Construction in phase one at Yorkdale Condominiums is moving along as the project is now above grade.

We are currently pouring walls and columns to the second floor and you can begin to see the concrete structure form on the Ranee Avenue side of the site.

With regards to phase two, the City of Toronto is currently undertaking the servicing on Varna Avenue, which includes water, sewer, sanitary and road work. A portion of this work needs to be complete before the shoring and pilling can begin. We are anticipating a construction start in late June or early July.

For those who are on Twitter you might like to follow us @HelloContext where at times we post construction views and brief updates – https://twitter.com/HelloContext

Today is the first in what will be an ongoing series of features on design.  Being in the real estate development business, we at Context tend to spend most of our time focused on architecture, urban planning, landscape and interior design.  That being said, our corporate philosophy and mantra is “Different by Design” and we thought we would bring this approach to this new series and start with a subject completely unrelated to our everyday business.

Steve Jobs once said “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”  Apropos of that, our inaugural subject on Different by Design is the Omega Speedmaster Professional “Moon Reference”.  In a world filled with Rolexes, Apple Watches and endless horological options for ones wrist, the Omega Speedmaster Professional or “Speedy” to its legions of fans, stands out as a beautiful piece of design and engineering with a rich history of out of this world performance and exploration.

The Speedmaster has changed little in appearance since it was first introduced in 1957.  Originally designed as a chronograph for measuring time in sports and racing, the genesis of the “moon reference” came in the 1960’s when NASA decided to qualify every piece of equipment that would accompany the first astronauts into space.

Tested in 1965 with violent shocks, extreme temperature fluctuations, vibrations, and humidity, the Speedmaster outperformed other brands such as Rolex and Longines.  NASA also requested that the crystal be “hesalite” instead of the normal sapphire as when shattered, hesalite (acrylic) does not break into tiny fragments unlike the sapphire – something that could be very hazardous in a zero gravity environment.  The result was a certification as “flight qualified by NASA for all manned Space Missions”, a statement that all Speedmasters wear proudly engraved on their case backs.

The most important piece of the Speedmaster, as with all watches, is what’s inside.  The Speedmaster features a legendary Lemania 1861 self-winding movement which unlike automatic (self-winding) or quartz watches requires the wearer to manually wind it up to function.  At the time of development, automatic chronographs and quartz watches were still being developed and there was thinking that a manually wound watch might work better in zero gravity and provide the accuracy that the astronauts would need in space.  A famous example of this occurred in Apollo 13 and was portrayed in the film right after the “Houston, We’ve had a Problem” moment.  With the Service Module badly damaged by the explosion in the oxygen system and the electrical systems turned off to save power, astronaut Jack Swigert used his Speedmaster to accurately time the course correction burn while Jim Lovell and Fred Haise piloted the craft safely back to earth.

Whether you are attracted to its design, engineering, movement, history, or you just really like the movie, the Omega Speedmaster Professional is an excellent time piece for your wrist and watch collection.  And it might just save your life someday if you’re stranded in space and don’t have Mr. Tom Hanks around to help.

For more on the Omega Speedmaster Professional, visit: www.omegawatches.com/watches/speedmaster/moonwatch/professional

www.hodinkee.com/articles/understanding-the-omega-speedmaster-professional

Toronto is at the top of the list in the newly released Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants.  The number one spot goes to Alo, the elegant modern French spot tucked away on the 3^rd floor at south east corner of Spadina Avenue and Queen Street West.  www.alorestaurant.com

This is the first time that a Toronto restaurant has been crowned number one and taken over Montreal for top honours.  Overall, 5 of the top 10 spots went to local restaurants.  Joining Alo in the top ten is seasonally inspired Edulis at #5 – www.edulisrestaurant.com

Modern Italian/seafood centric Buca Yorkville at #7 – www.buca.ca/yorkville

Canadian oriented and sky high power lunch stalwart Canoe at #8 – www.canoerestaurant.com

And the casual vegetable focused Dandylion at #9 – www.restaurantdandylion.com

Toronto had a total of 24 of the top 100 restaurants and also featured the likes of Spanish influenced Bar Isabel, French inspired Chinese DaiLo, the Roman cuisine of Enoteca Sociale, French Brasserie Café Boulud, and fine dining classic Scaramouche.  For more on these restaurants and to peruse the complete list, visit www.canadas100best.com  Happy dining Toronto!

Here are a few of the many spiced up boutiques at Yorkdale Mall celebrating love day!

We’ll let the photos speak for themselves…

Jimmy Choo

Aldo

Tiffany & Co.

Zara

Prada

Indigo Chapters

Kate Spade

Stuart Weitzman

Roots

Tesla

bebe

Holt Renfrew

Godiva

Have a happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at Context!