Atelier Ace is opening its first Canadian property, Ace Hotel Toronto, in the heart of the city’s vibrant Fashion District next fall. Situated next door to the St. Andrew’s Market and Playground, Ace Hotel Toronto is a legacy project and complete new build with architectural partner Shim-Sutcliffe Architects.
“Toronto is an expansive amalgam of cultures, languages, history, and future- forward ideas, and we couldn’t be more excited to call it home. Working with the deftly accomplished and visionary team at Shim-Sutcliffe to build a central gathering place for the city is an honor. We can’t wait to throw open our doors in one of the most multicultural cities in the world,” said Kelly Sawdon, Partner and Chief Brand Officer.
Based in Toronto since Brigitte Shim and A. Howard Sutcliffe’s early collaborations in the 1980s, Shim-Sutcliffe’s architecture and design intertwines light and landscape through scale and materials with singular vision and innovation.
Like Ace, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects seek inspiration directly from the neighborhood and surrounding nature.
“We share core elemental values with Atelier Ace and worked together to build a civic space that feels warm and welcoming. A local place to gather, Ace Hotel Toronto is a contribution to the neighborhood and city itself, elevating Toronto’s rich history through form and materials, energized by its inhabitants and visitors,” said Shim-Sutcliffe Architects.
Ace Hotel Toronto is built in homage to the rich history of industrial buildings in a predominantly warehouse neighborhood, featuring red brick and exposed board-formed concrete left unadorned as a celebration of process.
With views overlooking a public park, the hotel’s lobby will be an animated cultural hub, what Shim-Sutcliffe noted as “the hotel’s truly civic lobby.”
The public spaces feature North American materials valued for their intrinsic strength, and tied to Toronto’s layered history and natural resources including doug fir, red Toronto brick, and steel.
Architectural elements like exposed joints, knuckles and brick are a point of focus, reflecting a deep respect for form and material.
Ace Hotel Toronto expands the global presence of Ace in cities that include Kyoto (Spring 2020), Sydney (2021), Chicago, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, London, New York, Palm Springs, Portland and Seattle.
The Toronto hotel is developed in partnership with Zinc Developments and Alterra Group, and investors and partners ProWinko and Finer Space/B-Right Corporation.
