![AZ Awards Finalist 2023: The Destructor by SvN Architects + Planners, Canada](https://az-media.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/awards/2023/06/15151849/Azure-AZ-Awards-2023-Urban-Design-Unbuilt-Developments-The-Destructor-SvN-Architects-Planners-Canada-Hero.jpg)
After hiring Toronto firms SvN and ERA to revamp the Wellington Destructor — an abandoned garbage incinerator with Romanesque arches and ruddy brickwork — developer TAS asked the architects to brainstorm possible uses for the site. They in turn settled on a design that includes a performance space, lecture hall, café and winter garden. The concept may lack obvious cohesion, but that’s the point: To allow for synergy, the venue can’t be over-programmed, as cultural spaces in the city so often are. Soon, a building that once housed flaming piles of trash will be lit up by the spark of creativity.
![AZ Awards Finalist 2023: The Destructor by SvN Architects + Planners, Canada](https://az-media.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/awards/2023/06/15151919/Azure-AZ-Awards-2023-Urban-Design-Unbuilt-Developments-The-Destructor-SvN-Architects-Planners-Canada-03-1.jpg)
Team Sam Dufaux and Drew Sinclair with Fraser Plaxton, Jade Manbodh and Calli Mingopoulos (SvN); Annabel Vaughan and Michael McClelland (ERA); Marc Ryan and Laura Ettedgui (Public Work); Jamie Dabner (Integral Group); Paddy Harrington (Frontier)
Soon, a Toronto building that once housed flaming piles of trash will be lit up by the spark of creativity.