Canadian Architect February 2008 Edition

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FEB/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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LAVAL’S NEW METRO STATIONS LEARNING FROM COPENHAGEN

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p07 Contents

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15 MAKIRA OUTPOST A NEW PAVILION DEDICATED TO LEMURS AT EDMONTON’S VALLEY ZOO REPRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENT IN BOTH ANIMAL CARE AND ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN. TEXT LESLIE JEN

20 LAVAL METRO STATIONS THE CITY OF MONTREAL BENEFITS FROM SOCIALLY DIVERSE AND DYNAMIC PUBLIC SPACES SEEN IN THE THREE NEW STATIONS FORMING THE LAVAL METRO EXTENSION. TEXT GAVIN AFFLECK

36 DANISH UTOPIAN CANADIAN ARCHITECTS HAVE MUCH TO LEARN ABOUT DESIGN METHODOLOGY FROM THE CITY OF COPENHAGEN. TEXT IAN CHODIKOFF

ADAM MØRK

ROBERT LEMERMEYER

MARC CRAMER

CONTENTS

11 NEWS Manon Asselin and Katsuhiro Yamazaki of atelier TAG win the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture; International Garden Festival seeks guest curator for 2009.

28 INSITES A detailed history of the evolution of Montreal’s public spaces is given by Gavin Affleck.

31 REPORT Jonathan Cha reports on the design workshop aimed at revitalizing Place d’Armes, a critical public space in Montreal’s urban fabric.

42 TECHNICAL Digital imaging technology has completely revolutionized the way architectural photographers work, according to author and photographer Gerry Kopelow.

49 CALENDAR ORD: Documenting the Definitive Modern Airport at the University of Toronto; Reiser + Umemoto lecture at McGill University.

50 BACKPAGE François Cartier of the McCord Museum in Montreal ensures that the legendary Bens Deli will be remembered.

FEBRUARY 2008, V.53 N.02

THE NATIONAL REVIEW OF DESIGN AND PRACTICE/ THE JOURNAL OF RECORD OF THE RAIC

COVER THE DE LA CONCORDE METRO STATION IN MONTREAL, DESIGNED BY MARTIN + MARCOTTE ARCHITECTES. PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHEL BRUNELLE.

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SUSI PLATT/AFH

VIEWPOINT

EDITOR IAN CHODIKOFF, OAA, MRAIC ASSOCIATE EDITOR LESLIE JEN, MRAIC

LED BY SUSI PLATT—A YOUNG ARCHITECT WHO MIGHT OTHERWISE BE COORDINATING DOOR SCHEDULES IN A CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE FIRM—THIS ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY PROJECT INVOLVES UN HABITAT IN CONSTRUCTING THREE COMMUNITY BUILDINGS AND A NEW LANDSCAPED SPORTS AND RECREATION AREA IN THE DISTRICT OF HAMBANTOTA ON SRI LANKA’S SOUTH COAST. ABOVE

It wasn’t so much what he said, but how he said it. In January, 34-year-old Cameron Sinclair, co-founder and Executive Director of Architecture for Humanity (AfH) spoke to an overflowing room full of students, practitioners and members of the public at the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) for nearly two hours, captivating the audience and empowering those in attendance with a sense of responsibility and purpose about improving the world, one design at a time.

By now, many architects know of Sinclair’s extraordinary San Francisco-based non-profit organization that connects dozens of chapters across the world through a network of thousands of volunteers. These members contribute their knowledge, time and physical efforts toward community-based design projects located primarily in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and throughout various communities across North America.

Sinclair’s lecture was part of a speaker series organized by OCAD President Sara Diamond.

Since assuming her role in 2006, Diamond has become highly influential in fostering ideas about design that seek to address relevant issues such as sustainability, aging and wellness, and contemporary ethics. Sinclair’s presence at OCAD is a reminder of the value and importance of socially responsible leaders who can directly engage the public with present-day real-life issues, such as rebuilding efforts in Sri Lanka and Mississippi. For example, just after Hurricane Katrina swept through the southern US in 2005, AfH mobilized assistance at the grassroots level to rebuild a considerable amount of Biloxi, Mississippi—approximately 600 homes, or 38 percent of the town’s housing.

In post-tsunami Sri Lanka, AfH has been able to partner with large organizations like UN Habitat in working closely with various communities, utilizing their collective skill to design and build pre-schools that make children feel safe and welcome. The community-designed metal screen pictured above is a small detail, but it serves to protect children from the significant leopard population in the area. Being a networked organization that relies on social capital means that AfH can engage in global design 8 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08

issues that large-scale bureaucracies cannot manage alone.

In today’s world, architects must react quickly to issues of disaster, conflict and rapid largescale urbanization, thereby developing new building practices to effectively respond to these challenges. AfH’s response includes the Open Architecture Network (OAN), an online, open-source community listing hundreds of projects around the world. Information on each project is easily accessible, with drawings, photographs and project descriptions that can be viewed on screen or downloaded for free, as long as the authors are properly credited. The OAN makes it possible for an idealistic architecture student in Denver to instantly connect with a young volunteer in Zagreb who has a brilliant idea for a mobile health clinic in Kenya.

While some of our schools might be placing too much emphasis on the manipulation of 19thcentury annotations to 16th-century architectural treatises inside 21st-century software programs, design communities around the world are collaborating like never before, thanks to technological advancements in communication and the sharing of ideas virtually. Architecture for Humanity is just one example of a sophisticated network that uses the simplest of principles: communicate widely, actively engage the communities in which you work, and leverage the design talent and energy of young architects.

An equal number of buildings will be constructed over the next 40 years worldwide as there have been throughout the course of humanity, yet one in three people will be living in slums by 2030. We need more architects to solve the enormous challenges occurring in the real world. Sinclair asked the audience this simple question: “Do you want 50 clients that can afford you, or five billion people that need you?” Judging by the hundreds of earnest students who came to hear Sinclair speak, our only fear is that we will squander the opportunities for young designers to actively participate in the process of community design and development—for the sake of preserving an increasingly outdated mandate of seeking and serving those 50 clients, wherever they may be.

IAN CHODIKOFF

ICHODIKOFF@CANADIANARCHITECT.COM

EDITORIAL ADVISORS JOHN MCMINN, AADIPL. MARCO POLO, OAA, MRAIC CHARLES WALDHEIM, OALA(HON.), FAAR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS GAVIN AFFLECK, OAQ, MRAIC TREVOR BODDY HERBERT ENNS, MAA, MRAIC DOUGLAS MACLEOD, NCARB REGIONAL CORRESPONDENTS HALIFAX CHRISTINE MACY, OAA MONTREAL DAVID THEODORE WINNIPEG HERBERT ENNS, MAA REGINA BERNARD FLAMAN, SAA CALGARY DAVID A. DOWN, AAA EDMONTON BRIAN ALLSOPP, AAA PUBLISHER TOM ARKELL 416-510-6806 SALES MANAGER GREG PALIOURAS 416-510-6808 CIRCULATION MANAGER BEATA OLECHNOWICZ 416-442-5600 EXT. 3543 CUSTOMER SERVICE MALKIT CHANA 416-442-5600 EXT. 3539 PRODUCTION JESSICA JUBB GRAPHIC DESIGN SUE WILLIAMSON VICE PRESIDENT OF CANADIAN PUBLISHING ALEX PAPANOU PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS INFORMATION GROUP BRUCE CREIGHTON HEAD OFFICE 12 CONCORDE PLACE, SUITE 800, TORONTO, ON M3C 4J2 TELEPHONE 416-510-6845 FACSIMILE 416-510-5140 E-MAIL EDITORS@CANADIANARCHITECT.COM WEB SITE WWW.CANADIANARCHITECT.COM Canadian Architect is published monthly by Business Information Group, a division of BIG Magazines LP, a leading Canadian information company with interests in daily and community newspapers and business-to-business information services.

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NEWS PROJECTS Preliminary designs for MUHC’s Mountain Campus announced.

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) has released the preliminary design for the Mountain Campus in Montreal. The LEED Silver project will include a new emergency department and renovated facilities at the Montreal General Hospital, in addition to new facilities for the Montreal Neurological Hospital. A merger of five teaching hospitals affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University, the $1.579-billion MUHC plan will redevelop two campuses—Mountain and Glen. Les architectes Lemay et associés, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et associés architectes, André Ibghy Architectes and Menkès Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux continue to be the MUHC’s master architectural team, also responsible for the renovation of the $379-million Mountain Campus renovation. In November 2006, MUHC announced that architect Moshe Safdie had accepted in principle to design the master plan for the $1.2-billion Glen Campus of the MUHC, a 43-acre former brownfield site in downtown Montreal; this would have been Safdie’s first academic health-care centre commission. But in the summer of 2007, the Province of Quebec and the MUHC decided instead on a public-private partnership (PPP) approach to build the Glen Campus, and by December 2007, the press reported that Safdie had backed out, citing objections to delivering this complex project using the PPP process.

However, Safdie had never signed a contract with the MUHC to deliver any design services in the first place. Currently, the two qualified consortia bidding on the Glen Campus are Groupe immobilier santé McGill, which includes SNC-Lavalin, IBI Group, HDR Architecture Canada Inc., and Yelle Maillé architectes associés. The second consortium, Partenariat CUSM, includes John Laing Investments Limited and Groupe ARCOP architectes. A decision on the winning consortium for the Mountain Campus will be reached in late spring 2008.

Moriyama & Teshima Architects in association with the Walter Fedy Partnership to design the new Region of Waterloo History Museum.

