PART 1: Talking High-rise and City Design with David Pontarini

For Architecture Month on our blog, we interviewed low-rise designer Stephen Hunt. So, we thought it only fair to sit down with an architect that focuses mostly on high-rise design. We were lucky enough to get an opportunity to meet with David Pontarini of Hariri Pontarini Architects. This interview is going to be a two-parter. So, in PART 1, we discuss Pontarini’s background in the industry, his approach to high-rise design, and the firm’s work on 1 Yonge.

Newinhomes (NIH): Tell us a little about your background. How did you get to where you are today?

David Pontarini (DP): Architecture's always been a passion of mine, since I was a young kid. I pursued it, ended up at UofT, graduated in 1982-3, and from there I went to Barton Myers Architects, a very well known design firm here in Toronto. His successor firm, which was KPMB - Kuwabara, Payne, McKenna, Blumberg - was there as an associate until ‘94, and in ‘94 Siamak and myself started up a firm which has grown to HPA. We’ve gone from three people to about 70. We were recently lucky enough to get the RAIC [Royal Architectural Institute of Canada] Firm of the Year Award 2013. We do a pretty wide range of work: institutional, single family, custom residences, and high-rise mixed-use, which is a big part of our portfolio these days.

NIH: So, how many projects do you have on the go at one time?

DP: It’s hard to keep track of them sometimes, but I’d say we’ve got about 30 or 40 - all at different stages - some at conceptual design, some at early approvals, some in working drawings, design development, construction - so there’s a big range.

NIH: Well, our office is located at 1 Yonge, so we have to ask you how that one is going.

DP: 1 Yonge is an interesting project - it’s with Pinnacle, who developed the site across the street. Mike De Cotiis, the owner of Pinnacle, has always been interested in the 1 Yonge site, and when that became available he looked at it very carefully, we developed some options for him, and then he was the successful bidder for it.

We’re in very, very early stages of development for that. We’re going through the approvals process. We’ve made an application and submitted it to the City, and the City is starting its review process now, where they look at the project very carefully - look at the impacts, look at the neighbourhood, get feedback from the neighbourhood, from the Councillors, from everybody.

NIH: When approaching a giant site like 1 Yonge, how do you even start?

DP: Well, it’s like eating an elephant - one bite at a time. You just start putting down on paper the things that you know, the kind of setbacks, the kind of critical dimensions, and you just work your way through the process of constantly testing ideas and models. We build all our models in house, we do 3D massing models to get a feel for the base. The ground floor is always a critical starting point. We go through sketches and sketches of different concepts, we have meetings with the client, the City staff. It’s a long, interesting process.

NIH: When coming up with a design, is there one source of inspiration that you rely on?

DP: Location is a big part of it. A lot of our work is in the downtown core. We’re also influenced by what the thinking is in terms of current urban design guidelines, and by what’s going on around the world - we’re doing work in Ottawa, Edmonton, Chile, Dallas - we’re branching out. We’re influenced like everyone else by what’s going on around the world. It’s so easy now to see what’s being done in Germany, London, all over the place.

NIH: What is your absolute favourite part of the design process?

DP: For me, it’s the initial concept work. I’m more of a big picture guy, I’m not the kind of guy that gets into finessing details - my partner does that really well. He does a lot of the single-family custom houses, as well as higher education and cultural buildings. I like the big picture, policy related issues and concepts, and trying to get those into place so we can work around them and create great buildings - great cities.

NIH: So, looking at the bigger picture, how do transit systems play a role in the designing of great cities?

DP: We encourage developers to build on transit lines, they’re doing it themselves - they see it’s where the market is shifting. I think it’s hugely important. I think we need the downtown relief line. Look at the world’s great classic cities: London, New York, Tokyo. They all have amazing transit systems, much better than what we have. I think development will come and force transit to follow, unfortunately. It should be the other way around.

NIH: We recently heard you speak at this year’s PUG Talk. You mentioned “curtain wall” and “window wall” quite a few times. Can you tell us more about these?

DP: We’re always trying to push clients to use better materials, better products, better technologies. And, curtain wall has been around for a long time, but it does perform in a different way than window wall. We’re constantly trying to figure out if there’s a way to use more curtain wall on these buildings. It’s all part of this exploration of old and new technologies to create more efficient buildings.

The difference between window wall and curtain wall is that curtain wall sits completely on the exterior of the structural line and passes by the floors - so it protects the floors from heat gain and heat loss. And window wall sits on the floors, so you get these thermal breaks where the floor slab does not get the same kind of coverage. That’s the biggest difference. It’s like wearing long-johns versus wearing a t-shirt and shorts.

Stay tuned for PART 2 of our interview with David Pontarini of Hariri Pontarini Architects, where we discuss more projects, the Tall Building Guidelines, and trends in the architectural industry.