Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

The event in the atrium of BCE Place was well attended and had all the major newspapers there. Can't wait to read tomorrow's reports!

I came back after my lunch meeting and the displays were still up and it was great watching the curious office workers gathering to look at the display and selecting their favorite.

I think it's great the display will now move to Square One and Mississauga City Hall for public display and comments.

Looking forward to the winning design sometime in March, and a groundbreaking soon after that!

Louroz
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

I think most of the runners up are decent, however the finalists seem a little unrealistic in terms of being built and working in their intended fasion. Zeidler is the one exception with Ma second.
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

For better viewing...

finalists.jpg


runners2.jpg


All good stuff. I can picture them all going up in a Chinese city skyline someday! :)
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

can we build all these tower through out toronto??
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

here's the press release.....

Attention News Editors/See CNW Photo Network and Archive:

Great design vital to success of new condominium projects
TORONTO, Jan. 30 /CNW/ - There is one thing Danny Salvatore and Sam
Crignano agree on: When it comes to condominiums, great design truly matters.
Mr. Salvatore, president of Fernbrook Homes and Mr. Crignano, a principal
in Cityzen Development Group, have put their money where their beliefs are.
They jointly sponsored a ground-breaking international architectural design
competition for the fourth tower at their new Absolute Community in
Mississauga.
While the design call drew more than 600 inquiries, 92 firms from every
continent wound up submitting design proposals. From among them a blue-ribbon
panel of judges has selected six finalists:

1. Nicholas Boyarsky, Boyarsky Murphy Architects; United Kingdom

2. Michel Rojkind, rojkind arquitectos; Mexico

3. Roland Rom Colthoff, Quadrangle Architects Limited; Canada

4. Sebastian Messer, Studio MWM; United Kingdom

5. Yansong Ma, MAD office; United States of America

6. Tarek El-Khatib, Zeidler Partnership Architects; Canada

Each will be awarded an honourarium to help underwrite the cost of
preparing final design submissions; the winner will be awarded the contract to
create a 50-plus storey tower on the northeast corner of Hurontario Street and
Burnhamthorpe Road, the anchor for the pair's successful new Absolute
Community located at the most important crossroads in Mississauga.
Why go to the trouble? Why spend the money? Why search the world for
bold, innovative ideas?
"We believe strongly that there are both aesthetic and commercial
benefits to great design," says Mr. Salvatore. "Above all, great design
endures and creates lasting value and that is what we want to create for our
customers, the families who will make Absolute their home."
The GTA condominium market has matured, he says. With maturity comes
increased levels of buyer sophistication and knowledge.
"As the market changes, those in our industry who will continue to be
successful will be builders who recognize the value that excellent design
brings to projects," says Mr. Crignano.
Days are gone when builders could erect projects, which were little more
than reworked apartment buildings, series of rectangular bays stacked on atop
the other, he says.
Condominiums are intrinsically different from rental units, he adds.
"Rentals are intended for shorter term stays, for a more mobile market.
Condominiums must reflect the demands of permanency," he says. "Look at
European markets. In major centres across the continent, more families own
condominiums than lowrise homes and they become part of a family's legacy. For
that to happen here we simply must pursue excellence in design and in quality
of craftsmanship and materials."
A landmark project must also deliver benefits to neighborhoods,
communities and the cities they represent, the pair says.
There is another reason for staging an open international competition,
says Antonio Gomez-Palacio, a partner in Office for Urbanism Inc., the
planning and design firm retained to oversee the competition.
The open nature of this competition has meant that young, innovative
architects have been able to compete on the same footing as old established
firms, he says. "There was no requirement for things like CVs or portfolios of
past work. The aim was to attract the broadest possible spectrum of
architectural talent."
Mr. Gomez-Palacio says the result is 92 of the world's top designers
working on the challenge instead of the handful that a competition based on
invitations would bring.
"You have almost a hundred of the brightest minds in the field submitting
their ideas," he says. "In international architectural circles this has been a
near historic event. Not only was it an open competition but an open
competition for a condominium tower, sponsored by private not public
interests."
The Absolute partners hope is that the competition will also introduce to
Canada, design and construction techniques and materials new to the market.
"Developers tend to have blinkered vision, a situation forced on them by
circumstances," says Mr. Salvatore. "We believe approaching this project in
this fashion will prove a breath of fresh air, a new window onto the latest
trends and techniques in other cities, other nations."
As both men agree, great design matters and their support of a
groundbreaking way to approach condominium design simply smoothes the path.
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