The Region of Waterloo History Museum, to be built at Doon Heritage Crossroads, will be “an architectural statement integrated with the landscape” and “symbolic of the ethics and vision of our time,” according to the team hired by the Region to design the new museum and Visitor Orientation Centre. Regional Council approved a recommendation by the Museum Steering Committee to hire Moriyama & Teshima Architects of Toronto in association with the Walter Fedy Partnership of Kitchener to design

ABOVE PRELIMINARY DESIGNS FOR MCGILL UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTRE’S MOUNTAIN CAMPUS WILL IMPROVE ITS INTEGRATION WITH THE CITY OF MONTREAL WHILE PRESERVING THE VIEW OF MOUNT ROYAL.

the new Region of Waterloo History Museum and Visitor Orientation Centre. The exhibits at the museum will be completed by a team of designers led by VUE Design of Toronto. The new museum will house permanent and temporary exhibition space, as well as classrooms, a theatre and other education facilities. The site will also include orientation exhibits to the 1914 living history village at Doon Heritage Crossroads, adding indoor assembly spaces for school groups and community events. The design of the new museum is expected to be completed by late spring of 2008 and construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2008, pending approval of capital funding by Regional Council. The opening ceremony is planned for July 1, 2012, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Waterloo Historical Society. The total cost of the project is estimated at $22.7 million.

AWARDS Manon Asselin and Katsuhiro Yamazaki of atelier TAG win the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture.

The Canada Council for the Arts has awarded the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture to Manon Asselin and Katsuhiro Yamazaki of the Montreal firm atelier TAG. The Canada Council’s Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture is valued at $50,000 and encourages the development of artistic excellence in contemporary architectural practice. Asselin and Yamazaki will record interviews with young innovative architects and research studio activities, building projects and construction sites underway in Europe, East Asia and New York City. After their research is complete, they will present a multimedia exhibition which will highlight and compare their findings within a Canadian context.

Founded in Montreal in 1997 by Asselin and Yamazaki, atelier TAG has received five presti-

gious awards for its cultural projects, including two Governor General’s Medals in Architecture, an Award of Excellence in Architecture from the OAQ, the Institute of Design Montreal Award in Architecture and an Award of Excellence from Canadian Architect.

Cohos Evamy Announces tenth year of scholarship for Canadian architecture students.

Established in 1998, the annual Cohos Evamy Scholarship honours the memory of Michael Evamy, a founding partner instrumental in building the practice from 1966 to 1993. This scholarship is available to a Canadian student attending a Canadian school of architecture in the year prior to his or her final year of study in a professional architecture degree program. The scholarship allows the recipient to undertake a research project based on a field of study of personal interest. The intent of the research is to enrich and advance the recipient’s personal and professional experience and knowledge on a topic relevant to the practice of architecture. In 2007, Kelly Doran, a Masters of Architecture student in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design, received the award based on his impressive submission entitled Company Towns: The Corporate Colonization of the Mackenzie River Basin. The value of the 2008 award is $5,000. A secondary amount of up to $3,000 is available for project-related expenses, including travel, during the course of the one-year study.

The application deadline for the award is March 19, 2008, and the award will be publicly announced on March 31, 2008. www.cohos-evamy.com

COMPETITIONS White House Redux Competition.

What if the White House, the ultimate architec02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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tural symbol of political power, were to be designed today? On occasion of the election of the 44th President of the United States of America, Storefront for Art and Architecture, in association with Control Group, challenge you to design a new residence for the world’s most powerful individual. The best ideas, designs, descriptions, images, and videos will be selected by some of the world’s most distinguished designers and critics and featured in a month-long exhibition at Storefront for Art and Architecture in July 2008. All three winners will be flown to New York to collect their prizes at the opening party. The jury is comprised of: Beatriz Colomina, architectural historian, New York; Stefano Boeri, editor-in-chief, Abitare magazine, Milan; Elizabeth Diller, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York; John Maeda, MIT Media Lab, Boston; Geoff Manaugh, BLDGblog and Dwell magazine, San Francisco; Mark Wigley, Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Columbia University; and Laetitia Wolff, editorial director, Surface magazine, New York. Online submissions are accepted from March 1, 2008 onward until the April 20, 2008 deadline.

A fee of $20 must accompany each submission. Three prizes will be awarded as follows: $5,000 first prize; $3,000 second prize; and $1,500 third prize. www.whitehouseredux.org International Union of Architects (UIA) launches competition for Information Point in Turin, Italy.

This single-stage ideas competition is organized within the framework of the UIA Congress Turin 2008, illustrating the theme of “transmitting architecture.” The aim is to create a UIA information point in the city of Turin, a public piece of architecture dedicated to urban democracy where people can convene both day and night. It must not exceed 100 square metres, and should be constructed of recyclable eco-friendly materials and be fully equipped with current communication technologies. The competition is open to architects worldwide who are under 35 years of age at the time of

registration. Registration opening and simultaneous transmission of entries begins on March 4, 2008 and closes on March 11, 2008. A total of X18,000 will be awarded as follows: first prize of X10,000; second prize of X5,000; and third prize of X3,000. The winning project will be realized in Turin for the UIA Congress. The all-architect jury is comprised of Luca Molinari, Italy; Maria Theodorou, Greece; George Kunihiro, Japan; Reuben Mutiso, Kenya; and Jennifer Lee, USA, along with a representative of the Municipality of Turin and a representative of the Piedmont region. Entries will be exhibited in Turin from June 30 to July 3, 2008, and prizes will be awarded during a ceremony at the XXIII UIA World Congress Torino 2008 on July 2, 2008. www.infopoint.uia2008torino.org

WHAT’S NEW International Garden Festival seeking a guest curator for the Festival’s 10th edition in 2009.

The Fondation des Jardins de Métis is seeking a guest curator for the 10th edition of the International Garden Festival to be held at Les Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens from June to October 2009. Under the supervision of the director, the guest curator will: manage the selection process for the designers; promote the Festival and its designers; contribute to the preparation of grant applications; prepare texts for publications; oversee the preparation of promotional and interpretive material; and elaborate a program of activities held in conjunction with the Festival. S/he will have to be available at Les Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens for the construction period of the contemporary gardens in May and June. The proposed contract runs from April 2008 to October 2009. Candidates should have a degree in landscape architecture, architecture, art history, museum studies or a related domain; have a solid understanding of the garden; have at least two years of experience in project management; demonstrate a high degree of independence and creativity; and be an excellent communicator. Dossiers should be sent by February 29, 2008 and should include a letter of interest, a curriculum vitae and a selection of articles or publications realized under the candidate’s responsibility. For answers to any questions, please e-mail reford@refordgardens.com. www.jardinsmetis.com International Conference on Fabric Formwork.

CAST, the Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology—will host the first international conference on fabric formwork from May 16-18, 2008 at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. This will be the first gathering of architects, engineers, builders, students, and manufacturers exploring recent developments in flexible fabric formworks for concrete structures in architecture and engineering. These two days of lectures and presentations by inventors, practitioners and researchers will focus on the new architectural forms made possible by this emerging technology. The conference will also include workshop demonstrations of full-scale and model construction techniques. www.umanitoba.ca/architecture/ffc/ Ryerson University launches new graduate program in Building Science.

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Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science is launching a new graduate program in Building Science in September 2008. This is an interdisciplinary graduate program that focuses on the building science principles necessary to deliver sustainable buildings. The program has a strong interdisciplinary character and is open to candidates from a variety of educational and professional backgrounds such as architecture, building science, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, landscape architecture and construction. An essential ingredient of the program is the students’ exposure to a wide variety of colleagues from different professional and cultural backgrounds. www.ryerson.ca/graduate/buildingscience

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ANIMAL HOUSE

A NEW FACILITY FOR LEMURS AT EDMONTON’S VALLEY ZOO SETS A NEW STANDARD FOR ANIMAL CARE AND LEADS THE DISCUSSION ON THE PRESERVATION OF WILD HABITATS. MAKIRA OUTPOST, VALLEY ZOO, EDMONTON, ALBERTA JOHNS GROUP2 ARCHITECTURE ENGINEERING TEXT LESLIE JEN PHOTOS ROBERT LEMERMEYER PROJECT

ARCHITECT

In existence since 1959, Edmonton’s Valley Zoo is currently undergoing a massive revisioning to bring it into the 21st century, promoting a unique, sustainable approach to animal shelter, service and contemporary zoology.

The City of Edmonton commissioned Makira Outpost, a facility housing four species of lemurs in a 226-square-metre pavilion incorporating both indoor and outdoor habitats. As the first project conforming to the zoo’s new master plan, the exhibition spaces enhance the experience of both animals and visitors through natural landscape solutions rather than relying on conventional architectural containment, thus contributing to the pastoral park-like setting of the zoo.

ABOVE MAKIRA OUTPOST INTEGRATES WELL WITH THE LANDSCAPE AT VALLEY ZOO, BOASTING A NATURAL MATERIAL PALETTE, LARGE EXPANSES OF GLAZING AND A LOW-LYING TENT-LIKE ROOF FORM.

Lemurs are small primates found only in Madagascar and the neighbouring Comoro Islands. Although there are 50 known species, 17 are on the endangered species list, due to the decline of their natural habitat through deforestation. As sociable, entertaining and demonstrative creatures, lemurs are popular with zoo visitors and are wonderful didactic examples for educating the public on global environmental destruction. In fact, the facility derives its name from the lemurs’ natural habitat, the Makira rain forest located in northeastern Madagascar, and the zoo has developed a partnership with a conservation zone initiative called the Makira Forest Project, donating significant proceeds to it from the sale of promotional buttons during Makira Outpost’s unveiling in the summer of 2007.

