One of my favourite parties from last week was the Quadrangle Architects 25th Anniversary at the Corus Quay building. I was dying to get an invite to this party because I wanted to see the Corus Quay building first-hand.
Corus Quay, the new Toronto headquarters for Corus Entertainment, is located on Toronto’s waterfront. Corus Entertainment is a Canadian-based media and entertainment company, and a market leader in specialty television and radio, with additional assets in pay television, television broadcasting, children’s book publishing and children’s animation.
Corus Quay was designed by world-renowned architect Jack Diamond of Diamond and Schmitt Architects. The interior was outfitted by Quadrangle Architects Ltd., an expert in broadcast architectural design.
Corus Quay is an amazing building. The party hosts took guests on a tour of the building where we learned many facts about the building. Not only does it have interesting architecture and interiors, I was totally geeking out over the many massive server rooms in the building that contain storage enough for 2 petabytes of data. After seeing the building, I want to work for Corus. The south side of Corus Quay is floor to ceiling windows that have a beautiful view of Lake Ontario. Any building that lets in a lot of natural light changes the attitude and productivity of the employees. I remember when I moved from the black hole of the Royal Trust Tower to the natural light friend RBC Centre. It was a blessing and I can’t imagine working in another bleak building again.
Corus Quay’s most famous landmark is the indoor slide. I wanted to ride that slide badly. The slide was locked up tight with a padlock and bars. I didn’t ask questions.
Corus Quay has three art installations created by U.K. artists, Troika. Shoal is in a public hallway. I didn’t even notice it, so all I have is video.
Drizzle is another one I didn’t notice either. It’s described as “a light installation that plays with the idea of a cloud caught inside the building making it appear as though it is raining through the slits in the soffit, which is located on both the north and south-west side soffits(source).”
There are so many details in the building that just are exceptional: the hockey rink boardroom table, the microphone chandelier, the furniture. It really does make Corus Entertainment seem like a very cool place to work. The only downside is location. There isn’t much around but Corus Quay has many cafeterias for staff. Corus also provides a shuttle bus from Union Station for employees for easier access.
You don’t need a special invite to get a look at Corus Quay as they have public tours twice a month for the rest of 2011.
See all my photos from the Quadrangle Architects 25th Anniversary Party at Corus Quay