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Small size, big success
Peter McCann's low-to-the-ground replica buildings help projects' sales hit new heights
Feb. 18, 2006. 01:00 AM
PAT BRENNAN
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
CHARLA JONES/TORONTO STAR
Peter McCann towers above his model of the Art Gallery of Ontario, one of many scale models he’s created at his workshop on Niagara St.
Peter McCann may be Ontario's busiest builder.
Many of Toronto's condominiums, plus some of the world's most impressive buildings, are first built in McCann's third-floor shop on Toronto's Niagara St., near King and Bathurst Sts.
He builds some of the world's tallest and most notable buildings — on a one-100th scale — before they rise full-scale on their permanent sites.
McCann and his 25 employees create many of those architectural scale models you'll find in sales offices at new condominium projects. They give consumers a sense of what the final product will look like and, in some cases, how it will fit into its new neighbourhood.
Jim Ritchie, vice-president of marketing at Tridel Corp., says scale models can be a powerful tool when selling condos, particularly if a building has a lot of architectural features.
"It helps the condo buyer see what they are getting. They don't have to tax their imaginations as much if there's a realistic model there to show them what the finished product looks like, and where their suite is in relation to the building or the neighbourhood. We rarely do a project without one of Peter's scale models," says Ritchie.
But more than residential towers are born in McCann's shop. Architects from across North America use his models to depict what their design creations will eventually look like.
Frank Gehry commissioned McCann to create a scale model of his $500-million addition to the Art Gallery of Ontario. It was on display at city hall and has now moved over to the AGO.
Theatres, hospitals, trade centres, university buildings, shopping malls, office buildings, hotels and highrise condos around the world all first took shape on Niagara St.
Duke University in Durham, N.C. hosts a Peter McCann museum of sorts. He created scale models for many new buildings on the huge campus, and they're all still on display in the administration building.
Creating architectural scale models has come a long way since McCann first got involved in the business in 1980. Balsam wood and a sharp knife were the principal ingredients of the trade back then.
Today, the artists in McCann's shop use computer-controlled laser cutters, drills, routers, vacuums, etc. to shape and carve acrylics, plastics, composites, woods and metal castings into exact replicas of what the architects have designed for the developer.
Of course there's still lots of hand fine-tuning that goes into a building, such as twisting thin metal wires into tiny trees to create the authentic-looking extensive landscaping a project requires.
Many of the models are not only created through computer-design programs, but also have computers inside to control the lighting.
PMAMI (Peter McCann Architectural Models Inc.) is also a busy auto manufacturer. Buying miniature cars for the roads and parking lots around an architectural model often doesn't work because the scale isn't right — so McCann crafts his own.
He has models standing all over the world, but the biggest lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Robert Booth, the urban planner who once headed up construction for Concord Adex at CityPlace on Toronto's waterfront railway lands, is now the head of construction at Emaar Properties in Dubai. He is running the world's largest construction project: the $20-billion development of Burj Dubai, a community of 30,000 highrise condo suites surrounding a massive shopping mall.
To depict the huge housing project, which will include the tallest building in the world, Booth turned to his old friends in Toronto to create a model.
"It's the biggest scale model we've ever done," says McCann. "It took us eight months to build it and the model is 34 feet in diameter."
It was built in Toronto, disassembled, and then shipped to Dubai and reassembled. It has six condominium towers ringing the shopping mall and the principal residential tower/Armani Hotel, which will be nearly 760 metres high. (The CN Tower is only 553.2 metres.) The residential tower in McCann's model stands 8 metres.
McCann and six employees spent two weeks in Dubai's 44C temperatures re-assembling the $750,000 model, which includes thousands of scale-model palm trees. They had a local 40-man crew to assist them.
Booth was familiar with McCann's work because he had him create another large neighbourhood model to depict Concord Adex's vision of CityPlace, next to the Rogers Centre. That project will cover 18 hectares and include 5,000 residences.
Another model recently shipped out of the McCann studio is a one-100th version of the legendary Plaza Hotel, which sits on the edge of New York's Central Park. The Plaza is undergoing a major renovation to convert its 805 hotel rooms to 200 condominium apartments and 150 hotel rooms. "I understand some condos on the upper floors will be selling for up to $5,200 per square foot," says McCann.
