Photography by Maris Mezulis
After three decades in the historic Eclipse Whitewear Building in Toronto’s Theatre District, it was time to move. KPMB Architects’s new digs in the Globe and Mail Centre several blocks east along King Street recaptures some of old quarter’s warm woodiness in its meeting rooms with white oak paneling lining the walls and ceiling. Despite the new location’s lower ceiling height (11’6” vs. 14’), its extra square footage (20,000 vs. 16,000) and improved floor plan makes the new premises feel more open, with communal space for interaction and informal gathering (and views to die for). The minimalist aesthetic that characterizes KPMB’s work shows up here along the lines of Mies’s Barcelona Pavilion, which initiated the Modernist prototype of minimalist forms embellished with extravagant materials (marble, red onyx and travertine). At KPMB, boldly veined black marble wraps servery backsplashes and the long table in the café, where a serpentine LED pendant fixture adds light and levity.
