M City – Phase 1
3980 Confederation Parkway, Mississauga
Developer: Rogers Real Estate Investments Ltd. & Urban Capital Property Group
Units: 780
Storeys: 61
GFA: 639,470 sq.ft.
Completion Date: 2021
M City project will include 10 residential condo towers
M City is a model for addressing the challenge of urbanizing the periphery of large cities. The sheer scale of this new territory calls into question the old streets-and-blocks architecture of the centre city. Instead, the development of the periphery demands its own solutions that address “bigness” which is the most salient legacy of 20th-century planning and traffic engineering. The final build-out of the M City project will include 8 residential condo towers with over 6,000 units for sale or rent on 4.3 million square feet. Key community features will include extending existing city streets on an angular plane to then form a network of land parcels; and creating a pedestrian-friendly environment. Throughout the project, there will be two-way roads with street parking, large sidewalks, and residential frontages. Furthermore, two acres of parkland and access to the planned LRT along with infrastructure improvements will be important aspects of the public realm for the anticipated 15,000 residents that will call M City home.
61-Storey Tower
The first and most visible phase of the project will be a 61-storey tower, on top of an extended 5-storey horizontal base or “podium” of public facilities and retail and recreational uses. Unlike development in Toronto’s 19th-century urban core, this new territory of development affords the exciting opportunity to make architecture that is unapologetically big. Free of the need to defer to the scale of 19th-century buildings that were limited in height by the constraints of masonry construction, M City will also offer a multi-level public realm that fully realizes the capabilities of advanced reinforced concrete building technologies.
Unique Geometric Presence
Our project for the Garden City addresses the ambitions of this nascent urbanism. We recognize that this site will play a key role in the formation of Mississauga’s urbanized centre. We also believe it will be a model for intensification, by offering high-quality amenities at levels of density that are new to Mississauga. The tower, intended as the highest part of the whole M City development, will have a unique geometry that redefines Mississauga’s skyline and befitting its role as a beacon for the entire area. Its characteristic undulating geometric presence is a series of twisted horizontal bands that form the entire shaft of the tower.
Continuous Balconies
The floor plates accommodate approximately 13 units per level, each with a balcony. From top to bottom, the sculptural form is made up of these balconies, and great care has been taken to make sure this presence is uninterrupted by the unsightly mechanical equipment areas that mar the appearance of many high-rise towers. The singular expression of the bands reinforces the sculptural quality of the building forming a dramatic baroque silhouette against the sky.
Characteristic Form
Unlike other sculptural towers that sacrifice the livability of the units to achieve unique shapes, the precise geometric procedures we have used do not compromise the layouts of the rooms. In addition, continuous balconies made from translucent white laminated glass wrap every floor plate, extending the level of amenity further. And, in terms of appearance, this outer layer of glass extends 300mm below the slab to create broad horizontal banding as well as give the building its characteristic form.
Special Geometry
In simplest terms, M City Phase 1 is a 61-storey tower on top of a five-storey podium. The tower has a special geometry that not only provides for excellent residential units but also contributes to the iconic role of this building on the urban skyline. The podium has a prismatic shape by virtue of its faceted glass walls, as well as a large rooftop amenity space and a green roof. There are 7 typical floor plate shapes (A, B, C, D, E, F, and G), beginning with a rectangle (D) and skewing first towards one extreme (G), then skewing back through D to the other extreme (A). The corners of each plate floor plate shift over 1m from the plate below. This is done with short shear walls that ‘walk’ along with the skewing and overlap above and below. The tower’s unique appearance results from the rotation of the floor plates.
Consultant Team
GC: EllisDon
Structural: RJC
Mechanical & Electrical: Smith and Anderson
Interior Design: Cecconi Simone
Landscape: The Planning Partnership
