Tag: toronto

• My Focals by North fitting

  Over the weekend I went by the new North store on Ossington for the fitting of my new Focals by North glasses. According to Retail Insider, this is the first retail space in Canada that is entirely dedicated to wearable tech (shout-out to Hullmark and CBRE). Full disclosure: I am not being paid by North, but I was asked if I would accept a pair of Focals and provide my thoughts. So I will be doing that over the coming months on the blog.

  Previously known as Thalmic Labs, North is a Waterloo-based company that first attracted attention with the launch of a gesture-control armband known as Myo. What that product did was make digital interactions completely hands-free. It had strong use cases across medicine, music, and business. However, this past October the company announced that it would be moving on from Myo. Enter Focals by North. 

  Focals are custom-built eyewear with an integrated display that only the wearer can see. It is similar to, for example, BMW’s heads up display, and the idea is that it is a way for you to quickly get the information you want, without pulling out your phone and disengaging from the world. The ambition is human-centric technology that integrates seamlessly.

  Here is an example of what that display looks like (it is much better and cooler in person):

  

  To control the display you use both your voice (the glasses have a microphone) and a 4-directional joystick called a Loop, which sits on your index finger like a ring and that you thumb. You can receive and send texts (voice to text), you can get turn-by-turn directions, you can view your appointments and the weather, and you can ask Alexa things.

  The first step in the ordering process is a fitting. And that’s what I did over the weekend. The glasses are all custom made and so they start by doing a full 3D scan of your head in a room that feels like the future. Once that’s done, you pick what frame you want, the color, and your sun clips (an essential accessory for day drinking in Trinity Bellwoods). Total cost: CAD 1,299.

  While exceptionally cool, it is premature for me to really comment on the tech at this point. I’m expecting my Focals in 8-10 weeks. But is it interesting to opine on the current state of eyewear tech.

  Most people believe that the problem with Google Glass was the fact that you had to be a Silicon Valley nerd in order to want to wear them out in public. They looked and continue to look ridiculous, which is why Snap went fashion first with their Spectacles. I have always found this product really intriguing. I want to use it. But I’ve stopped using Snapchat entirely and I don’t really have a strong use case for them.

  Snap’s Spectacles are about capture and content creation, whereas Focals are about discreetly feeding you information that you would otherwise have to pull out your phone (or watch) to view. There’s no camera on Focals. That’s not what they are about. But they are obviously fashion first.

  The question for me is whether the experience will truly be seamless and integrated, or if I’ll still be disengaged – gazing off into my glasses (space) while I ask Alexa to UberEats me a chicken shawarma wrap. I’ll let you know in about 8-10 weeks. If you’re looking for more on Focals by North, check out their website and this CNBC piece. Go Canadian tech.

  2018.12.09

• Photoblog: Sunrise at Ten York

  This morning I watched the sun rise from the the roof of Ten York Condominiums, some 735 feet up. This is what that looked like (the sky initially had a purple hue to it):

  

  It was cold as all hell, but sometimes you have to work for your photos.

  Some of you may also remember that I wrote about this building a few months ago. Tridel, the developer, is calling the project its first “smart condominium.”

  Regular scheduled programming will resume tomorrow.

  2018.12.05

• Multi-storey retail

  I was at the St. Lawrence Market over the weekend and I saw a poster up for the original Yonge Street Arcade building, which was located at Yonge Street and Temperance Street here in Toronto. Initially constructed in 1884, the building was ultimately demolished in 1952 and replaced with today’s building by 1960.

  Here is a photo of the original arcade dated 1885:

  

  The Yonge Street Arcade has been fairly well documented online (check out here and here). But what interested me when I saw the poster was the building’s retail characteristics.

  Modeled after the glass-roofed malls being constructed in Europe at the time – the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II opened in Milan in 1867 – the Yonge Street Arcade is said to be Canada’s first enclosed shopping mall.

  The galleria was 267 feet in depth and 3 storeys high (pictured above). The ground floor contained 32 retail units, each 12 feet wide by 29 feet deep. 24 of the units were in the galleria and the other 8 faced outward toward each street frontage.

  On the 2nd floor were 20 more units. Some sources say they were intended to be offices, while others say they were retail units. The above photo makes me think they were retail. The 3rd floor then had offices and maybe some artist studios.

  Either way, the mix of uses is interesting (and maybe a first for Toronto). And if you know anything about retail, you’ll know how difficult it can be to successfully pull it off across multiple levels. The Yonge Street Arcade shows that we’ve been (possibly) trying it for well over a hundred years in this city.

  2018.12.02

• Morning ravine walk

  

  Yesterday morning I went on a ravine walk from Summerhill up to St. Clair Avenue East. Toronto’s ravine system is easily the most unique feature of our city’s geography. Architect Larry Wayne Richards once described the topography of Toronto as San Francisco inverted. They have hills and we have valleys.

  Toronto’s ravines serve, among other things, as a recreational treasure, a magnet for nice homes, and as an important component of this city’s water infrastructure. But as you walk through many of our ravines, you can’t help but think that we could and should value them a lot more.

  I appreciate that there needs to be a balance between environmental conservation and recreational use, but that doesn’t seem to be the primary issue. It is neglect. And it is probably because they are out of sight and out of mind for many people. Toronto’s ravines are an undervalued asset.

