Unveiling 'Untitled'

The unveiling took place at a press event under gray skies today at Yonge-Dundas Square in Downtown Toronto, about six kilometers south of the site for Untitled at Yonge and Eglinton. Pharrell Williams announced his collaboration with the developers via a video message, while the teaser site for Untitled features a short clip of Williams looking at us and saying:

Hearing that a residential real estate venture is being designed by an A-list celebrity immediately sparks trepidation. Residents of some of the houses in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward built under Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation are suing the foundation, charging it with fraud. (Make It Right then sued the local architect they worked with to help realize designs by Frank Gehry, Shigeru Ban, and other big-name architects.) Over the summer, news of Kanye West dabbling in the design of Star Wars-inspired, potentially low-income dwellings and their construction on his property led to their demolition by authorities.

Given that Williams is working with two developers, a large architecture firm, and an interior design firm, the results shouldn't be so problematic. But making any architectural judgements will have to wait, since the only peek of the design is the rendering at top. Though not as daring as Ma Yansong's curvaceous Absolute Towers in nearby Mississauga, the moody image of crinkled balconies facing each other holds some promise for the Grammy winner's foray into architecture.