In every issue of the Architects’ Guide to Glass & Metal
(AGG) magazine we set out to recognize innovative architectural glazing.
We’ve seen amazing projects all around the world: from China to Dubai,
Finland to Spain as well as many right here in the United States. We decided
the time was right to take that coverage a step further and recognize
some of these outstanding projects, with our first ever international
design awards. In this issue we bring you our winner—a project that has
been liked to the physique of Marilyn Monroe. With undulating twists and
curves, Absolute Towers 4 and 5, the last two in the Absolute City Centre
five-tower complex in Mississauga, Ontario, features a glassy, elliptical-shaped
façade, designed to give the growing city of Mississauga a structure that
would help establish its own identity, separate from neighboring Toronto.

The entry was submitted by AGC Glass Company North America
and the towers were built with the company’s Ti-Ac high performance insulating
glass. Ti-Ac was specified to achieve the light transmission and neutral
reflectance needed to create the visual appearance and energy efficiency
desired for this project and climate. Protemp fabricated 257,000 square
feet of insulating, low-E on clear glass. According to the entry, Ti-AC
glass was specified to achieve the light transmission and neutral reflectance
level needed to create the visual appearance as well as the desired energy
efficiency.

The glass helps provide a very neutral appearance, daylighting
and views. As AGC noted in its entry, “the appearance of the towers changes
throughout the day, taking on different colors because of the neutral
reflective characteristics of the exterior glazing.”

Toronto-based Burka Architects served as master architect
for the entire complex, which is located at Mississauga’s city center.
According to the firm’s Attila Burka, prior to the project there were
various high-rise residential towers, but on this particular corner something
was missing. To find this identifying landmark structure, an international
competition was held. The winning design was submitted by Beijing-based
MAD Architects. As master architects Burka could not enter the competition,
but was contracted by MAD to carry out the design of the two residential
towers, internal layout of the towers, the podium and to spearhead the
approval process and to create the construction documents. The 56-story
Tower A is 45,000 square meters, while the 50-storey Tower B is 40,000
square meters.

According to Ma Yansong, founding principal of MAD, the
firm developed the architecture for the towers based on a contemporary
interpretation of nature.

“All of our projects [have a] desire to protect the sense
of community, offering people the freedom to develop their own experience,”
says Yansong. “We wanted to introduce natural forms that played with light,
shadow and wind.”

Yansong adds, “Our design concept [aims to] connect nature
and human beings through lively form and oriental philosophy about the
tension between them, [as well as] between the two towers.”

According to Burka, the design was a lot like a flower vase
– empty on the inside. His firm was brought on to access the design and
determine how it could be built. He says they had two days to do this
and ultimately “came up with the concept that would make the building
stand up. We implemented the design and floor plan, including the design
and construction documents, etc., and also had the buildings certified,”
says Burka, who adds that while many buildings are designed from the inside
out, that was not the case here.

“Function followed form,” he says explaining that the building
followed more of an artistic approach. “It has an artistic shape that’s
not governed by function.”

Burka worked closely with Sigmund, Soudack & Associates
Inc., the structural engineer, to create a structure that would be both
function-able and marketable.

There are also a significant number of windows in the towers,
which were supplied by Toro Aluminum based in Concord, Ontario. The project
features Toro’s 2000 series window wall system, along with its railing
system for the balconies. Commdoor Aluminum provided entrances and 6000
SSG series curtainwall which were used on the ground floor and for the
retail storefronts. Toro Aluminum, Protemp Glass and Commdoor Aluminum
are part of The Toro Group of companies.

Burka adds, “Buildings are significant as focal points because
they attract relevant use and visual appreciation in a cultural vocabulary
which created it. In other words, it will become an expression of its
time and the people who designed and built it.”

“The unique structural design of the Absolute Towers project
with its twisting and curving shape, complemented by its world class glass
façade, truly sets it apart. The visual aesthetics are stunning, not only
from a static design standpoint, but how it interacts with the surrounding
light: to see how the building color changes throughout the day or from
each day to the next. Simply stated, it is a project true to its name
because it is an ‘absolute’ from every perspective,” says Jeff de Waal,
architectural manager-Canada, AGC Glass Company North America. “I have
worked with architectural design teams on projects in major cities around
the world and I was very pleased to be a part of this award-winning project,”
de Waal adds.

Ellen Rogers is editor of the Architects’ Guide to
Glass & Metal magazine. She can be reached at erogers@glass.com or follow
her on Twitter @AGGmagazine and like AGG magazine on Facebook to receive
updates.