Located in Toronto’s historic Garment District, Ace Hotel Toronto reflects the regenerative power of thoughtful architecture. Designed by Shim-Sutcliffe Architects in collaboration with Atelier Ace, the building draws from the neighborhood’s industrial heritage through its red clay brick façade, recalling the robust factories and warehouses that once defined the area. Positioned at Camden and Brant Streets, it engages its urban context while resisting the area’s recent glass-dominated developments.
The 14-storey hotel combines brick, concrete, copper, and wood to create a tactile, enduring presence. Its soaring concrete arches, suspended wooden lobby bar, and sunken restaurant balance monumentality with warmth and intimacy. Interior spaces blur past and present through layered materiality and handcrafted details.
Crowned by a rooftop bar with fireplaces, integrated artworks by David Umemoto, and sweeping city views, Ace Hotel Toronto serves as both a civic gathering space and a contemporary landmark deeply rooted in Toronto’s architectural identity.
JURY COMMENT(S)
The Ace Hotel is a wonderful urban infill project in an historic Toronto neighbourhood. The jury saw the architecture as innovative and complex, yet calm; universal and yet so Canadian. The dedication to craft and detail gives a delicate collage of concrete, wood, steel and clay. The project speaks to the power of architecture to evoke sensory and haptic experiences through the design and materiality of everyday human scale objects- stairs, handrails, floors, furniture.
