Clear Spirit and its companion project, The Gooderham, establish a residential enclave at the southeast edge of the Distillery District, and bookend aA’s Pure Spirit development at the northwest entrance to this unique Toronto precinct. The two projects are organized around a newly laid brick plaza, extending the District’s laneway-and-courtyard circulation plan.

Clear Spirit’s 40-storey Tower is supported on angled columns above a four-storey Base Building, a simply massed red brick form relieved by deeply inset rectangular windows and programmed in accordance with the precinct’s culture and entertainment focus. As the Base Building addresses the District’s industrial architectural heritage, the Tower engages the larger context of the City and the Lake. Slab edges vary from floor to floor and, outlined in a continuous band of fritted glass railings, create a subtle folding or faceting of the façade. As the sun moves across the sky, the character of the Tower is changed by the play of light and shadow across the building skin.

Photo credit: Ben Rahn, A-Frame Studio