URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE
THE MONTREAL PHENOMENON TRENDS IN DESIGN INDUSTRIAL CROSSINGS + A CITY DISTRICT REBORN SAVING THE METROPOLITAN BIBLE CHURCH Cover The illuminated lightbox enclosing Tableau’s model suite, designed by Cecconi Simone. CONTENTS
45 14 23 THE FRONT FEATURES 6 A year in our life Project launches, building completions, 15 Trends in Design, the Big Picture and more... TRENDS IN DESIGN Five designers, five nights: A roundup of our 2010/2011 12 4+ people we like Trends in Design Series The Core Guys, Elaine Cecconi, jojoflores and the Brothers McCann 23 OUR PORTFOLIO IN 2011 14 4 things we like Our buildings in 2011, some in bricks and mortar, some Kitchens that disappear, total flex space, killing still in the computer your unit and super fast internet 32 A CITY DISTRICT REBORN The West Don Lands began its life as a dockside working THE BACK class neighbourhood. Today it’s being transformed as part of the largest urban renewal project in North America 42 Condo Development 101 How to launch a project, in 10 easy steps 36 THE MONTREAL PHENOMENON Why so many Montreal designers are landing big jobs in Toronto
40 LANDING THE PERFECT SITE How our current Toronto development sites stack up, and what we went through to get them
44 44 Architecture Industrial Crossings
45 Art Shayne Dark’s Explosive Creations
46 Heritage Preservation How we saved the Metropolitan Bible Church (and was it really worth it?)
48 REAR VIEW 36 MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL
1 Unlike anything else... The first residential development on Toronto’s new waterfront, River City is designed by Montreal-based Saucier+Perrotte to look unlike anything else. LEED Gold, carbon neutral, and surrounded by some of the city’s most spectacular urban parks, it is Toronto’s groundbreaker for the twenty-first century.
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Rendering is an artist’s impression. Prices are subject to change without notice. E.&O.E. PHASE ONE: 2010 BILD AWARD BEST BUILDING DESIGN NOW UNDER CONSTRUCTION 4 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE get backto usat We hopethatyouenjoythecontentfollows, andifyoudo,please marketing help,youknowwhere to go. this magazinefor us. Soifyoulike thelook ofwhatfollows andneed the the piecesinhere, andalsohassoldcondosfor usinhispastlife. Andalso based marketing professional butalsopart-timewriterwhowrote manyof it happen.Inourcasethere are two: In every magazine, there are acoupleofkey contributors thathelpmake Metropolitan BibleChurch (andaskwhetheritwas really worth it). explain howwe spentupwards of$1millionto preserve thefaçade ofthe the 60foot sculpture thatpierces the“table” ofourTableau project; and project to market; introduce youto ShayneDark,theartistbehind“Nova”, Finally, we give youalittletaste ofwhat’sinvolved ingettingacondo designers ontheToronto development scene. that we infact hadalarge handincreating: thearrival ofMontreal And onPage 36,in component). massive revitalization (ofwhichourRiver Cityproject isamajor the city’sconsciousnessfor thepastthirtyyears, butistoday undergoing a hoarding attheWest DonLands, anarea ofToronto thathasbeenoutside In a entertaining andinformative, andwe recount themstarting onPage 15. country’s best-knowndesigners, theseevenings were fast paced, in Ottawa from September2010 to February 2011. Featuring someofthis a setoffive design-related evenings thatwe ran atourCentral salesoffice Partner David Wex See younext year. www.facebook.com/UrbanCapital have beeninvolved in2010 and2011. Like our But inthepagesaheadwe alsolookatsomeoftheotherthingsthatwe milestone for us(albeit, we were 10th). activity allowed usto hitthe underway inthepasttwelve months. Alloftheabove Toronto-based Ottawa were eithercompleted,hadsaleslaunches, orsawconstruction get Trinity Towns we hadafewofthem: foremost, obviously,would beourproject launchesandcompletions, and occurrences thattook placeinourworld over thelastyear. First and In this, then,ourinaugural issue, we lookatsomeofthebigevents and of thingshave influencedus. what we’ve beenupto, what’sbeenhappeningaround us, andwhatkinds much for ourselves asfor peopleinterested inus, we wanted arecord of reason thatwe decidedthisyearto start anUrbanCapital annual.As so oftento have somethingto holdonto andkeep asarecord. It’sfor this In aworld where everything isdigital, andoftenfleeting,it’sniceevery Walsh Group City DistrictReborn in Toronto, and [email protected] , oneofour“go-to” marketing agencies, whichdesigned The Montreal Phenomenon Boutique , starting onPage 32,we take youbehindthe op10 p To Central . , River City in GTA salesbyvolume in2010, abig Austin Macdonald , oronourfacebook page: Phases 1and2 , Nicholas Trends inDesign , we lookatanewtrend , , aMontreal- Tableau Hideaway and series, in [email protected] (416) 304-0431 Toronto, ONM5V0G2 17 NelsonStreet URBAN CAPITAL PROPERTY GROUP FOR MOREINFORMATION www.centralcondominiums.com (613) 789-5475 Ottawa, ONK2P1A4 (at BankStreet) 340 McLeodStreet CENTRAL PHASE1&2 www.tableaucondos.com (416) 591-8887 Toronto, ONM5V2G9 (at RichmondStreetWest) 117 PeterStreet TABLEAU www.rivercitytoronto.com (416) 862.0505 Toronto, ONM5A1V2 (at RiverStreet) 554 QueenStreetEast RIVER CITY CURRENTLY BEINGSOLD SALES OFFICESFORPROJECTS or emailusat Register withusat GET ONOURMAILINGLIST www.urbancapital.ca www.hideawayatcentral.com www.facebook.com/UrbanCapital [email protected] www.urbaina.com and HIDEAWAY
A YEAR IN OUR LIFE September 2010 October 2010
SEPTEMBER 2010
OCTOBER 2010
We launch Trinity Towns in Toronto’s Little Italy Comprised of David Peterson and Stuart Lyon kick off forty-eight River City’s “the Big Picture” luxury David Peterson, former Ontario townhouses Premier and the Pan Am Games bid “Trends in Design” launches with an with interiors chair, and Stuart Lyon, lead designer of evening of fashion designed by Vancouver’s Olympic Village, kick off Our five-part “Trends in Design” series Cecconi-Simone, River City’s “Big Picture” series with a kicks off with Elle Canada’s Lara Ceroni Trinity Towns look at the legacy of international and a full house at Ottawa’s Schad offers that rare sporting events on surrounding Boutique, followed by a private fashion opportunity of modern design in one of neighbourhoods, and the likely impact show previewing Schad’s winter Toronto’s original downtown of the Pan Am Village going up just offerings. See page 16. neighbourhoods. south of River City. View movie at www.trinitytowns.com www.rivercitytoronto.com George Dark entertains at the second “Trends in Design” Internationally respected planner and architect George Dark, principal at Urban Strategies, talks about the changing dynamic of Canadian cities, cities that have managed to get many more things right than wrong, and have become the vanguard of the future of urban living. See page 17. www.rivercitytoronto.com River City the Richmond-Adelaide ramps bordering a halfacre urbanparkbeingbuiltunder Underpass Park, aninnovative two and Paul Raff unveil theirdesignsfor Greg Smallenberg andToronto artist Vancouver-based landscapearchitect In thesecondBigPicture installment Inside aparkthat’soutsidethebox NOVEMBER 2010 Investments andAlitDevelopments, Tableau iscentred around ahuge sold bytheendoflaunchweekend. Developed together withMalibu opened to thepublicinNovember, withover 300oftheavailable 410 units Tableau, our“condo-collaboration ofart,fashion, designandgoodtaste”, Huge responsetolaunchofour“Tableau” projectinToronto . View web pageandmovieat View movieatwww.rivercitytoronto.com designers behindthisuniqueproject. glimpse insidethemindsoftwo Saucier +Perrotte Architects offers a Picture” evenings, Andre Perrotte of any other. Inthelast ofour“Big Award, Winner ofBILD’s2010 BestDesign the uniquedesignofRiverCity Andre Perrottegivesapeakbehind NOVEMBER 2010 table”. Shayne Dark“belowthe by Canadianartist featuring a90’artpiece designed publicsquare Claude Cormier table”; andahuge amenities “onthe the table”; condo designed suites“above zones: Cecconi-Simone development into three divides themixed-use structural table which River City
November 2010 See page45. is aproject unlike the BigBoysClub! 10 andbringalittledesignsavvyto year, allowingusto crack theTop sold over 800unitsinToronto that City in 2010. Withthelaunchesof condominium developers bysales Capital was oneoftheTop 10 GTA As reported byUrbanation,Urban GTA condosalesin2010 Urban CapitalcrackstheTop 10in DECEMBER 2010 See page18. quick-witted presentation. discipline inafast-paced, amusingand Design demystifiesthisdesign Goss oftheOntario CollegeofArtand third “Trends inDesign”night,Julian how doesitaffectourlives? Inour What exactly isindustrialdesign,and OCAD’s JulesGoss “Trends inDesign”No.3highlights , Nicholas
December 2010 and Tableau , we River 7 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE IN OURLIFE A YEAR 8 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE want to be. amenity spacesplaceswhere youtruly small spaces, and makingcondo experience ingettingthemostout of private debrieffrom her25+years of Design series, ElaineCecconigives a In thefinalinstallment ofourTrends in Elaine Cecconiwowsthecrowd MARCH 2011
January 2011 project. Lansdowne Park stadium renewal insider’s lookonhisupcoming Robert Claiborneshared an through theages, designarchitect journey ofarchitectural progression After taking listeners onabroad “Trends inDesign”No.4 architectural movementsin Robert Claiborneexplores JANUARY 2011 See page20. See page19.
