Canadian Architect November 2011

$6.95 nov/11 v.56 n.11

Woodward’s Redevelopment

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15 Winnipeg airport expansion SPAtiAL riChNeSS, trANSPAreNCy ANd LiGht defiNe the NeW JAmeS ArmStroNG riChArdSoN iNterNAtioNAL AirPort termiNAL iN WiNNiPeG—the reSuLt of A JoiNt veNture betWeeN StANteC ArChiteCture ANd PeLLi CLArKe PeLLi ArChiteCtS. text herb eNNS

22 WoodWard’s redevelopment AN ASSeSSmeNt iS mAde At the oNe-yeAr mArK of heNriquez PArtNerS ArChiteCtS’ WoodWArd’S redeveLoPmeNt iN vANCouver’S troubLed doWNtoWN eAStSide NeiGhbourhood. text AdeLe Weder

29 laneWay housing

9

neWs

entre for Interactive Research on SusC tainability opens at the University of British Columbia; North American winners of the 2011 Holcim Awards competition are announced.

33 teChniCal

Jessica Woolliams examines the progress of buildings in Canada with net-zero environmental impact.

37 intervieW

ed White

LANeWAy houSiNG iS oNe of mANy viAbLe oPtioNS iN PurSuiNG iNCreASed deNSity iN vANCouver’S SuburbAN NeiGhbourhoodS. text mAttheW SouLeS

LWPAC

Gerry KoPeLoW

PAuL WArChoL

Contents

Ian Chodikoff interviews Winnipeg-based architects Johanna Hurme and Sasa Radulovic on the process behind Migrating Landscapes, the Canadian entry to the 2012 Venice Biennale in Architecture.

41 Calendar

Modernism in Miniature: Points of View at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal; Construct Canada 2011 in Toronto.

42 BaCkpage

November 2011, v.56 N.11

The NaTioNal Review of DesigN aND PRacTice/ The JouRNal of RecoRD of aRchiTecTuRe caNaDa | Raic

Brendan Cormier provides a glimpse into the work of 2011 Sobey Art Award winners Daniel Young and Christian Giroux, whose sculptures embody explorations into mass production, modular fabrication, urban development and digital modelling.

the WoodWArd’S redeveLoPmeNt iN vANCouver’S doWNtoWN eAStSide by heNriquez PArtNerS ArChiteCtS. Photo by PAuL WArChoL.

Cover

11/11 Canadian arChiteCt

5

arChIteCtsaLLIanCe

viEwpoint

AbovE the new three-tower ICe deveLoPMent In toronto by arChIteCtsaLLIanCe wILL offer a CoMPLex MIx of ProGraM, ContrIbutInG to a vIbrant street LIfe.

At Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, a current architecture exhibition entitled Too Tall? explores the merits of tall buildings. Three Toronto firms—architectsAlliance, Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) and RAW Design—have each developed unique installations examining important issues of height, density and sustainability with respect to the future of Toronto’s towers. architectsAlliance chose to answer the exhibition’s seminal question of “too tall?” simply with “not at all.” Their response addresses the fact that the Greater Toronto Area is likely to absorb another 1.5 million souls by 2020. Based on the realities of affordability and increased demand for housing, they argue that many more towers will need to be built in Toronto’s downtown core and inner suburbs for years to come.

RAW responds to the central question of height with “tall not sprawl.” For RAW, the most polemical firm to emerge in Toronto in recent years, intensification is a more important consideration than building height since highdensity buildings are land-use-efficient, and ideally promote energy-efficient cities.

And lastly, KPMB’s response to the exhibition’s challenge is more provocative: are we building tall enough? In their view, we shouldn’t be thinking about limiting the heights of buildings, but instead must focus more carefully on context, scale, sustainability, innovative program mix, and last but not least, design excellence. All three firms make interesting arguments, but perhaps the biggest critique of the exhibition relates to its premise. Clearly, the success of a tall building depends on a variety of factors—only one of which relates to height.

The definition of an appropriate height for tall buildings is being debated in nearly every Canadian city. Vancouver may in fact have the best system of controls and understanding regarding 6 cAnAdiAn­ArchitEct 11/11

tall buildings. After all, here is a city defined by its point towers and whose planning culture seeks to balance land intensification, views of nearby snow-capped mountains, and streetscape-friendly ground-oriented development— whether it be townhouses or retail frontage. Recently completed tall buildings, such as the Woodward’s redevelopment (see p.22) prove their worth in coordinating impossibly complex mixed-use programming that introduces the diversity of city life within a singular high-rise development. Cities like Halifax have had a more difficult time—both within City Hall and with regular citizens—in accepting tall buildings in the downtown core, despite the establishment of view corridors and the desire to keep jobs and residents from migrating out to the suburbs.

Tall buildings have proven useful in triggering significant neighbourhood renewal, yet their success must be measured in conjunction with other factors, such as economic revitalization and social diversification. Montreal, Calgary and Winnipeg have each measured their approaches to urban revitalization in this way, to varying degrees of success. For example, the City of Calgary deployed Canada’s first tax-increment financing model to borrow money based on future revenues derived from property taxes to redevelop the East Village neighbourhood—a large portion which will include the soon to be completed 60-storey Bow Tower designed by Foster + Partners. And then there are the suburban municipalities like Mississauga, Burnaby and Surrey that are experiencing faster growth than their neighbours—the hegemonic cities of Toronto and Vancouver. Mississauga has become the sixth-largest municipality in Canada, and the many towers built around its central shopping core over the past 10-15 years have resulted in an ongoing attempt to create an intensely populated “downtown.” Nobody is counting the number of storeys on the Absolute (Marilyn Monroe) Towers in Mississauga, but the 50- and 56-storey condo buildings are intended to spur urban intensification in this largely sprawling metropolis.

Taken in the context of what’s occurring across the country, the responses by the three firms currently exhibiting at Toronto’s Harbourfront are interesting. Although they rightly understand the need to intensify our cities, accommodate population growth, enliven the street, incorporate a sophisticated multi-use program mix, and increase the energy efficiency of buildings, they fail to emphasize the catalytic potential of tall buildings as tools for socially and economically dynamic urban revitalization. We need to expand our scope when considering the greater value of tall buildings. That is some tall order.

Ian ChodIkoff

ichodikoff@cAnAdiAnArchitEct.coM

­Editor Ian ChodIkoff, OAA, FRAIC AssociAtE­Editor LesLIe Jen, MRAIC EditoriAl­Advisors John MCMInn, AADIpl. MarCo PoLo, OAA, FRAIC contributing­Editors GavIn affLeCk, OAQ, MRAIC herbert enns, MAA, MRAIC douGLas MaCLeod, nCARb rEgionAl­corrEspondEnts halifax ChrIstIne MaCy, OAA regina bernard fLaMan, SAA montreal davId theodore calgary davId a. down, AAA Winnipeg herbert enns, MAA vancouver adeLe weder publishEr toM arkeLL 416-510-6806 AssociAtE­publishEr GreG PaLIouras 416-510-6808 circulAtion­MAnAgEr beata oLeChnowICz 416-442-5600 ext. 3543 custoMEr­sErvicE MaLkIt Chana 416-442-5600 ext. 3539 production JessICa Jubb grAphic­dEsign sue wILLIaMson vicE­prEsidEnt­of­cAnAdiAn­publishing aLex PaPanou prEsidEnt­of­businEss­inforMAtion­group bruCe CreIGhton hEAd­officE 80 vaLLeybrook dr, toronto, on M3b 2s9 telephone 416-510-6845 facsimile 416-510-5140 e-mail edItors@CanadIanarChIteCt.CoM Web site www.CanadIanarChIteCt.CoM Canadian architect is published monthly by bIG Magazines LP, a div. of Glacier bIG holdings Company Ltd., a leading Canadian information company with interests in daily and community newspapers and business-tobusiness information services. the editors have made every reasonable effort to provide accurate and authoritative information, but they assume no liability for the accuracy or completeness of the text, or its fitness for any particular purpose. subscription rates Canada: $53.95 plus applicable taxes for one year; $85.95 plus applicable taxes for two years (hst – #809751274rt0001).

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news Projects

Built in response to the global challenge of creating a more sustainable society, the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) is one of the most innovative and high-performance buildings constructed in North America today, demonstrating leading-edge green building design technologies, products and systems.

CIRS is a state-of-the-art “living lab” in which researchers from leading academic institutions worldwide can conduct interactive research on and assess current and future building systems and technologies. Partners from private and public sectors share the facility, working with CIRS researchers to ensure that the study conducted is connected to real-world needs of the community, industry and policy-makers. The outcome of research, product and policy development manifested from CIRS will play a fundamental role in accelerating the path to sustainability. Designed to exceed LEED Platinum and Living Building Challenge standards, CIRS is one of the few commercial buildings constructed primarily of certified wood and beetle-killed wood (currently BC’s largest source of carbon emissions). Its wood structure locks in more than 500 tonnes of carbon, offsetting the GHG emissions that resulted from the use of other non-renewable construction materials in the building. Other net-positive qualities include reducing UBC’s carbon emissions, powering itself and a neighbouring building with renewable and waste energy, and providing water for inhabitants with rainwater while waste water is treated onsite. This 5,700-squaremetre facility houses highly flexible classrooms, laboratories and office space in addition to lecture theatres, a public atrium, exhibition spaces and a café. Every workspace is daylit, naturally ventilated, with temperature and air under individual control. The CIRS project is almost 10 years in the making. Peter Busby, principal architect on the project, credits Dr John Robinson, the champion of UBC’s Sustainability Initiative, for his patience, persistence and perseverance seeing the project through to completion. www.sustain.ubc.ca/hubs/cirs

perkIns+WIll­Canada

the centre for interactive research on sustainability opens at the University of British columbia.

was awarded to the Arctic Food Network (AFN), a regional food-gathering nodes and logistics infrastructure for the scattered Inuit communities in Northern Canada. The project—by Lateral Office/InfraNet Lab based in Toronto and Princeton, New Jersey—enables better distribution of local foods, serves as a series of bases for the reinforcement of traditional hunting, and also establishes new foundations for a sustainable, more independent economy. Holcim Awards Silver went to a two-level zero-energycertified school building design to be constructed on multiple campuses throughout Los Angeles.

The project, led by architects Swift Lee Office of Los Angeles, uses off-the-shelf components and modular panels to create a pre-fabricated system that features a double-layered façade for solar, acoustic and environmental control, and achieves a climate-responsive solution for each site. Holcim Awards Bronze was presented to Julie Snow Architects of Minneapolis for a border control station on the US frontier to Canada at Van Buren, Maine. The approach meets a range of stringent regulations for safety, operation and durability, sets zero-net-energy and watersaving targets, yet is a highly aesthetic structure marking the national frontier. www.holcimawards.org/nam

awards

winners of the 2011 toronto Urban design awards announced.

north american winners of 2011 holcim awards competition announced.

