerging on the banks of the Don River are four buildings with sloped sides and protruding extrusions, none of them a glass box and each of them interesting within and without. An open-plan suite enjoys sweeping views of downtown Toronto.
The scheme is being designed by Saucier + Perrotte with ZAS Architects of Toronto. Its first two phases are now occupied, while the third is well into construction and the fourth about to begin sales. Already the project has set a new standard among Canadian condo buildings for formal ambition. It shows that even in this often-formulaic building type, real architectural creativity is possible.
A light-box addresses a highway ramp adjacent to the pr...