Each year, BILD’s Pinnacle Award for Best High-Rise Building Design is presented to the development that not only makes a significant contribution to its location and to the surrounding neighbourhood, but that provides real value to future residents. We’re thrilled to announce that this year, Cielo Condos has risen above the competition, capturing the hearts of the judges to win this prestigious award. 

Our vision for Cielo was not only to create a striking architectural presence that will rise above Bloor Street West and redefine Toronto’s skyline, but to create a true sense of community.

Designed by the renowned architectural firm KPMB, Cielo seamlessly incorporates one of Toronto’s most significant neo-Gothic structures, the revered Bloor Street United Church (BSUC), into a sleek and stylish residential tower.

The iconic architecture artfully blends the historic and the contemporary, creating the “refined modernist” aesthetic that has cemented KPMB’s reputation for design excellence across the globe.

“For us, the key thing is that it fits. It’s a KPMB hallmark. Even if a new building is of a different scale and of a different time, we’re firmly committed that it should complement the older buildings around it. We’re committed to making our neighbours feel good.” - Marianne McKenna, Founding Partner, KPMB

The neighbours around Cielo will no doubt be overjoyed.

The new design reopens the church to Bloor Street with portals, accented with a stunning bronze and glass screen, that open into a new narthex and to the sanctuary beyond. A transparent four-storey glass pavilion replaces the old annex wing of the church and houses both church offices and leasable space, providing an ongoing source of financial support for BSUC’s mission.

Above, the classic point tower glass box is split into two sections that pinwheel around each other on all four sides, creating two vertical strategies: one a grid of punched windows sheathed in bronze metal, and the other, a screen with a window wall behind. It’s this pas de deux between these two striking vertical gestures that gives the building its distinct visual identity, that and the unique hue of the metallic panels that artfully merges browns, purples, pinks and reds to reference the church’s original sandstone, creating a gorgeous kaleidoscopic amalgam that will undoubtedly glow.

“Cielo’s design sets the tone for an incredible lifestyle that fosters diversity, strong relationships and a sense of community, all hallmarks of what we stand for at Collecdev. Not only does it allow an extraordinary centuries-old church to continue to operate and evolve for today's modern world, it creates new spaces where residents and the community can come together to feel connected, welcomed and engaged, enhancing one of Toronto’s most beloved neighbourhoods.”  - Natascha Pieper, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Collecdev

This exciting win for Best High-Rise Building Design goes beyond Cielo’s architecture to endorse a complete community, one that points to a future where development is socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable, truly an "uncommon luxury."