ideaCity10 in the WTF Building

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Paul Horn, Mumtaz Mahal

I have heard rumours of Moses Znaimer’s ideaCity swirling for some time now, and no surprise since the visionary conference marked its 10th anniversary last spring. Akin to the Creative Places + Spaces conference that I attended and covered as a live media blogger recently, ideaCity10 boasts a lineup of presenters that push the envelope in all aspects of contemporary urban thinking.

Dropping off a CD to the ideaCity offices took me east along Queen Street to a this historic building just near River Street, a property renovated by WTF Group. Heading up to the top floor, I reveled in the airy atrium-like lobby and found myself chomping at the bit to test what surely would be quite lovely acoustics.

And I wasn’t disappointed.

Setting my Edirol on record, I discreetly assembled my flute and launched into a composition by one of my fav composers, Paul Horn. Somehow the M’s and Z’s in the title of this work seemed apt given the fact that it was Mr. Znaimer who was the attended recipient of my Urban Flute CD! Talk about serendipity, this creative process has been rife with odd, even humorous coincidence! Case in point, it was just by chance that I had a chance to meet Mr. Znaimer late last year on Staten Island of all places, while we were both attending Gadgetoff09.

Mumtaz Mahal was first performed by Paul Horn as an improvisation, recorded live in the Taj Mahal.

After successfully locating the ideaCity offices and having a pleasant discussion with staff, I was unlocking my bike afterwards when I noticed the signage out front.

Asking someone who was grabbing a cigarette out on the sidewalk what WTF stood for, and we both puzzled over it. It turns out that WTF is a leading group of property owners who specialize in transforming historic buildings in Toronto.

I’m not sure what the letters stand for, but WTF, how perfect is that?