Cityzen Developments

Why you should come to Brookfield Place on February 6th, 2012

Sam Crignano, president of Cityzen, has a new video out on Migrating Landscapes where he explains how Cityzen's design competition launched the career of Yansong Ma of Beijing's MAD Architects with Mississauga's Absolute Towers. Sam also describes why he personally supports Migrating Landscapes and where exactly the money is going. 

 

 

Paul Golini, chairman of the Building Industry and Land Development Association, wrote a column in the Toronto Star on January 6th to spread awareness about Migrating Landscapes that we wanted to share. Check it out for more information on the free exhibition.

In order for the winning team to get to Venice, Migrating Landscapes needs donations. Please donate if you support young Canadian emerging talent in architectural design. A charitable tax receipt will be provided by the RAIC Foundation.

You can also contact Sara Crignano at saracrignano@cityzen.ca and 416-777-2489 ext 225 to donate.

Absolute unveils public art in Mississauga

On Friday, December 2, the city of Mississauga officially unveiled their first privately commissioned public art in front of the Absolute towers. "Buen Amigo" by renouned Chilean artist Francisco Gazitua now graces downtown Mississauga with equine flare, honouring the past and present of intersection Hurontario and Burnhamthorpe.

“We knew we wanted this urban art exhibit, or urban work, to create a physically and visually engaging series of elements that would enhance and animate the Absolute community,” says Paulo Stellato, sponsor of the design competition and partner of Cityzen.

Both Mayor Hazel McCallion and Ed Sajecki, Planning Commissioner, were in attendance, as well as Mr. Matias Ahumada, Consular Officer in Charge of Cultural and Community Affairs in Chile.
 

We want to celebrate this landmark for Mississauga and hope that it is a continuing trend for developers to include mandatory public art in their developments, like in the city of Toronto. Thank you to the city of Mississauga for making this possible.

Now that Mississauga has its first privately commissioned artwork as part of the Absolute condo community, do you think it should be mandatory for the city to require these works in every development?

For an entire gallery of our photos from Friday, click here. To see our previous post on Francisco Gazitua, click here.

Absolute World: Francisco Gazitua's "Buen Amigo" arrives in Mississauga

We here at Cityzen Group are very proud to announce that the first piece of privately commissioned public art in Mississauga has arrived and stands at the base of our Absolute World towers.

"Buen Amigo" by renowned Chilean artist Francisco Gazitua was recently installed at the corner of Burnhamthorpe and Hurontario and brings another milestone to the Absolute project.

The piece is made up of three individual horses. Francisco says:

"With all of my sculptural work, I see to connect with the nature and [historical] character of its site."

As one of Chile's foremost artists with a career spanning more than forty years, we're delighted with our choice. Francisco is a member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Arts and a former Professor of Sculpture at Saint Martin's School of Art in London, as well as the former Head of the Sculpture Department at Universidad Finnis Terrae, Santiago, Chile.

We're very much looking forward to presenting "Buen Amigo" to the city of Mississauga this Friday.

We'll be on site with all the latest updates, but in the meantime, check out the below images.

Yansong Ma arrives in Mississauga to visit Marilyn

Last night we headed to Mississauga to catch the 30th annual Urban Design Awards, a competition that pays tribute to the best design projects in the city. 

Notable architect of Absolute World's "Marilyn" buildings Yansong Ma made a whirlwind appearance, arriving on Monday night. After his first visit to Mississauga in two years, he didn't know what to expect!

Yansong Ma and Sam Crignano, Principal at Cityzen Development Group.

"I was nervous," Yansong said. "I was afraid to see the real thing."

When he saw the buildings in person, he was satisfied. 

"In real life, the building has a very  powerful impact because it's two towers," he said. We can even see the towers from Toronto's waterfront.

At age 35, Yansong is a young architect who has come to architectural maturity at a time when China is modernizing, both economically and in freedom of expression. 

"It's a starting point for me," he says. "I did a lot of competitions before this but I never won, or sometimes we would win a couple of first prizes, but [the builders] were afraid to do the project."

With the Marilyn buildings, Yansong's project was realized through the international design competition led by Cityzen and Fernbrook Homes. Clients have since been coming to MAD Architects because of their signature style and design philosophy. We admire that Yansong stays true to himself; he is against mass-production and favours thought-provoking, timeless design.

"I think its natural that some people are just conservative," he said. The design process for the Marilyn's was smooth, and thankfully the project was supported, realized, and eventually built.