February 2011
March 2011 lifted backintoplace! façade successfully Central’s heritage page 46. about. doing itisdefinitelysomethingto write in thefirst place, theengineeringfeatin that thisfaçade shouldhave beenretained Church’s place. Whetherornotyouagree Central condominiumgoingupinthe reattached itto thestructure ofournew detached from theChurch building)and had beensittingsecurely sincebeing Central’s excavated basement(where it Bible Church’s 1930sfaçade from successfully hoistedtheMetropolitan was taken down,ourOttawa contractor weather asthedayit In similarlysnowy www.nicholasresidences.com to celebrate. before ahugeindustryparty gets underway, butnot demolished andconstruction out, Nicholas’salescentre is With theproject 100% sold construction getsunderway Nicholas 100%soldout, APRIL 2011 For more onhowwe didthis, see
April 2011 unhappy withus! any purchasers whoare willingness to take theheatwith Simone, theofficesreflect our District. DesignedbyCecconi Toronto’s Entertainment development intheheartof Boutique, our640-unit offices to theground floorof In Januarywe moved our new digs Urban Capitalmovesintoits at www.facebook.com/UrbanCapital better. Considerusconverted! and havinglotsoffriendsiseven Okay, we getit.Free mediaisgood late) andlaunchaFacebookpage Like Us!We jumponboard(alittle MAY 2011
May 2011 Join us sold outinfewer than8months. unit townhouse development was most rosy expectations, this48- construction. Beatingeven our to celebrate thestart of purchasers andthedesignteam held anintimatecocktail partyfor Towns project isreplacing, we 1960s schoolthatourTrinity underway ontheabandoned With demolitionalready in style is soldoutandbreaksground Trinity BellwoodsTownhomes JUNE 2011
June 2011 www.rivercitytoronto.com mid to late2012. Expect Phase1completionin matter ofmonths, notyears. City’s structure willbeupina levels. Becauseofthis, River as aresult hasnobasement redevelopment the West DonLands Toronto isconstructingaspartof on thehugebermthatWaterfront River CityPhase1.River Citysits lands, pilingwork started on transfered usourRiver City Days afterWaterfront Toronto River CityPhase1 Construction getsunderwayat www.facebook.com/UrbanCapital jojoflores. Check outthesceneat hand-held fans andthesoundsofDJ than withtapas, margaritas, freezies, No betterway to beattheheatwave the start ofconstructionPhase2. completion atCentral Phase1,and out to celebrate theupcoming on record), over 200peoplecame topping 38degrees (thehottestday Even withtemperatures inOttawa Central –thehottestpartyintown JULY 2011 (see page32) , and
July 2011 www.rivercitytoronto.com www.hideawayatcentral.ca year’s magazine. Central. Seehowwe did innext 2 andHideaway, thethird phaseof for thelaunchesofRiver CityPhase We spentthesummergettingready City Phase2 Reving upforHideawayandRiver AUGUST 2011
August 2011 9 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE
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Rendering is an artist’s impression. All prices, sizes and specifications are subject to change without notice. E.&O.E. ELAINE CECCONI Together with business partner Anna Simone, Elaine Cecconi has set the trend in condominium interior design since the condo boom started in THE CORE GUYS the late 1990s. She’s figured out how to do big The Core guys were voted by Wallpaper Magazine as things in small spaces (See Night 5 in Trends in one of the world’s “101 Most Exciting New Architects”. Design on page 20), and how to make amenity Okay. But they were our first architects, and we their spaces act like your living room. Elaine was the first client, all starting with a meeting at Starbucks at interior designer of our first development, the corner of Queen and John back in 1995. Since WCamdenE LoftsL, whoseIK layoutsE have endured in then we have developed fifteen buildings together, pretty well every Urban Capital project since. She including our Nicholas project currently underway also did the interior design for Boutique, Tableau in Toronto and our three phase Central project in and Nicholas, and most recently our corporate Ottawa. So they still take our calls. offices. So we live with Elaine every day. 4+ PEOPLE WE LIKE
JOJOFLORES House Music’s “Mixed Tape King”, jojoflores has an international reputation for rocking the dance floor. Voted “Best International DJ” 4 year’s running by New York’s Undaground Archives, this Montreal based DJ has become the international ambassador for soulful dance music. Founder in 1999 of the infamous Therapy soirees – now enjoyed in 7 cities around the world, from Cape Town to San Francisco to Toronto – jojo is also CEO of gotsoul records. ButW the secretE LIKE little reason why we like him so much: jojo is an owner at our McGill Ouest development in Montreal, and spins for us at many of our launch parties.
THE BROTHERS McCANN What do Saddam Hussein, Bill Clinton and the Sheik of Dubai have in common? All have employed Mike or Peter McCann to do artistic impressions of their signature buildings — Mike with watercolour paint brushes; Peter with one million dollars of high-tech laser cutting machines from Austria. But while internationally renowned architectural renderer Michael McCann and equally renowned architectural model-maker Peter McCann have actually hardly ever worked together, they made an exception (as our personal friends) for our Nicholas development (see page 29), and for this they get the huge benefit of being on this page. URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL
12
4 THINGS WE LIKE
WE LIKE
Model Suite, Central Phase 1 and 2, OTTAWA TOTAL FLEX SPACE Our latest unit designs aspire to the highest degree of living flexibility. Floor-to-ceilingW rollingE doors, L upI to Kthree inE sequence, allow you to customize your living arrangement. One large space, or three distinct rooms, it’s up to you. Concept now available in Tableau, Central and River City.
KITCHENS THAT DISAPPEAR Open your kitchen up. Close it when you don’t need it. The kitchens at Tableau allow you to work the options. Custom designed by Cecconi Simone exclusively for our latest Toronto project, these kitchens include retractable doors that allow you to “put your kitchen away”. The easy way not to have to look at dirty dishes.
KILLING YOUR UNIT SUPER FAST INTERNET Heading out of your hotel room, Here’s the fastest thing to hit you pull your room card from its Canadian cities in a very long time: receptacle and kill all the lights in super high speed 100 Mb internet your suite. We’re now bringing access, brought to you by Beanfield this concept to our own units with Condoconnect. This ultra-broadband “kill switches” at your suite entry “fibre-to-the-home” network is being door. Switch it to off, and you developed with Waterfront Toronto as automatically deactivate all of the part of its “intelligent communities” lights in your suite, as well as set initiatives, and River City is the first your ventilation system to its low condominium development to get it. mode. Part of our LEED energy Among the Top 10 most sophisticated saving strategy at River City and networks in the world, there will be
URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL Central. no more waiting for the latest Hollywood gossip.
14 We live in a world of hyper-change, and nowhere more than when it comes to design. Our cities are morphing into highly urban, pedestrian-oriented places to live. Technology is allowing our buildings to take new, more organic shapes. At the same time, we’ve realized that how we feel in these buildings is far more important than any architectural theory of how they should look.
Technology, together with a changing awareness of the environment, is also impacting the products we use, the things we wear, and the interior spaces we inhabit. All are causing big changes in our lives, and sending industrial, fashion and interior design in whole new directions.
Over five intimate and interactive evenings last fall, we got up to speed on what’s going on in the design world around us, looking at design trends in city building, architecture, fashion, interior design and industrial design. Here’s how it went.
