3/9/2013 6:44:28 PM

March 5, 2013
The 14th annual Doors Open Toronto presented by Great Gulf will offer residents and visitors an opportunity to take a peek behind the doors of nearly 150 architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings across the city on Saturday, May 25 and Sunday, May 26.

This year's theme, Creators, Makers and Innovators, will feature many older buildings that have been redesigned, re-invented and re-purposed into modern 21st-century spaces that host collaborative teams of imaginative people who are creating new ways of thinking, making and doing.

Some new additions to the 2013 building lineup are particularly representative of this year's theme:

The Toronto Carpet Factory (67 Mowat Ave.) is a historically listed, turn-of-the-century manufacturing facility that has been re-birthed into a thriving centre of creativity, a beacon for over 125 innovative businesses in the fields of interior design, marketing, entertainment, fashion and public relations. http://www.yorkheritage.com/properties/tcf_main.asp

The Munk School for Global Affairs (1 Devonshire Pl. and 315 Bloor St. W.) previously a historic observatory and meteorological observation centre, now houses a global platform of innovative research into some of the most important issues facing the modern world. http://munkschool.utoronto.ca

The Riverdale Hub (1326 Gerrard St. E.) is a grassroots community-based social enterprise. Through renovation and retrofitting, this once-crumbling, century-old building became the vibrant, cutting-edge, 90 per cent energy efficient Riverdale Hub. Home to co-location office space and a number of social enterprises, including a catering enterprise, event space and art gallery, the Hub promotes community economic development with transformative art and grassroots revitalization projects. http://www.riverdalehub.ca

Daniels Spectrum (585 Dundas St E.) is an exciting new cultural landmark in the heart of the Regent Park Revitalization. Since opening in September 2012, this colourful new facility has become a destination for culturally-diverse performances, celebrations, and community and public events. The building features a large performance venue, programming and administration space for arts organizations and a new location for the Centre for Social Innovation. http://www.regentparkarts.ca

The industrial brick building that now houses the internationally acclaimed Harris Institute (118 Sherbourne St.) dates back to the early 1900s when it was originally a box manufacturing plant. Repurposed in the late 1970s as The Door Store and Turn of the Century Lighting, it was converted into a world-class innovative recording studio and music education and production space in 1995. Visitors will have an opportunity to observe recording sessions in progress, hear students perform live and attend a lecture on the future of the new music industry with institute president John Harris. http://www.harrisinstitute.com

In addition to rare access to these centres of innovation and creativity, popular buildings being featured again this year include the R.C. Harris Water Filtration Plant, the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital, the MaRS District Building, the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre, Osgoode Hall, the Canada Life building, Old City Hall and the Citytv-OMNI Television building.

Since its inception in 2000, Doors Open Toronto has attracted more than two million visits to nearly 600 unique locations across the city. It is Canada's largest Doors Open event and one of the three largest Doors Open events in the world. Doors Open Toronto is produced by the City of Toronto in partnership with the broader community. A complete list of venues for 2013 will be released at the end of April. Look for updates at http://www.toronto.ca/doorsopen, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DoorsOpenTO and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/DoorsOpenTO.