Elad Properties bought the famous hotel on 5th Ave. last year for $625 million, from a Saudi Arabian prince who had purchased it from Donald Trump in 1995 for $325 million.
The hotel was built in 1909 and is one of the most beautiful and elaborate buildings in Manhattan. The whitish facade features high loggias and balconies. The famous roofline has various peaks and rounded turrets.
Its French Renaissance design features meticulous detail on the marble walls on the lower floors. The big picture windows at ground level have sills made of bronze. Its spectacular canopy over the 5th Ave. entrance once flew the national flags of visiting dignitaries.
All of this McCann and his crew had to capture in their scale model.
Walking through his studios is like strolling through a construction project. There's a carpentry shop, metal working shop, computer-guided laser cutting machines, roof trusses being lined up, buildings that are finished and, of course, a shortage of skilled trades.
"We can't keep up to the demand for modelling. We have lots of work for experienced model makers," says McCann. "There's no let-up in the construction business and our clients are from all over the world."
He recently had to turn down work from renowned architect Robert Stern and from the Cordish Group, a huge U.S. developer that plans to build a $310-million retail/entertainment centre at the Woodbine racetrack.
One of McCann's modelling artists is a 70-year-old man who works at home. His specialty is making ornate street lamps — the type found in Paris.
It's not just buildings that roll off the PMAMI assembly line. One client wanted a Russian T Wagon railway car built for his model railway layout. "I've never seen such a layout. It was like a mall town with everything animated," says McCann. "We don't normally make scale-model boats and cars, etc. for clients, but this guy made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
And it's hard to refuse any request from movie actor Geena Davis. While filming The Long Kiss Goodnight in Toronto, Hamilton and Collingwood, she asked McCann to create a portable bar as a birthday gift for her then-husband, director Renny Harlin. McCann built a bar into a backpack.
McCann was introduced to the business by his brother Michael, a renowned artist who paints renderings for North America's top architects, including Stern, Gehry, Eberhard Zeidler, Michael Graves and Arthur Ericson.
He and his crew recently unveiled a large model of the Residences of Maple Leaf Square, a $350-million complex to be built west of the Air Canada Centre. It's a big project, but not enough to keep McCann from his own hockey dreams. He plays twice a week.
Peter McCann's low-to-the-ground replica buildings help projects' sales hit new heights
Feb. 18, 2006. 01:00 AM
PAT BRENNAN
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
CHARLA JONES/TORONTO STAR
Peter McCann towers above his model of the Art Gallery of Ontario, one of many scale models he’s created at his workshop on Niagara St.
Peter McCann may be Ontario's busiest builder.
Many of Toronto's condominiums, plus some of the world's most impressive buildings, are first built in McCann's third-floor shop on Toronto's Niagara St., near King and Bathurst Sts.
He builds some of the world's tallest and most notable buildings — on a one-100th scale — before they rise full-scale on their permanent sites.
McCann and his 25 employees create many of those architectural scale models you'll find in sales offices at new condominium projects. They give consumers a sense of what the final product will look like and, in some cases, how it will fit into its new neighbourhood.
Jim Ritchie, vice-president of marketing at Tridel Corp., says scale models can be a powerful tool when selling condos, particularly if a building has a lot of architectural features.
"It helps the condo buyer see what they are getting. They don't have to tax their imaginations as much if there's a realistic model there to show them what the finished product looks like, and where their suite is in relation to the building or the neighbourhood. We rarely do a project without one of Peter's scale models," says Ritchie.
But more than residential towers are born in McCann's shop. Architects from across North America use his models to depict what their design creations will eventually look like.
Frank Gehry commissioned McCann to create a scale model of his $500-million addition to the Art Gallery of Ontario. It was on display at city hall and has now moved over to the AGO.
Theatres, hospitals, trade centres, university buildings, shopping malls, office buildings, hotels and highrise condos around the world all first took shape on Niagara St.
Duke University in Durham, N.C. hosts a Peter McCann museum of sorts. He created scale models for many new buildings on the huge campus, and they're all still on display in the administration building.
Creating architectural scale models has come a long way since McCann first got involved in the business in 1980. Balsam wood and a sharp knife were the principal ingredients of the trade back then.
Today, the artists in McCann's shop use computer-controlled laser cutters, drills, routers, vacuums, etc. to shape and carve acrylics, plastics, composites, woods and metal castings into exact replicas of what the architects have designed for the developer.