NIGHT 1 FASHION TRENDS AND SHOW
NIGHT 2 NEW THINKING IN DESIGNING CITIES
NIGHT 3 WHERE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN IS TAKING US
NIGHT 4 ARCHITECTURE IN OUR NEW CENTURY
NIGHT 5 INTERIOR DESIGN THINKS SMALL Fashion trends and show
N1 It was a dark and very rainy night last Mood 2: Mad women Night One September 16th, but inside Schad’s sexy, “Here, everything is about that polished, exposed-brick fashion boutique on Ottawa’s bourgeois dressing: cocktail dresses, tie-neck Victorian Sussex Drive it was all abuzz as we blouses, cat eye frames, and pointy pumps,” launched our Trends in Design series with a says Ceroni. Some designers, like Dolce & night of fashion talk and show. With the Gabbana, modernized the look by, for open two-storey space packed full, and example, making a necklace into an iPod surrounded by Schad’s latest offerings for holder. “The model’s outfit may be very 50s the winter season, fashion-conscious and inspired, conservative and quite lovely, but tech-savvy Lara Ceroni, Online Editor at Elle she’s still a cool chick rocking her iPod.” Canada, alighted. “Alighted — like a bird?” Mood 3: Mood-less you ask. Yes. Calvin Klein is Ceroni’s “King of “Part of the luxury of working at Elle Minimalism.” This utilitarian approach isn’t Canada is that we have the opportunity to going anywhere. “Pared-down, simple travel the world and study fashion,” says the sophistication resonates for so many women jet-setting fashion-maker, “We’re always with its sculpted, clean lines. Any woman trying our best to stay on top of the trends can wear this to look and feel confident and and see what’s happening next.” fashion-forward.” For her presentation Ceroni flew Mood 4: C’est animal through Fall-Winter 2010’s iconic looks for Some women are into a conservative, clean women, or “moods” as she prefers to call look. Others want to rebel. Ceroni identifies them, culled from the runways of Europe’s with the latter and she often acts out fashion capitals. What’s next? And what’s wearing leather. “When you throw on that next, next? leather jacket and those tall boots, you feel Mood 1: The silent treatment like you own it and there’s something very “In the age of modern technology, silence is empowering.” Lara Ceroni going to be the new luxury,” says Ceroni Mood 5: Next, next? On-line Editor, Elle Canada after having interviewed Roland Mouret, a Looking further into the future, Ceroni cited Lara Ceroni is the senior editor for French fashion designer. Today’s over- the Berlin-based illustrator who worked with ElleCanada.com. She has been involved stimulated environment leaves no mystery Elle for their October 2010 issue, which with the Elle Canada website since its or allure, which can really affect us predicted far-flung trends. “People are going launch in 2004 and oversees all editorial content that appears on the site, in physically, emotionally, and romantically. to be really into birds in the years to come. addition to assuming the role of “host” “Every story is a mere mouse-click away.” Birds are symbols of life and beauty. There is for a multitude of ElleCanada.com The women of Mouret’s collection were so much artifice in our world, we’re seeing a videos which encompass exclusive dower, wore black hoods and were enveloped re-focus on the importance of nature, which is industry events, as well as fashion and in fabric. Mouret offered that in a busy and being reflected in fashion trends and design. beauty launches. frenetic world people craved silence, Birds will become a metaphor for freedom. wanting to be embraced and cocooned. “It sounds a bit cooky, but it’s true,”
URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL At Elle, Ceroni calls it “monastic chic.” says Ceroni before flying away.
16 New thinking in designing cities
N2 George Dark, partner at Toronto-based urban cities, and against unrecoverable, inefficient, Night Two design consultancy Urban Strategies and sprawling, suburban communities. head of Ottawa’s Downtown Urban Design Unbeknownst to the urban planners that Strategy, decodes how civilizations change preceded him, the post-war, middle-class, over time and plans the future of cities for bedroom communities turned out to be their future citizens. municipal infrastructure time bombs. “The “You have to get out front of creating suburbs require massive amounts of public your city, you can’t simply stay behind it and resources after they’re built. When it comes do the criticism,” he says. “We’re currently time to replace the infrastructure, the cost is doing a plan for Ottawa’s Centretown and staggering,” he says. “There isn’t a prize at we’re trying to figure out where it’s going at the end of the day for having created the all different kinds of layers: What’s housing largest suburban community. They’re like? What’s open space like?” interlaced with pipes, gas, electricity and “What’s really interesting, you don’t have they’re really never going to be recapitalized a clue what that person is going to want to do into anything.” inside a city,” the urban designer explains The wheels of change are already in pointing at the youngest line at the bottom of motion: “Never underestimate people riding a demographic chart on a slide during his bikes, not because they have to but because presentation, the second of our Trends in they want to,” says Dark, talking about a new, Design speaker series. “You can bet that he or emerging breed of urbanites who are she is not going to walk to school uphill both disciples of the downtown, pedestrian ways in the snow.” lifestyle. In his 80-person office forty two of “Is the city created in 1948 actually what his colleagues don’t own cars. “You could give you need for what you are doing today? Are any of these people the keys to a five- we doing the same things?” the self- bedroom house in the suburbs. They would proclaimed Baby Boomer asks. “The post-war sell it, go for a vacation in Africa, come back, George Dark period’s suburbs were highly formulaic. They buy a condo and work out of it.” Partner, Urban Strategies involved a lot of speed and were very market “Maybe mobility should mean closer Head, Ottawa’s Downtown Urban Design driven. Uniformity was very important, like proximity, as opposed to even trying to figure Strategy rolling out carpets, eradicating farm fields out how to move people over ever larger George Dark began practice as a landscape and forest for the most simplistic city one distances.” Yet, he notes, “Intensification is architect in the late 1970s and is today one of Canada’s most visible landscape could imagine.” still a dirty word in most cities, including architects and urban designers. He has Dark loathes the era of suburbanization Ottawa.” worked throughout North America and the that occurred on the Greatest Generation’s “Some cities are really good about Caribbean, focusing over the past 15 years watch. In retrospect it was half-baked hubris discussing it in public, others a little bit less on the quality of urban environments. and sheer folly and this fills him with a form so. Here in Ottawa there has to be a lot more George is a fellow of both the Canadian and American Societies of Landscape of Boomer Guilt which in turn fueled his discussion.” Dark says. “But there’s an Architects, one of only twenty people to entertaining, hour-long screed in favour of interesting and remarkable sense of place have held joint fellowships since 1889.
