Historic 189 Church Street, which dates back to the 1840's, has functioned in the past as a toy factory, a hat manufacturer, a speakeasy and a recording and editing studio. It is now the home of NOW Magazine and the NOW Lounge. The Lounge is open to the public Monday thru Friday, 8:30 - 3:30 for a variety of food & drink plus the location is a free wireless hotspot. It also features live entertainment on a regular basis - see www.nowlounge.com for upcoming acts/dates.

The renovated factory building has won awards since NOW moved in. The prestigious Arido award, in the category of Commitment to the Environment, for the use of old printing plates as a design element.

Conceptual Approach: As a bricks and mortar realization of the magazine's philosophical and editorial values, reclaim, reuse, recycle were the watchwords for the new home of Toronto's "alternative" weekly magazine. The design response used an archeological mindset to integrate three historic buildings and show the evolution of the buildings from within, through reclaimed antique doors, recovered brick and plaster, and reused metal printing plates, reprising the original pressed-tin ceilings. Meeting room walls "decorated" with magazines and newspapers show adaptive reuse of materials. From the outset, the design principal was to accept and showcase found "archeological" flaws revealed in the buildings' century-old architecture and challenge the preconception that green/sensitive approaches need to cost more.

Planning:

• a universally accessible building entrance was designed to be multifunctional with a public café/lounge, retail area and a reception desk which doubles as a refreshment bar for gatherings, thus using space efficiently
• designers worked alongside demolition crews to "paint bomb" only unstable building materials to be removed; these materials (such as bricks) were inspected for possible reuse
• "green" products were researched and used wherever possible such as "Fiberock" (reconstituted dry wall resembling newsprint) as wall cladding coated with an environmentally friendly water-based urethane sealant; reclaimed architectural artifacts were purchased
• material and paint formulas were evaluated for their off-gassing qualities
• planning was often driven by "found" conditions - existing doorways, duct runs, stairs, ceiling heights, washroom configurations (supplemented for accessibility and code requirements)

Lighting:

• indirect used extensively to accent architectural details and cut down on glare and shadows

Colour:

• rather than apply paint to the walls, colour key films (positives) from the magazine's cover photo production were used, framed in light boxes to provide dramatic punches of colour throughout the space

Materials:

• reclaimed doors for private offices; lithoplates for walls and ceilings
• raw products such as Baltic birch plywood and galvanized steel were used to symbolize the magazine as "street", gritty, underground, urban

Detailing:

• to avoid new construction as much as possible, meeting room walls were configured from magazine and newspaper racks; colour covers provide interest and detailing with existing (reuse) products

Furniture/Furnishings/Equipment:

• some furniture reused from magazine's previous location; new bought for ergonomic reasons
• furnishings and equipment for café purchased used from local area shops, i.e., café seating reclaimed from a downtown jazz club
• existing duct work runs used for cabling raceways
• mechanical systems cleaned and restored then augmented with new to meet healthy air requirements