Every other year, the City of Toronto holds Urban Design Awards to acknowledge the significant contribution that architects, landscape architects, urban designers, artists, design students, and city builders make to the look and liveability of our city. This year saw an impressive 129 submissions

The results of this year’s awards program show that people-focused designs are at the heart of sustainable construction. The Holcim Awards Gold 2011 for North America and $100,000 US

­The­CenTre­for­InTeraCTIve­researCh­ on­susTaInabIlITy­aT­The­unIversITy­of­ brITIsh­ColumbIa­puTs­susTaInabIlITy­on­ dIsplay­To­eduCaTe­and­InspIre.

aBoVe

containing a variety of built projects, visions and master plans, and student works, from which 23 projects were selected for Awards of Excellence and Honourable Mentions. In the Elements category, an Award of Excellence was given to Salvation Army Harbour Lightbox, and an Honourable Mention distinguished the Sherbourne Common Pavilion. In the Private Buildings in Context (Low Scale) category, the Shops of Summerhill earned an Award of Excellence, while three Honourable Mentions were given to the Dacre Crescent Residence, the Regent Park Townhouses, and Richmond Town Manors. In the Private Buildings in Context (Mid-Rise) category, the 60 Richmond Housing Co-op netted an Award of Excellence, while the Printing Factory Lofts and the Robert Watson Lofts each received an Honourable Mention. In the Private Buildings in Context (Tall Commercial) category, two Awards of Excellence were given to Telus House Toronto and the RBC Centre. In the Private Buildings in Context (Tall Residential) category, One Cole and the Thompson Hotel and Residences received Awards of Excellence. In the Public Buildings in Context category, only the TIFF Bell Lightbox won an Award of Excellence. In the Small Open Spaces category, an Award of Excellence distinguished the West Toronto Railpath, while the Nathan Phillips Square Revitalization—Podium Roof Garden received an Honourable Mention. In the Large Places or Neighbourhood Designs category, Canada’s Sugar Beach was recognized with an Award 11/11­­canadian architect

­9

of Excellence. In the Visions and Master Plans category, two Awards of Excellence distinguished the Fort York Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge and a study of Toronto’s Avenues and Mid-Rise Buildings. The OCAD University Capital Master Plan and the Parkway Forest Reurbanization received Honourable Mentions. Lastly, in the Student Projects category, an Award of Excellence was won

by Feed Toronto: Growing the Hydrofields, while an Honourable Mention recognized MaMmaL: A Mobile Media Lab for Regent Park Focus. www.toronto.ca/tuda/ winners and finalists of the 2011 Zerofootprint re-skinning awards revealed.

The winners of the 2011 Zerofootprint Re-Skinning Awards were recently announced at the US Green Building Council’s Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, showcasing excellence in holistic retrofitting projects from around the world. Winners were chosen by a jury of experts in architecture, design, and engineering: Canadian architect John Patkau; Edward Mazria, Architecture 2030 Challenge founder; Thomas Auer, energy-efficient building design expert; Michael Ra, Front Inc. founding partner; Michelle Addington, Yale architecture professor; and Dana Cuff, UCLA architecture professor and founding

director of sustainable urban design think tank CityLAB. The Best Overall Entry for 2011 was The Palms in Venice, California by Daly Genik Architects, which also took the top award in the Residential category. In the Institutional category, the winner was the HKW Building at RWTH Aachen University in Germany by iParch, Imagine Envelope Façade Consulting. The three finalists were: the Centre for Justice Leadership at Humber College in Toronto by Gow Hastings Architects; the Artscape Wychwood Barns in Canada by du Toit Architects Ltd; and the Percy Gee Building at the University of Leicester in England by Shepheard Epstein Hunter. In the Commercial/Industrial category, five finalists were acknowledged with honourable mentions: King and King Headquarters in Syracuse, New York by King and King Architects for Community Benefits; 21 Queen Street in Auckland by Peddle Thorp Aitken Architects for Resource Efficiency; Ergo Tower in Milan

by Aste and Finzi Architetti for Reproducibility; First Canadian Place in Toronto by B+H Architects, Moed de Armas and Shannon for Innovative Technology; and the Orange Cube in Lyon by Jakob + MacFarlane for Aesthetics and Community Benefits. The Zerofootprint Re-Skinning Awards showcase newly evolving re-skinning design technologies and present new ways of

thinking about environmental sustainability. They also jump-start the discussion around how we might retrofit entire cities in order to massively reduce our collective environmental footprint. www.reskinningawards.com 2011 heritage toronto awards recipients announced.

Heritage Toronto has announced the recipients of the 37th Annual Heritage Toronto Awards. The Awards celebrate outstanding contributions by individuals and community organizations, as well as industry professionals and associations, in promoting and conserving Toronto’s history and heritage landmarks. This year, nominations were solicited from the public in four categories: the William Greer Architectural Conservation and Craftsmanship Award; Book; Media; and Community Heritage. Independent juries reviewed the nominations and recommended the award recipients. Heritage Toronto also presented its Special Achievement Award to the late heritage developer and champion Paul Oberman. The William Greer Architectural Conservation and Craftsmanship category honours owners who have undertaken projects to restore or adapt buildings or structures that have been in existence for 40 years or more.

In addition to the quality of craftsmanship, appro-

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priateness of materials, and the use of sound conservation principles, the jury considers how well the project meets current needs while maintaining the integrity of the original design vision. Two Awards of Excellence were given to the John Street Roundhouse at 255 Bremner Boulevard by the IBI Group, and to the Seventh Post Office at 10 Toronto Street by Goldsmith, Borgal & Company and Roth Knibb Architects. The Shops of Summerhill at 1095-1103 Yonge Street by AUDAXarchitecture Inc. with Goldsmith, Borgal & Company earned an Award of Merit, while two Honourable Mentions were given to the Pease Foundry Building at 211 Laird Drive by Goldsmith, Borgal & Company and to the Robert Watson Lofts at 363-369 Sorauren Avenue by Kohn Partnership Architects. For a full list of winners, please visit the website. www.heritagetoronto.org

Unlimited selection

what’s new isabella stewart Gardner Museum announces 2012 Fellowship in Landscape studies.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston is seeking a talented landscape designer to hold the inaugural Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Fellowship in Landscape Studies in 2012. The bi-annual three-month residential fellowship will recognize emerging design talent and focus on the role of landscape design in the contemporary city. The Fellowship will offer designers peer-reviewed recognition of design innovation and a supportive environment to develop the disciplinary and professional capacity for sustained inquiry into topics of contemporary urban landscape. The Museum invites applications from talented designers at or near the beginning of their careers in a range of disciplines, who are working on the design of public landscapes. Landscape architects and designers from a range of design professions will be considered including architecture, engineering, urban design and planning, as well as horticultural and garden arts candidates who can demonstrate a significant engagement with the landscape medium. The selected candidate will receive a residency from June 1, 2012 to August 31, 2012 including a monthly stipend of $5,000 and an apartment/ studio space in the new museum wing designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano. The Fellowship Jury is comprised of: Julie Bargmann, University of Virginia; Alan Berger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Anita Berrizbeitia, Harvard University; Julia Czerniak, Syracuse University; Walter Hood, University of California, Berkeley; Anuradha Mathur, University of Pennsylvania; Jane Wolff, University of Toronto; and Charles Waldheim, Charles Waldheim/Urban Agency, Consulting Curator of Landscape, ISGM. The deadline for receipt of applications is December 15, 2011, and finalists will be announced on January 19, 2012. The winner will be announced on February 9, 2012. www.gardnermuseum.org/landscape/fellowship architecture canada | raic launches new services portal.

Architecture Canada | RAIC has launched its new online services portal.

Featuring many functionality and usability improvements, the new portal includes a modern and updated store and dedicated events registration section. All membership records have been moved to the new system, and each member will receive an e-mail consisting of a new username and password to access the new site, and the new web address. As with the previous system, logging in allows members to change their membership information, purchase products at member rates, and access exclusive third-party discounts. Additional features will be added to the services portal in an ongoing fashion, including mobile access for personal handheld devices and smartphones, and an online form-based application process to replace the current PDF membership forms. www.raic.org

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Syllabus Update In time for this fall the first two courses opened for registration as on-line offerings through the RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca university: Professional Practice in Canada, and Professional Practice Management.

Architecture Canada | RAIC launches new Services Portal

2011 Board Members President Stuart Howard, FRAIC

Meanwhile, Syllabus National Office in vancouver continues to offer a full slate of courses for students enrolled in the Syllabus program – 200 students were registered this fall.

1st Vice-President and President-Elect David Craddock, FRAIC 2nd Vice-President and Treasurer Paul E. Frank, FRAIC

Additional courses will be introduced through the RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca as these are completed-work is already well-advanced on a number of technical courses.

Architecture Canada | RAIC is committed to remaining directly involved in overseeing the operations of the design studios as well as the in-office experience component of the program. RAIC will also continue to issue the RAIC Professional Diploma in Architecture for Syllabus Graduates, who can then seek certification from the CACB and licensure from their provincial/ territorial regulator.

Students will effectively be remaining within the same program, while transitioning to register through the RAIC Centre for Architecture for the updated on-line courses as these are completed and open for registration.

Immediate Past President Ranjit (Randy) K. Dhar, PP/FRAIC

Check out Architecture Canada’s new on-line Services Portal featuring many improvements, including a modern and updated Store and a dedicated Events Registration section.

RAIC members have received an email with a new access username and password allowing access to Membership information, the ability to purchase products at Member Discounts, and access to exclusive third-party discounts.

Festival of Architecture 2012 – a date set in stone The Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Architects with Architecture Canada | RAIC is calling members to the rock for its annual Festival of Architecture being held June 12-16, 2012.

Themed Deep Roots in a New Energy City and held at the Delta St. John’s Hotel and Conference Centre, the event will feature Ted Cullinan, hon. FRAIC, during the annual Fellows Convocation speaking about his world renowned firm Edward Cullinan Architects in London, England, and how its practice as a cooperative offers an unusual flexibility to respond effectively to the client’s demands.

Acclaimed local artists Mary Pratt, hon. FRAIC, and Christopher Pratt C.C., hon. FRAIC, will also be honoured during the fourday event, which will no doubt highlight local hospitality along with tours of the province’s truly unique architecture.

Downtown St. John’s | photo: Courtesy of Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism

ISSuE 33.3 AuTuMN/WINTER 2011

Watch www.raic.org for registration information.

Regional Directors Wayne De Angelis, FRAIC (British Columbia/Yukon) Wayne Guy, FRAIC (Alberta/NWT) Charles Olfert, MRAIC (Saskatchewan/Manitoba) Leslie Klein, FRAIC (Ontario Southwest) Allan Teramura, MRAIC (Ontario North and East/Nunavut) Jean-Pierre Pelletier, FIRAC (Quebec) Paul E. Frank, FRAIC (Atlantic) Chancellor of College of Fellows Barry Johns , FRAIC Council of Canadian University Schools of Architecture (CCUSA) Kendra Schank Smith, MRAIC Director Representing Intern Architects W. Steve Boulton, MRAIC Executive Director Jim McKee Editor Sylvie Powell Architecture Canada | RAIC 330-55 Murray St. Ottawa ON K1N 5M3 Tel.: 613-241-3600 Fax: 613-241-5750 E-mail: info@raic.org

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Nu M é R O 3 3 . 3 AuTOMNE/HIvER 2011

Architecture Canada | IRAC lance un nouveau portail de services

Conseil d’administration de 2011 Président Stuart Howard, FRAIC

D’autres cours seront ajoutés au Centre d’architecture de l’IRAC au fur et à mesure qu’ils seront prêts – le travail est déjà bien avancé sur un certain nombre de cours techniques.