The Boyarsky is interesing but seems to me what the OCAD extension would look like if it were built as a condo. I hope it doesn't get built- it looks, crappy in ways.

The Rojkind looks to much like the Beijing Olympics Stadium to me. It would be a landmark tower, but from the rendering I couldn't bare to look at it. But, it would make an impression on the overall skyline.
stadium1.jpg


The Colthaff reminds me off the 70s era apartments put up in Port Credit, especially The Century (the tallest), that has the "random" kind of balcony arrangement. I also don't think it fits in with the other buildings (at least the two being built). Btw, does anyone have the rendering for the third tower, I haven't seen it out yet.

The Messer just looms weird to me. Looks like a techno club exploded and the colours got splattered all over the building. I wouldn't mind if it were built became it stands out, but I hope they use more interesting glass colours.

The MA is the one I'm hoping for. It stands out, it's noticeable, and it makes a statement. I question how it will fit in with the current two buildings or the live/work residences.

I fear the Steing will get built. It's interesting in a way, but seems to cautious. It also includes the design for the fifth tower (or is that an alternate design for the third) and I find that they look...crappy. It would work, and it stands out but it's not a "landmark" to me as much.

The Canadian designs suck. The weird colour schemes for 1,3 and 4 suck. 2 and 5 look like they are copies of other (5 looks fimiliar)

Therefore I'm supporting 4 all the way.
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

It looks like it'll probably be between Ma and Rojkind. Both would be striking additions to Mississauga.
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

It looks like it'll probably be between Ma and Rojkind. Both would be striking additions to Mississauga.

As striking as either of these would, I think the winner will be the one that has units that offer best/most usable space. The irregular floor plate shape of both the Ma and Rojkind suggest that there will be considerable wasted space in some units. The other four buildings would allow for more traditional floor plans. I'm guessing it will end up being the Stein. Possible the Messer, if they want to get away from the box.
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

After visiting Mississauga City Hall tonight and seeing much larger renderings, I retract some of what I said earlier about the finalists.

I now like the the Colthoff (Quadrangle) better than I did. It still looks somewhat 70s retro to a degree, but the HUGE balconies at the corners would make for pretty interesting outdoor spaces for these places.

I like the Stein (Zeidler) one more now too. Yes it's comparitively restrained, and no it's not iconic, but it's really diginified and nicely proportioned, and it does have some subtle colourful touches to the cladding. It would definitely sell - I think they left Fernbrook with some outs if they don't want to go too crazy with these.

I'm still hot to see the Ma win though. That one would be noticed throughout the world.

42
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

The Absolute Mississauga - International competition designs will be on view in the Great Hall of City Hall until February 9. From there it will be moved to the Centre Court of the Square One Shopping Centre.

Thanks to interchange 42, Jerrek, Observer Walt and a new UT member from SCC, Tuscani1 for attending the session tonight and helping shape Mississauga City Centre's future!

Louroz
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

Those are some interesting designs. How about a few of those for the Bay and Dundas area?
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

Mississauga aiming higher
Architecture is looking way up thanks to design contest for condo tower
Jan. 31, 2006. 01:00 AM
CHRISTOPHER HUME


Pretty soon we won't have Mississauga to kick around any more.

For decades, this unlovely bedroom community built around a shopping mall has been shorthand for untrammelled suburban sprawl, the very model of a late 20th-century car-based community.

No longer. In the future, if Mississauga gets its way, it will become a real city, not one of those ad hoc population centres formed at the crossroads of highways where land is cheap and plentiful. Those days are over.

