Week-long series by Urban Toronto covers progress on The Well
To kick off the month of December, Urban Toronto featured a week-long report on The Well, Toronto’s largest private construction project that is currently in development. The blog series covered the progress made on different areas of the multi-use campus – which spans across 7 different buildings – including the walkway canopy, retail space, street-level promenade, office tower, and residential units.
Boston Valley’s TerraClad® is being used on the façade of The Well’s Building E. The white-glazed panels are fitted to a number of arched windows, as well as a tall arcade spanning the bottom levels. These terra cotta units are of a large scale, designed for manufacture and in-situ installation on our standard track and clip rainscreen system.
The lower portion of the TerraClad© façade features an arcade concourse.
Urban Toronto also discussed the terra cotta components used on The Well in an Explainer article, which they publish weekly. The difference between terra cotta as a cladding material and the reddish-brown color “terracotta” is defined in relation to separate parts of The Well’s façade.
The Well comes into all of this as a rare modern development to be adorned with both white-glazed terra cotta [panels] on one of the podiums, and by the terracotta coloured aluminium panelling used at the base of other buildings at the site. So, looking at all of the podiums at The Well designed by BDP, we have terra cotta looking white, and terracotta-toned aluminium. Are we all good?!
The Well rendering by architect BDP London shows the completed terra cotta façade.
The rest of Urban Toronto’s series on The Well development can be viewed below:
36-Storey Office Tower Occupying at The Well as Finishings Continue
November 28, 2022 | Matias Bessai
“To provide a comprehensive update on everything that is happening in the construction of The Well, UrbanToronto will be covering the project all week in a series that breaks down different areas of progress in detail. The series begins today, with an update on the building that has led the way in the construction of The Well – the 36-storey Hariri Pontarini Architects-designed office tower.”
Checking in on Progress at The Well’s Residential Buildings
November 29, 2022 | Matias Bessai
“The 7.8-acre Downtown Toronto site is composed of seven buildings in total, with six of those buildings for residential uses. With plenty to report on the buildings’ different stages of progress, the common theme is completed glazing, as finishing efforts continue on the interiors.”
Scaffolding Removed from Canopy as Retail Galleria at The Well Continues to Advance
November 30, 2022 | Matias Bessai
“The structure is essentially complete at this time, and is already stylishly filling its role as protector from the weather, with the mid-November snows held at bay by the glass ceiling. The removal of the scaffolding in the Fall marked the completion of the glass work.”
Explainer: Terracotta vs Terra Cotta
December 1, 2022 | Craig White
The Well’s Public Realm Improving Wellington Street
December 2, 2022 | Matias Bessai
“With a frontage of nearly 300m along Wellington Street, a street with a historically mid-rise character, The Well had an opportunity to make a gesture to pedestrians, and with a wide promenade designed by landscape architects CCxA, that opportunity is being seized. The most obvious improvement in this respect is the significant widening of the sidewalk and the addition of landscaping.”
The Globe and Mail also reported on The Well’s progress:
The Well blends redevelopment with a historic community in Toronto’s west end
January 3, 2023 | Wallace Immen
“Materials were selected with the surrounding neighborhoods in mind, pulling visual cues from the existing architecture along Wellington Street West and King Street West. Jonathan Gitlin, President/CEO of RioCan REIT, says. “The design vision includes a multilevel streetscape that reflects the materiality and industrial feel of the surrounding King West neighborhood, honoring this identity with a rich brick and terra cotta palette that references the surrounding buildings.” Multiple architects worked together to create varied building designs that draw from the century-old buildings in the neighborhood, which has evolved from a needle-trades and warehouse district to one of the most prestigious communities in the city.
Header image: Courtesy of Urban Toronto / Red Mars
