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This is 99% Invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

It's a big majestic building on Nathan Phillips Square.

And this is my friend Sean Cole in Toronto, Ontario.

New City Hall. It's formed totally of concrete.

There are these two towers that sort of curve like hands, cupped around a clamshell.

So this was a big deal.

When it opened in 1965.

The first modern concrete civic building for Toronto inserted very prominently into the Victorian fabric.

Masha Kelman used to work in the city planning office in the East Tower on floor 19. She's an architect.

The building really explored and exploited the possibilities of concrete.

Everything was about concrete in Toronto back then.

The play of opacity versus transparency and everything.

So the furniture really picked up on that.

Yes, even the office furniture inside City Hall was made in part of concrete.

But let's back up.

In the 50s Toronto decided that it needed a new City Hall.

So there was an international competition.

And in 58 there was a design selected by Finnish architect, Billio Revelle.

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