Like many cities across North America, Toronto has a Percent for Public Art program. This means that every new development must devote one percent of construction costs towards an artwork that may be enjoyed by the public.

A rendering of how the artwork will look at the building’s entrance. Image: Peter Powning

Our project, Cinema Tower, at the corner of Adelaide and Widmer Streets in downtown Toronto is currently under construction and slated for completion in the fall of 2013. We are particularly pleased with the art piece at the entrance of the tower, which is integrated with the architecture while creating a dramatic and one-of-a-kind centre-piece for the building.

A close up on the entrance detail. Image: Peter Powning

The full art piece. Image: Peter Powning

The piece is called STRATA and it’s by award-winning artist Peter Powning, who is based in southern New Brunswick. We worked with Peter on our Chicago project in Mississauga several years ago where he created an unusual, artistic ‘Portal’ out of cast bronze and stone.

Portal, which Mr. Powning completed for our Chicago project, Mississauga in 2009.

STRATA takes as its inspiration a geological, archaeological concept. According to Mr. Powning, “The overall façade is meant to have the feeling of being a large core sample raised up from the earth.” The sculpture will be made of precast pigmented and stained concrete, cast bronze and slumped glass with three layers of what Mr. Powning calls ‘archeological strata’ – a bronze crust inlaid with “materials discovered during the excavation, or appropriate to the history of the site over generations.”

Incidentally, Peter also unveiled his new piece Phantasm in the residential lobby of the TIFF Bell Lightbox, a stunning, intricate grid of slumped glass frames lit from behind with televised images of representative films from the TIFF archives.

A detail of the bronze crust of STRATA. Image: Peter Powning

STRATA isn’t the only art element to the Cinema Tower. Daniels, the developer has worked out an agreement so that the ground floor will be partially owned by the cultural organization ArtScape. This innovative collaboration will be sure to create a lively, mixed-use urban development that will further enhance this buzzing area of Toronto.

- Brent