Of course there's still lots of hand fine-tuning that goes into a building, such as twisting thin metal wires into tiny trees to create the authentic-looking extensive landscaping a project requires.
Many of the models are not only created through computer-design programs, but also have computers inside to control the lighting.
PMAMI (Peter McCann Architectural Models Inc.) is also a busy auto manufacturer. Buying miniature cars for the roads and parking lots around an architectural model often doesn't work because the scale isn't right — so McCann crafts his own.
He has models standing all over the world, but the biggest lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Robert Booth, the urban planner who once headed up construction for Concord Adex at CityPlace on Toronto's waterfront railway lands, is now the head of construction at Emaar Properties in Dubai. He is running the world's largest construction project: the $20-billion development of Burj Dubai, a community of 30,000 highrise condo suites surrounding a massive shopping mall.
To depict the huge housing project, which will include the tallest building in the world, Booth turned to his old friends in Toronto to create a model.
"It's the biggest scale model we've ever done," says McCann. "It took us eight months to build it and the model is 34 feet in diameter."
It was built in Toronto, disassembled, and then shipped to Dubai and reassembled. It has six condominium towers ringing the shopping mall and the principal residential tower/Armani Hotel, which will be nearly 760 metres high. (The CN Tower is only 553.2 metres.) The residential tower in McCann's model stands 8 metres.
McCann and six employees spent two weeks in Dubai's 44C temperatures re-assembling the $750,000 model, which includes thousands of scale-model palm trees. They had a local 40-man crew to assist them.
Booth was familiar with McCann's work because he had him create another large neighbourhood model to depict Concord Adex's vision of CityPlace, next to the Rogers Centre. That project will cover 18 hectares and include 5,000 residences.
Another model recently shipped out of the McCann studio is a one-100th version of the legendary Plaza Hotel, which sits on the edge of New York's Central Park. The Plaza is undergoing a major renovation to convert its 805 hotel rooms to 200 condominium apartments and 150 hotel rooms. "I understand some condos on the upper floors will be selling for up to $5,200 per square foot," says McCann.
Elad Properties bought the famous hotel on 5th Ave. last year for $625 million, from a Saudi Arabian prince who had purchased it from Donald Trump in 1995 for $325 million.
The hotel was built in 1909 and is one of the most beautiful and elaborate buildings in Manhattan. The whitish facade features high loggias and balconies. The famous roofline has various peaks and rounded turrets.
Its French Renaissance design features meticulous detail on the marble walls on the lower floors. The big picture windows at ground level have sills made of bronze. Its spectacular canopy over the 5th Ave. entrance once flew the national flags of visiting dignitaries.
All of this McCann and his crew had to capture in their scale model.
Walking through his studios is like strolling through a construction project. There's a carpentry shop, metal working shop, computer-guided laser cutting machines, roof trusses being lined up, buildings that are finished and, of course, a shortage of skilled trades.
"We can't keep up to the demand for modelling. We have lots of work for experienced model makers," says McCann. "There's no let-up in the construction business and our clients are from all over the world."
He recently had to turn down work from renowned architect Robert Stern and from the Cordish Group, a huge U.S. developer that plans to build a $310-million retail/entertainment centre at the Woodbine racetrack.
One of McCann's modelling artists is a 70-year-old man who works at home. His specialty is making ornate street lamps — the type found in Paris.
It's not just buildings that roll off the PMAMI assembly line. One client wanted a Russian T Wagon railway car built for his model railway layout. "I've never seen such a layout. It was like a mall town with everything animated," says McCann. "We don't normally make scale-model boats and cars, etc. for clients, but this guy made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
And it's hard to refuse any request from movie actor Geena Davis. While filming The Long Kiss Goodnight in Toronto, Hamilton and Collingwood, she asked McCann to create a portable bar as a birthday gift for her then-husband, director Renny Harlin. McCann built a bar into a backpack.
McCann was introduced to the business by his brother Michael, a renowned artist who paints renderings for North America's top architects, including Stern, Gehry, Eberhard Zeidler, Michael Graves and Arthur Ericson.
He and his crew recently unveiled a large model of the Residences of Maple Leaf Square, a $350-million complex to be built west of the Air Canada Centre. It's a big project, but not enough to keep McCann from his own hockey dreams. He plays twice a week.