Ontario Construction News staff writer
International superstar Pharrell Williams is collaborating with developers Reserve Properties and Westdale Properties to design new two-tower condominium project in Toronto.
The residential project at Yonge and Eglinton, named “Untitled”, will include 750 one-, two- and three-bedroom units, and 30,000 sq. ft. of amenity space, according to Sheldon Fenton, president and CEO of Reserve Properties.
Mitchell Cohen, chief operating officer at Westdale Construction Co., said Yonge and Eglinton is “destined to be the centre of Toronto.”
Pharrell Williams is a producer, artist, songwriter, and philanthropist who is also known for high-profile collaborations with several international companies and brands. Untitled is his first multi-residential development project and he has been involved with all aspects of the project, from the architecture to the interior fabrics and furnishings.
He appeared on the big screen at Dundas Square advertising the property and announcing the building name of Untitled.
“What’s in a name?” he asked. “Who you are, what you do, how you love, what you seek, how you feel. Where you live defies labels. Space is only a backdrop. The experience is you. Live your life untitled.”
The ad ends with a video of Pharrell that he shot on his phone. Apologizing for missing the announcement on Tuesday, he said he “can’t wait to get to Toronto in the new year and begin working on Untitled.”
“When they walk into the building, we want to make sure that it continued to like, give you the message of like this amazing vibration of being home,” he said. “I feel like when the world sees it, it’ll be just another one of those beautiful ornaments of the beautiful city of Toronto.”
The partnership evolved from a desire to do something unique for Toronto and architecture and design.
“By bringing in a cultural icon with vision and ideation from outside the realm of real estate, it would allow us to break the mould in terms of what has been traditionally done,” Fenton said.
Using parametric design, the sculpted, fluid form of the development is meant to follow the wavelengths and patterns of “Gust of Wind,” a song produced and performed by Williams. No two faces of the building are alike, with each one representing a different part of the song.
The official launch of the project will be in January 2020.