  2018.12.01

• Sidewalk Toronto releases draft site plan for Quayside

  Yesterday Sidewalk Toronto released its draft site plan for Quayside. Here’s what it looks like:

  

  There’s a big emphasis on people-first streets and on the public realm. I like the idea of a waterfront plaza at the tip of the Parliament slip and of a floating walkway bridge to Promontory Park (bottom right hand corner of the above image).

  There are also a number of more enclosed pedestrian laneways and courtyards, which I am sure will result in more favorable microclimate conditions. That matters, especially on the water.

  Here are some high level project stats:

  • All mass timber construction
  • Five “sites”
  • Buildings ranging from 3 to 30 storeys
  • 68% residential (40% of the residential will be below-market, with 20% being affordable and 5% being deeply affordable)
  • 20% commercial
  • 15% flex space (retail, production, arts, community)
  • ~2,500 residential units

  A full copy of the draft site plan can be downloaded, here.

  Image: Sidewalk Toronto

  2018.12.01

• Rendering of block 8

  I really like what has been put forward for Block 8 in the newly developing West Don Lands neighborhood of Toronto. Here is a rendering looking east from the Distillery District toward the proposed westernmost tower:

  

  It feels like an extension of the Distillery District, which was clearly the intent. The materiality also reminds me of Junction House. Red brick at the base to fit within its context, and a more modern material palette on the upper floors. 

  I also like how, in this instance, the building steps out on its south side, as opposed to in. It’s something different. Not every building has to look like a wedding cake, right?

  The architecture is by COBE Architects and architectsAlliance. The developers are Dream, Kilmer Group, and Tricon. And the plan is for 756 rental apartments, of which 225 will be affordable and integrated throughout the 3 towers. 

  For more information, check out Urban Toronto.

  2018.11.24

• Forever mural now complete

  

  Ben Johnston completed his “Forever” mural at Junction House last week. More photos on his Instagram.

  If you would like to see it in person (worth it), stop by 2720 Dundas Street West in Toronto’s Junction neighborhood. Here is a before photo of the wall (along with some directions).

  If any of you have any blank walls in need of art, I would encourage you to give Ben a shout. The wall certainly doesn’t need to be in Toronto.

  Thank you once again Ben. We really appreciate you collaborating with us.

  Image: Ben

  2018.11.20

• Average price of a new condo in Toronto is now above $1,000 psf

  Urbanation released its Q3-2018 condo market results for the Greater Toronto Area earlier this month. 

  Here are a few highlights:

  – The unsold inventory of new condos in development is currently 33% below the 10-year average of 14,806 units.

  – Year-to-date sales of new condominiums decreased to 14,055 units from 25,839 units (same period last year). 2017 was a record year.

  – The average price per square foot for new project launches in Q3-2018 was $1,044 psf. This is the first time the average has broken the $1,000 psf mark. 

  – This is a significant price increase from last year and it is being driven by low supply, stable demand, and rising development/construction costs (my opinion).

  – The average unit size for project launches in Q3-2018 was 714 sf.

  – The average opening quarter absorption rate remains above 55%. It has been this way since Q1-2016.

  For the full press release, click here.

  2018.11.15

• One year anniversary of the King Street Transit Pilot

  I had dinner tonight on King Street and I was reminded that this week marks the one year anniversary of the King Street Transit Pilot here in Toronto.

  The pilot has certainly had its share of controversy, but the improvements to both transit reliability and ridership are clear. Average travel times (in each direction) have increased by as much as 7 minutes on the route.

  Here’s the latest data from July and August of this year. Steve Munro can also tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the King streetcar.

  As our city continues to grow, many are naturally concerned about the ability of our infrastructure to handle the additional demands. Where will all the cars go?

  But the reality is that we will never be able to accommodate everybody driving around in their own car. Which is why we have to rely on transit and solutions like the King Street Transit Pilot.

  What’s your opinion of the pilot now that it has been in place for a year? I almost forget what it was like before we had it.

  2018.11.14

• City-states and superstar cities

  During the recent election here in Toronto, mayoral candidate Jennifer Keesmaat raised the idea of this city region, maybe, becoming its own province. It wasn’t the first time this idea has been floated, but it once again didn’t stick.

  Earlier this week, Richard Florida spoke at the Urban Land Institute’s Toronto symposium and he brought up a similar issue: Toronto is a ‘city state’ and needs to start acting like it. Here is an excerpt from a recent Star article about his talk:

  He also noted that in terms of total economic output, the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] — he included the Golden Horseshoe — is responsible for about “$700 billion” (U.S) in economic output.

  “Which means our … region is equivalent to that of Sweden. So we are a city state, a mega region.”

  He later added: “we are a powerful global city with lots of assets to build on,” he said.

  But he went on to say that despite all of these successes there’s a “sense that something is amiss, something is wrong.”

  I have long supported the notion that city regions need to see and think of themselves as one united and contiguous economic landscape. In our case, it is not about, for instance, Hamilton vs. Toronto. This is about our entire region vs. New York or Singapore (a city-state) or the Pearl River Delta megalopolis.

  The headlines coming out of Amazon’s recent announcement are clear: In Superstar Cities, the Rich Get Richer, and They Get Amazon. This is winner-take-all urbanism where you need to be a “superstar” in order to compete. 

  2018.11.08