Berczy Square, Toronto

Photography by Scott Norsworthy

Berczy Square reimagines the lobby of the 33 Yonge Street tower as an urban living room by transforming the former pass-through atrium—the only atrium-style office lobby in Toronto’s Financial District—into a welcoming destination. Revitalizing and capitalizing on its 13-storey height, the project offers a layered sequence of spaces that balance hospitality, work and social interaction. Visitors are welcomed by a concierge sitting at a reception desk made of massive, rough-hewn blocks of natural stone. Three-storey wood columns define the main gathering space while breaking down the atrium’s scale. Cocooning chairs surround a vortexed reflecting pond. An elevated wooden deck introduces banquettes, communal plug-in tables and a sculptural firepit using water vapour to minimize emissions. A trellis-like structure wrapping the elevator core integrates digital art by Montréal-based Gentilhomme with cascading planting that adds a Hanging Gardens of Babylon note, reinforcing the theme of nature woven through the interior architecture.

As appeared in the July/August 2026 Best of Canada Awards issue of Canadian Interiors magazine.

See all the 2026 Best of Canada Awards winners