"Somehow, we share the same ambition," he said referring to his supporters.

What's next for Yansong Ma?

"We are working on high-rise commissions in China, and now we're in Europe as well, but we want to build remarkable buildings, not just high rises, so we're also working on museums, opera houses..."

We're so glad that Yansong could make the trip and see his vision in person, and we look forward to following him on what we are sure will be a spectacular career. A very special thanks to the Mississauga City Council for inviting us along last night, and congratulations to all the worthy award winners and nominees.

Absolute World: Mississauga icon near completion

As one of the most talked about and photographed buildings in the GTA, these Yansong Ma designed towers are known on an international scale and have helped put Mississauga on the map from a design perspective.

When we last visited in July, the first of our residents had begun to move in to Tower 4. This time around, Tower 4 now has over 200 residents, with occupancy approved up to the 40th floor.

Visit our Facebook album for all the images from on site.

Tower 5 has occupancy up to the 8th floor, with the first of the residents having only recently moved in. Balconies are being glassed and are up to the 13th floor.

Parking levels are complete up to P1.

Landscaping is underway on the shared amenity space to the base between the two towers.

Both buildings are completely closed off...

The lobby area of Tower 4 is well underway.

There is roughly another 6 months of work to be done on Tower 4 before it is 100% completed, with about 8 months left on Tower 5.

That's it from this visit. We'll have another look at progress in the new year. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest on all of our projects.

Absolute World: Construction update from Mississauga's Marilyn Monroe Towers

The Cityzen Blog Team always looks forward to making the trip out to Mississauga to see the latest on what's going on at our Absolute World towers.

The Toronto real estate scene is more than familiar with the towers ever since we held an international design competition in 2005, and the project has gained worldwide recognition as one of the most unique and stylish high-rise developments around thanks to Ma Yansong's wonderful vision.

We even got a mention on yesterday's Regis and Kelly show (go to 7 min 29 seconds for a look!) as a result of an article in the New York Times. Pretty good way to start a Wednesday if you ask us. Here's the most up-to-date look at what's going on at Absolute right now.

The first occupancy was granted in Tower 4 on June 20th of this year. The building is approved up to the 30th floor and our first residents have moved in. From a construction standpoint, Tower 4 is almost complete. Work remains to be completed on the corridors and the top two floors need to be boarded and studded, but for the most part it's closed. Our customer service centre is open and everything is set up! Just a few more aesthetic touch-ups to go while we close up the building.

Work is progressing quickly in Tower 5 and our crews are pushing hard with inspections set for September and a move-in scheduled for October. There are 30 electricians working on the building on a daily basis. A typical job at the height of construction would have roughly 14 or 15 electricians working at any given time. We're working on suites, corridors, fire alarms - everything! There are around 50 other workers - stud guys, board guys, tapers et cetera, and 8 plumbers. All in all, there are well over 150 workers in Tower 5.  All hands on deck!

It's an extremely busy site right now and the crews are working hard to get as much material in as possible before the hoist comes down in September and the elevator goes active. Right now, an average of 2-3 floors are being complete per week.

Our crews are putting the finishing touches to various landscaping and aesthetic touch-ups on ground level.

In Tower 4 there will be six elevators in total with touch screen technology. These will travel at 700 feet per minute and are gear-less, running on dynamos which enables faster speeds.

Balcony waterproofing is complete up to the 49th floor of Tower 4 and is due to be completed on the entire building in the next few days.

It's been a long journey for the realisation Absolute World, and we for one cannot wait to see the finished product!

We'll be back with another update from the site in a couple of months. In the meantime, check out our photo album here, and keep following on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest news.

Absolute World: Construction Update

For the last in this month's Cityzen construction site updates, we went to Mississauga to take a look at the unmistakable Absolute World. The Absolute Towers speak for themselves, with worldwide recognition coming from the design community after an international contest won by MAD Architects out of Beijing, China. These "Marilyn Monroe" buildings aren't far away from occupancy, so we took a look around inside to see how work is progressing on site.

Looking up at Marilyn from the ground. Occupancy for Tower 4  is scheduled for this summer, with Tower 5 scheduled for fall.

Looking over at Tower 5  from the top floor balcony of Tower 4.

Flooring and carpeting, as well as kitchen and bathroom units have started to be installed in the lower floors units. The taping stage is almost complete for both towers.

Both buildings are closed off and the crews are working to get everything ready for occupancy.

