The Well

Hariri Pontarini Architects

Client: Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, Woodbourne Capital Management, Tridel

The transformation of a prime eight-acre parcel in downtown Toronto from light industry into The Well displays a bold vision to expand density, advance sustainability, and sensitively integrate three-million-square-feet (278,710 sm) of mixed-use development within the context of its adjacent urban tapestry. This evenly divided integration of commercial and residential occupancy is rare for mixed-use and is distinguished by an innovative interplay of office, retail, and living spaces set within a weather-protected, open-air pedestrian realm.

The Well consists of six residential buildings and one office tower all connected by a podium ‘spine’, a multi-tiered promenade beneath a large, undulating glazed canopy. With a master plan conceived prior to the pandemic, the emphasis on a fresh air environment and the creation of a ‘five-minute city’ offering everyday needs of urban life proved auspicious. The scheme took inspiration from a network of pedestrian routes through the adjacent heritage King West community of repurposed brick-and-beam warehouses. The Well extends these porous passages and can be accessed 24/7 on all four sides via nine entries – some grand, some discreet. There is no obvious back-of-house and deliveries and servicing is conducted below grade. The scale of the development allows for the transition of density across the site and from downtown to surrounding neighbhourhoods in varying architectural styles. The office tower height addresses buildings it faces in the financial district. The mid-rise residential buildings on Wellington Street reference the scale and materiality of heritage King West. The larger residential towers on the south side conform to similarly-scaled condos across the sunken rail corridor and step down in height towards Draper Street to the west, whose heritage home residents requested and were granted direct access to The Well from a small park created for this purpose. Buildings at The Well are adjoined by a colonnade and a multitude of pedestrian bridges that criss-cross the spine with its many retail services. A large public gathering space is fashioned as an amphitheatre with programmed activities that attract residents, city-dwellers and visitors. The granite paving and dog-friendly environment further distinguishes The Well from an enclosed, climate-controlled space. The Well is fully accessible where no door need be opened, no stair climbed to access its amenities. In this way, The Well offers an urbanism of social sustainability, a vision shared by its six design firms to create a work-live-play development and a new destination that embraces the vitality of the surrounding neighborhood. The Well is also an exemplary model of sustainable design at a large scale and is LEED® Platinum certified. Making it an open-air facility contributed significantly to reducing energy needs. The most outstanding energy-saving feature is the incorporation and unique advancement of the innovative Deep Lake Water Cooling (DLWC) system where an 8.5-million-litre thermal storage facility acts as a thermal ‘battery’ reducing the cost of heating and cooling the entire project. And this facility can supply low-carbon heating and cooling to an additional 17-million-square-feet (1,579,350sm) of future development in the King West neighborhood.