Toronto Pinewood Toronto Studios | 10m | 1s | Pinewood Group | HOK

Zephyr, thx for those links...here is the last article - the plot thickens.....

Could the Cloud now have a silver lining for Toronto?
Jul 28 2007 by Neil Hodgson, Liverpool Echo

THE controversial Cloud once destined for Liverpool’s waterfront could be built in Toronto.

Architect Will Alsop’s proposed Fourth Grace was axed in 2003, but he now wants to resurrect the futuristic design as part of a £250m development on the north shore of Canada’s Lake Ontario.

Mr Alsop plans to put forward the Cloud in much the same form as proposed for Liverpool: “It will be a public building almost the same but without the museum.”

He plans to incorporate it into a masterplan he is developing for a Canadian property company to be unveiled in Toronto next week.
Mr Alsop added: “We are doing two buildings in the masterplan at the moment and then there’s another phase. The Cloud would be a focal point on the waterfront.”

He said he had shown the plans to his client who gave it a “positive reaction” and that the scheme could be complete within a couple of years.

Mr Alsop, best known for his space-age Peckham Library and his award-winning dalmatian-spotted Ontario College of Art and Design, was one of four leading architects who entered a design competition to create a “fourth grace” alongside the Pier Head’s existing Three Graces of the Liver Building, Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building.

His Cloud design was chosen by city regeneration agency Liverpool Vision in December 2002, despite finishing bottom in a three-week public consultation.

However, it was sensationally axed in 2004 after claims that development costs had spiralled from £228m to £324m.
 
by chance, could waterfront mean either of the channels in the portlands?
 
Cloud to be part of Filmport Complex

Great find yyzer!

How exciting, let's hope we can pull this one off! It would be a major coup for Toronto.

Louroz

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Alsop to Toronto: Hey, you, get into my cloud
Superstar British architect to unveil new project next week

VAL ROSS

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

August 1, 2007 at 1:29 AM EDT

TORONTO — Will Alsop's Cloud is on the Toronto horizon.

The Alsop design – a playful architectural blob that resembles the molar of a giant Teletubby – is the inspiration for a new project that will be unveiled next week, the architect confirmed from his London offices yesterday.

The original Cloud design was chosen in 2002 to grace the Liverpool waterfront, but was blown away in 2004 after the projected cost jumped.

Which elements of the design will re-emerge in Toronto? The maverick architect known for his Dalmatian-spotted, stilt-supported structure at the Ontario College of Art and Design said he couldn't discuss the details until next week.

“It will be a single building on the waterfront with a Cloud-like element,†he told The Globe and Mail.

Mr. Alsop declined to comment on whether his Toronto Cloud will be part of the proposed film-industry megadevelopment called Filmport – although that's what observers contacted yesterday expect.

For the past two years, Alsop's name has been linked to the $275-million Filmport studio complex, to be built on city-owned land around Cherry Street. Jeff Steiner, president and CEO of Toronto Economic Development Corp., the city agency that owns the land, confirmed that Mr. Alsop is still involved in part of the development plans, and that a news conference is expected next week.

Still, development industry observers are scratching their heads about the viability of anything involving Toronto, movies, condos and big-name architects. They point out that the rising loonie has savaged the local production industry, that the luxury residential market may be saturated, and that the city's other “starchitect†projects, such as Daniel Libeskind's redesign for the Royal Ontario Museum, have yet to attract anticipated hordes of tourists.

So what is driving this project? What is clear is that Mr. Alsop has long sought a way to resurrect his Liverpool Cloud. “I really like the building. It's one of my best,†he said yesterday.

He insists that the Liverpool project's rising costs – estimates rose to £324-million from the original forecast of £228-million – were not a problem of his making: “Another part of the project went over budget and they raided my budget.â€

He set up a Toronto office in 2005. Although this remains smaller than his offices in Shanghai, Singapore and London, Mr. Alsop said, “I like it here and I plan to plague Toronto with my buildings for as long as possible.â€

But skeptics remain. Councillor Paula Fletcher, whose ward includes the film-studio project, said yesterday she'd never heard of it: “This cloud, whatever it is, better not be a dud.â

With a report from Jeff Gray
 
Edit: Oops, Posted the same article as FM.

I find it funny that he describes it as "plaguing" Toronto with his buildings
 
Still, development industry observers are scratching their heads about the viability of anything involving Toronto, movies, condos and big-name architects. They point out that the rising loonie has savaged the local production industry, that the luxury residential market may be saturated, and that the city's other “starchitect†projects, such as Daniel Libeskind's redesign for the Royal Ontario Museum, have yet to attract anticipated hordes of tourists.
Click to expand...

Haven't they paid attention to the L-Tower by Liebskind that's already almost sold out?
 
FutureMayor said:
But skeptics remain. Councillor Paula Fletcher, whose ward includes the film-studio project, said yesterday she'd never heard of it: “This cloud, whatever it is, better not be a dud.â€

With a report from Jeff Gray
Click to expand...


How bad could it get? Has she seen some of the stuff we have around the city?
 
here's a larger pic from flickr...I can't even imagine the impact this would have on the T.O. waterfront

412499115_105dc89e6d_o.jpg
 
“It will be a single building on the waterfront with a Cloud-like element,†he told The Globe and Mail.

It will be 'Cloud-like" so i am not necessarily expecting a duplication of the picture above (although that would be excellent).
 
yeah. What a great quote! I'm all for it. Mr Alsop, you can plague our city as much as you like. Could it be part of a condo development, commerical building? Perhaps something to do with a new university. I'm really excited to find out.
 
If indeed it is at the film studios, then it won't be on the waterfront. It will, in fact, be in the middle of nowhere (South division), closer to a gas-fired power plant than anything else.
 
British modesty perhaps?

I like that an architect of international reknown is so excited about the possibilities in Toronto. This kind of optimism is good.
 
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