In tackling this most unusual project, a great deal of research on lemur behaviour was undertaken by the design team, with principal Barry Johns travelling as far as Vienna, Austria (where the world’s oldest zoo has been in operation since 1752) to educate himself on the latest developments in animal care and exhibition facilities. Wisely, the design and construction 02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT ENCIRCLING THE OUTDOOR ISLAND HABITAT OF MAKIRA OUTPOST, A MOAT OFFERS A NATURAL MEANS OF CONTAINMENT FOR THE ANIMALS; TREE-LIKE COLUMNS SUPPORTING THE ROOF CANOPY WERE DESIGNED TO EVOKE THE LEMURS’ NATURAL RAIN FOREST HABITAT; A LEMUR STRIKES A DRAMATIC POSE.

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process involved zoo staff to ensure that every component was executed with precision to meet strict animal care standards.

Here, Makira Outpost replaces a long-disused pheasantry compound and a penguin pool along Buena Vista Road on the zoo’s property. Although containment was obviously a major concern in the design of the project, the desire was to minimize the overt boundary condition of fences and walls, keeping barriers between animals and people as natural as possible. Consequently, the lemurs enjoy a variety of dynamic spaces in their home, including four climatically controlled indoor exhibition habitats and three separate outdoor exhibition habitats, two enclosed by a resilient but nearly invisible mesh, and the third, an “island” boasting two tall elm trees for climbing, lacks enclosure but is instead moat-protected to contain the extremely hydrophobic lemurs.

Compared to the manner in which the zoo’s buildings had been designed over previous decades, Makira Outpost represents a radical departure. Offering a dynamic interactive experience for both lemurs and zoo visitors, the project engages the central visitor circulation route of the immediate site and also the larger context of the natural environment. Functions that are tradi-

tionally hidden are fully visible to visitors here, such as the feeding of the animals which occurs in the main exhibition space. The building’s amorphous tent-like structure and large expanses of glazing convey an ethereal lightness throughout, boasting generous interior spaces that are awash in vast amounts of natural daylight. Makira Outpost is the first primate habitat at the zoo that eliminates the need to capture and relocate the animals once the weather turns cold, as it provides the lemurs with natural light year round and allows them the option of outdoor space on nice days in the shoulder seasons.

The building’s details are extremely well resolved: formally, the design evokes an abstracted landscape of a canopy of tree branches over the forest floor, recalling the lemurs’ natural habitat. And to emphasize the integration between interior architecture and exterior habitat, the structural wood beams and concrete columns continue beyond the building envelope into the landscape. Instead of relying on the clutter of children’s toys and other objects to mentally and physically stimulate the animals, architectural and structural elements were designed for play and are integral to the building’s expression.

For example, deep mullions were specified to

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CLIENT CITY OF EDMONTON ARCHITECT TEAM BARRY JOHNS, TROY SMITH, EUGENE GYORFI, LAURA PLOSZ, GRAEME JOHNS, KATRINA SZEKELY, CHAD OBERG, CHRISTIE GRAYSON STRUCTURAL WALTER CHAMBERS & ASSOCIATES LTD. MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL HEMISPHERE ENGINEERING INC. LANDSCAPE EIDOS CONSULTANTS INC. CONTRACTOR LORAC CONSTRUCTION AREA 226 M2

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frame the windows, serving as sills upon which the lemurs can comfortably perch and watch the world go by. The deliberately off-grid and irregular column placement reflects the randomness of trees in nature, and the columns are expressed as independent entities within the interior spaces to function as a natural play habitat for the lemurs.

The zoo wanted their role to evolve as environmental stewards with respect to not just the animals but to the buildings located at the zoo. As such, the design team implemented a number of energy-saving features such as the use of solar energy and recaptured water, and a mechanical system premised on displacement ventilation and heat recovery. The use of raw, natural and

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unfinished materials not only results in much lower emission levels of VOCs but evokes the natural habitat of the lemurs, particularly enhanced by the presence of a green living wall.

Because Alberta’s frenzied construction industry at the time exacerbated project delays and increased costs, initial plans for a green roof had to be scrapped due to the additional $40,000 expense. And the same budgetary constraints also meant that there was no funding to apply for LEED certification at the time of construction, but it is likely that Makira Outpost would achieve LEED standard were it submitted retroactively.

Interestingly, the City of Edmonton has now mandated that from 2008 onward, all buildings it commissions must meet a minimum standard of

BUDGET $1.7 M COMPLETION JUNE 2007

LEED Silver.

With so much controversy in recent years about the quality of care that animals receive in zoos around the world, this project sets a precedent for future development that should assuage the concerns of animal activists and establish more humane conditions for animals in captivity. What is clear is that staff love the facility, and the lemurs seem to also, although they haven’t verbally expressed their sentiments as such. And in recognition of the thoughtfulness and rigour of the facility’s design, Makira Outpost was recently awarded the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) prize for enrichment recognizing significant advancement in animal care. CA 02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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MICHEL BRUNELLE

ISLAND HOPPING

COSTING $745 MILLION AND TAKING NEARLY NINE YEARS TO COMPLETE, AN EXTENSION TO MONTREAL’S ORANGE LINE OPENED UP LAST SUMMER, CARRYING 50,000 COMMUTERS DAILY BETWEEN THE ISLANDS OF LAVAL AND MONTREAL. PROJECT DE LA CONCORDE, CARTIER AND MONTMORENCY METRO STATIONS, LAVAL, QUEBEC PROJECT TEAM GROUPEMENT SGTM: SNC-LAVALIN, GMAT, TECSULT, AND THE MBGF CONSORTIUM (MUNICONSULT, BISSON & ASSOCIÉS ARCHITECTES, GIASSON ET FARREGUT ARCHITECTES); DANIEL ARBOUR ET ASSOCIÉS ARCHITECTS MARTIN + MARCOTTE ARCHITECTES, BISSON FORTIN ET ASSOCIÉS ARCHITECTES, GIASSON FARREGUT ARCHITECTES TEXT GAVIN AFFLECK PHOTOS MICHEL BRUNELLE, MARC CRAMER, MICHEL VERREAULT

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Being asked to write about Montreal’s subway system, the Metro, is like being asked to write about sunshine. Your humble correspondent’s opinions are unapologetically biased—coloured by more than 20 years of combining a 15-minute walk with a seven-stop ride on the Metro to begin and end my work day. Montreal’s Metro is among the most architecturally expressive and beautiful subways in the world and has been contributing to my quality of life for years. The Metro presents a daily pageant of life in a spacious, colourful, and comfortable environment—businessmen with noses in newspapers, noisy hordes of schoolchildren, elegantly dressed women, bluecollar types with lunch buckets—all manner of urban characters. For the habitual traveller, it is also an informal social network of brief, friendly encounters—a pleasurable experience that leaves one mystified that many Montrealers actually prefer sitting alone in their automobiles.

Subways exist in counterpoint to cars, and the public transit/private car debate is central to an understanding of the contemporary North American city. What is the source of the unflagging appeal of the automobile? A gross deformation of the idea of individual liberty? Unrealistic expectations of practicality and efficiency? Rampant consumer fetishism? The right to privacy defiantly subverting urban space? Looking at the debate from the public transit side, one thing is clear: the Metro is public space in its most dynamic and expressive form, and if anything defines the contemporary city in Montreal, it is the Metro.

A dream for the first half of the 20th century, construction of the Metro began in the early 1960s. The initial network of 25 stations, opened in 1966, typified a halcyon period in Montreal architecture: this was inventive, unselfconscious and adventurous architecture of international calibre. Each station had its own identity, the trains rolled on silent rubber tires and

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MARC CRAMER

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Montreal’s Underground City, more topographic circumstance than architectural intention, grew along with the Metro in happy symbiosis. Four major extension projects undertaken over the last 40 years have created today’s system of 68 stations on four lines. Building underground presupposed a certain solidity and produced outstanding station design at Peel and Champde-Mars, exemplary in their integration of art; and at Préfontaine and Lasalle, notable respectively for their generous skylighting and expressive geometry. The most recent extension to the system prolongs the northern line off the Island of Montreal into the suburban satellite city of Laval.

The Laval extension is a coming of age for the Metro. Suburbia was young and innocent when the Metro was first built and city and suburb were not the antagonists they are now. The debate surrounding the Laval extension underscores the fundamental divisions between urban and suburban culture in Montreal—divisions not uncommon to most North American cities.

Is the new Metro in Laval a panacea of urban complexity that will temper suburban banality or is it the introduction of urban decadence into the suburban pastoral? From the panacea side we have the arguments of planners and architects advocating transit-oriented development and pedestrianfriendly nodes; from the decadence side come hysterical populist warnings of a portal of entry for street gangs and urban violence. More interesting than the denouement of this debate, however, is the manner in which it presents the Metro as a conceptual support for a wide spectrum of interest groups and social aspirations. Sharing space among multiple users and creating inclusive environments that celebrate diversity are the basic functions of public space in a civil society.

Subways offer a clear expression of the cultural identity of the cities they serve. The London and Paris subways, the oldest and largest in the world,

THE INFLUENCE OF ARCHITECT VICTOR PRUS—WHO DESIGNED MANY INTERIORS OF THE CITY’S METRO STATIONS IN THE 1960S—IS IN EVIDENCE AT DE LA CONCORDE STATION, WHERE COMMUTERS EXPERIENCE MONUMENTAL EXPOSED SITE-CAST CONCRETE ELEMENTS. ABOVE AT THE CARTIER SUBWAY STATION AND BUS TERMINAL, HEIGHTENING PASSENGERS’ EXPERIENCES OF ARRIVING BY CAR OR BUS WAS A SERIOUS CONSIDERATION IN THE PROJECT’S LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN. OPPOSITE

are evocative symbols of Old Europe: vast, tightly knit, historically rich but aging infrastructures that require continuous upkeep to maintain their connection to the modern city. Moscow’s chandelier-lit, marble-clad subway, one of the busiest and most beautiful in the world, graphically illustrates the contradictions of the Soviet regime that built it. This is doctrinaire social realism at its strangest—the most collective of spaces in the workers’ utopia were rendered in an aristocratic vocabulary as ornate, neo-Classical palaces. Asian cultures consider the subway more as a machine or a process than a physical artifact and the complex systems in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Seoul are notable as much for their sophisticated electronic controls and digital lighting as their architecture. Latin America has always had its own sense of urbanity: São Paulo’s subway rivals Montreal and Madrid as a champion of contemporary design, and Mexico City’s subway is renowned for its integration of archaeology and for its signage—a system of pictograms that engages modernity, pre-Columbian art and the challenge of illiteracy.