Yesterday, two builders, Cityzen Development Group and Fernbrook Homes, announced the finalists of an international competition to design a 52-storey condo tower on the northeast corner of Hurontario St. and Burnhamthorpe Rd. It will be the fourth and most prominent of a five-tower complex called Absolute.

Of the 92 submissions received, six have been chosen for the second phase of the competition.

Such a competition is unheard of, especially for a condo, especially for Mississauga.

The short list includes Toronto's Quadrangle Architects and the Zeidler Partnership, Boyarsky Murphy Architects and Studio MWM from the U.K., the MAD office from the U.S. and rojkind arquitectos of Mexico City.

The proposals range from the elegant conservatism of the local firms to a remarkably sensual offering from MAD and Michel Rojkind's strikingly multi-faceted tower.

The American entry, instantly dubbed the "Marilyn Monroe Building," could well be the closest architecture has ever come to replicating the female form, with the possible exception of Frank Gehry's "Fred and Ginger Building" in Prague. This singular structure curves and twists as it rises provocatively Ñ sexily Ñ from its glass-enclosed atrium.

By contrast, Michel Rojkind has wrapped his building in an enormous asymmetrical "mesh" of concrete and steel. It looks organic, though in a machined way, sculptural and vase-shaped, not simply futuristic, but post-futuristic, post-apocalyptic even.

In either case, the result would be an architectural icon that would alter perceptions of Mississauga once and for all. Perceptions being more important than reality, this project could be the one that leads to the suburbs' new urban future.

The winner won't be announced until March, and the developers, or rather the jury, can take the safe way out and still have done its job honourably.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
`The new Mississauga has started. It's still preliminary, but as the city has grown we need to change'

Edward Sajecki, jury member

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Even if they do, however, the competition is the most visible sign to date that it's not business as usual in Mississauga. Though a vast amount of work has yet to be done Ñ much of it rehabilitation Ñ better late than never.

"The new Mississauga has started," declared planning commissioner and jury member Edward Sajecki. "It's still preliminary, but as the city has grown we need to change. The old Mississauga was car-oriented. Now we have to get rapid transit."

As Mississauga city manager Janice Baker pointed out: "The question is how do you create a city centre out of all these parking lots? It's clear the future will be dense, vertical and transit-based. In the past the market for that wasn't there, but now that market is there. The time has come. The challenge for us is to manage where growth goes."

The first clue that Mississauga wanted to change course came way back in 1986 when that city's civic centre opened. Designed by the now defunct partnership Jones and Kirkland, it stands out on the anonymous landscape of Canada's sixth-largest city, one of very few instances of genuine architectural excitement in Hazelville.

Speaking of Hazel McCallion, the longest-serving mayor in the known universe, she also showed up at yesterday's press conference. "We had an opportunity to build a city," she said, almost wistfully, "and maybe make it different."

She also reminded her audience that Mississauga's city core "started 35 years ago in a hay field."

Some would say those fields should have been left as they were, but those days are gone. Though McCallion and her bunch made a hash of it, now it seems the lights have finally gone on. If Mississauga is to remain viable, it has to change and change fast. It's exactly the kind of abjectly auto-dependent suburban centre threatened by gridlock and rising fuel prices.

Paradoxically, one of Mississauga's assets now is the ocean of parking lot that surrounds the Square One mall. Once big enough to accommodate 8,000 cars, it seems poised to become ground zero for much of Mississauga's urban future.

More evidence of Mississauga's growing desire for urbanity comes tonight when a discussion of public spaces Ñ Placemaking Ñ will be held at the Noel Ryan Auditorium, 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W. The session, which goes from 7 to 9 p.m., will examine how to make the city more pedestrian-friendly.

And just last year, Mississauga City Council approved the largest high-density development in its history. The scheme will include 5,300 units in 30 buildings, one a 50-storey tower.

As McCallion noted yesterday without any trace of irony: "It's so easy to build a box."

