Architecture studio WilkinsonEyre has completed the second and final phase of the CIBC Square development in Toronto, which includes a second skyscraper and an elevated park spanning train tracks.

Located in Toronto's central business district, the development is the headquarters for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and contains two mixed-use office skyscrapers.

The project's first skyscraper, 81 Bay Street, was completed in 2022. This first phase of the project also included adding transit infrastructure, such as a bus stop, around the city's Union Station which sits underneath the buildings.

Both skyscrapers rise 250 metres and are wrapped in a similar diamond-motif glass facade. With the completion of the second phase, they are also now linked by the project's sky park, which is due to open later this year.

"CIBC Square presented an extraordinary opportunity to rethink how large commercial developments can contribute to the life of the city," said WilkinsonEyre director Dominic Bettison.

"Rather than treating infrastructure as a barrier, the project embraces it as an organising element that connects transit, landscape, workplace, and public space into a seamless urban experience."

The project's recently completed skyscraper, 141 Bay Street, sits closer to the city centre, while 81 Bay Street is located across the train tracks. They mirror each other in design, although are positioned perpendicular to one another.

The skyscrapers are comprised of a single building, but the glass facades make them look like two conjoined skyscrapers.

Like 81 Bay Street, 141 Bay Street is wrapped in the same convex glass diamonds that "introduce depth, scale, and changing reflections across the skyline" according to the team.

The skyscraper meets the street with a triple-height lobby, which connects to a pedestrian walkway.

On the other side, the building connects to the elevated park, which was developed in collaboration with landscape architects Public Work.

The park will contain walking paths, gathering spaces and outdoor amenities, and spans the entirety of the rail corridor below.

"The completion of the CIBC Square North Tower and the elevated park is an inspiration of north-south connectivity," said executive director Tim Kocur of the Waterfront BIA.

"Our waterfront has benefitted greatly from the expansion of the Financial District southward, but the Gardiner Expressway and rail yards remain a barrier that's difficult to ignore."

A number of large projects in Toronto have been completed recently or are under construction, including Canada's tallest skyscraper and a mountainous residential development by BIG.

The photography is by Doublespace

Project details:

Client: Le Caisse and Hines
Architect: WilkinsonEyre
Architect of record: Adamson Associates
Landscape architect: Public Work
Developer: La Caisse and Hines