Deuxième vice-président et trésorier Paul E. Frank, FRAIC Président sortant de charge Ranjit (Randy) K. Dhar, PP/FRAIC

Wayne De Angelis, FRAIC (Colombie-Britannique/Yukon) Wayne Guy, FRAIC (Alberta/T.N.-O.) Charles Olfert, MRAIC (Saskatchewan/Manitoba) Leslie Klein, FRAIC (Sud et Ouest de l’Ontario) Allan Teramura, MRAIC (Est et Nord de l’Ontario/Nunavut)

À temps pour la session d’automne, l’inscription a été ouverte pour deux cours en ligne offerts par l’entremise du Centre d’architecture de l’IRAC à l’université Athabasca : pratique professionnelle au Canada et gestion de la pratique professionnelle.

Pendant ce temps, le bureau national du Syllabus, à vancouver, continue d’offrir une gamme complète de cours aux étudiants inscrits dans le programme – 200 étudiants étaient inscrits à la session d’automne.

Premier vice-président et président élu David Craddock, FRAIC

Administrateurs régionaux

Compte rendu sur le Syllabus

visitez le nouveau portail de services en ligne d’Architecture Canada qui a fait l’objet de plusieurs améliorations.

Le centre de commandes a été modernisé et actualisé et une section est dédiée à l’inscription à divers événements.

Les membres de l’IRAC ont reçu un courriel leur fournissant un nouveau nom d’utilisateur et un nouveau mot de passe. L’ouverture d’une session leur permet de modifier leurs renseignements, d’acheter des produits en profitant des rabais aux membres et d’avoir accès à des rabais offerts en exclusivité par des tiers.

Architecture Canada | IRAC entend bien rester directement impliqué dans la supervision des volets « ateliers de conception » et « expérience pratique » du programme.

L’IRAC continuera également de délivrer son diplôme professionnel en architecture aux finissants du Syllabus qui pourront dès lors demander la certification du CCCA et s’inscrire auprès d’un ordre provincial ou territorial en vue de l’obtention future d’un permis d’exercice.

Les étudiants déjà inscrits au programme effectueront éventuellement la transition pour s’inscrire par l’entremise du Centre d’architecture de l’IRAC, au fur et à mesure que les nouveaux cours en ligne seront terminés et ouverts à l’inscription.

Jean-Pierre Pelletier, FIRAC (Québec) Paul E. Frank, FRAIC (Atlantique) Chancelier du Collège des fellows Barry Johns, FRAIC Conseil canadien des écoles universitaires d’architecture (CCÉUA) Kendra Schank Smith, MRAIC Conseiller représentant les stagiaires W. Steve Boulton, MRAIC Directeur général Jim McKee Rédactrice en chef Sylvie Powell Architecture Canada | IRAC 55, rue Murray, bureau 330 Ottawa (Ontario) K1N 5M3 Tél. : 613-241-3600 Téléc. : 613-241-5750 Courriel : info@raic.org

www.raic.org PhoTo En CARToUChE DE TITRE : CENTRE DE RECHERCHE EN TECHNOLOGIES LANGAGIèRES DE L’uNIvERSITé Du QuéBEC EN OuTAOuAIS | MENKèS SHOONER DAGENAIS LETOuRNEux ARCHITECTES / FORTIN CORRIvEAu SALvAIL ARCHITECTuRE + DESIGN | PHOTO : MICHEL BRuNELLE

Festival d’architecture 2012 – une date à retenir La Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Architects, de concert avec Architecture Canada | IRAC, invite les membres à se rendre à St. John’s pour le Festival d’architecture qui aura lieu du 12 au 16 juin 2012.

Sous le thème Des assises solides pour la ville des énergies nouvelles, l’événement se tiendra à l’hôtel et centre des congrès Delta St. John’s.

Ted Cullinan, hon. FRAIC, du cabinet de renommée internationale, Edward Cullinan Architects, établi à Londres, en Angleterre, prononcera une allocution dans le cadre de la cérémonie d’intronisation des fellows. Il expliquera comment le modèle coopératif lui offre une souplesse toute particulière pour répondre efficacement aux demandes des clients un hommage sera également rendu aux artistes locaux bien connus, Mary Pratt, hon.

FRAIC, et Christopher Pratt C.C., hon. FRAIC. Nul doute que les délégués seront enchantés de l’hospitalité des Terre-neuviens et qu’ils apprécieront l’architecture vraiment unique de la province.

Consultez le site www.raic.org pour connaître les modalités d’inscription.

Centre-ville de St. John’s | photo : avec l’aimable autorisation de Tourisme Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador

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9/8/11 4:11 PM

Winnipeg Jets the neW James armstrong richardson international airport terminal in Winnipeg is differentiated by spatial richness, transparency and light, providing a vivid interface With the dynamic prairie environment.

proJect Winnipeg James armstrong richardson international airport, Winnipeg, manitoba architect stantec architecture, pelli clarke pelli architects text herb enns photos gerry kopeloW

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I was lucky enough recently to spend an evening at the Western Canada Aviation Museum (WCAM), enthralled as always by the exotic collection of airborne beasts of burden and stories of the legendary aviators who laid the foundations of commercial flight in Winnipeg. Well known for its extraordinary bush plane heritage, Winnipeg was an early waypoint for a number of experimental and workhorse aircraft that ushered in the era of commercial flight—onto the

prairies, into the bush, and across Canada.

Among the many planes and artifacts in the WCAM, the Froebe brothers’ helicopter is one of the more exquisite relics. Built on a farm near Homewood, Manitoba in 1930, it flew before the famed Igor Sikorsky’s helicopter, and is a remarkable story of local ingenuity and invention.

A Bristol Freighter CF-WAE with gaping clamshell doors was purchased by Wardair in the 1960s to haul freight up to the DEW Line Radar

a soaring Wing-like roof greets visitors arriving at the neW airport.

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Stations. It guards the entrance to the museum.

In the middle of the pack, a Junkers JU-53 CFARM (the Flying Boxcar) rests with its most beautiful skin of corrugated aluminum—and emblazoned on its side is the bold Canadian Airways Limited insignia. This plane and its name are important, as they represent the role of Winnipeg in the history of commercial aviation in Canada.

Winnipeg’s new airport opened on October 30th of this year. A symbol of local ambition, ca-

pability and identity, it will fittingly carry the name of James Armstrong Richardson, in small measure righting a wrong enacted in 1937 by the federal government. In that year, Bill 74—An Act to Establish Trans-Canada Air Lines—essentially stopped James A. Richardson’s fledgeling and visionary Canadian Airways in its tracks by conscripting transcontinental airline routes for a publicy owned airline—the precursor to Air Canada. Shirley Render’s intensely researched book

published in 1999, Double Cross, details the complex network of political intrigue, cross-purposes, and manoeuvring that unravelled Richardson’s dream. A bronze statue of Richardson will now grace the departures hall of the new airport in honour of his role as a pioneer of commercial aviation in Canada.

The romance and adventure of flight is a fading vision. Yes, the future is almost always brighter as one glides ever more effortlessly though the airports of the world. But today’s obsessions are seamless check-in routines, loss-free baggage handling, and on-time departures. These have replaced the pioneer aviator’s indifference to comfort as they crisscrossed the vast Canadian hinterland strapped into crudely hewn bundles of engines and ailerons.

To design a building with intimations of flight is challenging in consideration of the enormous logistical, security, and building-quality standards administered by complex consultant relations, and is also hampered by extended construction times. Add to these the current thrust towards LEED certification, and the odds of achieving an elegant solution diminish. Renzo Piano and Peter Rice did it at Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, and Norman Foster has accomplished an uncanny sense of lightness in the vast departures and arrivals lounges at the Beijing Airport. But in most cases an airport is utilitarian, and service-based. For the new airport in Winnipeg, the project is anything but.

New Haven, Connecticut-based architect César Pelli designed the new terminal. He and his team captured the essence of the place, and rendered the ambitions of the clients in space and line—as a gently stretched aluminum-clad wing that cantilevers well beyond each end of the curved façade. Not all airports rely on metaphors of flight for their form. We are still in the jet age, and progress expressed in aluminum and steel may look like it wants to take off, but it’s all an illusion. “Despite what they say, we’re not like birds or even airplanes,” croons singer-songwriter Jim Bryson in his collaboration with Winnipeg band The Weakerthans. Nevertheless, Pelli’s design is inspired less by the technologies of flight and more by the perception of place. The result is a new glass house for Winnipeg that is differentiated by spatial richness and transparency and light—a vivid interface with the environment.

First impressions are lasting. A great deal of attention has been paid to the concept of an intuitive check-in experience and efficient selfservice kiosks to hasten the boarding process.

From the departures concourse, views are offered through to the airliners tethered to glass bridges.

An arrival sequence that allows the public into 11/11 canadian architect

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the baggage-claim area as their friends and relatives descend on a broad staircase preserves the rituals of greeting so familiar to us in the old terminal—an endearing departure from the usual checks and balances normally deployed in similar conditions. This is a huge design breakthrough in airport interface transparency.

The presence of commercial enterprise is suppressed—none of the crowded and chaotic Heathrow Airport duty-free boutiques to be seen. A collection of discrete food service kiosks—with many operated by local restaurateurs—stand in waiting, peripheral to the main spatial attractions, and are largely embedded in the building’s core mass. The entire operation focuses on reducing travel anxiety while the luxurious space gradually diminishes as passengers move into the lounges and transit the glass bridges.

Enormous flexible glass walls give the international departures lounge (generally for American destinations) room for expansion as needs arise.

The designers were not able to achieve a single security wall, and late changes allowed for a separate, distinct and autonomous international departures stream—a small slice of the US in Canada.

The Richardson Airport art program emphasizes glass, with commissions by Ione Thorkelson (Incoming), Warren Carther (Aperture), Joel Berman (Inside Ice), and Jacqueline Metz and Nancy Chew (Where the Sky Began/A Map of the Land). Thorkelson has been blowing and casting glass in her stack-wall studio on Winnipeg’s Pembina escarpment for decades. Her interpretations of natural forms and animal parts in cast glass are exquisite. For Incoming, she has cast the wings of birds. These are elegantly assembled with a delicate tracery of supporting rods, braces and wires. A stunning array (flock) of the glass mobiles rises up to the undulating ceiling, meeting currents of wooden air.

Circular perforations—a constellation of skylights—above the doubleheight baggage-claim area funnel daylight into the core of the building.

Ringed with blue LED lights, they are visible from the entrance hall. The north-facing window wall of the departure lounges connects travellers with a truly vast and magnificent prairie vista. Scenes like blue-black winter evening skies and grey thunderclouds tracking in from the north and west will be a constant chromatic presence.

