Forno Cultura

Forno Cultura is a contemporary artisanal Italian bakery with a cult following among Toronto's architects and gastronomes, and JA Architecture Studio was invited to shape its fifth outpost on Queen Street West. The site, a 1950s mechanic shop most recently used as a condominium sales centre, sits behind a parking lot and a mature ash tree, set back from the street and screened from the city in a way that few central Toronto retail spaces are.

The brief from the owner was to convert the industrial building into a working production kitchen and cafe. JA Architecture Studio stripped the structure back and split the floor plate in two: a minimally detailed cafe in front, a busy pastry kitchen behind, and a long serving counter that turns the working kitchen into part of the customer experience. A barrel vault wraps the front wall over the eating area and stops short of the counter, intersecting with a second vault drawn through three large new windows. The geometry that results is the building's signature gesture.

Working with Tremonte Manufacturing, JA Architecture Studio designed and fabricated three raw steel window frames that slot into the existing cladding system. The new openings take advantage of the oversized garage doors already in the facade and turn the patchwork of old and new brick, render and steel into a deliberate elevation. From the street, the windows offer framed views of the layers of leisure and labour behind the glass.

The cafe was completed in 2019 across a 180 sq m floor on a 200 sq m site, with tables designed by JA Architecture Studio and chairs by Fine Folk of Prince Edward County.

Architect: JA Architecture Studio. Photography: Riley Snelling.