Building in Dubai will always challenge the idea of sustainability because of the extreme temperatures and lack of water in the region. In spite of that reality, capital generated by $139 a barrel oil is making it possible for architects to try radically new, untested technologies in designs that attempt to generate more energy than they consume and in doing so achieve something that could be called sustainability.

So it is with Italian architect David Fisher’s design for the green environmental tower in Dubai. Named the “Dynamic Architecture” building, the sixty storey tower is also a power source. Forty-eight 0.3 megawatt turbines are contained within its rotating floors. Fisher writes, “Considering that Dubai gets 4,000 wind hours annually, the turbines incorporated into the building can generate 1,200,000 kilowatt-hour of energy.”

The architect describes three technologies that the project relies on for its success. First is the ability for architecture to be dynamic, to constantly change its form. Second, is the integration of power-generating technologies that let the building generate more power than its inhabitants consume. Third, is the factory-based construction that will reduce the number of site workers, speed construction time, and improve the final finish quality.

Take a look at this rather pretentious video for an explanation of the tower. What’s my take on it? Before I was an architect I followed a Buckminster Fuller inspired career path working in aircraft manufacturing for the de Havilland Aircraft Company. I’ve seen the technologies required to make this work from both sides of the technology spectrum, and odds are that this building will fail to meet its objectives. That does not mean it is an unworthy experiment. Inventing new ways of sustainable living will not be easy or cheap; however, we have little choice but to try and if it takes $139 oil to get us there so be it.

In a world that is increasingly mediated by online exchanges, it is always refreshing to remember the role well considered architecture plays in the act of connecting people and ideas.

I'm at the MaRs Centre in downtown Toronto attending Mesh08, a conference celebrating the power of Web 2.0. The tag line for this conference is "Connect, Share, Inspire." In its third successful year, Mesh gathers together the people who create the collaborative online experiences we enjoy. Those people are behind a technology-driven social shift that is changing the world—look at the "people-powered" movement of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama for an obvious example.

As significant as that change is, it is important to remember that one of the reasons conferences like Mesh work is that they take place in social spaces like MaRs. A first for Toronto, MaRs' objective is to:

MaRS is a non-profit innovation centre connecting science, technology and social entrepreneurs with business skills, networks and capital to stimulate innovation and accelerate the creation and growth of successful Canadian enterprises.

The symbiotic relationship between this mission and the space that contains its activities is essential to the Centre's success. The designers of MaRs anticipated that too many prescriptive spaces would limit the innovation that might take place here. The spaces here are mutable in that they can adapt needs of the people who use them.


Spaces of impromptu encounter and assembly in the MaRs atrium

Toronto, it is often said, is a city of villages. In spite of its seemingly endless expansion at the edges, the city's centre is always brought back to a collection of small, centralized communities that predated the automobile. Each of these villages seems to await its turn at rejuvenation. This is the story of one.

Since Queen Street West became the cultural mecca of Toronto's arts community, shop prices there have soared. Smaller businesses can no longer afford to buy in to that market—but they can afford Leslieville. In case you don't know the city, Leslieville is located along the other end of Queen Street. Just go east from Yonge, over the Don Valley, past Broadview, and you're almost there. Given new life by Toronto's nearby film studios, Leslieville has everything a culturally savvy visitor needs to explore. New restaurants seem to open every week. Furniture stores with a modern bent flourish. The city's latest collection of art galleries are doing well. Shops like Gadabout with its shelves full of quirky collectibles offer a timeless respite from the Internet era. And coffee shops are everywhere.

We took a walk along Queen on Saturday evening on our way to dinner atEdward Leveque's Kitchen (which was a real pleasure for us with a terrific wine list—although the steak is not the best item on the menu) Here are a few photos from that stroll.

The casual observer would assume by now that Toronto's illegal sign wars should be behind us now—the good guys won, right? Wrong. In spite of what you might have heard the signs are still with us. Here is the latest news from Rami Tabello:

NORTH YORK AND ETOBICOKE ENFORCEMENTS NOW UNDER ATTACK AS CITY SOLICITOR CUTS SECRET DEAL WITH AD COMPANY

Media Release, Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Strategic Media Inc., a billboard company that is operating about 30 illegal large-format vinyl wall signs in Toronto, has become the second media company to sue the City of Toronto over billboard enforcements.

Strategic Media's signs are familiar to Torontonians as it is the only company that operates third party signs without a company nameplate below the sign.

The latest lawsuit, filed on April 18, challenges the Etobicoke, North York and Toronto by-laws. Earlier this year, Titan Outdoor filed suit to quash Toronto's by-law. The new suit comes after the City Solicitor entered into an agreement with Titan Outdoor that will likely allow Titan to maintain 39 illegal billboards in the downtown core for at least three years.

"This new lawsuit is in fact a subterfuge. The Company's goal is not to win in court but to obtain the same sweetheart deal that Titan Outdoor obtained out of court," explains Rami Tabello, coordinator of IllegalSigns.ca who notes that Community Council rejected Titan Outdoor's variances only to have the City Solicitor allow Titan to maintain the signs. "Companies are obtaining de-facto variances from the City Solicitor that they can't obtain from City Council."

IllegalSigns.ca notes that since a 1983 amendment to the Municipal Act, the City has had authority under law to remove illegal billboards without recourse to the courts. In September 2005, City Council directed staff to remove all illegal billboards in the City "as soon as possible," and in June 2007, Council directed staff to remove Strategic Media's illegal billboard at the DVP and Highway 401.

"City Staff have refused to comply with City Council direction and entered into an agreement with Titan Outdoor without the advice or consent of City Council. They have also decided on a strategy to obtain $1,000 fines against illegal billboards instead of removing them," says Mr. Tabello who notes that the advertising companies have never obtained an injunction preventing the City from removing their illegal billboards.

The complaints against Titan and Strategic Media's signs were filed by IllegalSigns.ca.

A copy of the Strategic Media lawsuit is available on http://www.IllegalSigns.ca this morning, along with photos of Strategic Media's portfolio of illegal billboards.


Media Contact: Rami Tabello, Coordinator, IllegalSigns.ca
Phone: 416.822.3696
359 Palmerston Boulevard
Toronto, Ontario M6G 2N5