FSCPA

With the new high-performance exterior fabric and updated hardware installed, Toronto's Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is ready for its close-up.

The winner of 9 awards, including Building Magazine's Outside the Box Award for Architecturally Innovative Design, Toronto's Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts (FSCPA) recently got a facelift. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects in 2006 and home to the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada, FSCPA boasts a four-story public space with full-height glazing, a three-story suspended glass staircase, and a sophisticated system of Hunter Douglas Architectural exterior roller shades.

Ready for a new look, the centre upgraded the systems with a high-performance fabric fit for 2021. So what's remained the same? During the daytime, with the help of sun-tracking controllers, the systems put on a choreographed display. As the sun travels around the building, the shades automatically lower to protect against thermal gain and glare. When not in use, the shades can retract completely, raising the curtain, so to speak, on the lobby's striking wall of windows.