The three new stations in Laval are well served by the Metro’s longstanding tradition of different architects designing each station. The alternative approach—standardized station design—has had mixed results. In Bilbao, Spain, an elegant all-Norman Foster subway is quietly rivalling Frank Gehry’s 02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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MICHEL BRUNELLE

MICHEL BRUNELLE

Guggenheim Museum as a catalyst of urban renewal; in Toronto, the subway’s uniform public washroom look recalls the parsimonious efficiency of “Toronto the Good’’ from days gone by.

Bisson et associés, who were responsible for the design of the first new station, Cartier, also added a new platform to the former terminus, Henri-Bourassa. Both of these schemes use sober, modular ceramic panelling systems in stainless steel frames to structure their design.

The Henri-Bourassa platform takes a page from contemporary Asian subways by featuring a continuous orange light integrated into the modular wall panels—a literal, but not unpoetic, reference to the colour code of this Metro line. The emphasis on creative lighting is reinforced by a digital light sculpture by artist Axel Morgenthaler that doubles as interactive directional signage.

Planned as an intermodal node that creates a focal point in an unstructured landscape, the second of the new stations, de la Concorde, designed

by Martin + Marcotte architectes, ties together the Metro, a major traffic artery, a suburban train station and a park-and-ride. Described by its architects as an “underground cathedral,” the station is an intriguing take on a classic peristyle hall—soaring columns support a spacious concrete cube, freeing its perimeter to become a continuous skylight. Stairs on opposite sides of the platform open generously to each other, maximizing human contact through space. This circulation pattern recalls an architectural paradigm of a bygone social order—Charles Garnier’s Paris Opera—and argues that “seeing and being seen” is a universal human imperative that transcends history.

The limited palette of finishes and interior details of de la Concorde station are accomplished minimalism—glazed blue ceramic and black granite play against neutral, sandblasted concrete and three great circular openings in the concrete walls confer a quiet monumentality to the ensemble. The project architects’ interest in the timelessness of Louis Kahn is evident—this is a powerful and simple design that has the potential to become a classic among Montreal Metro stations.

The third station and new terminus, Montmorency, designed by Giasson Farregut architectes, is strategically located at the crossroads of two major traffic arteries. The station serves a sprawling community college, provides a direct link to a new regional bus terminal, and features broad, well-lit stairways and a colourful approach LEFT, TOP TO BOTTOM CHOREOGRAPHING THE ARRIVAL OF PASSENGERS AT DE LA CONCORDE STATION INCLUDES LANDSCAPING WALKWAYS FROM THE PARKING LOT AND BUS TERMINAL; CREATING A DRAMATIC ENTRY DESCENDING TOWARDS THE SUBWAY PLATFORM; NATURAL DAYLIGHT FLOODS THE SUBTERRANEAN HALL, AND A ROOFTOP GARDEN WAS CONSTRUCTED ON TOP OF THE IMPRESSIVELY LARGE WAFFLE SLAB.

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to finishes. Parking spaces in the generous parkand-ride are offered free of charge as a public transit incentive. Despite its calling as a harbinger of a new way of life on the edge of the city, Montmorency station limits its urbanity to abstract concerns of function and infrastructure, while the scale, organization and architectural expression of the station are resolutely suburban.

The project’s references to commercial architecture—big box stores, gas stations, billboard signage, strip malls—find expression in the flat pressure plates and pastel spandrel panels of curtain walls; in robustly exaggerated awnings; in masonry walls canted to suggest dynamism; in volumes inflated like Wild-West façades in relentlessly horizontal landscapes. Observing suburban projects like this, it is facile to attribute such bombast to wayward consumerism or poor judgement, particularly when a Venturi-inspired exploration has not been engaged. But suburbia is not so benign: in frontier suburban development, the visceral need to dominate the landscape with buildings is a collective force much greater than the talents of individual architects.

Canada’s wilderness complex, that series of defensive behaviour patterns developed to deal with the great unknown of our northern expanses, only exacerbates the suburban land-grab in the Canadian context, accentuating the brutality with which sprawl conquers the land.

What happens above ground to subway stations is of particular interest when they reach out to suburbia. At Cartier and Montmorency, the automobile is dominant, building volumes are selfreferential and the architecture is rhetorical. New streets with expansive vehicular rights of way and little differentiation in the ground plane have created broad mineral expanses and sprawling landscapes. De la Concorde station concentrates its energy on its great underground room and treats its surface-level spaces with modest intelligence. The level change created by the railway underpass is used to break down traditional suburban horizontality and the resulting movement pattern generates the pedestrian approaches to the station. On a second, higher level, the railway

MICHEL BRUNELLE

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MICHEL BRUNELLE

p20-25 Laval Metro

TOP A LARGE FORECOURT IS NECESSARY TO RECEIVE THE THOUSANDS OF COMMUTERS PASSING THROUGH DE LA CONCORDE METRO STATION EVERY DAY. ABOVE THE ROOFTOP GARDEN ABOVE THE CENTRAL ATRIUM OF DE LA CONCORDE STATION.

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platform slides elegantly under an overhanging roof of the Metro aedicule. Putting the pedestrian first in its outdoor spaces is as important an achievement of this station as its dramatic underground hall.

The Laval extension is a phenomenal success in terms of ridership, far surpassing initial projections. The three new stations are frequented by all walks of life, and few public spaces in Montreal are as socially diverse or dynamic.

While on the surface, we are a long way from Norman Foster’s glass tubes delicately inserted into the fabric of Bilbao, patience is advised. The fundamental first step towards urbanity—the establishment of a transit-based, pedestrianfriendly infrastructure—has been taken, and it is only a matter of time before the city prevails.

With this primary layer in place, more ephemeral layers of architecture can be built, reconsidered, criticized and rebuilt again. CA

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Gavin Affleck is a partner in the Montreal-based firm Affleck + de la Riva Architects. He has been a contributing editor of Canadian Architect since 2004.

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PROJECT DE LA CONCORDE METRO STATION CLIENT AGENCE MÉTROPOLITAINE DE TRANSPORT (AMT) ARCHITECT MARTIN + MARCOTTE ARCHITECTES ARCHITECT TEAM ANDRÉ MARCOTTE, MARIE-CLAUDE LEBLOND, ROBERT MARTIN, JOSEPH SKAFF, ERIC MASSÉ, GÉRARD SCHIRMER, ROBERT ROBITAILLE STRUCTURAL, MECHANICAL & ELECTRICAL TECSULT LANDSCAPE DAA PAYSAGE, MUNICONSULT INTERIORS MARTIN + MARCOTTE ARCHITECTES CONTRACTOR EBC INC. (EXCAVATION AND TUNNEL), OPRON INC. (STATION), SIMARD BEAUDRY INC. (LANDSCAPING AND INTERIOR EQUIPMENT) PUBLIC ART YVES GENDREAU AREA 7,000 M2 BUDGET $40 M COMPLETION MAY 2007

MARC CRAMER

PROJECT CARTIER METRO STATION AND BUS TERMINAL CLIENT AGENCE MÉTROPOLITAINE DE TRANSPORT (AMT) ARCHITECT BISSON FORTIN ET ASSOCIÉS ARCHITECTES ARCHITECT TEAM RICHARD A. FORTIN, CHRISTIAN BISSON, DOMINIC LAFORCE, ANDRE NAUD, EVANGELOS TZANETAKOS, LAN-GIAO VO, JEANMICHEL TEULE, RENÉ CHEVALIER, YANN LEROUX, ISABELLE DERAGON STRUCTURAL, MECHANICAL & ELECTRICAL TECSULT, SNC-LAVALIN LANDSCAPE DANIEL ARBOUR ET ASSOCIÉS PART OF GROUPEMENT SGTM INTERIORS BISSON FORTIN ET ASSOCIÉS PART OF GROUPEMENT SGTM CONTRACTOR POMERLEAU (SUBWAY STATION AND BUS TERMINAL), LOUISBOURG (CONCESSIONS BUILDING, CANOPIES AND LANDSCAPING) AREA 8,000 M2 BUDGET $60 M COMPLETION APRIL 2007

PROJECT MONTMORENCY STATION AND BUS TERMINAL CLIENT AGENCE MÉTROPOLITAINE DE TRANSPORT (AMT) ARCHITECT GIASSON FARREGUT ARCHITECTES ARCHITECT TEAM GUILLERMO FARREGUT, MARIE-JOSÉE BARBEAU, EMMANUELLE KLIMPT STRUCTURAL, MECHANICAL & ELECTRICAL TECSULT LANDSCAPE DANIEL ARBOUR ET ASSOCIÉS INTERIORS GIASSON FARREGUT ARCHITECTES CONTRACTOR POMERLEAU AREA 8,000 M2

MICHEL VERREAULT

RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM A CROSS-SECTION OF THE THREE NEW METRO STATIONS; WAITING FOR A BUS AT THE CARTIER STATION; THE ARCHITECTURE FOR CARTIER METRO STATION PRESENTS A VERY CIVIC YET APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO ITS SUBURBAN CONTEXT; MONTMORENCY STATION IS AN ASSEMBLAGE OF BUILDINGS AMOUNTING TO A SMALL TRANSIT CAMPUS; TWO INTERIOR VIEWS OF THE MONTMORENCY STATION.

