Thoughts about Maestria and its meaning
In Le Devoir, Jeanne Corriveau writes about the Maestria skybridge and, without spelling it out, asks whether construction like this is emphasizing a society of widely divided rich and poor. Postmedia’s “content works” (i.e. sponsored content) crows about how it “sets a new standard for downtown living.”
CE 15:40 on 2024-06-03 Permalink
I know someone who was looking at renting in the Maestria and they told him that only condo owners (and their guests) would be allowed to use the skybridge (he went elsewhere) so it would seem there is a division of rich and poor right in the building itself.
If you’ve never seen the marketing video for these buildings, you should. It’s something else!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7YGNp7NyAc&ab_channel=GROUPEDEVIMCO
Blork 16:05 on 2024-06-03 Permalink
Put together by the same team who did the “Mr. Plow” commercial.
https://youtu.be/gArU-BAO7Kw?si=zb0328WWSLFOdOpo
Kate 16:19 on 2024-06-03 Permalink
CE, that’s amazing.
Blork…
DeWolf 16:45 on 2024-06-03 Permalink
From an architectural standpoint, I think Maestria turned out surprisingly well, and it interacts nicely with the city around it thanks to the various different volumes that surround the twin towers. But it’s definitely a symbol of growing wealth disparity.
That said, this is a phenomenon much bigger than Montreal. Pretty much every big globalized city in the world is dealing with this right now. Restoring balance to housing will take some pretty high-level policy changes.
Meezly 17:14 on 2024-06-03 Permalink
Watching that video makes me wish I could be the Maestria of my own domain.
DavidH 19:13 on 2024-06-03 Permalink
@Meezly, I can’t make up my mind if that was an intentional nod to that Seinfeld episode.
walkerp 20:43 on 2024-06-03 Permalink
Is it even finished yet?
Meezly 09:32 on 2024-06-04 Permalink
@DavidH, I doubt marketing execs of that ilk are clever or subversive enough to attempt that. The “be the maestro of your own domain” titles appear when the blond woman is “conducting an orchestra” from her expensive leather lounge chair, so their intention is very literal. I don’t think they’d want to taint that imagery with any references to self abuse!
DavidH 13:54 on 2024-06-04 Permalink
@Meezly, I was thinking more along the lines of a junior creative inserting it to show the emperor has no clothes kinda thing. That being said, all of it is accidently hilarious. I watched the whole video and I still have no idea what any of those properties look like from the inside.
Ian 20:51 on 2024-06-04 Permalink
In my mental movie of the Montreal revolution the skybridge blows up to signal the start of the action.