The airport’s planting regimen is largely designed to flourish without watering once the planting has been established. Energy-conservation strategies include a high-performance building envelope, radiant heating and cooling strategies, a common-condenser water loop (energy bus), exhaust-air heat recovery, heat-recovery chillers, variable-frequency drives on pumps and fans, and daylight harvesting. The perimeter of the concrete floor plate functions as a solar heat sink, and perimeter radiant-floor heating is engaged only when the sun does not heat the floor. A flue-gas recovery system is among the components that will generate a level of 95% efficiency in the heating plant. Low-VOC products and finishes are matched with high levels of fresh air pre-filtering and high-efficiency electrostatic media filtration. An education program is planned to inform passengers of the environmental life of the building.

An important element to consider is the fact that the new airport is a local enterprise. The Winnipeg Airport Authority was established in 1997 as a community-based non-share capital corporation. There is a lot at stake for Winnipeg—a small city in the midst of a significant economic boom where image-building initiatives are springing up everywhere.

A transportation hub at its core, it has been decades since Winnipeg has witnessed such a massive retooling of transportation infrastructure. Located near the airport, the new IKEA alone has required the public purse to finance a significant portion of the $24 million in turning lanes and traffic high-performance glazing and exterior solar shading devices are but a feW of the sustainable design components of the proJect; a lively—bubbly, in fact—ceiling over the luggage carousels brings light and Whimsy to the proJect; a vieW looking back toWards the airport’s expressive roof forms.

left, top to bottom

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signals necessary to service the new home-furnishings store, while both the federal and provincial governments are investing heavily in a complex transport infrastructure hub initiative called Centreport Canada. This sprawling expanse of 81 square kilometres (20,000 acres) directly north of the airport is intended to be a distribution, warehousing, and manufacturing hub linked to Richardson International Airport’s 24/7 cargo program.

Centreport promises to be a logistics and transfer mega-mall with road, rail, and air threads and arteries extending across the continent and north to Nunavut and the High Arctic. With 15 active cargo airlines and 13 charter air companies, the Richardson International Airport is, and will continue to be, as Gertrude Stein said about America, “...filled with moving.” Trains, planes and automobiles—all are implicated in a rolling-out of the look, feel and function of the advanced 21st-century transport city.

From a standing start of 3.4 million passengers a year, the managers of the new terminal expect traffic to grow to 5 million a year in the near future.

A constant flow of passengers—immigrants from the Philippines with their “balikbayan” boxes, NHL players carrying carbon-fibre hockey sticks, and visitors of conscience to the soon to be opened Canadian Museum for Human Rights among them—will grace the expansive pedestrian causeways and lounges in its first few years of operation. The most costly architectural investment in the province’s history points to the prominence of connectivity and communication in this age of globalization and matching community-driven aspirations for a progressive image. The new terminal has finally landed—surprisingly—in the boomtown milieu of a city that is seemingly out of step with the turbulence of global economic trade winds. The managers of the Winnipeg Airport Authority took an educated gamble in 2004. What

open and minimal interiors help mitigate stress for airline passengers; undulating Wooden ceilings provide much levity to the departures and ticketing areas, While a statue of James richardson Watches over travellers. bottom the neW and expansive airport terminal at dusk. above, left to right

an enormous act of pioneer faith in launching and completing such a massive undertaking—with such elegant and sophisticated results. ca Herb Enns is the Director of the Experimental Media Research Group and a Professor of Architecture at the University of Manitoba. client the Winnipeg airport authority architect team stantec architecture: stanis smith, david essex, John petersmeyer, alfred moreno, kerr lammie, michel samaha, garry steinhilber, ken Wauhkonen, marcus rarog, perry piWniuk, erandi thammita ralalage, lisa ham, ralf lagman, Wanda slaWik, matheWs itty, leif aarestad, mohan tenuWara, myron pasaluko. pelli clarke pelli: fred clarke, mark shoemaker, greg biancardi, florence chan, luciana mello. structural crosier kilgour and partners ltd., halcroW yolles mechanical sms engineering, stantec, smith and andersen, the mitchell partnership electrical sms engineering, mulvey and banani international lighting auerbach glasoW french code lmdg building code consultants ltd. elevator gulay elevator services universal design design for all inc.

Wind and snoW rWdi acoustics daniel lyzun & associates ltd. cost control hanscomb consultants inc. baggage handling marshall macklin monaghan signage apple designs airside marshall macklin monaghan groundside earthtech, snc-lavalin landscape scatliff miller murray general contractor ellisdon program management the airport site redevelopment team (parsons and Wardrop) area 549,000 ft2 program budget $585 m completion october 2011

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Brightly lit high-ceilinged corridors convey a sense of spaciousness to the airport facility; a deftly designed exterior fire escape projects from the terminal’s façade.

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BoB maTheson

turning a corner the redevelopment of the WoodWard’s site is proving to be a catalyst in the positive evolution of the beleaguered doWntoWn eastside of vancouver, harmonizing the diverse interests of the community.

project The WoodWard’s redevelopmenT, vancouver, BriTish columBia architect henriquez parTners archiTecTs text adele Weder photos BoB maTheson, paul Warchol

On paper, Vancouver’s Woodward’s District is not that singular: it’s a mixed-use complex with retail at grade, office and residential on upper floors, with an educational institution affixed to the whole redevelopment. All this, in the heart of the most derelict neighbourhood in Canada— Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. But that terse description belies the epic architectural and pol22 canadian architect 11/11

itical saga that brought it to fruition.

Not since Habitat ’67 has an architectural project embodied such high hopes for addressing the needs of the marginalized. Moshe Safdie’s concrete prefab modular experiment was doomed to fail as social housing, but now enjoys a robust afterlife as a stylish condo complex for affluent Montrealers. In Vancouver, the creators of Woodward’s pre-empted that ironic scenario by an audacious concept: the former department store would be transformed into a haven for the marginalized and a stylish condo complex, with a precisely orchestrated cohabitation of rich and

poor. In fact, poverty and marginalization would be embedded within the brand, right down to its highly visible public art—a Stan Douglas photomural depicting the 1971 clash of police and rebel residents.

One year after its official public opening, and a few months after the opening of the contemporary arts school, all of its programming (except for the daycare) is operating more or less at full capacity. Woodward’s is finally at a stage where one should begin to assess it with some measure of assurance and objectivity. But the heated discussions continue whether its architecture has fa-

The redevelopmenT—as seen here aT The corner of hasTings and aBBoTT sTreeTs—incorporaTes neW ToWers inTo a hisToric Block in vancouver’s doWnToWn easTside. left shooTing a feW hoops inside The covered aTrium.

paul Warchol

opposite

cilitated its larger ambitions. The short answer: hugely so, but not without a craneload of caveats and shortfalls.

The project comprises the bulk of a city block, the former footprint of the city’s legendary 1903 Woodward’s Department Store, bounded by Cordova, Hastings and Abbott Streets. Lead architect Gregory Henriquez designed the complex as four main components linked by a common base, but for the purposes of the building code it’s technically a single building. That format allowed him much more flexibility in positioning the components close to one another, so that market

condos, social housing, office space and artschool studios are very close neighbours.

The City of Vancouver’s Co-Director of Planning at the time, Larry Beasley, helped shape the project too. Following Beasley’s directive, the complex is bisected by a diagonal thoroughfare that is partly covered over the central atrium. The diagonal passage cleaves the buildings into semidiscrete entities, but they remain disarmingly close to one another, so that you can stand in the upper floor of one building and watch the office or domestic banalities that transpire inside another.

“I did that on purpose,” said Henriquez in a recent interview at his office. “I believe that real density is living in a city like Tokyo or New York.

The problem comes when you expect suburban values in an urban environment.”

That problem seems to be clinging to at least a few of the condo-buyers and observers, who occasionally mutter about the continuing presence of booze and drugs in the streets. That’s a bit of a head-scratcher, considering that Bob Rennie’s deft marketing slogan—“Be Bold or Move to Suburbia”—was starkly honest about the neighbourhood’s gritty reputation, alchemizing it into a selling point from the dealbreaker it had long been.

The 1993 closing of the original department store had triggered a swift deterioration of the surrounding neighbourhood, with the vacant shell of the building becoming a political hot potato and magnet for squatters. Championed by long-time local activist and former city councillor Jim Green, its resurrection and transformation into a giant, sociologically diverse mixed-use complex was branded as the Downtown Eastside’s greatest hope for regeneration. Some fear that the 200 units of social housing—built in exchange for extra height and density—will not be enough to prevent the exile of the marginalized from the neighbourhood. Others fear the opposite, fervently wishing the area to gentrify as quickly and fully as possible.

Any architect walking into such a fray needs guts and diplomacy more than any other design skill. Henriquez is, overall, a master of this process: he partnered with an excellent developer (Ian Gillespie of Westbank Projects, allied with the Peterson Investment Group) and crafted strong relationships with not only politicians and bureaucrats but also the marginalized community members who would be most affected by such a project.

In formal terms, the architecture of Woodward’s is distinctive but not heart-stopping. Its higher-end units boast the expansive views typical of Vancouver’s window-walled condos. Its much smaller non-market housing units are surprisingly attractive in their graceful simplicity, and some of them have marvellous views as well, especially if you value an interesting rooftop over a generic swathe of sea. The project’s detailing, however, is of uneven quality, with a few tenants grumbling about the quality of the interior finishings—in the luxury penthouses as well as in the units on the lower floors. (As one observer remarked: “All that ideological big-talk from 11/11 canadian architect

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paul Warchol

The slender profile of The mixed-use ToWer is vieWed along The cordova sTreeT axis. bottom, left to right The covered aTrium; Whimsically designed concreTe supporTs draW inspiraTion from WoodWard’s iconic “W”sign; sTan douglas’s impressive phoTomural enTiTled Abbott & CordovA, 7 August 1971; a conTexTual vieW of The redevelopmenT WiTh norTh vancouver and The mounTains visiBle in The disTance.

above

BoB maTheson

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everyone, and in the end it all comes down to countertops.”) Its most visibly distinctive gestures—the steel exoskeleton’s expressionist orange trellises and the inner courtyard’s umbilical concrete staircase (the “stairway to nowhere” as Henriquez proudly calls it)—are whimsical additions to the main

form, yet somehow these oddball design gestures fit in perfectly for this particular redevelopment—a project whose larger ethos is the acceptance of eccentricity, individuality and non-conformity.

Designed by Henriquez and architect David Weir as an abstraction of botanical form, the trellises themselves remain starkly orange and bare. They were supposed to be covered in lush foliage by now, but the strata council apparently never turned on the irrigation system. That’s one lesson the architects failed to heed from Habitat ’67, whose own irrigation system lay neglected and broken: never count on the collective to water their own plants.

The base and inter-tower area house the anchor retail outlets—a grocery store, drugstore and bank—all well-known franchises. The heady programmatic mix includes a coffee shop, bar, community office, Stan Douglas photomural, covered atrium, National Film Board office, federal government health office, and the complex’s main community anchor, a School for the Contemporary Arts. But the key component at the heart of the project is its public space and 200 units of social housing, an amenity that secured the financially crucial extra height and density for its developer while ensuring a bulwark against wholesale gentrification.

