Earlier this week, Brookfield Place Toronto unveiled its ambitious holiday collaboration with Toronto artists Studio F Minus. “Snowfall” is a landmark commission and will appear in the Allen Lambert Galleria and its adjacent lobbies annually to mark the holiday season.
Conceived by Studio F Minus as a fresh celebration of winter, the installation consists of three parts. The first two: a series of 60 suspended and illuminated sculptures of sizes ranging from three to six feet in the lobbies titled “Gust”; and an impressive 20-foot high sculpture – an abstract take on a snowflake paying homage to Santiago Calatrava’s vaulted design – capitalizing on the natural drama of the building’s six-storey Galleria titled “Frost.”
Tenants and visitors are encouraged to touch the giant snowflake where internal sensors will recognize their interaction and respond with a visual effect similar to running a hand along a frosted window. The LED-powered piece is connected to the building’s lighting system, and will respond to contact by changing the colour of the lights in the entire Galleria.
The third phase of “Snowfall” is a project titled “Flurry,” planned for the Concourse level in 2015. The ambitious commission falls under the Arts Brookfield banner, the acclaimed visual and performing arts program established by Brookfield Office Properties over 25 years ago to enliven its public spaces. The transition from traditional holiday decor to site-specific public artwork is a milestone for Brookfield Place.
Says Jim Trak, V-P & regional general manager, Brookfield Office Properties, “Through Arts Brookfield initiatives, Brookfield Place comes alive and makes a mark on Torontonians as a public art destination – engaging and inspiring tenants, visitors and our city with world-class commissions and partnerships. We work with artists and organizations year-round to curate and animate our space and extending this vision through the holidays is a natural evolution for us. We’re thrilled to be the first Canadian commercial property company to truly offer a high level of visual arts programming year-round.”RELATED IMAGES
ABOUT STUDIO F MINUS & “SNOWFALL”
Studio F Minus endeavours to create “new types of experiences through innovative use of materials” and “transmit a renewed excitement and different appreciation of the world [their work] inhabits.” With “Snowfall,” artists and designers Brad Hindson and Mitchell F. Chan have created a series of abstract sculptural snowflakes whose motifs are drawn from the building itself. The crystalline shape of each snowflake is derived from overlapping architectural references from the galleria’s freestanding pillars.
“Snowfall” continues through Fri., Jan. 2, 2015. at Brookfield Place Toronto. Public hours are 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
ARTS BROOKFIELD: ENLIVENING PUBLIC SPACES
Brookfield Office Properties enlivens its public spaces through an acclaimed visual and performing arts program. Arts Brookfield is committed to working with regional artists and commissioning original works of art in all disciplines including visual art, dance, theatre and music. These events offer artists unique opportunities to work in new and unusual spaces while providing provocative cultural experiences for tenants and visitors alike. The award-winning programs of Arts Brookfield in the New York and Toronto markets attract almost 5000,000 visitors per year, with thousands of visitors also attending similar programs at Brookfield’s flagship properties in Los Angeles, Calgary, Denver, and Houston.
For more information, visit http://artsbrookfield.com/
ABOUT BROOKFIELD OFFICE PROPERTIES
Brookfield Office Properties Inc. is a division of Brookfield Property Partners (NYSE: BPY; TSX: BPY.UN), a global commercial property company that owns, operates and invests in best-in -class office, retail, industrial, multifamily and hotel assets. Brookfield Office Properties owns, develops and manages premier office properties in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. Its portfolio is comprised of interests in 112 properties totaling 88 million square feet in the downtown cores of New York, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, Toronto, Calgary, Ottawa, London, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, making Brookfield the global leader in the ownership and management of office assets. Landmark properties include Brookfield Places in Manhattan, Toronto and Perth, Bank of America Plaza in Los Angeles, Bankers Hall in Calgary and Darling Park in Sydney.
For more information, visit http://brookfieldofficeproperties.com/