Design : In The News

The National Post writes on Toronto's Richmond Street Housing Co-operative, this year's winner of the Peoples Choice Awards for Architecture (PUG Awards) for Best Residential Building. A Toronto Community Housing Corporation development, the 11-storey, 85-unit building was designed by Teeple Architects Inc. and finished construction in 2009. Located just west of Church on Richmond the building is the first new housing co-operative to be built in the city in the last 20 years.

"Pug Awards winners were announced Wednesday night at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Toronto residents voted for their most and least favourite buildings from a total of 41 nominees (34 residential and 7 commercial/institutional). Voting took place on the Pug Awards website during the Month of May. Voters could either "love it," "like it," or "hate it."

"For a design to be nominated the building had to be completed in 2009, in Toronto and be larger than 50,000 sq. feet."

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original source the National Post

A radio piece on Marketplace looks at innovative sound design in Toronto's Corso Italia neighbourhood. Thanks to the area's BIA, who attached speakers to neighbourhood lampposts, there is music playing along 6 blocks of St. Clair West from eight in the morning to 11 at night.

 An excerpt from the radio broadcast transcript:

"Bob Moon: The main drag in any urban neighborhood is its moneymaker. So naturally, those areas are always trying to figure out how to make their moneymaker make more money. Beautification is a big part of it -- planting flowers, picking up trash. And in one little neighborhood in Toronto, Canada -- an area called Corso Italia -- the beautification is of a more audible variety."

"Marketplace's Sean Cole just moved there, and he wanted us to hear the scenery."

"Sean Cole: A day or two after I first moved here, I was strolling down the main drag in Corso Italia, St. Clair Avenue West. It's a real old-timey, Mediterranean-y marketplace with cafes and bridal shops and a gelateria. And I thought to myself "Wow, somebody's really pumping the music in their car. You can hear it everywhere." And then I looked around and realized, that's not a car. It's a lamp post. In fact, every lamp post for about six blocks has a speaker attached to it, playing the same song. We're talking about half-a-mile of unsolicited tunes, from eight in the morning to 11 at night. And I couldn't help wondering, who's DJ-ing this little dance party? Turns out it's an initiative of the Corso Italia BIA, or "Business Improvement Area."

listen to radio broadcast/read full transcript here
original source Marketplace

As reported by the Toronto Star, Toronto's newest office, the $250-million 30-storey Telus House, officially opened last week. Located at the foot of York St., the new tower combines office space with quality of life amenities ranging a gourmet kitchen to rooftop garden patios to a prayer room. The project of developer Peter Menkes and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and Menkes Development, Telus house has already leased more than half the building.

"When Peter Menkes purchased a plot of land five years ago on former railroad lands in downtown Toronto, it was a gamble. He envisioned an office development beside Union Station. But the centre of the financial universe remained on Bay Street, in the city's core. Attracting tenants to the waterfront was a risky move."

"It was, he said in an interview, "a leap of faith." The gamble paid off."

"They thought it was a little crazy, because no one was building anything back then," Menkes said in the futuristic open concept lobby of his largest tenant, telecommunications company Telus. The company has leased 460,000 square feet, more than half the building."

"The new building is a "spaceship" compared with the staid bricks and mortar of traditional office buildings in Toronto, said Menkes. As befitting a building housing a telecom company, the building is as sleek as an iPad and bursting with technology."

read full story here
original source the Toronto Star

The Globe & Mail looks at the Design Exchange, the Toronto-based organization "dedicated to the promotion, exhibition and preservation" of Canadian design. Active since the 1980s the Design Exchange works world-wide to promote Canadian designers. Now the organization is tackling a even bolder project: attempting to establish a formal design policy at the national level.

"The initiative, led by the Design Exchange, in partnership with universities, business associations and organizations across Canada for presentation to the federal government, would affect the way design services and the use of design are embodied throughout our economy and culture."

"Toronto has the third largest design industry in North America and that's a major export for Canada," Ms. Lewis [founding president of the Design Exchange] says. "And it's not just 'things' we've developed and are selling. It's services � such as interior design for department stores and hotels, industrial design, clothing design, computer and animation systems � that are used worldwide."

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original source the Globe & Mail

A story on Blog TO looking at the best new fashion retailers in the city, declared 2009 as "the year of the homegrown designer".

"Of the 15 best new fashion stores the city introduced last year just under half carried Canadian lines...Canadian designers can compete with the best of 'em, and it's wonderful to see that Toronto's shop owners trust that our city's fashion fiends are finally buying local and loving it".

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original source Blog TO

Montana Steele, a Toronto-based advertising company, has received 46 National Sales and Marketing Award nominations from the National Association of Home Builders; more than any other North American company. The awards known as the "Nationals" will be presented in 2010 at the International Builders Show. Toronto's Toy Factory Lofts, Liberty Market Lofts, Festival Tower, Bohemian Embassy, and One Bedford are among some of the major developments Montana Steele are being recognized for.

"To receive 46 nominations from such an esteemed group as the NAHB is overwhelming," says Joe Latobesi, partner, Montana Steele. "We are very proud of the work we're doing in the Canadian real estate industry and we are thrilled to see that work being recognized by our peers in the US."

"Clearly, the sheer number of nominations we received - and the number of projects we were able to submit for consideration, demonstrates that our market is thriving and reinforces the growing realization that the Toronto real estate industry is setting the bar for architecture, design, marketing and development around the world."

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original source Toronto Star