MICHEL VERREAULT

MICHEL VERREAULT

MARC CRAMER

BUDGET $59 M COMPLETION APRIL 2007

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p28-30 Insites-Montreal

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INSITES

CITY OF MONTREAL

IN FULL VIEW: PUBLIC SPACE IN MONTREAL

MARC CRAMER

THE EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC SPACE DESIGN IN MONTREAL IS VEERING TOWARDS MINIMAL EXPRESSION TO SUPPORT THE NATURAL EBB AND FLOW OF HUMAN ACTIVITY.

TEXT

GAVIN AFFLECK

In a vibrant city, architecture can have its moments as a spectator sport and one such moment is the spectacle of a downtown construction site. Montreal’s most exciting downtown construction site in recent years has been the Saint James Cathedral refurbishment on rue Sainte-Catherine, the city’s main commercial thoroughfare—the project attracted more rubbernecking and pedestrian pauses than any other site in recent memory. This attention was all the more remarkable since no buildings were actually being built—the project consisted of the demolition of a commercial building dating from the 1920s and the creation of a new square designed

by Claude Cormier. The magnificent sculpted stone façade of Saint James Cathedral, hidden for more than 70 years, now presides grandly over the new square and participates actively in the sidewalk life of rue Sainte-Catherine. While this might not have been what Mies van der Rohe 28 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08

meant by his aphorism “less is more,” the project argues that the creation of a void in a city can be considerably more exciting than the construction of a building.

In many ways the story of recent public space design in Montreal has been a story of moving from more to less. The city core boasts an impressive inventory of public spaces ranging in age from colonial squares to contemporary corporate plazas. During the last 20 years, the design of both historic refurbishment schemes and contemporary projects has been marked by a gradual shift towards a more minimal expression. The most successful of recent projects are evidence that well designed urban space is simple, flexible and free of physical encumbrances. What public space is about is human activity; what it is not about is architectural objects. The great urban spaces of European cities are precisely that: spaces. What fills them is the ebb and flow of life—events, experiences, activities. Rather than aesthetic, formal or visual concerns, the measure of success of a public space is the degree of vitality it achieves as a support for human activity. The Nolli Map, architectural history’s quintessential mapping of urban space, is more than a plan of solids and voids—it is a celebration of potential

JEAN-FRANÇOIS VÉZINA

experiences.

While Montreal has a long history of formally designed spaces complemented by statuary and monuments, the first concerted attempt to integrate contemporary art with public space was the Viger Square redevelopment in the 1970s. The construction of a new underground freeway had resulted in the destruction of a classic 19th-century square including the heartbreaking chopping down of a proud copse of mature elms. In hindsight, it is remarkable that the team formed for this first foray into multidisciplinary urban design consisted of engineers from the provincial Ministry of Transportation (responsible for the freeway underneath) and avant-garde Quebec sculptors. Strikingly absent were urban designers, architects, landscape architects, and municipal officials. To paraphrase Mies a second time, the new Viger Square created by engineers and sculptors was a classic example of “more is a bore’’—the project was object-oriented and architecturally complex—a seemingly endless plethora of concrete park pavilions, pergolas, retaining walls, fountains, planters and outdoor sculpture—so much stuff, in fact, that there was no space left at all. A great irony of the project was that it inverted the classic architectural para-

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CITY OF MONTREAL

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OPPOSITE, LEFT TO RIGHT MONTREAL’S SAINT JAMES CATHEDRAL PRESIDES OVER A NEWLY REFURBISHED PUBLIC SPACE, ENHANCING PUBLIC LIFE ALONG RUE SAINTE-CATHERINE; PUSHING A BABY STROLLER IN PLACE D’YOUVILLE. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT MONTREAL’S PARKS SERVICES ARE CURRENTLY REFURBISHING DALHOUSIE SQUARE WITH NEW LANDSCAPE AND PUBLIC ART INTERVENTIONS; DALHOUSIE SQUARE AT NIGHT; CHAMP-DE-MARS ILLUSTRATES A SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLE OF SOME OF THE PUBLIC SPACE PROJECTS REALIZED IN THE 1980S.

digm of a promising concept poorly realized— here we had an inherently flawed concept built with great care and precision—the project’s reinforced concrete, for example, rivals the best work of Arthur Erickson for its quality of execution. Ultimately, the new Viger Square was such a hostile environment that it became a refuge for the homeless, and more recently, the theatre of a contemporary art installation seeking to find meaning in urban incoherence.

Two major projects—one recently completed and the other dating from the 1990s—form a conceptual bracket for the last 20 years of public space design in Montreal. The redevelopment of the city’s Old Port, realized in the early ’90s under the direction of Aurèle Cardinal and Peter Rose, was a key project in redefining Montreal’s character as a port city and reconnecting the contemporary city to its historic riverfront. As a last gasp of the Postmodern critique, the first phase

of the project, overseen by Rose, reintroduced long-neglected ideas of Romantic landscape design with its serpentine ponds and rustic park pavilions. Cardinal’s second phase, apparently innocuous when built, actually contained the seed of a renaissance in Montreal public space design—the fundamental tenets of a formally minimal, programmatically fluid and experience-based urban design took form here for the first time. Instead of applying historicist formulas, minimalism was discovered by returning to the industrial archetypes of the site and urban gestures took precedence over the creation and display of objects. Spaces like the new waterfront promenade generate a messy vitality with the daily mixing of pedestrians, bicycles, tour buses, street vendors and all manner of recreational vehicles.

The minimalist imperative first observable in the later phases of the Old Port is fully developed

as a conscious ordering of space in Clément Demers’ and Réal Lestage’s Quartier International, a recently completed scheme that reconfigures the urban landscape of more than a dozen downtown blocks, creates a new square (Place Riopelle) and gives new life to a neglected public space (Victoria Square). The project does the obvious so well that the result is unique and exceptional—straightforward urban design ideas such as the realignment of streets, balancing of pedestrian and vehicular space, and rhythmic sequencing of street furniture are carried out with uncompromising excellence. The understated elegance and minimalism of the project embraces numerous practical concerns including the reality of Montreal’s climate—fountain basins are simple, shallow granite trays that don’t appear forlorn and empty in the winter.

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p28-30 Insites-Montreal

ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT ONE OF THE MANY WHIMSICAL COURTYARD GARDENS SITUATED THROUGHOUT THE COMPLEXE DES SCIENCES AT UQÀM; THE OVERALL MASTER PLAN FOR UQÀM’S COMPLEXE DES SCIENCES.

space design in Montreal and the development of a multidisciplinary design methodology which has refocused the potential of public space as a collective utopia. Government agencies were established to bureaucratize the collaborative process and both financial conditions for the integration of art (1% of construction budgets) and contract procedures were standardized.

Public space projects realized under the auspices of the new programs in the 1980s included Place Roy, Place Émilie-Gamelin, and the Champ-deMars. The high point of the early years of the integration of art with public space was Melvin Charney’s Garden for the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), probably his finest built work. The CCA Garden is a seamless integration of art, architecture and landscape and is at once theoretically grounded and experientially rich.

While the myth of multidisciplinary collaboration in public space design idealizes a group effort with the sum being greater than the parts, in practice the results of these collaborations have been mixed. In many cases, landscape architects continued to create surfaces occupied by artist-made art objects and architect-made buildings. The integration of art often amounted to little more than the replacement of traditional statuary with contemporary outdoor sculpture.

Among the more evocative examples of the integration of art and public space are Jocelyne Alloucherie’s Cor-Ten steel sculpture in Dalhousie Square, which focuses references to the city’s historic fortifications in a contemporary form, and Jean-Paul Riopelle’s spectacular firebreathing fountain in the new square that bears his name. Michel de Broin’s Revolutions, a 30 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08

spiralling aluminum sculpture inspired by Montreal’s curved staircases, plays an important role in the new park developed around the Papineau subway station. Less successful were Gilbert Boyer’s controversial cube in Place Jacques-Cartier and the collection of Rice Krispies-like concrete planters and art things on the esplanade of Place des Arts. Recently, municipal officials have begun experimenting with a new formula that fully integrates the artist with the design team—the space itself is given recognition as the artwork and the artist is no longer required to produce a distinct work.

Among the most ardent defenders of the idea of public space as a gesture of collective generosity in Montreal is Atelier Big City. In both their teaching and built work, Big City have insisted on the importance of optimizing opportunities for social interaction and creating a fluid, openended attitude to programming. Their recently completed skate park under the Jacques Cartier Bridge is an excellent example of this approach and a model for the creation of contemporary urban space. Claude Cormier’s projects, including Place d’Youville (in collaboration with Groupe Cardinal Hardy) and the Complexe des Sciences at the University of Quebec (UQÀM), integrate historic and pop-culture references in often surprising ways. Widely discussed as a celebration of the artificial, Cormier’s Lipstick Garden, an interior landscape of pink tree trunks in the city’s new Convention Centre, is a provocative and humorous comment on the pratfalls of banality that can handicap contemporary architecture. Montreal has also benefited from the enthusiastic input of a new generation of land-

scape architects with a critical attitude to public space including NIP Paysage, Vlan Paysages and Espace DRAR. Another important player in ensuring the quality of public space design in Montreal has been the city’s Municipal Parks service. In its heyday in the 1980s, this service was one of North America’s largest landscape design offices. While now more modest, the service remains notable for its progressive attitude and insistence on design quality. Three recent downtown projects under the direction of landscape architect Robert Desjardins—the refurbishment of Place JacquesCartier, Place de la Paix and Dalhousie Square are excellent examples of the Parks Service’s ongoing commitment to quality design.

