Canadians who have been working from home are slowly trickling back to offices, but the designers of an ambitious new project in downtown Toronto hope to direct that flow into the Well.

The Well is a giant mixed-use development at Spadina Avenue and Front Street West with three million square feet (278,710 square metres) of interconnected residential, commercial and retail spaces under a gigantic glass canopy. Sections are already open, and it is expected to be open fully by the end of this year.

The new precinct sits on a large swath of real estate once occupied by car dealerships, parking lots and the former home of The Globe and Mail, which moved across town in 2016. The Well’s designers, Hariri Pontarini Architects, and developers Allied Properties REIT and RioCan REIT, have sought to create an area that blends the office efficiency of Toronto’s nearby Financial District with the high-end hipster chic of the city’s King Street West neighbourhood.

Key to making this blend work is one of the project’s anchor buildings, 8 Spadina Ave., a new 860,000-square-foot (79,000-square-metre) office complex. The building is actually three glass structures that are sequenced back from the avenue.
The design of the office building is a response to a demand from the city to minimize shadows over Clarence Square, a small park across the street.

Source: Toronto’s largest private construction project reimagines the office tower