In terms of how it has changed the neighbourhood, broadly speaking, Woodward’s is working out about as well as could be expected. For years in visible and relentless decline, the surrounding neighbourhood is reviving, with small independent retailers and restaurants dotting nearby streets. Yet the marginalized inhabitants—those suffering from a combination of poverty, mental illness and drug addiction—seem to be safely ensconced in the neighbourhood and on the sidewalks. While most project managers lure their clients with promises of gentrification, the Woodward’s promoters actually had to reassure the community that wholesale gentrifcation would not happen.

The proficiency of the interior configuration is also, in many ways, a consequence of this protracted and fraught birthing process. The Henriquez/ Westbank team had already conceived the overall layout and massing of the building when Simon Fraser University was chosen for the four-storey non-residential tower. Proscenium Architecture, in joint venture with CEI Architecture Planning and Interiors, was in turn selected as the designers for SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. The arts centre has since been renamed the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, a further source of consternation to locals, many of whom see the corporate deference as an ironic sell-out to

24 canadian architect 11/11

BoB maTheson

The sTridenT colour and inTricaTe sTeel Trellises of The residenTial mixed-use ToWer provide some much-needed viTaliTy To WhaT Was once a relenTlessly Bleak ciTy Block.

above

paul Warchol

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the ideals of Woodward’s.

The newly opened arts centre is a quantum leap from the broken-down portables that comprised Simon Fraser’s contemporary arts school before it moved to Woodward’s. But its new incarnation is visually incohesive and logistically problematic in certain ways. To be fair, CEI and Proscenium were handed a more or less pre-designed container that posed a huge challenge for accommodating a multi-disciplinary arts centre. The performance halls and blackout studios had to be stacked vertically, making for rather dark corridors even on the upper floors. Still, the interior design seems unnecessarily fussy, and detached from the character and purpose of the rest of the complex. Hallways are punctuated with pilasters of timber—“an homage to the Burnaby Mountain main campus,” says Proscenium principal Kori Chan. This metaphor is unfortunate, given that Burnaby Mountain has been progressively shorn of its forest as the university sells off the slope to condo-builders. Affixed to some hallway walls is a wood-and-polymer framework system to hold end-of-semester artwork, but they seem overly formal for the brash and informal work of students. Chan defends the design as something that will evolve and be embraced more closely as students, faculty and staff become familiar with the building and how to use it.

But, he allows graciously, “I’ll be the first to say it needs editing.”

Certain other problems, like the dearth of an effective wayfinding system, might sort themselves out in time. But the most trenchant and hard-to-fix problem with the arts centre is outside, not inside, and it extends to the entire building: its lack of interface with the street.

At street level, the crenellated brick wall vaguely suggests the idea of many smaller-scale stores than two or three giant ones, but it’s illusory.

There are very few entry and exit points save for the main entry via the courtyard and a discreet door on Hastings Street. This is part of the careful and necessary balance between vitality and security. Just the same, the end result is the kind of streetscape that would have made Jane Jacobs cringe.

The chain stores embedded at grade—Nesters, London Drugs and a branch of TD Canada Trust—are of such a large scale and monotony that they preclude the kind of flânerie and vendor interface that would make the street self-regulating. As a result, the streetscape along Woodward’s is largely devoid of people—the opposite effect of what was intended.

The presence of big-name commerce does offer undeniable benefits. As the first bank to open in the Downtown Eastside in decades, TD Canada Trust emits a message of calm reassurance. And the franchises, in exchange

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a vieW inTo The exTerior courTyard; The hasTings sTreeT forecourT offers a neW semi-proTecTed urBan space in The neighBourhood.

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8 loading/garBage/recycling cenTre 9 london drugs reTail 10 nesTers food markeT 11 federal and ciTy of vancouver office 12 affordaBle family non-markeT housing 13 cordova parkade 14 W32 markeT housing

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for tax breaks and other incentives, agreed to hire and train local workers in the area. Each anchor retail outlet has its own backstory, the narrative of which we might never know completely, but which has ultimately figured in the painstaking network of deals that built the project.

In terms of architectural configuration and urban vitality, the securing of high-profile retail anchors presents a problematic trade-off: the building is now circumscribed by an uncanny dead zone, interrupted mainly by the babbling life around the smaller-scale commercial outlets at the Cordova Street entry point. That clever marketing slogan “Be Bold or Move to Suburbia” implied a diametric choice, but the placid streetfront franchises suggest that maybe Woodward’s is now a certain kind of inner-city suburbia.

Optimistically speaking, much of the structure is malleable enough to evolve and perhaps be reconfigured over the next few decades. Jim Green himself has long cautioned against making a comprehensive evaluation of Woodward’s until at least three years after its 2010 opening. And in any case, some of its original goals are already manifest. The hoop-equipped atrium is attracting spontaneous basketball games; in the adjacent streets, new cafés and businesses are sprouting up alongside the Money Marts and pawn shops—even a new head shop, a sign that the spirit of the neighbourhood remains unbowed and undaunted.

Perhaps the most potent symbol is the 30’ x 50’ Stan Douglas photomural of the 1971 Gastown riot, which overlooks the atrium-cum-basketball court.

Although marred by interior reflections, this art installation provokes gasps of admiration from all social strata. Ascend to the top of Henriquez’s “stairway to nowhere” and you can see the London Drugs sign reflected in reverse type over the riot scene, bannered between the foot of a woman running from police and the hindquarters of the constable’s horse. One can read it as an unwittingly vulgar metaphor: a corporate logo is chaining the downtrodden to the civic authority. Or it can be read as a hopeful symbol of harmony: that corporate presence is offering a bridge between the two alienated cultures. But of course, this corporate reflection was never part of the artist’s intention.

The designers of Woodward’s have faced a quixotic task in matchmaking the forces of a market economy with the trenchant needs of the community.

The locals continue to debate, at times rather fiercely, about what Woodward’s could be or should be. That the debate is ongoing, vibrant and

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abbott building—family non-market housing typical three-bedroom 1150 sf

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abbott building—market housing typical one-bedroom 558 sf

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phs singles—non-market housing typical studio 357 sf

W toWer typical one-bedroom 643 sf

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Non-market housing typical floor plan Typical studio 357 sf

Typical floor plan Typical one bedroom 643 sf

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Td canada TrusT Bank covered aTrium plaza phs singles non-markeT housing 5 sfu school for The conTemporary arTs

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(often) constructive is a testament to how far the neighbourhood has progressed since the 1971 riot days, when blunt force was the civic weapon of choice. The Stan Douglas tableau suggests that the way forward is not to capitulate to the status quo but to stand up to it. The architecture of Woodward’s embraces the same values, but its own narrative will unfold and progress, one hopes, in the years to come. ca

client W redevelopmenT group (WesTBank projecTs/peTerson invesTmenT group) community partner phs communiTy services socieTy architect team gregory henriquez, peTer Wood, ivo Taller, chrisTian schimerT, jaime dejo, fred markoWsky, john cheng, arTour adamoviTch, zhong yan chen, BeTh davies, dallas hong, shaWn lapoinTe, Thomas lee, allan moorey, BeTTy quon, erik roTh, may so, frank sTeBner, michael Toolan, Terry Tremayne, fredy urrego, david Weir, phoeBe Wong, donald laBoissiere, maTheW Bulford, ellen scoBie, noreen Taylor, james Tod, BaBak manavi structural gloTman simpson mechanical, sustainability, materials handling sTanTec consulTing lTd. electrical nemeTz (s/a) & associaTes lTd. civil ciTiWesT consulTing lTd. environmental—building sfe gloBal environmental—site eBa engineering consulTanTs lTd. specialized engineering Ted neWel engineering lTd./j.d. johnson engineering lTd. landscape phillips farevaag smallenBerg interiors—market residential mcfarlane green Biggar archiTecTure + design interiors—non-market residential henriquez parTners archiTecTs sfu interior architects proscenium archiTecTs/cei archiTecTure joinT venTure heritage consultant commonWealTh hisToric managemenT heritage architect jonaThan yardley archiTecT building envelope rdh Building engineering lTd. construction management inTerTech consTrucTion group managers (2005) lTd. residential marketing rennie markeTing sysTems area 1,000,000 fT2 budget $330 m completion decemBer 2010

above left a hisTorical image of The WoodWard’s deparTmenT sTore in iTs heyday. left an aerial image posiTioning The redevelopmenT WiThin The conTexT of doWnToWn vancouver.

11/11 canadian architect

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Work from the illuminating notion that the sky’s the limit.

Back to Front Laneway housing in VancouVer is Fast Becoming a ViaBLe means to increased densiFication in the city’s suBurBan neighBourhoods.

L33 LANEWAY HOUSE Vancouver, BC

lwpac teXt

­Matthew­SouleS

lanefab­deSign/build

In an era increasingly focused on maximizing the spatial efficiency of cities, it is not hard to describe the omnipresence of the single-purpose service lane as anachronistic. Because once an infrastructure and pattern of use is established, it tends to be exceedingly difficult to dislodge. It’s not hard to understand why this is the case.

Countless North American cities have innumerable kilometres of service lanes, a shadow doubling of the named and therefore proper streets, devoted to the messy realities of parking, trash collection, and loading and unloading. However, at the outset of the 21st century, this phantom

network of narrow streets is increasingly considered a territory ripe for dual duty, asked to emerge from its singular role as service space to be backed onto, and to become a space in its own right upon which architecture fronts. And through lane-fronting architecture, at least according to some, the possibility of a denser city emerges.

Despite much conversation and debate, it remains to be seen what an extensive repurposing of service lanes would offer the North American city, but to get a sense, Vancouver—the continent’s pre-eminent working laboratory of contemporary urbanism—offers the best glimpse yet.

The city of Vancouver, with just over 640,000 residents within its 115 square kilometres, is al-

­oliver­lang­created­thiS­drawing­ illuStrating­the­Many­potential­laneway­ houSeS­in­one­vancouver­neighbourhood,­including­hiS­l33­laneway­ houSe.­ Bottom­a­Section­of­lanefab­ deSign/build’S­Mendoza­lane­houSe.

aBoVe

ready Canada’s densest city. There are roughly 5,000 people for every square kilometre. However, despite this density, more than threequarters of the city is zoned for single-family dwellings. Indeed, the vast majority of the city is defined by detached homes with front and rear yards. For such a statistically dense place, it’s remarkably suburban. In effect, very high densities in the relatively small central core outweigh more meagre densities in the rest of the city. The West End, for instance, clocks in at 22,000 people/km2 while tony Shaughnessy comes in at an almost rural 2,000 people/km2. Unlike urban morphologies that more evenly distribute population, like San Francisco or Brooklyn, Vancouver offers a binary system: a compact and super-dense core, sitting within an expansive low-density field.

