The Unignorable Tower Brings Attention to Poverty in Toronto
KPMB Architects, along with the United Way, Norm Li Studio and TAXI, are bringing attention to the size and scale of poverty in Toronto by imagining a tower to house the 116,000+ individuals and families in need. If it were real, “The #UNIGNORABLE Tower,” would be the world’s tallest building.
TAXI created an app that puts this tower – designed in consultation with KPMB – directly into Toronto’s skyline using augmented reality technology.
The #UNIGNORABLE Tower, standing beside the CN Tower, rises to almost three times its height. Developed in partnership with Array of Stars, the app enables you to share your view of the tower on social media, educates you about the growing issue of poverty, and invites you to donate directly to United Way.
According to the developers, Toronto and the entire Greater Toronto Area is the poverty capital of Canada, with 1 in 7 residents currently struggling.
“We know stats can be easy to ignore,” said TAXI Executive Creative Directors Alexis Bronstorph and Kelsey Horne. “But by changing our skyline using something everyone can understand – the world’s tallest building – we can visualize data in a way that hits close to home.”
The campaign also targeted residents through a variety of other media channels. An exhibit was opened in Toronto’s downtown core, featuring a scale model of the tower and several unnerving 3D building renderings created by Norm Li.
These renderings served as the campaign’s key visuals – showing the tower in Toronto’s skyline from some of the best vantage points across the city, at different times of the day.
Ultimately, this campaign is a call for donations to help United Way fight poverty in the Toronto area.
As the largest non-government funder of community services in the Toronto area, United Way’s network of agencies and initiatives in neighbourhoods across Peel, Toronto and York Region tackles #UNIGNORABLE issues linked to poverty and works to ensure that everyone has access to the programs and services they need to thrive.
“As someone who has benefited greatly from the real estate wave that’s swept over Toronto the last two decades, it was really important to me that our team give back and support this great cause,” said Norm Li.
The #UNIGNORABLE Tower is purely a way to visualize the problem, without taking into consideration any elements a real building would have, like hallways or elevators. Its size was calculated by representing 116,317 units with an average unit size of 700ft2.
With a footprint of approximately 410 feet by 410 feet, each floor contains 240 units for a total of 484 storeys. This brings the tower’s total height to 1480 metres.