reinvented, layered, mixed-use and historic here. So I have lots of hope.” MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL
17 18 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE N3 Night Three manufacturing and service sectors. integrating designsolutionsinthe in HarrisonGoss,developingand interior design.Today heisalsoapartner on todesignfurniture,housewaresand One OffStudiosinLondon,UKandgoing originally workingforRonAradinthe product designerandconsultant, University. Juleshasspent 20yearsasa Industrial DesigndepartmentatOCAD professor andprogramchairofthe Jules Gossisadesigner, consultant, Industrial DesignDepartment,OCAD Program Chair, Julian Goss today’s jobmarket, manygraduates willgo exceeds thenumber ofopportunitiesin OCAD’s Industrial Designprogram far presentation centre. opening to thefullhouseatCentral’s designer turnededucator saidbyway of bridging product andarchitecture,” the chairs. Condosare anexcellent example of everything from tooth picks, to tables and difficult fieldto encapsulate, it’shuge, design dots, from Bauhausto Walmart. breadth ofknowledge, connectingmany “No!” theycried.Gosswent onto showarare he asked theaudienceiftheywere bored. “I’m abitofdesignclicherightnow”.Later, heavy framed glasses, hepausedto realize, fondness for Appleproducts from behindhis the comedic. At onepoint,afteradmittinghis proved unfounded. Instead,Goss teetered on Glaswegian’s dark,dangerous andscaryedge slideshow ofhisindustrial-design“faves.” Scottish brogue whileflippingthrough a anecdotes, alldelivered inhisremaining sprinkled withbanter, asidesandself-effacing disarmed audienceswithapresentation bulkier brother andspeakslike SeanConnery, and staunch Canadianwholookslike Moby’s year expat from Glasgow, nowanaturalized through 150years ofindustrialdesignhistory. tabletop to leadaudiencemembers onaromp descended from hishovering, ivory, Alsop the Ontario CollegeofArtandDesign, Chair oftheIndustrialDesignDepartmentat our five-part series, JulianGoss, Program In perhapsthemosteruditepresentation of design istakingus Where industrial Although thenumberofstudents at “I findthatproduct designisavery Half-in-jest warnings aboutthis Neither academicnordull,Goss, a10- getting andallofthatstuff.” effective, functional, planet-saving,girlfriend- make somethingbeautiful,meaningful, create an amazingexperience, you’re tryingto interchangeably? “Ultimatelyyou’re tryingto product designers, terms Gossuses revolution oftheInternetage. dubious 80s, Ikea, andthedigitization birth, theunbridledfuturismof50s, the Revolution. Hezoomed inontheprofession’s history, whichbeganwiththeIndustrial dipped into industrialdesign’srelatively short brushed theirteethwithorslepton.” that peopleengagedwith,satin,ate of makingaproduct insteadofart:something “That’s where Istarted learningaboutthejoy weld andtake barked commands,” herecalled. unpaid work. “Iproved to himthatIcould volunteered himselffor atwo week stintof Arad inLondon,whichbeganwhenhe apprenticeship withindustrialdesignerRon other (Think:theiPod). singular products thatnailthezeitgeist atthe product generalization atoneend,and people, entire cultures infact, through applied anthropology thatdealswithlotsof product andexperience, industrialdesignis improvement andinvention aswell as you’re adesigneratthatpoint.” criticizing —that’sit,”saysGoss, “Essentially thinking aboutandeverything isworth understanding thateverything is worth other fields. “Ifyoucanwalk away withan on to applytheir industrialdesigntraining in Pretty straightforward. So what’sthe“x”factor for industrialor Over thecourse oftheevening Goss In 1990,Gossstarted athree-year Somewhere between artanddesign, Architecture in our new century
N4 Residents, visitors and dignitaries to Ottawa The ingredients for Claiborne’s Night Four arrive downtown from the airport by way of Lansdowne project: the way that water flows the city’s pastoral Rideau Canal, past stately past Pig Island, the little protrusion of rocks homes, green lawns and manicured gardens. and trees in the middle of the Rideau Canal At Bank Street they take in the canal’s large, just across from the stadium site. Berlin graceful curve and are hit, broadside, by the choreographer William Forsythe’s dancing gargantuan, brutal twenty storey frame of Frank trees installation in the Netherlands. The Clair stadium, the city’s 1970s football stadium undulating landscape of New York’s Storm located in the 40 acre Lansdowne Park. King Arts Centre. And West 8’s wave decks on An assault on one of the most beautiful Toronto’s waterfront (see page 17). places in the city, the stadium was approved Curves, water, movement: it is these for redevelopment in 2009. The commission things that determined the form of went to Rob Claiborne, a design architect at Claiborne’s proposal for Lansdowne Park, not Cannon Design. Born in California but today the pursuit of the form itself. Technology does living in Montreal and working out of Toronto, not change this process, it merely enables it. this Porter-setting architect was in Ottawa And what it enables is the opportunity to last January 27th to talk about architecture at really inspire people. our fourth Trends in Design evening. And so Claiborne’s proposal for the new “Technology today can let us do really Frank Clair Stadium is to fully integrate the outrageous things,” Claiborne says, but he stadium in the larger park, to have the park only supports this process if it is used in the creep into the stadium grounds on one hand, pursuit of architecture that is genuine, and have the stadium come out and engage unique and different. “You have to be able to the park on the other. Like Foresythe’s harness technology and understand that it is dancing trees. In the end: to inspire people to not the end in itself. It has to be there to be part of the stadium, whether they are support your architectural process.” there to watch an event or are just walking Robert Claiborne That process starts with what Claiborne through the park itself. Design Lead, Cannon Design calls the “public side of architecture” – the “Architecture never solves problems, I Lead Architect, Lansdowne Park Stadium gathering side, when you are meeting with mean the really big problems. If architecture Rob Claiborne is a Design Architect at others, sketching, reading. The next phase is could solve homelessness, don’t you think it Cannon Design in Toronto, with a focus the “esoteric side of architecture,” the would have by now? Yeah, I can solve the on urban, cultural and educational projects. Born and licensed in California moments you share with yourself and where problem of whether the stadium can have and based today in Montreal and your ideas start to synthesize. “It’s where you 24,000 seats. But one has to question whether Toronto, Rob has worked on numerous realize you’ve completely misunderstood that was ever a problem.” large institutional, cultural and master something, but it doesn’t matter, it’s the way Solving the stadium’s function for its planning projects throughout the world, your mind is operating at that moment.” stadium user was Claiborne’s easy task – including for many years at Studio Libeskind in Berlin. In addition to “I care about having the ingredients and solving it for the park’s user was the hard part, practicing architecture, Rob also finding the way to assemble them to provide but was more genuine to what architecture is teaches at McGill University in Montreal.
some meaning in your project.” really about. “It’s about human life.” MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL
19 Interior design thinks small
N5 The crowd murmured with a eureka moment flexible divisions and borrowed light. Night Five when Elaine Cecconi revealed the miniature “You can have space that’s totally scale she works in for Toronto’s newest compressed and closed or totally open,” she condominium projects: “The condo units are says. “It’s a really innovative approach to getting smaller and tighter – we’re looking at living. It makes spaces completely flexible cubic inches, not cubic feet.” because you’re not fixed to any specific As a result, the most forward-thinking functional requirement.” high-rise condo developers now consult with In these small interiors, kitchen islands interior designers like Cecconi very early in are a new focal point. “They’re where the design process rather than as an after- everyone tends to gather. All of this is in your thought. “We get involved in suite design at living room, so we’re trying to make the the beginning before the architecture’s set. kitchen less of a kitchen and an island that’s It’s really the interiors influencing the exteriors, more of a design element,” she says. designing projects from the inside out.” The new scale of condo also requires a With its newfound knowledge, the crowd new scale of furniture. “Initially we found later laughed with Cecconi about a 950 sf things weren’t scaled appropriately. Furniture one-bedroom layout, a relic from 1995. selections have to be a little more considered. Condo humour. The truth though: a one You’re not often going to be having a dinner bedroom of this size would be a white party for eight or ten people in 425 sf.” elephant in today’s market of 400 square foot Interesting thing, with units shrinking, one bedrooms. developers are paying a lot more attention to The architect is dead. Long live the a building’s amenities. Lobbies, party rooms, interior designer. fitness facilities or courtyards – they’ve Cecconi, a partner at Toronto-based become extensions of the suites people live interior design firm Cecconi Simone, spoke at in. “It doesn’t seem to matter what the the final installment of our Trends in Design climate is, people have a longing to be Elaine Cecconi series. Last but not least, she revealed the outdoors,” Cecconi explains about the Partner, considerable amount of interior design premium placed on well-landscaped gardens Cecconi Simone Interior Design thinking that goes into making new condo or rooftops. “Outdoor fire pits are great for Cecconi Simone is a multi- units efficient and compact yet also appealing. fall days and extending the seasons.” disciplinary interior design “I guess the question is how small can Boutique hotel lobbies have also become consulting firm which produces award winning designs for large we actually go and what do we really need to the model for condo projects’ new lobbies/ scale condominium/loft live in?” she asks. lounges, latter-day parlours, outfitted with developments and hotels, for clients High ceilings help small interiors: “The libraries and comfortable lounge seating. in the restaurant and hospitality value of a small unit is in its cubic feet; “We’ve looked at these spaces differently, we industry, for corporate clients square footage doesn’t really have any wanted to look at them more as an extension ranging from major advertising agencies to insurance companies importance anymore,” she explains. To make of your living room,” she says. “It’s about and for leading financial institutions a volume bright and spacious yet practical, having places for people to go and really and government agencies.
URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL Cecconi uses sliding glass or solid panels for meet their neighbours and hang out.”
