Young Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto

Tank Houses 9 and 10 of the historic Gooderham & Worts Distillery make a dramatic backdrop to the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, a partnership of George Brown College and Soulpepper Theatre Company. The 44,000-square-foot, $10-million adaptive reuse project combines teaching and performance in one facility.

On the exterior, an extended, horizontal wood canopy marks the entrance to a two-storey atrium lobby, created by enclosing the space between the tank houses with massive, primitive-looking Douglas fir trusses that span the historic bearing walls. Here, actors, students, visitors and patrons converge. A café, box office, theatre bookstore and tall bar tables and benches encourage the use of the atrium for formal and informal gatherings. A fireplace adds a clubroom touch.

Brick facades were left exposed, original windows retained and the existing cobblestone pavements conserved. Interior finishes are utilitarian and limited to concrete floors and painted walls. Ceilings were left exposed to meet cost and functional requirements, yet create a complex visual canopy that weaves throughout the scheme. The raw and untreated surfaces and textures are animated by natural daylight and, at night, by selectively placed light sources.

The raw, yet warm, industrial aesthetic respects the historic fabric of the site, ekes out the budget and expresses the clients’ stature as leading-edge institutions.

Chalmers: There’s a design integrity that carries from the exterior to the interior. The client got quite a bang for the budget buck.

Rock: Here is a re-use project that really celebrates the original building fabric.