My visit to Toronto (Pt. 2):Corus Entertainment, Design & Media Heaven

By the far the most exciting part of our trip to Toronto was our friend taking us on a tour of his workplace Corus Quay, the headquarters of Corus Entertainment. We always hear people talk about real estate porn when talking about sexy buildings. Well here's some media and design porn for you; drop dead gorgeous from head to toe. As a growing media junkie and design lover this was an hour of complete extacy.

Corus Quay is one of those workplaces you think only exist in the United States, especially Silicon Valley or Disney, but don't think you'll see in Canada. Animators had dolls and figurines of famous characters like Goofy and Caillou all over their desks as they worked. The staff lounge was a lot of fun with a foosball table and edgy and creative furniture. Every floor was uniquely designed and painted, each floor with bright colours on the wall. All of the offices are open concept even those of the executives.

Every major Corus brand- Cosmo TV, Oprah Winfrey Network, Women's Network, Nickelodeon, Q107- has its own uniquely designed board room inspired by the brand.

Also adding to the beauty of the building, as a part of their occupancy agreement with the City of Toronto Corus Entertainment agreed to invest $25 million in art for the facility.

When we walked over to the merchandise wall the merchandise guy ended up giving my son a Backyardigan toy. He also took us over to the merchandise closest and gave me son two bags of toys and clothes.

We then headed over to the production area where a guy named Dan showed us the work he was doing on the YTV cartoon Sidekick. One of our last stops was Master Control where all the magic happens.

I left the tour inspired as an aspiring media professional with an entrepreneurial streak. People deserve to have a great place to work and Corus definately provides that. I hope to see this calibre of media in our city in the future.

Below you will find the pictures I took on our tour. Don't get too excited.

Kevin Bourne

reinventingottawa.blogspot.com

 Every one of these ceiling pieces rotates electronically creating a wave effect

 

Slide from the staff lounge to the lobby

This wall was made from reclaimed wood from a 1910 ferry terminal wharf in the Toronto harbour

Five-storey living wall

Behind this wall is a multi-use studio for Country Music Televison (CMT), YTV, etc.

 

Front Lobby

Front Lobby

Another lounge overlooking Lake Ontario

Corus' many Emmys and Geminis

Training Room looking out onto downtown

Training Room terrace looking out onto downtown

 

The Bourne Clan

Sugar Beach from the Training Room terrace

Main Board Room

Another terrace facing the land and Toronto Islands

Corus' many media brands

 

Cosmo TV Board Room

Main staff lounge

The most beautiful woman in the world

The Chorus-themed Board Room

The W Network Board Room

Merchandise Wall

Merchandise storage room with the merchandise guy (left with two bags of stuff)

The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) Board Room

Staff Lounge

The cutest boy in the world lounging

KJ and Auntie Claudia standing on the glass floor

Dan showing us his work in progress on the YTV cartoon Sidekick

Heading up to the radio stations

Q107 Board Room

102.1 The Edge Board Room

Master Control, where the magic happens

Back to the front lobby