Context > Allied (Toronto)

Allied’s corporate head office, located in Toronto’s former garment manufacturing district at Richmond and Peter Street, is constructed directly on top of an old red-brick factory. The original factory is surmounted by the ultramodern glass and steel cage above it. This superimposition aestheticizes the factory and its working class signification: the glass tower above it acts as a frame, so that "work" becomes a fashion statement, or stylistic reference. According to Allied’s website, the new construction “intensifies an under-utilized site, rehabilitating the existing urban fabric and creating new, high-performance commercial spaces.”