(Image: Derek Shapton)
The hyperbolically named Absolute World towers at Burnamthorpe and Hurontario are the tallest, most confounding buildings in the empire of sprawl, and quite possibly the most graceful condos ever erected in the GTA. When they are completed in the spring, they’ll top out at 50 and 56 floors, with each oblong level sitting at a slightly different rotation than the storey beneath it. Like a deck of cards meticulously fanned out from the centre, the structures have a sinuous and undulating profile.
The brain behind the curves is a 35-year-old Beijing architect named Yansong Ma, who beat out 91 other architects in a competition held by the developers, Fernbrook Homes and Cityzen. Having trained under two of the world’s most innovative designers (Zaha Hadid and Peter Eisenman), Ma has earned the status of an up-and-coming starchitect. Playfully riffing on cold modernist architecture, he imbues his work with organic shapes, and his lilting towers read as a rebuke to Toronto’s parade of boring glass boxes.
The towers are located near Square One, in an area that falls within the boundaries of Mississauga’s Downtown 21 plan. The goal of the project, which will span the next two decades, is to give this yawning suburb, sprung from 1960s car culture, a compact, pedestrian-ruled core. The inescapable proximity of the 403’s eight-lane traffic casts some doubts on that ambition, but Ma’s daring design signals an optimistic beginning to a 21st-century city.
The towers are gorgeous, yes, but they are in Mississauga, not the GTA. Facts, please, Toronto Life.
December 14, 2010 at 9:47 am | by Brent SplinerBrent, last time I checked Mississauga is in the GTA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Toronto_Area
December 14, 2010 at 10:05 am | by Tristan WMississauga is within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as it is commonly known, however if you’re making a point that Mississauga is Canada’s 6th largest city and should be seen as such and not just a suburb of Toronto as is generally delineated by the GTA then fair enough.
December 14, 2010 at 10:09 am | by RubenI think the point is that the Absolute towers are not in Toronto but in Mississauga unlike what the title states.
December 14, 2010 at 10:20 am | by natHow do these Mississauga buildings make me love Toronto more? Is the title of the article some kind of facetious joke?
December 14, 2010 at 11:39 am | by Peter DIts very Toronto Life who love to provoke us to comment on its post. Dont you see that? The good is that whether these towers are in Hazeland, Toronto or Ajax.. lets all be proud its in CANADA which puts us even more on the map of great and interesting architecture,unlike the drabby straight up condos downtown Toronto.
December 14, 2010 at 12:40 pm | by CRITICIt’s really sad how some Torontonians are so prejudiced in their embrace of the outer suburbs.
December 14, 2010 at 2:08 pm | by henryI live in Toronto and the chances of me ever seeing these cool towers is not happening unless I’m leaving the city.
December 14, 2010 at 7:36 pm | by AMOpen your mind AM and think about the matches box called Toronto. Dont expect you to make that special trip but it sounds like you are scared to leave the Jungle called Toronto!
December 14, 2010 at 7:46 pm | by PeeGetting back to the meat or the article (and not to dabble in the “what constitutes the GTA” debate), I think these are interesting towers. The architecture is unique, elegant and creates an icon that people will notice and talk about. This is good for the city and for architecture in general.
For other inspiring architecture check out the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction. A few Canadian projects have been past winners.
December 15, 2010 at 1:15 pm | by Holcim Awardshttp://on.fb.me/holcim-awards
Why does the proximity of the 403 to Mississauga’s downtown hinder its plan to build a dense, downtown core? The Gardiner is the same distance from Toronto’s downtown. And unlike the Gardiner, the 403 is nicely hidden in a big ditch that could be easily buried and the space above reclaimed for more development or parkland.
December 15, 2010 at 1:58 pm | by AugustinaOn our way to Square One to do some Christmas shopping, my daughter asks “Is that the mall near the big coke bottle?” Call it cool or sexy or whatever you like. I’ll take her honest assessment over all the experts.
December 15, 2010 at 11:37 pm | by KenWow,what an interesting pair of buildings! Is it not great that one car hop in a car and go and see something innovative- in such a close proximity to the Toronto core.
I would actually like to see the interior- as I am an interior designer…If the exterior appears this innovative, I would be curious to see the interior spaces.
If the elevator core mimicked the exterior…That would be fabulous!
December 16, 2010 at 7:09 am | by Designergirl@designergirl
“close proximity to the toronto core”
ha!
have fun finding your way through that commute.
December 16, 2010 at 9:17 am | by ABat last, condos that don’t look like characterless upright rectangles. what happened to this city? tear down the old, put up anonymous shiny towers. don’t get me wrong: the TD centre, royal bank tower etc are fab but it’s those horrible condos that block the lakefront and others like them that should be demolished. why can’t city council control how ugly our city has become? promote interesting architecture like these? seems to me rich developers decide how this city looks, not taxpayers or their proxies at city council.
December 16, 2010 at 10:01 am | by urban