With the one million extra residents that demographers predict in Metro Vancouver by 2040— combined with the geographic constraints of mountains, ocean and the Agricultural Land Re11/11­­canadian architect

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forMline­architecture­+­urbanSiM lanefab­deSign/build

south eLeVation—tyner Lane house

­the­tyner­lane­houSe­deSigned­by­brian­billingSley­of­forMline­architecture+urbaniSM.­aBoVe­a­conStruction­crew­inStallS­ pre-fabricated­SectionS­for­one­of­lanefab­deSign/build’S­laneway­houSeS. toP

30­canadian architect­11/11

serve, increased densification in Vancouver is inevitable and low-density areas offer tantalizing territories of opportunity.

Within this context, Vancouver enacted its July 2009 by-law allowing laneway housing on essentially all single-family lots. Roughly 60,000 parcels are now eligible. Compared to swaths of new condominium towers or the redevelopment of industrial lands, laneway housing is ostensibly an insignificant agent of densification. However, 60,000 new dwelling units represents a major expansion. If realized, it could absorb a population increase of almost 20 percent. While zoning that supports some form of lane-fronting secondary dwellings is increasingly common across North America, it is still very much the exception. There is no such zoning in Toronto and Chicago, for instance. And the minority of cities that do permit laneway housing tend to do so only in certain areas or on sites with particular qualities. Edmonton, for example, allows secondary dwelling structures on corner lots as well as those along major arteries. Brent Toderian, Vancouver’s Director of City Planning, knows of no other city that has embraced laneway housing as wholeheartedly as Vancouver. In addition to allowing them throughout the city, Toderian points out that relaxed parking requirements and the continued allowance of secondary suites are both factors that increase the viability of laneway housing. Considered in combination with the parallel allowance for secondary suites, the entire fabric of the city is now zoned for a minimum of three households. The single-family zone is a thing of the past— in effect, if not in name. The extent to which laneway houses will actually be constructed remains to be seen, but it is clear that a significant conceptual shift has occurred in the planning of the city, a major shift toward blanket densification outside the central core. It also represents a seismic shift in the thinking of the lane, a hidden but vast territory of the city.

The by-law is a tightly worded document that permits laneway houses on parcels with a 33’ minimum width. The standard dimension of a Vancouver residential property is 122’ x 33’ while in some areas of the city wider lots prevail. By prescribing an allowable footprint that extends 26 ft2 into the lot, the intent is that laneway housing occupies the footprint that would otherwise be a garage. On the standard lot, the floor area is limited to 500 ft2, plus a required exterior or enclosed parking space. Floor area exclusions enable an extra 125 ft2 if certain conditions are met. A second storey is allowed as long as it’s no larger than 60% of the footprint. Prescriptive directives on massing are rationalized as a means to ameliorate privacy concerns and to diminish adverse effects on views and sunlight penetration.

In the two years since the by-law came into effect, about 400 laneway homes have been approved and there are roughly 60 currently in the approval process. Approximately 200 have completed construction. Firms specializing in laneway housing, such as LaneFab and Smallworks, have emerged to cater to a growing demand. Judging from the completed projects, what to make of the architecture and urbanism that the by-law is beginning to engender?

Given that most new homes built in the city fall into common historical genres such as Arts and Crafts or Victorian styles, it is not surprising that most laneway homes have followed suit. Various concoctions of gabled and hipped roofs, dormers, eaves, punched fenestration, and clapboard siding are the norm. Whatever one might think of these stylistic preferences, it is clear that in most instances the designers have not grappled with the most fundamental aspect of the laneway house: its small scale. More often than not, these “traditionally styled” laneway homes look busy on the exterior and feel cramped on the interior. It is as if they are attempting to be something they are not—a full-size house—and in the process pack too many moves into a small volume.

As architects increasingly tackle the design of laneway housing, one can expect greater refinement in regards to scale. One recently completed structure that falls into this category is Brian Billingsley’s own laneway house on Vancouver’s West Side. Granted, Billingsley’s lot is 56’ wide, and therefore afforded him more space to work with, but it is nevertheless a

site PLan—LaneFaB housing’s mcgiLL street Laneway house

­SMallworkS­StudioS­produced­thiS­conteMporary­laneway­houSe­which­containS­475­Square­feet­of­living­Space.­ BeLow­a­few­vignetteS­illuStrating­a­nuMber­of­coMpact­interiorS­deSigned­by­SMallworkS­StudioS.

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SMallworkS­StudioS

SMallworkS­StudioS

SMallworkS­StudioS

Matthew Soules is the Director of Matthew Soules Architecture (MSA) and an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia.

SMallworkS­StudioS

simple design that succinctly manages its small floor area to maximum effect, and in doing so, shapes its peripheral exterior space. The wide site enabled Billingsley to separate a two-car garage from the laneway house. This separation offers an interstitial space that functions as a private exterior courtyard. The plan of the laneway house proper avoids any unnecessary distortions, instead favouring a clean tripartite arrangement. A rectangular bar condenses all service spaces into one central strip of bathroom, closets, washer/dryer and mechanical. An open living and cooking space sits on the south side of the central strip while the bedroom sits to the north. These two main living and sleeping rooms occupy different positions along the strip in relation to the exterior space. The bedroom is pushed to the west to make room for an existing tree, while the living and kitchen space slides to the east in order to establish the courtyard. The result is an exceedingly simple and unencumbered space that makes the most of its small floor area while shaping the exterior spaces around it.

Another project that offers a provocative picture of an emerging typology is Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture’s L33 project in Point Grey.

As the project’s name suggests, LWPAC’s scheme sits on a 33’-wide lot and is therefore more prototypical. On this size of lot, it is impossible to achieve the maximum allowable floor area without incorporating two levels. LWPAC have unpacked the by-law in a meticulous manner to find opportunities for perceptually enlarging the space without exceeding strict floor area limitations. The result is a faceted, angular geometry in which walls incline beyond the footprint and a double-height ceiling slopes down over the main living volume. A crystal-like form emerges from a rigorous by-law analysis.

It is an approach like this that pursues the potential for new form that is unique to the parameters of laneway housing in order to animate lanes in a manner that is distinct from the more traditional frontages of the city.

If the rate of completion over the first two years more or less continues, it will take many decades for the city to build out its 60,000 lots. This pace will be vastly outstripped by the 30,000 new residents the region is expected to absorb each year. Clearly, laneway housing is not a sufficient solution—not even close. This might be worrisome if it were the only densification strategy being pursued. It isn’t. It would seem then that the greatest potential of laneway housing is not so much in the realm of densification, but rather to offer a heightened metropolitan experience to largely suburban areas of the city that are resistant to change. The foregrounding of the lane could offer an experiential thickening of the city at large. From this vantage point, the first crop of laneway housing doesn’t offer as much as it could. How future projects enrich the lane by truly treating it as a front through direct engagement so that the space of the lane fully enters the foreground of the city remains the as-of-yet unrealized potential of Vancouver’s by-law. ca

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Buildings that give Back

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An­exAminAtion­of­buildings­thAt­hAve­A­net-zero­environmentAl­ impAct­indicAtes­thAt­progress­is­much­slower,­but­more­profound­thAn­whAt­one­might­hAve­expected. teXt

­JessicA­woolliAms

Since sustainable development was defined by the Brundtland Commission’s report Our Common Future in 1987, tens if not hundreds of thousands of “green” buildings and communities—of various shades and types—have been built around the world. Green buildings and sustainable communities are not going away. In fact, many of the leaders in the industry appear to be narrowing their sights on a new set of goals: buildings and communities that aim for either no negative impact—or a positive impact—on planetary ecosystems.

It used to be that simply having a LEED-certified building or another of the certification systems in existence around the world was enough to claim the mantle of industry leadership. This is clearly no longer the case. With the GreenLife Business Centre, Canada’s first net-energy-positive office building breaking ground in Milton, Ontario last February—no doubt spurred by Ontario’s Feed-In Tariff program (FIT) that encourages onsite production of renewable energy—there is evidence that the bar of sustainable design is being raised. The trend includes: • The roughly 100 residential net-zero-energy (NZE) projects and 20 commercial NZE projects built in North America (with perhaps the same number set to break ground over the next year).

• Four Living Buildings certified and at least 80 more registered in North America.1 • Numerous governments in Canada and the US are not only setting both

­designed­by­cei­Architecture­plAnning­And­interiors,­the­ recently­opened­okAnAgAn­college­centre­of­excellence­is­­ setting­its­sights­on­becoming­A­net-zero-energy­building­­ And­pArt­of­the­living­building­chAllenge.­the­new­fAcility­is­ expected­to­use­65­kilowAtt-hours­of­energy­per­squAre­metre­ per­yeAr,­positioning­the­building­As­one­of­the­most­energyefficient­in­north­AmericA.

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policy goals and regulatory requirements towards net-zero energy as a goal for buildings and communities but also net-zero water, waste and toxics, etc.

• Voluntary efforts such as Metro Vancouver’s Zero Waste Challenge and Seattle’s efforts to identify regulatory pathways for Seattle-area projects pursuing net-zero water strategies, which builds on Seattle City Council’s 2009 Living Building Pilot Program Ordinance.

• Mandates such as California’s upcoming requirements that all new residential construction be “zero-net energy” starting in 2020; commercial construction by 2030.

This article gives a very brief overview of this emerging industry direction, asking where did it come from, where is it now, and where is it going?

Where did this come From?

The rise of net-zero or positive-impact buildings and communities over the last decade has been the result of many things. First, scientists and their allies are doing a better job of communicating an increasingly clear understanding of troubling human impacts on global ecosystems. Secondly, international standards and programs that move the construction of buildings and communities as close as possible to zero environmental impact are slowly having 11/11­­canadian architect

­33

ed­white perkins+will­cAnAdA city­of­vAncouver

­the­lArgest­ArrAy­of­photovoltAic­solAr­pAnels­in­western­ cAnAdA­generAtes­electricity­for­the­okAnAgAn­college­centre­of­excellence.­ Middle­designed­by­perkins+will­cAnAdA,­the­ recently­opened­vAndusen­botAnicAl­gArden­visitor­centre­in­ vAncouver­is­designed­to­be­net-zero­energy,­with­All­energy­ needs­supplied­by­on-site­renewAble­sources,­such­As­solAr­ photovoltAic­pAnels.­nAturAl­ventilAtion­is­Assisted­by­A­solAr­ “heAt­sink”­integrAted­with­An­operAble­glAzed­oculus­in­the­ centre­of­the­fAcility.­ aBOve­photovoltAics­plAced­Atop­the­netzero-energy­building­in­vAncouver’s­olympic­villAge. tOP

34­canadian architect­11/11

some influence on North America. These influences are too numerous to list but on the energy front, they include the German Feed-In Tariff (FIT) system that encourages the development of renewables by requiring utilities to pay increased prices for them. This tariff system inspired other FIT systems around the world. Secondly, other influences include the passive-house standard where tens of thousands of buildings have proven that massive energy efficiencies are both possible and affordable. Thirdly, a general movement towards low- and zero- or positive-energy building laws across the EU, including France, where all public buildings must be energy-positive by 2020.

Not just limited to Europe, net-zero buildings and communities are popping up throughout Asia and Africa. The developing world may in fact emerge as a leader in off-grid and low- or no-impact buildings and neighbourhoods for two simple reasons. Firstly, the existing infrastructure in most developing countries is completely inadequate and unreliable. Secondly, there is often neither the time nor investment capital to build large infrastructure projects to support the urban development that is in demand.

