Hypnotoad
Senior Member
Congrats Ed and the rest of UT for this profile in the Star: UT article. There is also a link to this article on spacing.ca.
Coincidentally, this is my 1000th post.
Coincidentally, this is my 1000th post.
Edifice complex unites urbanites
Nick Aveling
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Late last month, while you weren't bothering to look, something stirred on the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor streets. Two signs saying "Coming soon. The perfect address" appeared at an empty construction site that was once the future home of Canada's tallest residential tower.
"Time out!" says one online observer, who posted a picture.
"This is my guess," another says, "but I think the first hint to the project is the colour of the boards. There's definitely going to be some association with purple."
Could it be that the land, bought recently by developer Great Gulf Homes (the very same developer whose logo graced the signs), will be the site of Toronto's first purple skyscraper? Did the precedent exist anywhere in the world? And how tall would it be, anyway? Not that height is more important than design. Or is it, in the bustling context of such a prized intersection?
The debate continues at www. urbantoronto.ca (UT to its fans), an online community obsessed with watching the city grow. Its members, about 5,000, are architects, engineers, urban planners, developers and laypeople – Toronto geeks all.
Edward Skira, 45, co-publisher of Chart Magazine, discovered UT a few years ago while searching for information about an intriguing construction site, on York St. south of Front. "As soon as I saw the website, I was blown away," he says.
So much so that, after years of being a member, he bought it.
UT members share his obsession. With shocking speed and absolute certainty, they can tell you things such as whether the south-facing view from the 37th floor of a condo still under construction is doomed to be blocked by yet another condo that exists only on paper.
And they're not afraid to share their opinions. Before developers can muster even a rendering, new projects are condemned as too tall or not tall enough, depending on location, and probably covered in precast shlock.
Consider it tough love, one member says.
"All this discussion, it's an example of the city falling in love with itself again after 20 years when it wasn't so sure," says Jason Paris, 35, a site moderator who daylights as a coordinator at the North American Broadcasters Association.
When he first discovered UT in 2002, Paris was capable of spending up to seven hours at a time on the site. His duties as moderator, which include combining threads (the site has close to 700) and banning the odd yahoo from discussions, aren't quite so demanding.
But he's well aware that galloping UT addiction is often, as they say, just one hit away.
And UT has plenty of hits – almost half a million for the Bay-Adelaide Centre thread alone, with the Trump Tower and 10 Dundas East (the latest name for that unspeakable grey beast at the corner of Yonge and Dundas streets) close behind.
The industry is taking note. The site's advertisers include major developers as well as the city, Skira says. Meanwhile, real estate agents have begun to cast their lines, usually under the mistaken impression that such interest could only come from potential buyers. And developer Tridel posts regularly, keeping members up-to-date on projects throughout the city.
"They're interested in the discussion. It's a focus group for them, in a sense," Skira says. The goal, he says, is to "nudge things in a direction that makes the city even better."
Skira is in the midst of redesigning the site. He's also planning a major expansion. Already, members are encouraged to discuss transportation and infrastructure, as well local politics and events.
Even so, it's unlikely the "Projects & Construction" section will ever be eclipsed.
"I like being in the know," explains longtime member Dan Sojat, 26. "If I ever have a question about what's going on (with construction) in the city, I can get the right answer right away."
There are, to be sure, daily skirmishes among UT members, mostly of the "Indeed, your arguments are weak and ill-informed" variety, but it's a peaceful place by Internet standards.
Members enjoy a broad if tenuous modernist-leaning consensus on what works and what doesn't.
For Paris and Sojat, that consensus blossomed into something far greater. The site has led to romance.
"Dan was living in Berlin at the time, going to school, and Urban Toronto was his window back home," Paris explains.
"We had a similar view of architecture and planning, and it was obvious from his posts that he was a gay male as well. We started private messaging each other...and when he moved back to Toronto, we started dating."
The two moved in together about a year ago and are now considering marriage.
They live – where else? – in a condo downtown.
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