20 OTTAWA’S #1 SELLING HIGH-DESIGN LOFT CONDOMINIUMS
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PHASE ONE PHASE TWO Rendering is an artist’s impression. All prices, sizes and specifications are subject to change without notice. E.&O.E. 22 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE www.migratinglandscapes.ca www.labiennale.org/en/architecture www.hylozoicground.com For more information: international architectural scene. Canada, andourcountry’spresence onthe our way ofsupportingexperimental architecture in Sponsoring Canada’sentriesto theVenice Biennaleis Biennale submission, Urban Capital isalsoasponsorofCanada’s2012 fronds, filters, andwhiskers. covered withanetwork ofinteractive mechanical lattice ofsmalltransparent acrylicmeshwork links, Pavilion into anartificialforest madeofanintricate architecture event. Theproject transformed theCanada most prestigious internationalcontemporary submission to the2010 Venice Biennale, theworld’s multidisciplinary creation thatwas Canada’s support All proceeds from ourTrends InDesignserieswent to Hylozoic Ground Migrating Landscapes , PhilipBeesley’s . OUR PORTFOLIO 2011 2011 15 URBAN CAPITAL ANNUAL 2011 BOUTIQUE MONDRIAN Developments. Boutique was developed jointlywith MalibuInvestments andAlit out shortlyafterbeinglaunched. hotel-style amenities, eachphaseofthedevelopment closeto sold Districts. Combining thebestofcondominiumfeatures and boutique located atthenexus ofToronto’s Entertainment andFinancial In 2011 we completedourtwo-phase, 637unitBoutiquedevelopment BOUTIQUE WEBSITE PARTNERS DEVELOPMENT DESIGNERS DESCRIPTION ADDRESS boutiquecondos.ca Malibu InvestmentsandAlitDevelopments ZAS Architects,CORE CeconniSimoneInteriorDesign Urban condominiums-twophases; 15and35floors;total637units 21 NelsonStreetand126SimcoeStreet,Toronto DETAILS 25 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE BOUTIQUE
completed in 2010/2011 MOmondrianNDRIAN Photo courtesy ofPhotolux Studio/Christian Lalonde. Interior designbyFrederic CarrierandPaul Kariouk. See credit below Mondrian was developed jointlywith Ottawa-based Taggart Group. which isenclosedinaluminescentglassscreen. condominium portionsitsatop afive storey publicparkingpodium, ground level, andaresort-inspired outdoor poolarea. The contemporary condominiumsanddouble-storey penthouses, retail at interspersed amongstrong linearelements. Thebuildingcontains 245 central businessdistrictisnotable for itsstrikingred panesofglass to Dutch painterPietMondrian,this23storey buildinginOttawa’s Also completedin2011 was ourMondrianproject inOttawa. Ahomage MONDRIAN WEBSITE PARTNERS DEVELOPMENT DESIGNERS DESCRIPTION ADDRESS urbancapital.ca/mondrian Taggart Group/Tamarack Homes CORE Architects,Toronto Urban condominiums-23floors, 245units 318 LaurierAvenue West, Ottawa DETAILS 27 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE 28 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE CENTRAL UNDER CONSTRUCTION
RIVER CITY Taggart Group. under construction.Theproject isbeing developed jointlywiththe completed thisfall. Central phase2was launchedin2010 andisnow Central phase1was launchedto thepublicinApril2008andwillbe program for usebyallresidents. water efficientfixtures, sustainable materials, andacarshare storage systems, energy efficientwindows andmechanical systems, Central’s LEEDSilver features includegreen roofs andrain water the trendy Glebeneighbourhood. the development issituatedbetween Ottawa’s downtown core and residential unitsabove. LocatedatthecornerofBankandGladstone, with retail stores and“lofthouses”attheground level, and Central isa3-phase, 515 unitLEEDSilver mixed usedevelopment,
NICHOLAS www.centralcondominiums.com TRINITY BELLWOODS www.rivercitytoronto.com Phase 1ofRiver City isnowunderconstruction.Phase 2islaunchingthisfall. tender process inwhich18nationalandinternationaldevelopers participated. Urban Capital won therightto develop River Cityin2008afteranextensive public cafes, restaurants andboutiqueswillbelike nothingelseinToronto. development ofover 1,000loft-style condominiums, family-friendly townhouses, some ofToronto’s mostspectacular urbanparks, this LEEDGold,carbonneutral Perrotte Architects, winners ofseven Governor General Awards, andsurrounded by groundbreaker for thetwenty first century. DesignedbyMontreal-based Saucier+ As thefirst phaseofToronto’s newrevitalized waterfront, River CityisToronto’s TOWN+HOMES T N R C C EC ASS T MM ARKE ET T R O A H E A T I I c V C . N W I S M A
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187RIVER6 CITY FRONT PHASES 1 & 2 STREET A CITY RIVERDISTRICT REBORN RIVER CITY BAYVIEW SQUARE PHASE 3 UNDERPASS AVENUE A CITY DISTRPARK ICT REBORN DON RIVER PARK 2011 22001115 ix thousand residences. Offices, schools and after spending $350 million on land purchases, it child care centres. Over 23 acres of parks. The was caught flatfooted by the recession of the early S80 acre West Don Lands of the future is a far 1990s, and the project was abandoned. From then cry from what it is today. until 2006 the area was pretty well forgotten, boarded up on2 King Street,0 and cut1 off from5 the First settled in the 1850s as a mix of light industrial rest of the city by1 the Don8 River 7to the east,6 the buildings, laneways and workers cottages, the West Gardiner Expressway to the south and the not-yet Don Lands by the early 1900s was home to large restored Distillery District to the west. The West factories and warehouses, including the William Don Lands was a place totally outside the Davies Company, then the British Empire’s largest consciousness of Torontonians. pork processing operation (and also the origin of 1876 Toronto’s “Hogtown” epitaph). But by the 1970s the In 2006 things finally started to look up. Not West Don Lands was done, a victim, like so many knowing what to do with this huge asset, the other factory districts, of rapid deindustrialization. province threw the West Don Lands into Waterfront Toronto’s hands, and told it to figure it For the next thirty years the area lay vacant, with out. Waterfront Toronto developed a Precinct Plan some redevelopment initiatives but no real and a more detailed Block Plan (see interview with progress. In the 1980s the province tried to kick- the plan’s Master Designer Melanie Hare on page start the West Don Land’s rejuvenation with the 35), public funds were set aside, and five years large scale “Ataratiri” housing development, but later here we are. URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL
32 A CITY DISTRICT REBORN
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Although it may not be apparent just yet, 2011 was the big year for the West Don Lands’ coming out. With $375 million in public funds already expended, 12807161 the district is now poised to take off. Over the past five years, massive (although mostly unseen) redevelopment steps have been taken. First and foremost: a “flood protection landform” has been built, necessary to protect the area from what used to The West Don Lands began its life in the mid 1850s as be frequent Don River flooding. The area’s two a dockside working class neighbourhood.2015 principal parks, the 18 acre Don River Park and the highly innovative Underpass Park, are now nearing completion. Work on our own 1,000 unit River City development is now underway. And a developer for the Pan Am Games’ Athletes Village has been announced. 1876
On the next page, an update of the various elements that will make up the West Don Lands of the future, a city district reborn. 34 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE RIVER CITY UNDERPASS PARK DON RIVERPARK FLOOD PROTECTIONLANDFORM developers participated. process inwhich18nationaland international City in2008afteranextensive public tender Urban Capitalwontherighttodevelop River residential developmentthroughout thearea. 1,200 unit4-phaseprojectwill setthebarfor Architects tolookunlikeanythingelse,this Designed byMontreal-basedSaucier+Perrotte lands underWaterfront Toronto’s management). the firstresidentialdevelopmentinallof development intheWest DonLands(and infact Our RiverCityprojectisthefirstresidential north andsouthpartoftheWest DonLands. space whileatthesametimeconnecting under theoverpasses,creatinganinvitingurban engineers boththecoveredandopenareas the overpass,UnderpassParkinnovativelyre- Defined bytheimposingconcretesupportsof Adelaide rampsintoaninnovativeurbanpark. and underusedspacebeneaththeRichmond- Underpass Parkwilltransformtheoncederelict an overpassinCanada,andthefirstToronto, The mostextensiveparkevertobebuiltunder lawns isbeingbuilt. water features,nativewoodlandsandopen the park,adenserurbanretreatofrollinghills, side oftheFPL,makingupwesternhalf wooded vegetationisprohibited.Onthe“dry” park, onthe“wet”sideofFPL,where meadows, willdefinetheeasternhalfof “prairie”, madeupofgrasslandsandwet depending onwheretheFPLitsits.Anurban result willactuallybetwoparksinone, Don Lands.TheparksitsontheFPL,andasa parks inToronto andthecenterpieceofWest city, DonRiverParkwillbeoneofthelargest Intended asadestinationparkfortheentire from flooding. area, includingToronto’s FinancialDistrict, the West DonLands,butalsoa99hectare massive earthenstructurewillprotectnotonly Area. Whencompletedinearly2012,this soil truckedinfromaroundtheGreaterToronto landform madeupof400,000cubicmetres the publiceye,FPLisahighlyengineered development toproceed.Largelyinvisible flood-plain designationandtherebyallow flood protectionneededtoremovethearea’s district’s overallrejuvenation,providingthe Landform (FPL)isthekeyfirstingredientto The West DonLand’sFloodProtection 90% complete 20% complete 40% complete 75% complete