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Over a billion-dollar development and Salter Pilon’s Interior Design team created the dynamic interiors for the Casino’s Gaming, Dining, Hotel and Theatre spaces. Imagination led the charge in creating this immersive playground through clever detailing that combines a range of materials, from innovative to luxuriant. Inspired by Canada’s most iconic landscapes and natural wonders, this design invites guests in to be delighted and entertained throughout the many and varied experiences and venues within the world-class complex.
The redevelopment of Woodbine Casino into Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto is a pinnacle project for Great Canadian Entertainment. This flagship location in the family of Ontario sites redeveloped by GCE is the largest and newest Casino Resort in Canada and is considered a world-class destination.
The 33-acre resort has been designed by CGL Architects in association with Chris Dikeakos Architects within the overall Woodbine Masterplan. Salter Pilon Architects were integrated into the team to design the interior spaces of this new development.
The component pieces of the expanded resort are:
The architectural planning of the gaming precinct established two grand lobby spaces that connect the extensive gaming floor with the racing and performance venue at the western end and the hotel on the eastern end.
The design challenge for the Salter Pilon Interior Design team was to unify the massive public spaces and create a distinctive guest experience. The team was tasked with creating contemporary luxury and pleasure for the visitors while simultaneously maintaining fiscal restraint and supporting the complex needs of operations and security.
A space this large calls for a big theme. The client brand is proudly Canadian. The diverse natural beauty of Canada is the inspirational force behind Oh Canada! A landscape to discover…
The design narrative for the interior was built on layered metaphorical references to the geography of this epic country, including the Great Lakes and seaway, Canadian shield, prairies, western forest, northern lights and eastern coastal & island landscapes. Beyond the gaming floor, influences include mountains, arctic tundra & ice, as well as the rich mineral resources of the land.
At the western Grand Lobby, where Theatre and Casino connect, the sleek and curvaceous Signature Bar invites you to meet up under a sparkling sky to start your entertainment adventure. You may feel like you are on a yacht, with the sky dancing above and the city lights before you.
Once you have entered the Casino, the water influence carries around to the gaming service bar and dock of the port lands influenced Casual Restaurant. The materials, colours and forms used here create one of the many focal points used to define landmark features that articulate the overall interior landscape.
Each guests’ experience is their own as they traverse the gaming floor and discover the landmarks around them. The bespoke carpet is a stylized interpretation of Canadian shield rock and water. The expansive Big Sky view of the gaming floor is punctuated with the glowing highlights of the ceiling grid fins, varied reflective columns and the Cashier landmark of brilliant blue, prairie gold and cloud patterned stone.
The Copperhorn Meet House restaurant is a western influenced destination – a bold and dynamic space to enjoy Canadian beef. The patron experience of the space is elevated with faceted wood ceilings, sculptural suspended lighting, metallicized mosaic, art glass and hangings.
East Coast hospitality shines through in the Food Hall details inspired by boat sheds, docks and the sculptural patterns created by water and sand. Suspended pendant lights in the dining court suggest paper boats, bobbing in the ceiling waves. Subtle Sable Island influence connects with trackside activity and the horseracing glimpsed through the glass wall.
The eastern Grand Lobby is a soaring promenade where patterns in the flooring, ceiling panels and lighting build anticipation and draw visitors in towards the Hotel and Casino. At the eastern Casino entrance – curved bulkheads, carved with organic lines of light, welcome players to the gaming floor and peel back a view to the striking digital mural that wraps the Northern Lights Bar.
The Northern Lights bar, which straddles the lobby and gaming areas, is designed to delight with its many reflective details and animated lighting. The layered blues and silvers of carved metal, glass mosaic, rich quartz, reflective wallcoverings and sinuous drapes of beaded curtains form the scintillating canvas, upon which the programed lighting plays, bringing to life the eponymous bar’s theme.
The bar millwork bisects the space, creating two separated seating spaces to serve guests on both sides of the gaming floor boundary. Beaded curtains drop from a central ovoid cove that is the source of the RGB illumination. Each seating area features distinctive sculptural suspended lighting.
The Hotel interior draws form, texture and colour from the arctic tundra with expansive intensity and astonishing details. Ice in all its forms balanced with the surprising blooms of Alpine Meadows inspire the finishes and furnishings of the Hotel lounges and lobbies. The elegant craft aesthetic of guest rooms provide sanctuary with calming textures, warm colours and tranquil images.
