The Virtues of Inefficiency

Architectural Proposal | Mixed Media | 2010

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Given the status, pedigree, and formative role Mies’s Toronto Dominion Centre (TDC) has played in shaping the fabric and the image of the city’s financial district, The Virtues of Inefficiency looks at what design methods one could critically approach the Centre today. This project initially analyzes the site in terms of efficiency in spacial organization and movement through space. In this post- Google Campus era, new forms of office buildings have emerged, advocating workplaces less concerned with direct efficiency and more concerned with raising employee morale. Access to natural light, atria, employee canteens, recreation facilities, nap rooms, and even slides for circulation are just a some of the programmatic and spacial features being introduced in the corporate environment. Here, “inefficient” spaces are carved out of the TDC floor plates to reveal spacial qualities that range from the domestic to the public to accommodate new uses.

Created for a University of Toronto studio course.