St Joseph Media is a large media company with over 350 employees. It publishes several popular Canadian magazines, which were previously housed in several different locations.

The site was five existing 19th-century warehouse buildings on the east side of Toronto. The design objective was to create a unified space within, one that allowed each of the magazines to retain its identity. Pockets formed by the buildings’ thick masonry walls were used to create homes for each magazine, while a double-height, skylit spine socially and functionally unites the magazines into a single entity. This tall spine operates like a street, on which the individual magazines have an address and shared meeting rooms, reception and administration space, and a large staff lunch room and outdoor deck overlooking the city.

A dramatic axial view greets visitors arriving at the interior street from the elevator. New insertions—patterned glass in the atrium, felt partitions, coloured acrylic staircases—create a sleek counterpoint to the raw exposed brick and wood of the original warehouse.

In association with Teeple Architects Inc.