Condo Website of the Day
By Anthony Longo 20 11 2006
Our friend John Hitchcox and Design pay Philippe Starck has done it once again up in Toronto this time!
The Project: Seventy 5 Portland
Condos in Toronto are springing up faster than mushrooms. But developer Peter Freed, of Freed Developments Ltd., had seen Starck’s work on other condo projects in the U.S. and was bowled over by his sense of fun; he figured the ultra-cool designer could give him an edge. So he commissioned Starck to design the indoor lobby, outdoor courtyard, model suites and floor plans for Seventy5 Portland Street, in the downtown King West district. “I felt the neighbourhood was ready, and wanted to differentiate it from the competition,” says 37-year-old Freed. It is Starck’s first project in Canada.
For his debut, Starck offers up a whimsical play on scale in the public areas, and modern, clean design elsewhere. The courtyard’s centrepiece is a 30-metre-long table of Alice in Wonderland proportions, running into the interior lobby. (This, Starck says, is part of his vision that a condo building should be more than a collection of separate units.) The building will incorporate two looks: “minimal,” in whites complemented by colourful lighting; and “natural,” in earthier tones and materials. Seventy5 Portland, a modernist structure of glass and concrete, designed by Toronto-based Core Architects, is set to break ground in spring 2007.
Source: Canada Business Online | Toronto Condos