As the density of the contemporary city increases, so the spaces between buildings assume an increasingly critical role in fostering a sense of identity and quality of life for the urban dweller. The minimalism of an Italian piazza is directly related to the intense urbanity of its edges: like Kasimir Malevich’s black-on-black painting or Frank Stella’s white-on-white painting, the relationship between a taut and clearly defined edge and the space of imagination it contains creates a fundamental dynamic. Putting stuff in urban space is a fundamentally suburban idea, and as Montreal has densified, its public spaces have cleared out, simplified, and evolved into generous supports for human activity. CA Gavin Affleck is a partner in the Montreal-based firm Affleck + de la Riva Architects. He has been a contributing editor of Canadian Architect since 2004.

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REPORT

EVERYTHING IN PLACE TEXT

JONATHAN CHA

Plans for the evolution of Place d’Armes continue. Last October, a UNESCO Urban Design Workshop entitled “Imaginer la place d’Armes” was held in Montreal to develop a fresh perspective on this highly emblematic Montreal public space.

Goals included encouraging participation by residents and community groups in shaping an enriched redevelopment program, and fostering the recognition and influence of Montreal as a UNESCO City of Design. The workshop was organized by Design Montreal in partnership with the provincial Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine and the UNESCO Chair in Landscape and Environmental Design at the University of Montreal.

Among the 15 multidisciplinary teams who applied, three were chosen to participate. This workshop brought together architects, artists, designers, and landscape architects from Montreal, Berlin and Buenos Aires, thus sustaining relationships and creative exchanges between these three UNESCO cities of design.

The second-oldest public space in Montreal at more than 365 years of age, Place d’Armes had always been the vital heart of the Greater Montreal region until the business district was moved towards Place Ville-Marie in the early 1960s.

Twenty-seven years after its last restoration, the

time has come to reconsider its fate. A victim of sustained tourism, Place d’Armes is also confronted with the problem of habitability. Traffic congestion—exacerbated by the diesel fumes and noise of tourbuses—continues to smother it.

For the workshop, the three participating teams rejected the legacy of a garden square and advocated for reverting the Place back to a European-style public space, focusing on broadening its limits and clearing the periphery, currently encumbered with trees and flowerpots.

They also chose to reveal the hidden potential of the Place—the buried and embedded archaeological traces—by reopening the underground washrooms, revisiting the monument to Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, and resuscitating the first Notre Dame Church (built in 1683). All three teams conserved the southern orientation, favouring the Notre Dame Church over the surrounding buildings.

Team 1 (led by Atelier Big City and Daniel Pearl) proposes to excavate the ground of the Place while increasing links to the underground network. Like the courtyard of the Louvre, the Place then becomes a monumental space revealing its historic thickness, both on its surface as well as underground. Team 2 (led by Claude Cormier) suggests cleaning up the Place by removing elements judged as superfluous. Taking on the architectural character of a stage, Place

d’Armes becomes a major event space, with the installation of artificial snow guns and a Christmas tree rivalling that of New York’s Rockefeller Center. And Team 3 (led by Atelier in situ and Vlan Paysages) disarms Place d’Armes by dividing the monument and redistributing its figurative constituents through a “depoliticized” space, thereby making the Place more democratic on an unsteady and sculptural ground. The middle of the square features a shallow depression, and presents either a watery or icy surface— depending on the season—animated by free and programmed uses. The buildings thus contribute to a Place d’Armes that regains its 18th-century versatility.

Opening up the discussion and potential for the future of Place d’Armes, these three proposals deal with the concept and identity of the Place in a present-day urban context: they tackle the ideas of narration, sensationalism, and the reestablishment of a public square in the city. Beyond a necessary “revitalization,” Place d’Armes is integral to the continued existence of Montreal. CA Jonathan Cha is a landscape architect, urbanist, and a doctoral student in urban heritage at the Université du Québec à Montréal. For further information on the workshop and details of the three proposals, please visit www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca/placedarmes.

PLACE D’ARMES AS IT EXISTS TODAY; AN ANALYSIS OF THE SITE, COURTESY OF TEAM 3 LED BY ANNIE LEBEL, STÉPHANE PRATTE, JULIE ST-ARNAULT AND MICHELINE CLOUARD.

BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT

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TOP LED BY ATELIER IN SITU AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS VLAN PAYSAGES, PLACE D’ARMES HAS BEEN “DEPOLITICIZED” OF ITS PAST TO ALLOW FOR MORE YEAR-ROUND FUNCTIONS. FAR LEFT ATELIER BIG CITY AND DANIEL PEARL LED THE DESIGN TEAM THAT INCISED THE SITE TO ALLOW FOR MORE DIVERSE PROGRAMMING. LEFT LED BY CLAUDE CORMIER, TEAM 2 EXERCISED GREATER DEFERENCE TO THE MONUMENT OF PAUL CHOMEDEY DE MAISONNEUVE, THE FOUNDER OF MONTREAL, AND TO THE BASILICA DOMINATING THE SQUARE.

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PRAGMATIC UTOPIA

ARKITEMA

MANY LESSONS CAN BE LEARNED FROM COPENHAGEN—A CITY THAT EMBRACES PUBLIC LIFE EVEN DURING THE WINTER, AND WHOSE ARCHITECTS DESIGN INNOVATIVE, PRACTICAL, YET STILL POETIC BUILDINGS. TEXT

IAN CHODIKOFF

What lessons can Canadian architects learn from a country like Denmark?

On a recent tour of Copenhagen last November, I had the opportunity to visit several inspiring Danish projects that were neither exorbitantly expensive nor demonstrative of technical complexities beyond the general capabilities of Canadian architects. This quick survey of the evolving Copenhagen architecture scene revealed several case studies from which innovative and energetic architects can derive some inspiration when designing current and future commissions in Canada.

The success of contemporary Danish architecture can be attributed to a pragmatic approach to sustainable design and quality of life. For example, the elimination of air conditioning in Danish buildings through strict legislation and performance criteria means that the associative costs of designing substantial HVAC systems can be transferred to improving the quality of architecture. On an urban scale, Copenhagen is a densely built city with low- to mid-rise buildings designed with smaller footprints which makes for buildings that are inherently more efficient, especially when it comes to natural daylight, egress and code compliance issues. For example, a typical Danish townhouse is 12 metres deep, whereas a typical Dutch house is roughly 20 metres deep. As for urban design initiatives, Copenhagen’s transportation and circulation infrastructure—which includes subways, canals, light rail, and designated bicycle lanes—have all contributed to successful urban design.

There are several factors contributing to the rich environment in which 36 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08

contemporary architecture flourishes in Denmark. In the last two years alone, Danish architects have won more than 50 international prizes and awards. For a country of 5.5 million people, this is truly remarkable and could be attributed to the fact that the country has a strong awareness of the relationship between economic development and good design. Denmark is traditionally cited at or near the top of the World Economic Forum’s ranking of the best places to live in the world. It currently ranks third, just behind the US and Switzerland, but far ahead of 13th-place Canada. Its high ranking is partly due to the fact it spends a larger share of its Gross Domestic Product on social programs than Canada. And its healthy economy is largely due to an enduring pragmatism that such a small and culturally homogeneous country has adopted over the past 40 years, achieving great strides in such areas as energy production and the financial services sector. Many of the country’s recent architectural commissions have directly benefited from innovative or newly created financial institutions or banks, proving that a commitment to economic development and progressive architecture are not mutually exclusive. And of course, special acknowledgment should also be given to the Danish government’s $20-million commitment to promote architecture through its comprehensive architectural policy entitled “A Nation of Architecture—Denmark.”

Any success story relating to Copenhagen (population 500,000; the metropolitan region is 1.2 million) must include a brief mention of the Strøget, a pedestrian-friendly district created in 1962 as part of the city’s initiative to enhance public space. For decades, Copenhagen has encouraged commuters to leave their cars at home and ride into the city on bicycles via designated bike lanes. It is therefore not surprising that in 2007, roughly 40 percent of its citizens arrived at school or work on their bicycles. To further control traffic volume, Copenhagen has reduced the number of cars in the city centre through the elimination of parking spaces at a rate of 2 to 3 percent per year. While there are no strict height limits in Copenhagen, the city has not adopted the tall building as an expedient solution to citybuilding. And besides, low-rise buildings are receptive to the reliable westerly breeze coming off the Øresund, which passes through the thousands of

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naturally ventilated apartments, houses and office buildings throughout the city—efficiently and free of charge. Tower configurations don’t lend themselves to cross-ventilation strategies.

The breeze coming in from the Øresund is of considerable benefit to the city. With revenue earned through taxation—such as the onerous luxury tax on automobiles—Danes have invested heavily not only in the creation of bicycle lanes, but in wind technology as well. The Danish government hopes to have 30 percent of Copenhagen’s electricity generated by wind technology by 2015. Beneath the city, Copenhagen operates a subway system with vast amounts of natural daylight present in every station—an important design feature given the short days of winter.

A lawsuit in the making by Canadian standards, small trays of burning coal positioned throughout Copenhagen’s famous Tivoli Gardens symbolize an important aspect of the Danish sensibility regarding public life. Although a convenient way to warm one’s hands or the little faces of snowsuited children strolling through the city’s famous outdoor winter gardens, these platters of burning-hot embers could easily become a safety hazard— were it not for the willingness of Danes to responsibly engage in an active public life in winter. Throughout the city, Copenhageners can also enjoy numerous outdoor cafés that provide blankets to patrons, while heated benches and gas-lit heaters on street corners make winters in the city extremely enjoyable...Canadians take note.

One of the earliest buildings representing the recent architectural renaissance of Copenhagen is the expansion to the Royal Library, completed

by Schmidt Hammer Lassen in 1999. Known as the “Black Diamond,” the project has become a focal point of the city’s harbour. In addition to containing millions of books, the black granite-clad building contains a concert hall, an exhibition space, a bookshop, a café, and one of the city’s best restaurants. The project’s enduring legacy is that it has renewed Copenhagen’s faith in the value of its numerous waterfronts.