ENGINEER SIZE DESIGNER SIZE DESIGNER SIZE DESIGNER SIZE : : : : : : : : Aecon Phillips FarevaagSmallenberg Boston Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, 40,000 dump-truckloadsoffill 20 acres 2.5 acres 18 acres ZAS Architects Saucier +PerrotteArchitectsand 1,200 units COMPLETION COST COMPLETION COST COMPLETION COST COMPLETION VALUE : : : : : : : : Fall 2011 Not disclosed Late 2011(eastportion) $4.7 million Early 2012 $15 million $500 million Early 2013(Phase1) 2015 PAN AMATHLETES VILLAGE 20% affordablehousing. principally marketb buildings willbeconvertedtoamixof are completed,theVillage’s residential the overallWest DonLands.AftertheGames and willsignificantlyacceleratethebuild-outof Toronto’s strictLEEDanddesignrequirements, Precinct Plan,willcomplywithWaterfront fit withinthealreadyexistingWest DonLands Athletes Village. TheVillage willbedesignedto the 2015PanAmerican/ParapanGames River Parkhasbeenchosenasthesitefor Don A largepartoftheWest DonLandswestof An interviewwith build on? were itsphysicalattributesthat youcould limited theMasterPlan,andwhat, ifany, What werethephysicalconstraints that ability andinnovation incitybuilding. integrating thehighestlevels of sustain- and neighbouringcommunities; places thatwillbethefocal pointfor this creating gatheringpointsandpublic liveable, completemid-risecommunity; St Lawrence andothers; creating a surrounding communitiesofCorktown, many cases, thehistoric fabric ofthe design: connectingandlinkingto, in tenets to theWest DonLandscommunity From thestart, there were several key Don Lands? when youstartedoutlookingattheWest What wereyourprincipaldesigngoals yet apsychologicalgapinthecityfabric. that was physicallycloseto thedowntown downtown orinto theDonValley, and one land, aplaceto travel through to go of asanoticeablevoid offormer industrial the West DonLandswas always thought Having lived muchofmylifeinToronto, design itsMasterPlan? you werefirstretainedaspartoftheteamto Lands, andwhatwereyourviewsofit,when What didyouknowabouttheWest Don outside theconsciousnessofTorontonians. many yearsthisareahasseemedtobe Turning totheWest DonLandsitself,for and theenvironmental aspirations. spaces —imbeddingthehistory ofplace the range ofpublic andcommunity buildings, thetypesandnetwork ofstreets, place making—thescaleandcharacter of integrates key ingredients to successful community into aphysical planthat Master Planners translate thevisionfor a and whatdoMasterPlannersdo? particular, whatexactlyisMasterPlanning Before wegetintotheWest DonLandsin Melanie Hare ased andapproximately 0% complete Partner, UrbanStrategies Master PlanneroftheWest DonLands recreation to builtheritage andculture; set ofcommunityamenities, from and cyclingfriendlyplace;have arobust needed to beahighlytransit, pedestrian Lots ofthem...theWest DonLands designing theWest DonLands’ MasterPlan? What weretheotherprioritiesfor youin its ownright. neighbourhoods butwas alsodistinctin built onToronto’s legacyofgreat vibrant urbanneighbourbood,onethat needed to beahighlyliveable and in design,scaleandprogram; italso “fit” andcomplementeditsneighbours, to itssurroundings —acommunitythat Lands neededto beanatural extension two mainideaswere key: theWest Don with asingulardesignphilosophybut I prefer notto labeltheWest DonLands master planningwork? design philosophytoyour Did youbringanyparticular as UnderpassPark. active publicspacessuch opened upbynewand have beenrefreshed and Richmond/Adelaide ramps barriers suchasthe Finally, infrastructure Lands anddowntown. connecting theWest Don physically andvisually Front Street Promenade, River Park andgrand new elegant framing ofDon were realigned to create an abruptly atthesouthernedgeofsite, Bayview, whichonceterminated Don River Park. Front Street and safely habitable, isthefoundation for needed to bebuiltto make the lands a criticalpieceofinfrastructure that Lands. TheFloodProtection Landform, become key attributesfor theWest Don In manyways, thesite’s constraints have DESIGNER SIZE : : and DaoustLestage KPMB Architects,architectsAlliance 35 acres community design. and sustainability to trulybe apilotof advanced theapplicationofinnovation if anything,thedetailed designhas property alignmentsandparkdesign— components oftheplan—street designs, While there have beenrefinements to design hasstayed trueto itsinitialintent. place earlyinitsdevelopment. community hasavitality andfeelingof momentum continuesandthe impetus willcertainly ensure this under construction.ThePan Am River City,andthenew street network pace. Itis very exciting to seetheparks, 2000 andhasproceeded atatrulyrapid Don LandsMasterPlanstarted justafter chapter ofmasterplanning.TheWest provided muchofthefoundation for this Pan AmVillage nowchosen,itlookslikethe underway andthedevelopmentteamfor Park prettywellcompleted,RiverCity With theFPL,DonRiverParkandUnderpass ND Goldcertification. sustainability, demonstrated byitsLEED housing options;andpushthebaron be inclusive —offeringarange of COMPLETION VALUE In myopinion,thecommunity : : July 2015 Not disclosed charrette that community-based 1990’s witha really started inthe Don Landsdesign To beclear, theWest your originalplan? anything changedfrom so quickly?Andhas plan tobeactualized expect yourwhole five yearsago,didyou planning thisdistrict started master Given thatyouonly pretty wellinplace. West DonLandsis build-out planforthe 35 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE 36 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE BORDER TRAVELS, ANDISTHEQUEENCITYREALLY READYFORTHEM? THE TORONTODEVELOPMENTSCENE.WHAT DOTHEYSEEINTHEIRCROSS MONTREAL ARCHITECTSAREBECOMINGMOREANDPREVALENT ON P THE MONTREAL H “A film festival inthecity’s downtown the TIFFLightbox, adedicatedbuildingfor the each cityontheworld stage. as alitmustestfor thepulseand presence of architecture firmSaucier+Perrotte offers wryly red carpets,” thepartneratMontreal-based number ofA-list celebritiesthatshowuponthe decades. “You couldmeasure itintermsofthe Canada’s two largest citiesover thepastthree opposite economicandcultural destiniesof International FilmFestival, illustrating the Montreal World FilmFestival andthe Toronto significance,” Andre Perrotte observes of the For Perrotte, Toronto’s initiative to build E llez vers l’ouest vers llez have swapped placesintermsoftheir “Montreal andToronto’s filmfestivals P N H ,” Montrealers. E O N O M M renewed commitmentto to itslive entertainment epicentre withits Montreal beingableto achieve asimilar boost infrastructure. Yet heremains optimisticabout about Montreal’s oftenbrick-a-brack festival semi-permanent installations,” Perrotte says has realized youcan’tdoitallwithtentsand in plottingTIFF‘scurrent status andsuccess. Entertainment District,was adefiningmoment 5.3 percent between 2001 and2006,to reach 3.1 figures, Greater Montreal’s populationgrew by growth. According to Statistics Canada’s census Montreal, Toronto hasexperienced explosive site for manyofitsmajoroutdoor festivals. city’s performing artscentre and downtown E Lessonslearned?“IthinkbynowMontreal Over thepastdecade, compared to N E O N N Place des Arts des Place O , the N 37 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE 38 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE LUECORMIER CLAUDE side ofRichmond. are buildingacrossthestreetonnorth project, aswellthenewpublicspacewe public plazabelowthe“table”atour Toronto waterfront.Forusheisdesigningthe hugely popularCanadaSugarBeach,onthe Claude Cormieristhedesignerbehind Canada SugarBeach buildings anduniversities, butalso in thepublicsector, suchaswithcultural influences from away isevidentnotonly “That’s Toronto’s reality ofintegration.” architecture andurbandesignfirms. Canada’s mostrespected landscape Claude CormieretAssociés, oneof explains ClaudeCormier, principalat international talent. of colleagues—aheadymixlocaland and thecollegialityamongdiverse teams execution, opennessto outsideinfluences commitment to qualitydesign,rigorin drawn to theGTA byitspace, agglomerations intheworld. Theywere of onethefiftylargest urban come to Montreal architects anddesigners have construction boominToronto. Many million. Greater Toronto Area populationof5.1 rate of9.2percent, for atotal 2006 population surged bynearlydouble, ata During thesameperiod,Toronto’s the Canadianaverage of5.4percent. million people, arate almostidenticalto Thisopennessto talent and “There’s nosenseofterritory,” Therapid growth hasspawneda la Ville reine Ville la to crack themarket Tableau little “foreign” based architectural firm,thinkingthata site, we specificallysoughtaMontreal- Waterfront Toronto’s publictenderfor the together ourteamto competein with our among private developers, includingus Saucier+Perrotte, ClaudeCormieret a win-win.” experience ofworking inboth citiessuch everywhere iswhat makes the she says. “Toronto’s mixofexpertise from the way we dothingsisquitedifferent,” Toronto andwhathappensinMontreal, really interesting to seewhathappensin work inthetwo contexts. For meit’s establish apractice inToronto. list ofpeoplewhohelpedDaoust entré to theToronto market, top along architectsAlliance, whogave her Architects andPeter Clewes of generosity. BruceKuwabara ofKPMB success to Torontonians’ opennessand Daoust Lestage, alsocredits muchofher edge. what we neededto give usthedesign Ten years afterfirst arrivinghere, “It’sagreat opportunityto beableto Renée Daoust,partneratMontreal’s EÉ DAOUST RENÉE Athlete’s Villagecompetition. consortium thatwonthePanAm also akeymemberofthedesign Campus. HerfirmDaoustLestageis Education atYork University’sGlendon Centre forExcellenceinBilingual Renée