She should know. Now it seems even Her Worship has embraced the need to look beyond that box.
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

I hope the Zieder proposal is just to have more cdn content, and not a serious finalist. Geez, you wouldn't have need a competition if that design wins.
 
Re: Architects from 70 Countries bidding for Absolute Projec

and the National Post...good details, except for Hazel's remarks about Pudong....

Great design coming to Mississauga
Finalists for condo contest include the curvy and the wildly colourful

Michael Peeling
National Post


Tuesday, January 31, 2006



An international design competition has produced six striking finalists to build a landmark Mississauga condominium tower that could reach 69 storeys into the sky.

The six proposals -- including a curvaceous silver tower and a multi-coloured skyscraper wrapped in a ''twisting, elliptical screen'' -- were unveiled yesterday by Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion at BCE Place's soaring atrium in downtown Toronto.

The tower, to be developed by Fernbrook Homes and Cityzen Development Group, will be a key part of Mississauga's efforts to transform its downtown.

Fernbrook received 92 proposals from around the world. The site at the corner of Burnhamthorpe Road and Hurontario Street will be part of a four-building condo complex called Absolute Community. Two of the buildings are already under construction.

The proposals, all over 50 storeys, were chosen by a panel of judges. The six finalists include two from Toronto, two from the United Kingdom and one each from the United States and Mexico:

- Kenyon Jin of MAD architects of the United States said his firm's curvaceous design was inspired by feminine shapes. He said the "very intuitive" design will make for functional living space.

"This sort of stuff is doable," Mr. Jin said. "It's just a matter of making it believable to other people."

- Sebastian Messer and his collaborators at Studio MWM of the United Kingdom submitted the multi-coloured, 69-storey design, which towered above the other five. It features floors filled with stores and restaurants, not just condos.

"We came up with a sort of doughnut plan," Mr. Messer said. "So there's a great, dramatic open space up the middle of it. The whole building is wrapped in this twisting, elliptical screen."

The screens shield residents and their patios from the elements -- especially the rain Mr. Messer sees so much of in the north of England -- and open up when they want to get some fresh air.

Huge adjustable panels on the roof will keep the entire building lit from within by reflecting natural light into the open core, which spans the height of the building.

- Gerald H. Stein of Zeidler Partnership Architects of Toronto designed a chrome, two-towered approach to the project.

- Michel Rojkind of Mexico's rojkind arquitectos submitted a design that features an exoskeleton of metal and randomly shaped windows.

- Roland Rom Colthoff of Toronto's Quadrangle Architects Limited submitted a cylindrical design with jutting square terraces.

- And U.K. architect Nicholas Boyarsky of Boyarsky Murphy Architects proposed a design combining three rectangular towers that each feature random black, white and grey window schemes.

Ms. McCallion said she was impressed during a recent trip to Pudong, China, with the uniqueness of each building. She told her guide she wanted to send Canadian architects over to Pudong to learn and was surprised to learn most of the buildings were designed by Canadians.

"It showed me that we must cash in on the creativity and pool of talent we have in Canada," Ms. McCallion said. "I'm looking forward to that very unique building going up at that very prestigious corner in Mississauga."

The beginning of the contest's final stage comes just one day before tonight's public meeting at Noel Ryan Auditorium, 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W., at 7 p.m., where city officials will share plans to enhance and add parks and other open spaces to the city centre.

The plans are the culmination of a series of earlier meetings involving Mississauga residents, businesses, builders, developers and interest groups.

The winning design in the Absolute Community condo contest will be announced in mid-March, possibly at the top of the CN Tower.

Updates on the contest can be found at Yourabsolute.com.

The six finalists for Mississauga's Absolute Community condo contest: Clockwise from top left, Sebastian Messer's 69-storey design, which towers above the other five; the curvaceous submission from MAD architects of the United States; Michel Rojkind's design, which features a metal exoskeleton; Roland Rom Colthoff's submission, with its jutting terraces; Gerald H. Stein's two-tower design; and Nicholas Boyarsky's three-tower plan. The winning design will be announced in mid-March.
 

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