Toronto Festival Tower and tiff Bell Lightbox | 156.96m | 42s | Daniels | KPMB

August 21 2009 update

From the King streetcar ~

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I walked by tonight after the architecture for humanity seminar downtown at the design exchange building, and there they were putting up precast at 930 at night, with many pieces to go, and a mobile crane. Looked like they were pulling an all nighter, i video taped it on my iphone, but didn't know if there was a way to upload video to a forum....so if anyone knows... :)
 
This monster just keeps getting bigger. I thought the podium part was topped out but I was wrong. This new part on top looks interesting.

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I walked by this project yesterday and have mixed feelings about it. I find it looks more institutional than commercial. Perhaps that's because the cladding reminds me a lot of Foster's building at UofT.
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For a "Film Festival" centre, there isn't anything that plays homage to this fact. It looks more like a giant medical centre. It may be too early to judge, but I was hoping for a little more "pizzazz" given it's primary purpose is to entertain.
 
It's a good design, but I agree that it looks sterile from a distance and more suited to a hospital or academic building. Perhaps it would have been better if the facade's windows were done like Frank Gehry's IAC Headquarters building where the opaque surface fades to the transparent windows. Nonetheless, the final touches should make it a handsome building.
 
It would have been really cool to have huge LED screens on the building exterior that would showcase festival films (or any creative element). imagine having dinner at one of those patios across the street and watch a flick at the same time? Now that would be memorable and tres chic.
 
from today's Globe....

TIFF's new home to get $10-million upgrade

Public money comes at crucial time for cash-strapped festival


From Friday's Globe and Mail
Last updated on Friday, Aug. 28, 2009 03:46AM EDT


Bell Lightbox, the new headquarters of the Toronto International Film Festival currently under construction downtown, is getting a much-needed infusion of $10-million in public money, The Globe and Mail has learned.

Sources say the announcement is expected next month, likely around the Sept. 10 start of TIFF's 34th instalment. Sources could not confirm whether the money is coming from Ottawa or Queen's Park.

Both senior levels of government are potential investors. Each has been supportive of the Lightbox project since TIFF announced in April, 2003, its intention to construct a purpose-built headquarters as the podium for a 41-storey condominium on King Street West.

Ontario already has committed $25-million to the capital campaign and last year reportedly provided a substantial low-interest infrastructure loan. The federal government made a $25-million contribution in May, 2006, and earlier this year gave TIFF another $3-million – the maximum allowable allocation from its new Marquee Tourism Events Program.

Whatever the source, the money is coming at a crucial time for the Lightbox. The festival has struggled with fundraising for its home for years. Officially, TIFF remains about $47-million short of the $196-million target for its combined capital, operating and endowment campaign. (The construction portion alone is $130-million.)

The $10-million would be the largest single donation to the campaign in at least three years, and TIFF organizers hope it will spark other contributions from government, private and corporate sources. Forty naming opportunities remain throughout the building.

Construction of the Lightbox, which will feature five state-of-the-art theatres totalling about 1,400 seats in five storeys, plus a tiered, open-air amphitheatre on its roof, began in April, 2007. At 60-per-cent complete, it's expected to be finished in late April.

Yesterday, during a media tour of the site, both Noah Cowan, Lightbox artistic director, and Jennifer Bell, TIFF's vice-president of communications, said parts of the facility will be used during TIFF's 2010 festival.

Mr. Cowan said that while the Lightbox is destined to be “the new hub†of future film festivals and TIFF's year-round programming, opening it doesn't necessarily mean future editions of TIFF will be larger, longer or rely on fewer other theatres for screenings.

He said TIFF plans to continue to show between 290 and 330 films at its festival, even after Bell Lightbox opens. “We're going to continue to use multiple off-site theatres.â€
 
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