Daoustisthedesignerbehind Glendon Campus Centre forExcellence River City savoir faire savoir project. Inputting + ÉLLESTAGE RÉAL would bejust vertical downtown campus, points to somerecent wins, like KPMB’s “Go East!”reverse phenomenon.Cormier fly to Montreal for business, abudding two-way airstrip. Toronto architects also share stories and compare notes. Centre Airport.Ontheseoccasionsthey in andoutofBillyBishopToronto City bumping into eachotheronPorter flights days aweek several timesamonth,often are contentto commutefor oneortwo in Toronto affords them. critical distance thatbeingMontrealers Instead theyallwishto preserve the — noneplanto openaToronto office. designers are unanimous aboutonething lights andbiggercity,thethree Montreal and future plans. as scrapbooks filledwithideas, sketches portfolios ofcompletedprojects aswell They’ve quietlyamassedimpressive successful, parallel practices inToronto. and designfirmsthatcanclaimto have select numberofMontreal architecture Associés andDaoustLestage are amonga Indeed,BillyBishopisincreasingly a For nowtheseQuebecInc. designers Despitetheallure ofthebrighter Concordia , completedin 2010. OrJack Le Quartier Le ILSSAUCIER GILLES West andthelatestresidentialtowerinDistilleryDistrict. the West DonLands,aswelltheThompsonResidencesonKingStreet River City Saucier +PerrotteArchitectesaredesigningour phase ofthecity’s designed byDaoustLestage andthefirst which isthelatestadditionto Montreal’s Orchestra, currently underconstruction, Nagano andtheMontreal Symphony new concerthallfor conductor Kent mayor Gerald Tremblay inaugurated Lightbox. Diamond’s an urbanfountain with 235jets outdoor performances. Other timesitis amphitheatre to atemporary stage for makeover. Festivals des Place arts, like city’s visual,performing ormulti-media design for thebuildingsthathouseeach “permanent” culture, investing inquality Daoust calls“ephemeral” and continue thisconvergence between what success withtheFour SeasonsCentre. closely inthefootsteps ofToronto’s companies withanewstage, following to outfitMontreal’s opera andballet Arts des Place InSeptember2009,Montreal’s Theplaza sometimesdoublesasan Goingforward, thetwo citiesmust des Arts des volume isalready intheworks Place des Arts des Place L’Addresse symphonique L’Addresse complex. Afuture + NR PERROTTE ANDRÉ , apedestrianplaza Place des Arts des Place and theTIFF Place , a River City Carlos Ferreira andNormand Lapriseof basement. Two ofMontreal’s top chefs, rooms, withtheirkitchens inthe impossibly narrow andbuzzingdining transparent, glasscubesthatare design was herintroduction oftwo long, stonework. integrated at grade into theplaza’s oqué u q To that’s partofToronto’s genesjustyet.” intertwine,” shesays. “ButIdon’tthink outside spacesandhowthebuildings background: thepublic realm, the design andthisisourEuropean are very concernedwiththeurban Daoust’s ownadmission,“InMontreal we may beeasiersaidthandone. By large-scale urbanredevelopment project as anovel elementinamasterplanof recreate herglass-encasedsidewalk cafes same thing.” convince peopleinToronto to dothe Montreal,” saysDaoust.“I’mtryingto they were newarchitectural typologiesin restaurants inDaoust’scubes. Themostinnovative partofDaoust’s ConvincingToronto developers to “We created thesetwo littleboxes, development in opened “F”and“T”astwo 39 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE 40 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE L BAD we gotit.Aseasyasthat. most and,aftersomenegotiations, partner ontheprojectoffered by wayofapublictender. Our District SchoolBoard,whichsoldit The sitewasownedbytheToronto GETTING THESITE site location. had allthemakingsofanexcellent cribbed theprojectname),andwe blocks tothewest(fromwhichwe Bellwoods Parkjustacoupleof us. AddinthehugeTrinity site wasatopnotchacquisitionfor our Trinity BellwoodsTownhomes Toronto’s hippestneighbourhoods, district, butistodayoneof and Portugueseworkingclass streets ofwhatwasonceanItalian Tucked awaybetweentwoside LOCATION TRINITY BELLWOODS TOWNS HARD A market where gettingyourhandsonagooddevelopment siteisnoeasytask. we are currently developing inToronto, andwhatittook for usto getthemina challenges. Soinourlastfeature we lookattheplusesandminusesoffour sites Ok, there’s really noperfectsite. Every sitewe (oranydeveloper) develops hasits N D GOOD EASY I N plunge. very interestingviews.Sowetook the the normalcitygrid,affording itwith sat onacornerthatwasskewedto distance oftheFinancialDistrict,and of QueenStreet,waswithinwalking books. Butthesitewasablocksouth proposed fortheareawereyeton condo developmentsnowbeing nightclubs, andnotmanyofthe immediate neighboursweremostly 2008, itslocationwasabitrisky. Its When wewentafterthissitein LOCATION TABLEAU BAD G
applications weneeded. bit thebulletandprocessed and thecityplanningdepartment end theneighbourhoodwason-side, that wehad48ofthem.Butinthe very cumbersomeprocessgiven needed it’sownsetofapprovals,a case eachindividualtownhouse type housingisproposed.Inour never easy, evenifonlytownhouse established neighbourhoods,is on residentialstreetsinalready approved, especiallyoneslocated Getting infillhousingprojects GETTING ITAPPROVED HARD
Jameson T [Little Italy] [Entertainment District] Marilyn Bell
Park Lansdowne GOOD
H Dundas West Dundas College E EASY
Dufferin Dufferin P Allan Lamport Stadium Park E Lakeshore West HARD negotiations. Lotsofbluster. again back-and-forth months ofon-again-off- termination rights).Eight us tosecureearly long-term leases,requiring tenants (mostofwhomhad lenders), andfivedifferent legal battlewithhis (one ofwhomwasfightinga separate propertyowners negotiating withtwo Securing thissiteinvolved GETTING THESITE R Dovercourt F
Ossington E King West EASY Liberty C Bellwoods Christy Pits Trinity Park T Strachan Park Harbord HARD Coronation square acrossthestreet. agreeing tobuildapublic among otherthings,inour year processthatresulted, In ourcasethiswasaone- public benefitswiththecity. requires negotiatingdetailed in theKing-Spadinadistrict Securing developmentrights GETTING ITAPPROVED
Park Gardiner Expw Gardiner Niagara
Claremont S College Queen West Manning
Tecumseth Palmerston I T
Bathurst EASY E
Spadina Lake ShoreWest Peter Rogers Centre U ofT Beverley AGO CN Tower Queens QuayWest Mccaul Wellington West Richmond West Adelaide West ROM Bremner Dundas West ue etQueenEast Queen West Lake Ontario Front West King West Queens University Park Bloor-Yorkville Charles West Bloor West College City Hall Air Canada Centre Bay St The Eaton Centre St Nicholas Yonge RIVER CITY believed initaswell. and hopethatothers believe inthefuturevision, neighbourhoods. So,ingoing for thissite,wehadto day becomeoneofthecity’smost sought-after (see page32),andtherewas an ideathatthiscouldone public moneywasbeinginvestedintheWest DonLands area surroundedbyinfrastructure.Butahugeamountof least atthetime,wasstillinaderelictformerindustrial Avenue, whichwasclosetoimpossiblegetto),and,at track (particularlyourfirstsalesoffice,onOldEastern bad thangood.Bad,becausethesitewasoffbeaten When wewentafterit,RiverCity’slocationwasmore LOCATION Esplanade even ifit’seasy, it’snoteasy. negotiate theacquisitionofthat.So favour ofaneighbour, andwehadto running rightthroughthemiddleofit,in developers, thepropertyhadaright-of-way But inoneofthosequirksthatwefaceas obtaining itwasnotthatdifficult. of ourdevelopmentpartners,so This sitewasbroughttousbyone GETTING THESITE NICHOLAS districts intheworld. one ofthetopshopping of BloorStreetandYorkville, cobble-stoned streetjustsouth developments: acharming location ofourcurrentToronto Without adoubtthetop LOCATION
Church BAD
Jarvis Moss Park Gardens Allan [West DonLands]
Sherbourne [South ofBloor] Richmond East Adelaide East Front East GOOD BAD Parliament
Historic District The Distillery
Eastern King East Dundas East HARD
Sumach Sumach Mill GOOD Cherry West DonLands River Riverdale Park
Don River EASY development. to pricethesiteandthenproceed toits in anysubstantialway, soitwasquiteeasy there wasarestrictiononmodifyingthem in placebeforewebidonthesite,and River City’sdevelopmentrightswereallput GETTING ITAPPROVED Result: hugebudgetforlawyers. different governmentagenciesinvolved. development agreementswiththemany negotiating theactuallandpurchaseand which ourteamexcelled.Thehardpartwas awarded fordesignandsustainability, at that hardintheend,ashugepointswere become thepreferredcandidatewasn’t Waterfront Toronto. Winning thatprocessto developers inacompetitionrunby against 18nationalandinternational Securing thissiteinvolveduscompeting GETTING THESITE HARD HARD DVP Riverdale Park Broadview prevails. a collaborativerelationship end, allwassettled,andtoday building, andcrushedit.Inthe made outtolooklikeour neighbours broughtacake development application,our council meetingtoreviewour all aroundit.Atthecity there aresimilarlytallbuildings building’s height,eventhough beef, asisalwaysthecase: as theirlineinthesand.Their ratepayers pickingourproject neighbourhood, withlocal condo developmentinthe became alightingrodagainst thissite Just ourluck– GETTING ITAPPROVED HARD EASY EASY EASY 41 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE CONDO DEVELOPMENT 101
How to launch a project
1 FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU’RE (in 10 easy steps) ABOUT. The most basic thing: what’s your project about? What’s its compelling feature? So you’ve got a site. It’s not worth much unless you can What makes it different? turn it into a pre-sold development. On this page, our Seems obvious, but... deepest secrets on how to successfully pre-sell a project so that your banker will give you the money to build it.
