The Bay Adelaide Centre is a signature 51-storey tower in downtown Toronto distinguished by its elemental, modernist form – a refined rectangular plan with notched corners – and a prism-like skin of clear and fritted glass that make it one of the downtown core’s most transparent towers. At the top of the tower, the extension of the glass skin beyond the rooftop gives the building profile a distinctive identity.
The highly transparent tower base seamlessly incorporates the historic façade of the National Building on Bay Street (designed by Chapman and Oxley, 1926) and the lobby features a major integrated public art project by the world-renowned artist James Turrell. The project also has a half-acre outdoor urban plaza landscaped with ginkgo trees and ornamental grasses that frame benches and an open seating area, contributing a much-needed public open space to the central business district.
Certified to a LEED Gold standard, the project is among Canada’s largest sustainable buildings. The tower contains more than 100,840 m² of rentable Class-AAA office space, as well as over 3,700 m² of below-grade retail space linked to the extensive underground PATH network.
The building received the 2012 OAA Awards of Excellence