Every year, we organise an architecture trip to many different locations around the world so we can broaden our architectural and urban planning expertise by visiting other cities. This year’s architecture seminar took some of our colleagues from the Vienna office and the two German offices to Toronto, which is Canada’s largest city. The megacity is located on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario and is considered one of the most multicultural cities in the world that also offers a great quality of life.
Our WGA team explored the Financial and Entertainment District together on guided architectural tours. This area is characterised by high-rise buildings, as well as the newly emerging Harbourfront. With more than half of Toronto’s population born outside of Canada, the city is fortunate to be home to many vibrant and bustling neighbourhoods. Toronto’s cityscape is characterised by a very high influx of new residents every year. There are numerous construction sites where exciting new skyscrapers, residential towers, educational institutions and museums are being built.
We went for more walks amongst the deciduous trees in autumnal colours through the university district, which is a unique area boasting over 80 different campus buildings by renowned architects and has a special status in Toronto. Our colleagues visited the multicultural neighbourhoods of Kensington and Chinatown, as well as the repurposed former industrial buildings in the Distillery District. A bike ride took us along the green belt outside the city to museums and interesting castles. A day trip to Niagara Falls was a particluar highlights of the architecture trip, along with a special kind of team building exercise at a height of almost 360 metres during a visit to the CN Tower.
We will remember many of these experiences for a very long time.