Developers are the ultimate optimists. A successful condo sales centre should convey that sentiment, getting tire-kickers’ hearts pounding, adrenalin pumping and chequebooks fluttering. Great Gulf Homes’s sales centre for its Charlie tower, in downtown Toronto, assuredly does just that.
Cecconi Simone, veterans in the sales-centre biz, settled on a design concept fusing old and new. The “old” was the space’s existing wood post-and-beam construction and ceiling decking. Cecconi Simone exploited this aspect to fashion a layered, textured space, warmed up with orange, brown and natural shades.
Existing windows were covered to block natural light and permit a more controlled environment. Walls are clad with back-lit fabric, framing glass panels with silk-screened images of marketing materials and suite floor plans. These panels encourage prospective buyers to browse the layouts, furthering enthusiasm for closing the deal.
Slashing through the space, a 41-foot counter cantilevers from an illuminated trough. The counter displays the architectural model and houses custom-designed organic glass sculptures and a garden bed; it also offers a surface for sales associates to unroll plans for potential buyers to view. Above, canvas tarps hang like a continuous market umbrella from the ceiling, highlighting the counter.
Design team: Anna Simone, principal; Jude Thomson, associate; Pauline Ayoub, senior designer; Kelly Wall, Elvis Chan and Alberto Perez; and Firas Yousif, junior designer