‘The light is free.’ How Frank Gehry hopes his condo project will give back to his home city

In a city where everything seems to be getting more expensive, Frank Gehry may have found the one thing you don’t have to pay for.

“The light is free,” explained the 94-year-old renowned architect.

“So you can play with it, if you can manipulate the materials you can manipulate the light and you get beautiful patterns.”

Born and raised in Toronto, Gehry was back in town Wednesday for the groundbreaking of the east tower of Forma, his project that’s been almost 10 years in the making.

It will consist of two towers, one at 73 storeys and the other at 84, at 266 and 276 King St. W., and more than 2,000 condo units.

Gehry is the artistic mind behind several world-famous buildings including the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation art museum in Paris.

The Toronto project, which will have theatres on each side and Roy Thomson Hall nearby and will include an art gallery and space for OCAD university, is “an opportunity to build the beginning of an urban fabric,” Gehry told the Star in an interview.

“I think the idea of classical music, art, being a centrepiece of this project is very important, and no cities have that completely, not like this,” he said.

Forma will be his first residential buildings in Canada and his tallest in the world. Sales began in June of last year.

The twisting structure has an almost crystal quality, and the frames will catch the light in different ways, Gehry said.

“Since they face different ways at different times of the day the light will play, subtly. And it’s free — people that are in there they’re not going to realize it,” he said.

“So I think that’s giving back.”

The original plan called for three towers of 80-plus storeys on a six-storey podium and called for the destruction of the Princess of Wales Theatre and four heritage warehouses. It was pared down after some less than favourable reaction from city officials back in 2013.

David Mirvish was originally behind the pitch but sold in 2017. The project is now overseen by developers Westdale Properties, Dream Unlimited and Great Gulf.

One thing that is not free are the residential units in the towers. In November, the penthouse suite was sold for more than $20 million.

“In 51 weeks we have sold $1-billion worth of real estate,” said Mitchell Cohen, chief operating officer of Westdale Properties in his remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony. Cohen praised the “lasting impression” the project will leave on the city’s skyline, a common theme at the groundbreaking.

“If I have to see that CN Tower as the representation of this city one more time, I’m gonna throw up,” added Elly Reisman, owner of Great Gulf Homes, who was also in attendance.

“I’m hoping that this project starts the city on a new course.”

In his brief public remarks, Gehry said the project reminds him of the public space created by Rockefeller Center in New York City, and said he still feels roots in Toronto.

His grandmother’s house was nearby on Beverley Street and his cousin, Joe Perlove, was a sportswriter at the Toronto Star (he died in 1966). He joked that he’ll be 102 by the time the project is finished, and told the crowd to “pray for me.”

Asked about the state of architecture in the Toronto, he deferred, saying he’s no critic. But he did say “there are some nice buildings” but that a lot of it is “not exciting.”

He hopes Forma is different.

“Every once and a while you find a kernel of truth and beauty, I’m hoping this is one of those.”

May Warren is a Toronto-based housing reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @maywarren11