Founded over 20 years ago by three architects sharing the common Danish surname of Nielsen (two have moved on to other pursuits, while Kim Herforth Nielsen remains as the only original partner), the architec-

LED BY THE MASTER PLAN TEAM, AN INFORMAL COMPETITION WAS HELD TO DESIGN NUMEROUS FAÇADES TO ENCOURAGE GREATER ARCHITECTURAL VARIETY IN AN AMBITIOUS DEVELOPMENT IN COPENHAGEN’S SOUTH HARBOUR. ABOVE DESIGNED BY HENNING LARSEN ARCHITECTS, THE COPENHAGEN OPERA HOUSE (2005) REMAINS ONE OF THE CITY’S MORE CONTROVERSIAL PROJECTS, LARGELY DUE TO THE WAY IN WHICH IT WAS COMMISSIONED AND FINANCED BY COPENHAGEN’S WEALTHIEST CITIZEN, SIR MÆRSK MCKINNEY MØLLER, THE OWNER OF MÆRSK SHIPPING LINES. OPPOSITE

ture firm of 3XN have emerged as an internationally recognized firm with a consistent output of high-quality built work demonstrating a commitment to research and the development of structure and materiality. A 2007 publication by Black Dog Publishing entitled Investigate, Ask, Tell, Draw, Build profiles much of the firm’s recent work.

The Danes are relatively pragmatic in their architecture, although perhaps not as pragmatic as the Dutch, Nielsen explains. Many of 3XN’s projects amount to roughly $250 per square foot. And according to Nielsen, construction budgets in Denmark tend to be about 30 percent less per square metre than in England. With projects currently in design and construction in the UK and across Europe, Nielsen is confident that Danish architecture and talent has benefited from globalization. The international architectural community will eagerly await the results of this phenomenon in the coming years as more Danish projects reach completion on the world stage.

In 2005, 3XN achieved a turning point in its history by completing the highly acclaimed Deloitte Touche headquarters in Copenhagen. Using a double-skin glass envelope, the project plays with a sleek, solid exterior envelope while sculpting an open, interior architecture employing numerous sustainable design strategies such as natural ventilation and exterior sun-shading devices. Following the success of this project is the recently completed Ørestad College, an experimental school focusing on media, communication and culture. After beating out Dominique Perrault, Massimiliano Fuksas, Sauerbruch Hutton, and three other Danish firms in a design competition for a new high school, 3XN managed to convince the 02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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BJARKE INGELS GROUP TOP WHILE WORKING IN THE NOW DEFUNCT FIRM OF PLOT, BJARKE INGELS AND JULIAN DE SMEDT COMPLETED THEIR VM HOUSING PROJECT TO GREAT ACCLAIM IN 2005. ABOVE KNOWN AS BIG, BJARKE INGELS’ NEW 85-PERSON OFFICE IS CURRENTLY DESIGNING A 540-UNIT RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT CALLED BIG HOUSE WHICH IS EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED IN 2009.

client that they could integrate the building’s circulation requirements into the classroom program, thereby resulting in a successful experimental open-planned high school measuring 12,000 square metres instead of the 16,000 square metres of program initially required by the college. The program is essentially divided into four levels or study areas, and each level is shaped like a boomerang that is slightly rotated, providing two and three storeys of open space around an atrium—in which a central staircase behaves as a primary social condenser. Through38 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08

out the college, several “drums” comprise classroom spaces with special light and sound requirements. On top of those drums, piles of giant beanbags are strewn about, on which students can think, socialize or simply relax. Canadian architects can only sigh as our commissions for secondary schools continue to be tendered on increasingly constrained budgets. The final budget for Ørestad College cost ¤27 million, or about $300 per square foot.

Of the more radical firms in Copenhagen, one need not look any further than BIG. After work-

ing for Rem Koolhaas from 1999-2001, Bjarke Ingels founded the firm PLOT with his Belgian friend Julien De Smedt. Together, the two began entering competitions all over Europe, winning enough projects to build up a sizable office.

Under the aegis of PLOT, they completed their VM Housing project in 2005, a 240-unit apartment complex named for the shape of its two buildings which were designed in the form of a “V” and “M” respectively. Shortly after VM’s completion, PLOT disbanded. De Smedt formed JDS, a 35-person firm with offices in Brussels and Copenhagen, while Ingels, an avid selfpromoter, went on to establish the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), an office currently hovering at around 85 people—quite an accomplishment for an architect still in his early thirties. BIG has already completed about seven significant projects and has over 300,000 square metres of construction on the drawing board. Ingels was recently invited to display his High Society project as part of a current exhibition on contemporary architecture entitled Urbanopolis which is being held at the Museum of Civilization in Quebec City until April 2009.

One of the questions that arises when touring BIG’s office is the source of Ingels’ financial backing. It seems that there is no shortage of private investors and banks prepared to support his designs. One of his more ambitious projects currently under development is Big House, a 62,000-square-metre 540-unit residential development with retail and office space. Here, the most expensive unit is afforded the best view, but occupies the lowest level of the project. This is done so that the remaining units are given reasonable views of the adjacent protected natural habitat. The project is unique in that there is a continuous promenade and cycling path up to the tenth floor. For a transit-oriented development situated along the environmentally protected Kalbeod Fælled, it is interesting to note that the clients include Hopfner, Frederikslund and the Danish Oil Company.

Shifting from the young radical character of BIG to a firm with a more corporate structure, Arkitema is one of Denmark’s largest firms with over 300 employees. One of their recent and ambitious projects is located in Sluseholmen, an innovative new residential community crisscrossed by newly constructed canals leading off Copenhagen’s South Harbour. Spread out over 2,000 acres and incorporating 135,000 square metres of new construction with nearly 38,000 square metres devoted to commercial and residential functions, the overall master plan was developed in conjunction with the owners of the land—the Port of Copenhagen and the City of Copenhagen—and the Dutch firm of Soeters Van Eldonk Ponec Architecten. While this development offers a group of standardized units to emphasize diversity and variety in the neighbourhood, Arkitema invited several smaller firms to design numerous façades throughout the

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CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE 3XN’S ØRESTAD COLLEGE (2006) IS AN EXPERIMENTAL SCHOOL FOCUSING ON MEDIA, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE WITH AN OPEN-PLAN APPROACH TO EDUCATION; THE COLLEGE’S EXTERIOR SUN SHADES PROTECT THE INTERIOR SPACES FROM EXTREME HEAT AND LIGHT; INSIDE THE WORLD-FAMOUS TIVOLI GARDENS (2005), 3XN RECENTLY COMPLETED THEIR VAGUELY KITSCH BUT APPROPRIATE ADDITION TO THE CONCERT HALL IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST FUN FAIRS; BURNING EMBERS ARE STATIONED THROUGHOUT TIVOLI GARDENS FOR THE BENEFIT OF VISITORS DURING THE WINTER MONTHS; ROUGHLY 40 PERCENT OF COPENHAGENERS TRAVEL THROUGHOUT THE CITY ON BICYCLES; DESIGNATED BICYCLE LANES ARE ONE WAY IN WHICH COPENHAGEN MITIGATES AUTOMOBILE TRAFFIC IN THE CITY.

IAN CHODIKOFF

IAN CHODIKOFF

IAN CHODIKOFF

ADAM MØRK

to represent the capstone project of his career.

While it is generally regarded as a success, the architectural merits of the Opera House remain in debate, largely due to the manner in which this private citizen directed such a high-profile public project.

Founded in 1959, Henning Larsen Architects has grown over the decades to number just under 175 staff representing 19 different nationalities.

Like 3XN, the firm views itself as a very international firm, to the extent that just over 75 percent of its work comes from projects abroad.

Some of the more interesting work includes a few projects in Reykjavik, such as the Icelandic Concert and Congress Centre, a ¤250-million building whose envelope is based on the concept of

development to encourage greater architectural variety. With some units already occupied, the entire complex will not be finished until 2012.

To be sure, one of Copenhagen’s more recent and controversial projects over the past few years is the Copenhagen Opera House, designed by Henning Larsen Architects. The project’s controversy derives largely from the way in which it was commissioned and financed by the wealthiest citizen in Copenhagen—Sir Mærsk McKinney Møller, the owner of Mærsk shipping lines. It is believed that Møller, a man in his nineties, played an active if not overly intrusive role in the project’s design process, creating a difficult situation for Larsen, a relatively younger man (only in his eighties!), who intended the Opera House

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ARKITEMA HENNING LARSEN TOP THE MASTER PLAN FOR SLUSEHOLMEN, A NEW RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY INCORPORATING 135,000 SQUARE METRES OF NEW CONSTRUCTION WITH NEARLY 38,000 SQUARE METRES DEVOTED TO COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL FUNCTIONS—IS CRISS-CROSSED BY NEWLY CONSTRUCTED CANALS LEADING OFF COPENHAGEN’S SOUTH HARBOUR. MIDDLE SLUSEHOLMEN AS IT MORE OR LESS APPEARS TODAY. CONTRUCTION WILL NOT BE FINISHED UNTIL 2012. ABOVE HENNING LARSEN ARCHITECTS’ FAÇADE FOR THE ICELANDIC CONCERT AND CONGRESS CENTRE IN REYKJAVIK WILL INCORPORATE THE CONCEPT OF ICELANDIC BASALT STONES FOR A DOUBLE-SKIN FAÇADE COMPRISED OF AIR-FILLED GLASS CELLS.

40 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08

basalt stone columns which grow into uniquely shaped hexagonal clusters that are commonly found in Iceland. The concept of the basalt stones morphs into a double-skin wall comprised of cellular glass structures filled with geothermally heated air.

