St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts

The St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, located at 27 Front Street East in the heart of the St. Lawrence neighbourhood, is a landmark building constructed by the City of Toronto as a Centennial project in 1970 and has played an important role in the evolution of the City’s fabric.

In January 2020, Toronto City Council unanimously voted to reimagine the STLC, which led to an extensive community consultation that determined the facility no longer serves the functional needs of the cultural and creative sector and the local community. Furthermore, the STLC in its current state requires significant investment to address capital improvements for state of good repair as well as upgrades to AODA standards.

The re-imagined STLC will create a cultural ecosystem where renewed cultural spaces, innovative spaces and gathering spaces will combine into a dynamic cultural and civic hub and, along with Meridian Hall and Berczy Park, anchor the Front Street cultural corridor.

The first stage of the two-stage design competition was launched with the release of a Request for Supplier Qualifications through CreateTO in fall 2022. Five teams were shortlisted to advance to the second stage, which was launched in November with the release of a Request for Proposals.

CreateTO and TO Live announced Hariri Pontarini Architects, LMN Architects, Tawaw Architecture Collective, Smoke Architecture and SLA as the winning design team selected through the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts (STLC) Design Competition and public presentation that took place in March 2023. For more information on this project, visit www.stlcnext.org.