Under construction
MAD Architects
The Absolute Towers
Mississauga, Canada
"Our design forsakes the simplification principle of modernism. In fact, it expresses a higher level of complexity and diversity of modern society through multiple approaches. In the meantime, it caters to (ambiguous) social needs at multiple levels."
MAD
Image courtesy MAD
The Absolute Condos is a five-tower glass, concrete and steel development on the north-east corner of the crossroads of Hurontario Street and Burnhamthope Road, a gateway to the Mississauga town center. Due to overwhelming success of the first MAD tower, the developers announced that a second 50 story tower, also by MAD, will be built as the fifth and final tower of the development.
With its twisting rhythms resembling the human body, the first Absolute Tower has been nicknamed Marilyn Monroe by the locals.
Image courtesy MAD
The entire 56-story building rotates by different degrees at different level, which corresponds with sceneries at different height. The aim is to evoke the city dwellers’ aspiration for nature, and get them in touch with the sunlight and the wind. A continuous balcony surrounds the whole building, eliminating the vertical lines used in traditional high rise architecture to emphasize the height.
Image courtesy MAD
“Modernism has a famous motto: A house is a machine for living in. However, as the machines and the society constructed upon it have experienced dramatic changes, how should we understand today’s architecture now? What message should the architecture convey if she is distancing away from the industrial age?
Like other fast developing suburbs in north America, Mississauga is seeking a new identity that best explains her own characters. We take this as a great opportunity to respond to the expanding need of the city in a special way.
Not only does the tower manifest the power of design, it also serves as a statement to the surrounding area and the social context. The building is sculpture-like in its overall effect, and its design expresses the universal language of audacity, sensuality and romance. As the new landmark in the city it will become the icon of the present landscape with all its twisting rhythms resembling the human body.”
Ma Yansong
Unlike the South tower, which gets thinner in the middle as it rises, Absolute North will instead get larger in the middle, which has resulted in some members of the public calling them the "condo couple" with the South Tower being the sexy female and the North Tower the more robust man.
Photo: arcspace
The architect looks on this with a feng shung eye saying, "they talk to each other and harmonize with each other. There is a synergy between them, an aura which transcends each of the individual buildings."
Total area: 85,000 square meters
Absolute World 1 (170 meters): 45,000 square meters
Absolute World 2 (150 meters): 40,000 square meters
Estimated completion: Late 2009
Clint: Fernbrook Homes
Architects: MAD Studio
Principals:
Ma Yansong
Yosuke Hayano,
Dang Qun
Design Team:
Shen Jun
Robert Groessinger
Florian Pucher
Yi Wenzhen
Hao Yi
Yao Mengyao
Zhao Fan
Liu Yuan
Zhao Wei,
Li Kunjuan,
Yu Kui,
Max Lonnqvist,
Eric Spencer.
Associate architects: Burka Varacalli Architects
MAD arcspace features
February 2, 2009