GET YOUR ARCHITECTS 2 GOING. From the big design move to the size of a closet, it’s not going to sell if it doesn’t work (or BRING IN THE BIG ID GUYS FILL IN LOTS OF doesn’t look good). So 3 (OR GIRLS). You’re selling 5 GOVERNMENT FORMS. make sure your architects interior space — interior You actually have to apply get it right. design counts. But more to the government to important is your Interior develop a condo in Designer. The rock star of Ontario. Luckily, there are residential development. no skill-testing questions.
THINK UP YOUR BRAND. 4 Best brands: ones that can GET THE WORD OUT. Here’s the synthesize in two words or 6 dirty little secret on website less the essence of your pre-registrations. For every project (see Step 1 above). 100 of them, 50 people Worst brands: ones that actually show up, 10 actually copy names of famous MEET THE LAWYERS. buy, and 4 then rescind. So New York buildings. 8 Launching a project make sure your marketing isn’t all fun and games. and PR guys generate lots of Spend hours sitting in pre-registrations. a boardroom discussing condo bylaws. Pay large fees.
BUILD A SALES OFFICE. 7 Once no more than trailers with signage, sales offices have become over the top. Try not to spend more than the actual building itself. SET YOUR PRICING. 9 The hardest part. If you sell out, you priced too low. If you’re too greedy, you can be dead in the water. There’s no winning. 10
HOPE FOR THE BEST. URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL
42
44 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE tLusIdsra uligBso kbig ChicagoWrigley Building Boston Skybridge BrooklynWatchtower St-Louis IndustrialBuilding St-LouisIndustrialBuilding Manhattan Skybridge be hoistedinplacemid2012. After muchdiscussion,approval finallycamelastyear. Expect thisbridgeto their “woonerf” street, somethingthey’re definitelynotinthehabitofdoing. the CityofToronto to allowusto constructourownthree storey bridgeover On thispage, the examples ofwarehouse bridgeswe usedto helpconvince Street andRiver Street buildingsthatconstituteRiver CityPhase 1. what we were tryingto achieve withthebridgeconnectionbetween theKing surprising thatwe looked to warehouse precedents whenwe triedto explain over two streets, andastrong repetitive exterior design.Soitwas not phase of warehouse architecture inparticular, Saucier+Perrotte’s designfor thefirst such ascranes, forklifts, loadingdocksandbridges. Whilenotinfluencedby architectural elementsrepeating over large floorplates, anduniquefeatures necessity hasproduced someofourmost grandiose buildings, withstrong Warehouses are commercial buildingsfor storing goods. Butthismundane ARCHITECTURE Industrial Crossings River City shares manyofitsattributes:avery longstreet presence The threestoreypedestrianbridge connectingthe King andRiverbuildings ofRiverCityPhase1. ART Shayne Dark’sExplosiveCreations in thepublicsquare thatliesbelowit. Tableau storey hightabletop thatdefines our installation thatpierces through the5 “Nova”, a90’highvibrant green art For usShayneiscurrently designing exhibited hiswork across North America. career inthemid1980s, Shaynehas the natural world. Sincestarting hisartistic the contrasts between urbansettingsand clad inprimarycolours, thatoftenevoke They are boldexplosive things, typically sculptures don’tsitinthebackground. Kingston basedShayneDark’s project, while sittingplayfully 45 URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE HERITAGE
Saving the Metropolitan Bible Church (and was it really worth it ?) 2009 2011
uilt in 1933, smack in the middle of Central Phase 1 site. The church was the Great Depression, Ottawa’s indeed the last building standing on the BMetropolitan Bible Church looks the block, red-brick or otherwise, from that part of a pious movie palace. It’s no era. “This was a Category Two building, coincidence. The financiers demanded and our general approach is that we don’t that the church be built as a venue for support their demolition,” explains Sally moving picture spectacles, complete with Coutts, Heritage Planner with the City of marquee and ticket window (now filled Ottawa. Nevertheless, our development in). If the congregation ever defaulted on team reached a compromise with the city their mortgage, the bank could quickly to preserve only the façade of the repurpose the building as a cinema. But church, which we did, and that facade the Met’s congregation kept up on their now encloses Central’s two-storey payments, and rows of wooden pews interior amenity area. lined the orchestra and balcony seating until the last service on July 27, 2008. Saving the façade of a heritage building is not particularly unique in the case of a Preserving the three-storey, 40-foot-wide, property development today. What is 136,000-kg facade of the Met was a unique in Central’s case is how we did it.
URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL purchase condition for our acquiring our During the first part of construction, we
46 Watch time-lapse videos of detaching and reattaching the Met Bible Church façade at: 2009 www.centralcondominiums.com 2011
Central Phase 1 nearing completion: September 2011
sandwiched the façade in a huge hot- to 15 times, including navigating a 90 place and reattaching it to exactly where dipped, galvanized steel frame, and then degree turn at the corner of Bank and it had stood before, but now supported by detached the frame (with the façade in it) McLeod Streets, until we were finally Central’s concrete skeleton of the freshly- from the church and lowered it – using able to lower the facade into the bottom poured first four floors. It may not be the Ottawa’s two largest cranes – into a part of our excavation. About 14 hours after most attractive looking structure, but of the two level basement that we had they began, crews stabilized the façade preserving the Met’s façade was probably already excavated on the site. There, by bolting the frame into pile caps and the most beautiful engineering move according to our plan, it would safely sit welding it to the excavation’s steel we’ve ever undertaken. until it was ready to be resurrected and shoring system. reattached to the new building was once it was up. A high risk (and, at close to $1 million, a very costly) operation, but for project WAS SAVING THE FAÇADE OF THE MET Starting at 5 am, on a snowy Saturday in manager Geoff Boole, a “once in a BIBLE CHURCH REALLY WORTH IT? February 2010, we didn’t perform the lifetime opportunity”. first lift, detaching the façade from the Check out “A façade too far” at remaining structure, until three hours Almost one year later to the day, in http://spacingottawa.ca/2011/01/20/ later. Each subsequent lift lasted about similarly snowy conditions, we a-facade-too-far/ and decide yourself. an hour, each time moving the façade performed the same steps but in reverse,
about 10 m. This process was repeated 12 lifting the façade out of its safe hiding MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL
47 REAR VIEW
One of our favourite things of the past year: the three small finishing rooms at the back of our Tableau sales office.
Victorian Gothic (installed to be seen straight on); Danish Modern (installed to be seen from above); and Pop (installed to be seen upside down). Who says finishing boards have to be two dimensional?
Check out these rooms before our Tableau sales office comes down on January 15, 2012. URBAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE URBAN CAPITAL
48 COMING TO OTTAWA FALL 2011
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