Nota Bene is a new destination restaurant located in the base of One Eighty Queen West, a commercial property sited at the northwest corner of downtown Toronto’s financial district area.


The primary occupants of the tower are the Federal Judicial Courts. It sits between east edge of the “legal district” which includes Osgoode Hall, the Ontario Courts Building at 361 University Avenue, Old and New City Halls and the historic Campbell House, the original home of the first chief justice of Ontario, and the western threshold of the vibrant Queen Street West commercial retail district. It is also within a short walking distance from the Four Seasons Opera House to the south-east, and the theatre district immediately south.

The Royal Conservatory of Music officially celebrates the completion of the new home for Canada’s premier music and arts educator on Sept. 25, 2009.


The new TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning is the last jewel in the crown of Toronto’s Cultural Renaissance, a phenomenon that was catalysed in the slipstream of the Bilbao effect. Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB), under the direction of partner Marianne McKenna, has been committed to working with the RCM for over 20 years to realize the vision which was first set forth in 1991 with the award winning Master Plan.

All Photographs by Tom Arban

Torys is a highly respected international business law firm with 300 legal professionals in its Toronto and New York offices. In Toronto, the firm has occupied nine and a half floors in the south tower of the Toronto Dominion Centre, some of them since the 1980’s.

In conjunction with negotiating an extension of its lease in 2005 and 2006, Torys decided to rejuvenate its interiors, which were no longer aligned with the leadership and innovative spirit that is the hallmark of its practice.

Designed by KPMB Architects , the proposed renovations were conceived to bring the existing premises up to current standards of practice from both a functional and aesthetic perspective. The principal objective was to consolidate meeting spaces.

An underlying goal was to foreground Torys contemporary Canadian art collection, which is distinguished by photo-based and conceptual works by internationally-lauded artists such as Edward Burtynsky, Rodney Graham, and Yves Gaucher, among others.

Manitoba Hydro Place has officially opened today. This world class office tower is a model for the next generation of extreme climate responsive architecture.

Designed by the integrated design consortium of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (Toronto), Smith Carter Architects (Winnipeg) Transsolar KlimaEngineering (Stuttgart), the tower has already gained attention with the prestigious “Best Tall Building in North America” award that is granted by the CTBUH (Council for Tall Buildings), the world’s leading body dedicated to the field of tall buildings and urban habitat. In October, Manitoba Hydro Place will also go on to contend for the “Best in the World” prize. Already generating international interest, the project has appeared in the Princeton University Press, the Architectural Press, and various other journals in Europe and Asia.

Photographs by Gerry Kopelow