Mississauga : In The News

Mississauga's Absolute Towers, dubbed the Marilyn Monroe building for their shapely curves, have been recognized by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat as the best tall building in the Americans in 2012.
 
"There have been several curvaceous towers completed in recent years—some using balconies to achieve the free-form edge, and others using the whole façade," wrote juror David Scott. "With Absolute we see the entire building twisting to achieve the organic form, creating a beautiful new landmark for a developing urban area."
 
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Original source: Reuters

A nationwide poll by Forum Research suggests that residents of Mississauga, Oakville, Markham and Richmond Hill like what they get for their tax dollars.
 
The four GTA municipalities all made the top 10 in a ranking of resident satisfaction with municipal services across Canada. Respondents ranked their satisfaction on everything from fire and garbage services to libraries and public transportation. Although Quebec City came out on top, the GTA managed to dominate the list in other ways.
 
"Council and I are very pleased at seeking this kind of progress on our goal of becoming better every year," Oakville Mayor Rob Burton told InsideHalton.com. Oakville ranked fifth overall. "It's terrific really to have this validation of how hard we have been working on this and that we are actually getting some results."
 
"The town tied for second in the area of police services with 53 per cent of Oakville residents surveyed saying they were very satisfied with their police service," writes InsideHalton.com. "Oakville tied for second again in the area of ambulance and emergency medical services satisfaction with 61 per cent and tied for second place in the area of public health services satisfaction with 37 per cent."
 
"Oakville received the highest satisfaction rating of all cities surveyed for road maintenance and repair with 31 per cent, a score that left Burton particularly satisfied."
 
The top 10 in order are:
Quebec City, Que.
Burnaby, B.C.
Mississauga, Ont.
Sherbrooke, Que.
Oakville, Ont.
Burlington, Ont.
Laval, Que.
Markham, Ont.
Longueuil, Que.
Richmond Hill, Ont.
 
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Original source: InsideHalton.com

As you might expect, GTA projects dominated the 2012 Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) Awards.

Six of the top 15 projects are located in the GTA and represent some of the region's most high-profile projects and firms. Design Excellence winners include the Bay Adelaide Centre's west tower (WZMH Architects), Lawren Harris House (Drew Mandel Architects), SPLIT House (superkül Inc.), TIFF Bell Lightbox (Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects), Terrence Donnelly Health Sciences Complex (Kongats Architects) and Vaughan City Hall (Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects).
 
The Ryerson Recreation and Athletics Centre (Lett/Smith Architects) won the Landmark Award.
 
Read the complete list of winners here
 
Original Source: Canadian Architect

The Huffington Post interviews Debbie Baxter, VP of Corporate Sustainability for the Toronto-based company LoyaltyOne. Baxter has spearheaded a number of green initiatives at LoyaltyOne--a company that advises business on customer loyalty prgorams--earning her two green awards in the past year. An excerpt from the interview:

"Tell me about some of LoyaltyOne's sustainability initiatives."

"We have a passionate environmentalist as leader (Bryan Pearson, President and CEO), and that makes all the difference. But much of what we do begins in a grassroots way: people suggest and we respond. All the things you might imagine, like a recycling program that diverts up to 90 percent of all waste, and an environmental fair to help people learn about the issues and green products and services.

We've partnered with local transit authorities so that employees can take public transit to work -- and when our people told us that meetings in the middle of the day meant they still had to drive downtown, we struck a deal with a local autoshare company, and now team members drive around in branded Smart cars. Plus, by the end of this year, 85 percent of our staff will be working in LEED certified spaces (LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council). Our Mississauga-based Customer Care Centre is a LEED gold building. And the solar system on its roof is the largest of its kind in Canada."

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original source Huffington Post

BlogTO looks the construction of Mississauga's "Absolute World Condos", a five-tower condo complex being built at the corner of Burnhamthorpe and Hurontario. Author Matthew Harris muses on whether these towers (two of which were designed by winners of an extensive international design competition) are symbols that more progressive planning is in store for Canada's 6th largest city.

"... Although not officially part of Mississauga's in-progress 21 Downtown Master Plan, [the condos] are an indication of where the city is trying to head. As Janice Baker, Mississauga city manager, told Christopher Hume, "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 21 Downtown Master Plan imagines turning the parking lots around the Square One shopping centre into mixed retail and commercial areas, adding a higher-order transit line on Hurontario, and producing more pedestrian and cyclist-friendly streets. It is hoped that the higher density around the core will help support the pedestrian uses, and in turn, make the area more popular for offices and workplaces."

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original source BlogTO