“Just as many African and Asian nations have leaped right over the wired telephone phase and completely embraced the mobile phone, they may also skip right over central power, water and wastewater utilities and adopt decentralized models. This is a powerful incentive to develop small, incremental, self-reliant local utilities and zero-net buildings,” says David Rousseau, a BC-based building design and community-sustainability consultant working internationally.

In terms of water use—in addition to the work going on with Washington and Oregon state authorities interested in enabling the Living Building Challenge discussed above—Australia, Asia and Africa are beginning to design and build projects aiming for net-zero water. Simon Fraser University Professor Meg Holden’s research in Melbourne, Australia focuses on the sustainability plans for urban waterfront redevelopment projects: “Both Melbourne and Sydney compete for recognition as the hub of sustainable building excellence in the southern hemisphere.” When asked about the differences between those Australian projects and leading projects in Canada, she notes: “The signature waterfront redevelopment projects in both cities—Melbourne’s Docklands and Barangaroo in Sydney—have plans to go further in water conservation and recycling than Vancouver’s Olympic Village. Ground has not yet been broken on Barangaroo but the commercial buildings in Melbourne’s Docklands include technologies such as blackwater recycling, whereas the Olympic Village doesn’t even recycle their greywater. Barangaroo’s goal is to be water-positive: the ability to process and return clean water to downtown Sydney. However, Holden warns that “the infrastructure for going beyond the precinct scale in this way, and who will pay for it and make it work remains unclear. We may be facing the same overall impulse toward sustainable neighbourhoods as the Australians, but the different political, cultural, and governance facets of managing the transition make comparing leading international performance difficult.”

In understanding the reasons for the rise of net-zero or positive-impact buildings and communities over the last decade, another major impact is the coalitions between business, non-governmental organizations and others that have resulted in market-based standards such as LEED (in North America and around the world), BREAM (in the UK, parts of the EU and Asia), and Green Star (in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa).

Policymakers and clients have been using these standards to require a higher standard, and are therefore eager to signal the next level of leadership.

In this context, the Living Building Challenge (LBC) has emerged as the only standard that offers a way of pushing buildings not just to net-zeroenvironmental-impact design, but also performance, as the certification is not awarded until at least a year’s worth of performance data proves the building is living up to its design goals. Given that the LBC was authored by Canadian-born Jason F. McLennan—who is also the CEO of the Cascadia Green Building Council, it seems appropriate to begin to answer the question of “where is it now” using a list of recent projects in British Columbia.

BC is a great example of how quickly this new industry focus is emerging: note that all of these projects were built in or after 2008.

Where is it now? completed net-Zeroenergy and net-Zero-impact Buildings and communities in and near British columbia

The sidebar on the right provides an overview of some of the better-known projects aspiring for net zero—either in terms of energy, water or netzero-energy impact (NZEI). The list of projects only includes those that are either built, nearly complete (such as the Simon Fraser University childcare project, and Burnaby’s Harmony House—a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Equilibrium project), or under construction (such as Seattle’s Cascadia Center and the ongoing 2030 District). The chart doesn’t include a number of recent projects such as the Whistler Passive House that was in fact not aiming for net-zero energy, or Seattle’s 2030 District which is aiming for net-zero carbon by 2030. It also doesn’t include: just off the map in Portland—but still definitely in Cascadia—many netzero-energy projects, some of which are still in design, and several of which are occupied already, including the 15 involved in the Energy Trust of Oregon’s Path to Net Zero pilot project, of which three to four will be complete this year.

Also not included are many more projects in BC and surrounding areas that are in design and slated for construction—for instance, larger commercial renovation projects such as the Old Vancouver Stock Exchange Building Development (aiming for LEED Platinum and the LBC).

Probably the most critical caveat about many of the recently listed projects pertains to building performance. Only those projects listed on the chart that are aiming for the LBC are actually aiming for net-zero environmental impact. Many others are striving for multiple environmental goals—such as zHome—with rigorous performance in water and other areas, and all of CMHC’s Equilibrium projects, but none set their sights on reaching zero impact in all areas. Second, the LBC remains the only way to actually ensure performance of a net-zero-impact building. Even then, there are exceptions for market realities that mean many of the projects built to this standard will not actually be neutral with respect to the environment; they will still have an impact.

For example, the definition of net-zero energy now allowed by the LBC allows for some flexibility to accommodate market realities that will not exist in the future. Currently, a project is still allowed to take in grid-sourced electrical energy and balance the equation by returning heat.

However, this exception and the many others within the LBC will be eliminated over time as market realities adjust.

Is it fair to focus on BC as a snapshot of this

new industry direction, or is this movement a regional trend that is destined to pass? BC is, of course, the province with a carbon tax, and where Rich Coleman, former Minister of Housing and Social Development in the province, stated in a talk to the building industry in May 2010 that “By 2020, my challenge to you is to be building housing that is net zero for greenhouse gas emissions with superior airtightness and insulation that will enable net-zero-energy performance through the addition of renewable energy generation such as solar panels.” BC is also the region where the LBC was born. For these reasons, it may seem an outlier in Canada, rather than a bellwether. However, some industry experts are predicting less of a rise in strict net-zero projects in BC than in Ontario, where the Feed-In Tariff and growing solar industry will potentially enable more financially sustainable net-zero-energy projects sooner. Due to BC’s historic leadership in birthing the Canada Green Building Council and adopting LEED over a decade ago, it seems quite natural that BC will remain a leader in this emerging industry.

recent net-Zero-energy Projects • Drake Landing Solar Community, Okotoks, Alberta (2007) • Baird Residence, Vancouver Island, BC—Living Building Petal Certified (2008) • Riverdale NetZero Project, Edmonton, Alberta (2008) • Avalon’s Discovery 3 House, Alberta (2008) • Avalon’s Discovery 4 House, Alberta (2010) • Lopez Community Land Trust Workforce Homes, Lopez Island, Washington (2009) • Green Dream House, Kamloops, BC—1 of 14 across Canada (2010) • Net-Zero Residence, Smithers, BC (2009) • West House, Vancouver, BC (2010) • Net-Zero-Energy Building at Olympic Village, Vancouver, BC (2010) • zHome, Issaquah, Washington—first net-zero- energy development and education centre (2011) • CMHC Harmony House, Burnaby, BC (2011)

net-Zero-energy Projects aiming for living Building challenge • CIRS, University of British Columbia (2011) • Okanagan College Centre of Excellence, Penticton, BC (2011) • Bertschi School, Seattle, Washington (2010) • Simon Fraser UniverCity’s Childcare Project (2011) • VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre, Vancouver, BC (2011) • Cascadia Center, Seattle, Washington (2012)

Predicting the Future?

Jason McLennan is in a hurry to build the future that he wants. “We are thrilled with the uptake of the challenge and how it has changed the nature of the discussion about what’s possible. There are projects popping up everywhere and it’s really gratifying. I believe we are closing in on 100 projects worldwide. This does not count all the projects pursuing it that haven’t registered, or projects that are using it as a framework or tool for thinking about the issues. And so, the actual number of projects we are affecting is much greater. Every time a project gets built, it has a huge ripple effect in terms of changing perceptions and other impacts.”

What about all those who claim that this is financially impossible? James S. Emery, a partner at Iredale Group Architecture in Vancouver, is working on the old Vancouver Stock Exchange Building development in downtown Vancouver: “We are pursuing partial LBC certification through the Water Petal and LEED Platinum certification processes. The LBC forces one in a high-density urban core to look beyond the property boundaries when pursuing the Energy Petal.

Unfortunately, there are no non-combustible renewable district energy sources in Vancouver.2 As such, it is currently impossible and will likely remain this way in the foreseeable future for a project such as ours to achieve full LBC certification.” While a downtown high-rise renovation may be impossible, other project types are not.

Dale Mikkelsen, Director of Development at SFU Community Trust, speaks about their UniverCity Childcare Centre that is aiming for the LBC: “The project is currently tracking against locally

available price benchmarks for stand-alone childcare facilities at 10 to 15 percent below delivery cost of a turnkey LEED Silver facility.”

Thomas Mueller, President and CEO of the Canada Green Building Council, says that “We need to look at buildings that perform at a much higher level. That is the future and we need to start it now. From the realities of the market perspective—net zero may not always make sense today but from the realities of climate change, net zero is our future, so it doesn’t make sense to ignore it.”

Net-zero-environmental-impact buildings and communities are seen by some to be financial or physical impossibilities, and by others to be necessary if we are to sustain humanity on this small planet. Either way, it is worth keeping your eye on this trend, as I predict it will get a lot more attention in the years to come. ca With over a decade of experience in sustainable policy, planning and education, Jessica Woolliams has a passion for making change towards environmental and social sustainability at the level of buildings, institutions and communities. For more information, see www.jessicawoolliams.com.

1

The Living Building Challenge “defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today and acts to diminish the gap between current limits and ideal solutions,” according to the International Living Future Institute within which the standard is housed. There are buildings aiming for net-zero energy, water, GHG, toxins, etc.

2

The Living Building Challenge does not allow combustion of any kind.

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interview

Migrating Landscapes

An­interview­with­two­of­the­orgAnizers­ of­CAnAdA’s­exhibition­At­the­2012­veniCe­ biennAle­in­ArChiteCture­reveAls­some­of­ their­thoughts­on­identity­And­the­evolving­Culture­of­design­emerging­from­the­ Current­generAtion­of­young­ArChiteCts. interviewer

­iAn­Chodikoff

Migrating Landscapes will be Canada’s representative at the 2012 Venice Biennale in Architecture.

The project was initiated by Sasa Radulovic and Johanne Hurme of Winnipeg-based firm 5468796 Architecture Inc. and University of Manitoba architecture professor Jae-Sung Chon.

To develop this highly collaborative and inclusive exhibition project, these energetic individuals have established Migrating Landscapes Organizer (MLO), an entity that will evolve into a forum for young Canadian architects and designers to “investigate, provoke, document and expose the unique manifestations of cultural memory that overlay contemporary Canadian architecture culture.” Radulovic, Hurme and Chon are all immigrants to Canada from the former Yugoslavia,

Finland and South Korea respectively. Their own cultural backgrounds have influenced their outlook on architecture; accordingly, Migrating Landscapes will incorporate a collection of their own experiences relating to cultural memory, as well as those of the architects and designers selected to participate in the exhibition. MLO has already begun a fundraising campaign, and Canadian Architect intends to follow the unique evolution of MLO right up until the exhibition’s opening in Venice next summer. The following discussion is an excerpt from a recent interview with Radulovic (SR) and Hurme (JH) about their project, their intentions and some of the ideas behind MLO. MLO seeks to establish a series of conditions for a project that is unusually inclusive while highly purposeful to influence a diverse and progressive design culture. can you describe your vision for this project? sr It is very hard to include a singular vision for

the project. We would like to raise the level of

­imAges­of­some­of­the­120­entries­ reCeived­by­the­orgAnizers­for­CAnAdA’s­ offiCiAl­entry­to­the­2012­veniCe­biennAle­in­ArChiteCture.

aBOve

architecture in Canada through increased public engagement and exhibitions so that our profession can put its best foot forward in Venice. Our fundraising and preparations seem to be going well because we are getting interest from young architects, and we are receiving interest from the various members of the juries established across Canada [who will be selecting a final roster of designers whose work will travel to Venice]. We have been very fortunate to convince architecture firms to provide financial assistance through donations, although much more money still needs to be raised. The project essentially involves migration, the accepting nature of our country, and how we can speak to this through architecture. what will the future of canadian diversity look like? how can showcasing young designers’ work influenced by their cultur11/11­­canadian architect

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The exhibition schedule leading up to next year’s opening in Venice.