The free-standing crane on Tower 5 is coming down within the next few weeks.

Forming is complete on Tower 4, and it is over 90% complete on Tower 5.

A view of the Toronto skyline from Tower 4's top floor. On a clear day you can see all the way down to Buffalo.

The end of construction is almost at a close and in a few short months, Absolute World will welcome it's residents. We'll keep you updated on what's happening on site, so follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on everything.

Absolute World Fireworks Display!

Bored at work? How about ten minutes of fireworks to help pass some time!?

To finish our Absolute World celebrations in Mississauga last week, we organized a celebratory surprise for all of our attendees. What better way to finish off Absolute Week on our blog than with fireworks!

Have a look at the below video and be sure to listen for the comment about Wonderland at the end!

  

MAD Architect Ping Jiang on Absolute World

Cityzen Developments and Fernbrook Homes were delighted to have Ping Jiang of MAD Architects fly in especially for our Absolute World topping-off party last week.

Ping, a partner at the Beijing-based architecture firm that was chosen from over 90 entrants in the international design competition, was on-hand to help celebrate the landmark occasion in the life of the project and also talk a bit about the development and what it means for both MAD and Mississauga.

Ping with Mayor McCallion, who thanked MAD for their ingenuity.

 "[Absolute World] has created a landmark and structural icon for Mississauga," says Ping. "Most importantly it has created a sense of place, a connection between architecture and community."

 

Ping talks with the Mayor and Cityzen's Sam Crignano and Joe Cordiano.

We asked Ping where exactly does the vision for Absolute come from:

"For me it comes from different sources. Aesthetically and visually I've found that [Yansong] Ma is always interested in free-form; the fluid, the shape, and also we talked about the image of the city which recognises its habits and complexity."

Not only is Absolute World a big deal for Mississauga. According to Ping, it is an important project for MAD also.

"This is our first breakthrough, our first major commission. Absolute World is going to give us credit and people will start to believe in us and understand that this (MAD's vision) is do-able." 

"This project is very dear to us and we're very proud to be part of the effort."

Guest of Honour Mayor Hazel McCallion says Absolute World establishes Mississauga as a 'global city'

Our very special guest at our Absolute World topping off party was the one and only Mayor Hazel McCallion, who has been a great supporter of the project from day one.

The Mayor was the life of the party and injected a shot of enthusiasm into proceedings that had the whole room smiling.

During her speech, Mayor Hazel was quick to hand out the thanks.

 "My, what a great day! First of all I want to thank all those who invested in this building. You're to be complimented for going out on an international contest which I thought was just superb. I remember the day in Toronto when you displayed the different designs and when this one was chosen - what a great day for Mississauga!"

The Mayor chats with President of Fernbrook Homes, Danny Salvatore, whom she said she was very proud of for bringing the project to fruition - especially since he's "a local boy from Streetsville"!

"I want to thank all those who participated. I want to congratulate the engineers that had the know-how to make it happen. Having worked in the construction industry for some 30 years before I got into politics, engineers are pretty important in building the building! You must be very proud as you drive by every day and say 'Boy, I engineered that.' These are the guys that made it happen."

The Mayor was also quick to recognise what Absolute World means for the city of Mississauga.

"I've watched this building grow and it's just amazing. You can't imagine folks, the comments that are being made by people who come into Mississauga and by the Mississauga people themselves, saying, 'My, that building is REALLY going up!' Hard to believe. And it is a landmark and a tourist attraction. Imagine everybody asking where do you live - I live in the Marilyn Monroe building - my gosh, what an identification!"

"This building has established Mississauga as a global city. Other buildings, yes, are very important, but this one has just given us that step up. So, today is another great day for Mississauga - we're leading the way, and we wouldn't do it if it wasn't for Danny and the group here today that had the confidence that this city would build this building."

Not happy with having only one development nicknamed after a celebrity icon, the Mayor had some suggestions for future plans for the partners.

"If you want another site to build another unique building - we'll provide it! One building isn't sufficient is it?! We need more than one! And it could be another famous person - I don't know who you could pick - Marilyn Monroe is pretty important - maybe you could pick some other lady that has cute curves!"

Wrapping up her speech, Mayor McCallion finished on a typically upbeat note.

 "I'm so excited. I've been excited from day one, and I'm just as excited today. WOWEE! WOWEE! WOWEE!"

Many thanks to the Mayor for helping to make it such a special event. Check back for more interveiws and videos of the topping off party this week!