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'Absolute World' in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada is part of a development that includes 5 highrise condominum towers.^[1] The local authorities and principal builders (Fernbrook Homes and Cityzen Development Group) had introduced the Absolute Design Ideas Competition to design a 50-62 story building for the Absolute World South Tower (called 'Absolute Tower' during the selection period) which is the 4th tower in the complex. The international design competition received over 90 submissions from 70 countries around the world. Absolute World is conveniently located in what is referred to as downtown Mississauga, on the intersection of Hurontario Street and Burnhamthorpe Road. Both Square One Shopping Centre, the Mississauga Transit City Center Terminal and the GO Transit bus terminal are walking distance from Absolute World, making it very easily accessible by public transportation.^[2]

Contents

Absolute World South

Finalists

Winner

Absolute World North

References

External links

Absolute World South

Construction of the 56 story Absolute World will start in the spring of 2007 and is scheduled for completion in 2009. It will be the tallest building in Mississauga, and the tallest multi-story building in Ontario outside of Toronto. It was designed by Yansong Ma (a Yale alumnus), founder of the Beijing architectural design firm MAD Studio. The building design rotates 360 degrees from bottom to top. It was instantly dubbed the "Marilyn Monroe building", and is also known as the "360 degree tower". The design of the Absolute Tower is similar to the Turning Torso in Malmö, Sweden. It has received a great deal of support from the media and public.^[3]
Yansong Ma was helped by Yosuke Hayano (of Waseda University) and assisted by younger designers Shen Huihui, Dang Qun and Shen Jun.

Finalists

On January 30, 2006 six finalists [1] were selected and the honorary mentions [2] were given to 7 other designs. The public was allowed to vote online for their favourite design.

Winner

The winner of the competition was announced at a news conference at the top of the CN Tower in Toronto, on March 28, 2006. The MAD office's design won.

Absolute World North

Due to overwhelming success of the first building, Fernbrook announced that a second 50 story would be built as the fifth and final tower of the development. Unlike the South tower, which gets thinner in the middle as it rises, Absolute North will instead get larger in the middle, which has resulted in some members of the public calling them the "condo couple" with the South Tower being the sexy female and the northern tower being the paunched man. ^[4]

References

1. Absolute City Centre, Mississauga
2. Absolute Tower press release
3. Yet another 'Marilyn' to grace Mississauga skyline The Weekly Voice
4. 'Marilyn' finds a mate Ivor Tossell

External links

★ Official Site

★ Competition website

★ Emporis Listing

★ Skyscrapernews article on the building

★ Review of Building