LEFT

MIGRATING LANDSCAPES NATIONAL COMPETITION JURY + EXHIBITION SCHEDULE VANCOUVER

SASKATOON

TORONTO

Jury: Omer Arbel Peter Cardew Germaine Koh Chris MacDonald Leslie van Duzer

Jury: Jim Siemens Jeanna South Douglas Tastad

Jury: An Te Liu Michael Moxam Chris Pommer Brigitte Shim Lisa Rochon

NOV 3-27 2011 MUSEUM OF VANCOUVER RC: Linus Lam

JAN 19-FEB 11 2012 MENDEL ART GALLERY RC: Daniel Reeves

CALGARY

DEC 7-17 2011 ALBERTA COLLEGE OF ART + DESIGN RC: Kate Thompson Jury: Marc Boutin Catherine Hamel Shafraaz Kaba Matthew North Katherine Wagner

FEB 6-24 2012 BROOKFIELD PLACE RC: Darcie Watson

MONTREAL

JAN 18-FEB 24 2012 PARISIAN LAUNDRY RC: Katrine Rivard + Karolina Jazterbezka Jury: Michael Jemtrud Marie-Josée Lacroix Annie Lebel Rémi Morency Pierre Thibault

HALIFAX

JAN 9-27 2012 DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY RC: Brian Lilley Jury: Susan Fitzgerald Omar Gandhi Barbara Lounder Robert Mellin

WINNIPEG

FEB 2-29 2012 THE FORKS RC: MLO Jury: Étienne Gaboury Wanda Koop David Penner Karen Shanski Ralph Stern

NATIONAL FINAL

MAR 15-APR 29 2012 WINNIPEG ART GALLERY Regional Entries selected for Venice

VENICE ITALY

AUG - NOV 2012 VENICE BIENNALE

Jury: Eleanor Bond Ian Chodikoff Anne Cormier Bruce Kuwabara John Patkau RC : Regional Coordinator

al backgrounds enhance the future of Canadian architecture?

culture, then how can definitions of community vary from one architect to another?

SR We are definitely searching for a pattern. One

SR At a recent Pecha Kucha night in Winnipeg,

of the important distinctions to make is that if we were doing this kind of project in Germany or Finland, it would be more about representing the national pride of those countries, whereas in Canada, the pattern is more about representing a national modesty or acceptance of others.

Johanna chose not to speak about our own architecture, but about the concept of the “yard” and what the definition means in Europe versus Canada. In Europe, the yard is shared by the residents of a number of buildings while in Canada, the only shared community space seems to be the parking lot. Each of our projects contains an element of public space, and this has certainly influenced the design of our projects—the idea of the shared space has affected the ways in which we develop our own approach to design.

What has been your reaction when discussing your project with the older generation of architects?

SR All but one or two that we have contacted thus

far were immediately interested in our project.

Engaging the architects has proven to be a positive experience. The project has certainly become a collection of stories, and our job is to curate it into a series of coherent statements. The most compelling example was when we met with Bruce Kuwabara, who spoke of his experiences at previous Venice Biennales. He encouraged us to question, to not be afraid, and to expose ideas.

JH The process of including the whole [design] community has helped shape the project, which has become richer through a series of conversations. This process has also helped expand our ideas about what the project should be.

Is the project about architecture, or is it about culture? If it is about architecture, shouldn’t we be encouraging architects to assert their cultural backgrounds which can then shape their designs? If it is about 38 canadian architect 11/11

Many of us effectively continue to migrate– we might work in Barcelona one week, then Shanghai the next. How can we respond to these different cultures and practice responsibly without abandoning our cultural backgrounds?

JH This is the kind of global issue that we want to

tackle in our project. Having been educated in Manitoba and then returning to Finland for a school term, I realized that I was already Canadianized as far as my approach to architecture was concerned. The way in which we think about architecture in Canada is very different from the Finnish mentality. The Finnish architecture profession thinks intuitively about form and there are many unwritten rules about pursuing a much more open-ended architecture.

What about issues of architectural education in Canada today? In what ways can

architectural education improve for the next generation of architectural designers who come from diverse backgrounds?

SR The best education is achieved through learn-

ing from each other, as opposed to education that is served to you. Rick Haldenby [Director of the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo] told us that he has noticed a tremendous change in students’ ethnic backgrounds, where today’s architecture schools are 80% comprised of visible minorities. Maybe we can work harder on trying to get the best out of our global student population while becoming more accepting and immersive so that students don’t have to be entrenched in Western civilization.

JH At the same time, we have to prepare our students for the practical world with practical knowledge while teaching them to be fearless about innovation and experimentation. Practically speaking, this is difficult because it takes so long to get on your feet in this profession. By the time you feel confident, you have already been converted, so you must never forget that there are new ways to practice and achieve your ideas in the world.

Clearly, the fundraising effort for Migrating Landscapes is not about promoting your firm, but it is about promoting a sense of collegiality and innovation in the profession.

JH This is our message. If everyone can share ideas, we all benefit. I grew up in an environment where I was taught to believe that our profession is about guarding your own ideas, yet I later discovered this isn’t true. As long as you open up and welcome an inclusive project, you will benefit tenfold.

SR For some established architecture firms in

Canada, to donate money to this project is significant for no other reason than to stimulate ideas, proving that there is a collegial spirit in this country. The discussion is always about a project, and it is always about a personal story.

This is exactly what we wanted–to remove ourselves from the equation. How we get there will certainly help us gain a better idea and understanding of our diverse Canadian identity. CA For more information on Migrating Landscapes, or to support Canada’s official entry for the 2010 Venice Biennale in Architecture, please visit www.migratinglandscapes.ca.

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calendar Modernism in Miniature: Points of View

September 22, 2011-January 8, 2012 This exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture explores the encounter between photography and architectural model-making between 1920-1960, focusing on model photography as a distinctive genre. Comprising nearly 50 objects from the CCA collection, the show includes photographs of work by Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Carlo Mollino, J.J.P. Oud, Oscar Niemeyer and László Moholy-Nagy. www.cca.qc.ca John Fulker: Images of Architecture

November 16, 2011-January 14, 2012 Taking place at the West Vancouver Museum, this exhibition showcases John Fulker’s compelling architectural photographs, which first appeared in publications featuring modern design in the early 1960s.

In North America, a burgeoning postwar building boom saw a flour-

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Toronto documentary photographer Peter MacCallum lectures at 6:30pm at the Ryerson University Department of Architectural Science in Toronto.

didier Faustino lecture

construct canada 2011

November 21, 2011 Paris-based architect Didier Faustino lectures at 6:00pm at the National Gallery in Ottawa. www1.carleton.ca/architecture/forumlecture-series-2

November 30-December 2, 2011 Construct Canada is the country’s largest annual building design and construction show, and is held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Attendees can expect a variety of exhibits, seminars, technical demonstrations and networking opportunities, including a strong lineup of 450 speakers along with the International Architectural Roundtable. www.constructcanada.com

Unbuilt toronto 2: More of the city that Might have Been

November 23, 2011 Mark Osbaldeston delivers an illustrated lecture at 7:00pm at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, based on his newly published book, a sequel to Unbuilt Toronto, which continues to explore never-realized building projects in and around Toronto from the city’s founding to the 21st century.

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toronto: Built and Unbuilt

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January 5, 2012 Michael Sorkin of CUNY & Michael Sorkin Studio in New York delivers the William Lyon Somerville Visiting Lectureship at 7:00pm at the University of Calgary’s downtown campus. www.ucalgary.ca/evds

richard t.t. Forman lecture

December 1, 2011 Richard T.T. Forman of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University delivers this lecture at 7:00pm at the University of Calgary’s downtown campus. www.ucalgary.ca/evds

For­more­inFormation­about­ these,­and­additional­listings­oF­Canadian­and­international­events,­please­visit www.canadianarchitect.com

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Backpage

Sculpting conventionS

Artists DAniel Young AnD ChristiAn giroux, winners of the 2011 sobeY Art AwArD, hAve muCh to offer ArChiteCts with their unique perspeCtives on the CitY, urbAn spACes, AnD builDing sYstems. teXt

brenDAn Cormier CherYl o’brien

photo

In October, sculptors Daniel Young and Christian Giroux were awarded the Sobey Art Award—Canada’s pre-eminent award for contemporary Canadian art. While sculpture remains the foundation of their discipline, the duo’s recent work has explored issues relevant to architectural practice—issues relating to mass production, modular fabrication, urban development, and digital modelling.

For example, Reticulated Gambol is an interactive pavilion structure for Lee Centre Park in Scarborough, which comments on the serial production of outdoor play objects. The piece consists of a reconfiguration of standard playground equipment into a grid formation. The new configuration and singular blue colour emphasizes both the modularity and repetition of 42 canadian architect 11/11

parts—recalling the mass-produced nature of play equipment in the city. The grid configuration also suggests the idea of a system that can be continually expanded, echoing early Modernist manifestos such as Le Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse, but also the “city frameworks” by radical architects of the ’60s, such as Constant Nieuwenhuys’s New Babylon. Aside from this, the so-called pavilion remains a successful and well-used playground, demonstrating how a sculptural intervention can act as a commentary on an object as well as a functional object in and of itself.

Every Building, or Site, that a Building Permit was issued for a New Building in Toronto in 2006, is a 35-mm film work that does exactly what its title suggests. The 13-minute film loop cycles through every building and site in the city where a building permit was issued. The austerity of the methods—a single tripod-mounted shot that lasts eight seconds before the next building or site is featured—has a profound effect on the viewer. One is able to slowly pick up on recurring themes and patterns in the new buildings being projected.

Not only does one get a succinct overview of what was built in that year, but also a clear image of the

Reticulated Gambol, An interACtive pAvilion struCture for lee Centre pArk in sCArborough, ontArio, Comments on the seriAl proDuCtion of outDoor plAY objeCts.

aBove

building conventions, mass-produced materials, and aesthetic trends wrapped up in these buildings, which ultimately contribute to the look and feel of the city.

The relationship between architecture and sculpture has a long and rich history. However, while the two professions have traditionally traded notes on formal aesthetics, Young and Giroux’s work points to an exchange founded on the processes and conventions behind the architecture itself. While Young and Giroux have clearly drawn inspiration from modern building practices to produce their artwork, it is not ridiculous to suggest that architects could equally draw inspiration from Young and Giroux. ca Brendan Cormier is a writer and co-founder of the Toronto-based urban design/research collective Department of Unusual Certainties.

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