Refreshing The Public Realm

Manulife Centre Podium and Streetscape Renewal

Project Photos

Featuring some of the most iconic international luxury and mid-priced brands, Bloor Street boasts Canada’s most expensive retail rental rates. Built in the 70’s and located on the landmark corner of Bay and Bloor, Manulife Centre needed a refresh to reflect its prominent location. Through exterior building renovations and urban landscape updates, we worked with MdeAS Architects to reenergize and animate the street edge according to the requests of key community influencers.

A sleek new glass façade adds grandeur to the building’s presence. Accented with existing precast concrete, the upgrade connects the new design with the existing aesthetic of this prestigious stretch of stores. The renewal also includes updated lobbies, a redeveloped circulation scheme and upgraded and additional retail and commercial spaces. Extensive infrastructure improvements will bring the building up to new efficient sustainability and operational standards.

Tasked with the challenge of maximizing retail space to encourage the most revenue while not reducing the quality of public space, the resulting landscape design plan reflects an enhanced and meaningful pedestrian and commercial urban experience. Complete with widened sidewalks, mature trees, bike racks, integrated seating and striking granite and glass frontages, Manulife Centre creates a consistent streetscape and cohesive public realm. This thoughtful combination of elements fits into the context of this high-end area. Contributing to a vibrant city, the pedestrian-friendly and animated streetscape encourages easy access to the building and solidifies Manulife Centre as an enviable shopping destination.