Perhaps one of the most intelligent projects recently completed in Copenhagen is Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter’s Sports and Culture Centre in Holmbladsgade, a working-class neighbourhood. Traditionally populated by immigrants, Holmbladsgade was an industrial area known for its dye and glue factories, metal works and chemical plants. Beginning in the late 1800s, five-storey housing blocks were built which continued until the 1970s and ’80s when larger housing projects began replacing former industrial sites, and a Turkish immigrant influx altered the character of the neighbourhood. Over the past 20 years, social problems have persisted: poverty, unemployment, drug abuse and the ghettoization of immigrant and ethnic minority groups in this area of the city. In a relatively culturally homogeneous population, this neighbourhood comprises a population of 20 percent foreign-born with close to 50 percent of students coming from non-Danish ethnic backgrounds.

In 1998, City Council decided to build a neighbourhood centre and community drop-in centres for social activities in Holmbladsgade. Through community involvement at a variety of levels, a Neighbourhood Charter was developed and presented to public officials and policy makers to identify a coherent action plan to establish outlets for creative and physical activities. Thus began the mandate for a new sports and cultural facility. In October 2006, the neighbourhood’s dream was realized when Dorte Mandrup completed this exceptional community centre. The 3,400-square-metre building’s construction budget came in under $2 million and uses a material palette that includes polycarbonate and unfinished wood. To cut down on HVAC costs and maintenance, the building utilizes the stack effect for cooling in the summer while a geothermal heating system yields maximum temperatures of around 10-12 degrees during the coldest days of winter—warm enough for boisterous youth to enjoy a good game of basketball. When touring the facility more than a year after its opening, it is amazing to see how many children actually use the facility. Despite kids hanging off guardrails and soccer balls bouncing off every surface, the building remains in pristine condition—a telltale sign of respect by the community.

The level of innovation in a country like Denmark stems from an overall appreciation of good design combined with practical solutions.

Many lessons can be learned from how the Danes design: maximizing natural daylight, encouraging healthy living environments, and incorporating inexpensive material palettes—all of which can still produce a rich architectural experience. CA

TORBEN ESKEROD

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ARKITEMA

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BRIGHT GREEN BLEACHERS EMULATE A GRASSY KNOLL OVERLOOKING THE INDOOR SPORTS FIELD OF DORTE MANDRUP’S WONDERFUL RECREATIONAL FACILITY IN HOLMBLADSGADE, COPENHAGEN. TOP AND ABOVE THE NEW FACILITY, SEEN IN THE CONTEXT OF ADJACENT APARTMENT BUILDINGS AND THE FIVE-STOREY STREETSCAPE OF ITS WORKING-CLASS NEIGHBOURHOOD. LEFT DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATE HOW THE PROJECT BACKS ONTO FOUR PARTY WALLS, WHILE CREATING A SPATIAL PROGRAM SHEATHED IN POLYCARBONATE PANELS. TOP LEFT

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TECHNICAL

SEEING DIGITALLY WITH FILM TECHNOLOGY BEING RENDERED OBSOLETE, A FEW ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS ARE REQUIRED TO ENSURE THE SUCCESSFUL DOCUMENTATION OF YOUR PROJECT USING DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT.

TEXT AND PHOTOS

GERRY KOPELOW

This is a great time to be a professional architectural photographer. However, today’s digital imaging technology has completely changed my working life.

I have been liberated from having to lug around hundreds of pounds of photographic gear.

Happily gone is my old 4′′ × 5′′ technical view camera, and all that film (both conventional and Polaroid) needed to operate it. Also happily gone are dozens of film holders, my light-proof (but not dust-proof) film-changing bag, cases full of high-power lighting gear, and a monster tripod.

Today, everything I need to produce superiorquality architectural work on location can be carried onto an airplane.

Every architectural shooter can now make images that are more interesting, more true to life, and more useful than ever before. My book, Architectural Photography the Digital Way (Princeton Architectural Press, 2007) tells the whole story, but the basic information necessary to take advantage of the new technology doesn’t require a book-length dissertation. The following paragraph provides a compact overview.

To begin with, we need to consider something called the “digital workflow.” Sounds intimidating, but this is simply a list—ordered in the most sensible way—of the things one has to do in order TOP LAPTOP COMPUTERS CAN INTERFACE WITH PROSUMER AND PROFESSIONAL CAMERAS OVER FIREWIRE, USB, OR WIRELESS CONNECTIONS (INSET), TO PROVIDE PREVIEWS THAT WILDLY ENHANCE THE ABILITY TO EVALUATE DIGITAL IMAGES ON LOCATION. THE SUBTLEST NUANCES OF IMAGE, TONE, COLOUR AND DETAIL ARE EASY TO SEE ON A COMPUTER SCREEN. WORKING TETHERED DELIVERS ANOTHER BONUS BY NATURALLY ENGAGING THE CLIENT IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS. MIDDLE THREE EXPOSURES WERE USED TO BUILD THE FINAL COMPOSITE IMAGE. IN ADDITION TO ENCOMPASSING THE WHOLE TONAL RANGE PRESENTED BY THE SUBJECT, THE FINAL IMAGE HAS BEEN CORRECTED FOR BARREL DISTORTION AND OVERALL RECTILINEARITY. LOCAL ANOMALIES INTRODUCED BY THE USE OF AN EXTREME WIDE-ANGLE LENS HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED INDIVIDUALLY. BOTTOM THE CENTRE IMAGE IS THE RAW, UNPROCESSED FILE JUST AS IT CAME OFF THE CAMERA SENSOR. ON THE LEFT IS THE JPEG FILE PROCESSED BY THE CAMERA. ON THE RIGHT IS THE FINAL IMAGE AFTER EXTENSIVE CORRECTION IN PHOTOSHOP.

42 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08

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The Photographerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Workflow

This series of images helps define the process of transforming a raw digital file. Image 1 came from the camera, in this case, a Canon 1Ds MKII fitted with 17-40mm wide-angle zoom, set to 17mm. It is the exposure that the camera recommended; a reasonable compromise that sacrifices dark and light tones at both ends of the tonal scale. Images 2, 3, 4 illustrate bracketed exposures to recapture the missing tones from the average exposure. In Image 5, Photoshopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Magic Wand selects the darkest tones (highlighted in green for clarity) from Image 1. Additionally, the rich detail in the darker areas from Image 2 was selected, copied, and then pasted into the selected areas. Using Photoshop, adjusting the imageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s levels set a pleasing balance of tones. In Image 6, the Magic Wand was used to select burned-out highlighted areas in the new composite image.

The selection was feathered by 50 pixels. Image 4, with lots of rich detail in the highlights, was selected, copied, and pasted into the selection in our ever-expanding composite image. The levels control was used to adjust the brightness of the imported highlight for a convincing match with the overall image. For Image 7, the wide tonal range composite must be corrected for perspective distortion. The canvas colour was set to red so that the effects of the Distort control in Photoshop could be more easily seen. In Image 8, a local correction was made to the trunk of the tree so that is would appear somewhat thinner.

After selecting the portion of the image demarcated by the light-blue rectangle, a Scale control was then applied to the horizontal dimension.

The image is then cropped (Image 9) to form a conventional rectangle. On account of the shapeshifting induced by the earlier Distort operation, the triangular void in the lower right-hand corner of the frame must be filled in, using the Clone tool, also found in Photoshop. Image 10 represents the last stage of the workflow where the colour and tonal distribution is tweaked with iCorrect. A bit of image sharpening is applied as well. The histogram shows that the final composite image encompasses the whole tonal range, from light to dark. Image 11 illustrates the final image.

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ABOVE ILLUSTRATING THE CONCEPT OF BRACKETING, THE TOP IMAGE IS OVEREXPOSED. ALTHOUGH THERE IS GREAT DETAIL IN THE SHADOWS, THERE ARE BURNED-OUT HIGHLIGHTS. THE BOTTOM EXPOSURE IS UNDEREXPOSED WITH HIGHLIGHT DETAILS, BUT THE SHADOWS ARE FEATURELESS. THE MIDDLE IMAGE CAPTURES REPRODUCEABLE HIGHLIGHT AND SHADOW DETAIL.

to produce decent digital images of buildings, inside and out. Here it is: 1) compose the image and make the exposures, 2) collect image files from the camera and move them to a computer, 3) electronically “process” image files into a recognizable format, 4) electronically edit, correct, and enhance selected files, 5) distribute/print/ display final images, and 6) archive image files for future use.

Since the digital workflow describes a sequential chain of events, it stands to reason that each step requires some care—in other words, it’s best to resist thinking, “I’ll fix it in Photoshop.” Like all computer-based technologies, digital imaging is ultimately governed by the maxim of “garbage in, garbage out.”

To compose an image and make the exposures, one first needs to choose a camera. A good pointand-shoot machine is sufficient for images destined for the web, but for print and publication, a higher-end digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) is a must. Buy the best machine you can afford, bearing in mind that digital cameras eliminate all costs for film and processing. I used to spend 44 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08

$2,000-$4,000 per month on film and chemicals. That cost evaporated the minute I bought my first digital camera.

The selection of an appropriate point of view is the next challenge. Study the excellent work of professional architectural photographers readily available at any newsstand. Deconstruct the images that appeal to you by asking and answering the following questions: What is the point of view? Why was the particular point of view chosen? What is the quality (colour, direction, softness or hardness) of the light? Why is that particular lighting condition effective? Perhaps the most attractive aspect of digital imaging is that, aside from one’s own time, there is zero cost associated with experimentation.

“Making the exposures” means mapping the tonal values of the subject onto the functional tonal range of the electronic sensor in the camera. A powerful temptation is to put the camera into automatic mode, and let the camera decide the settings. This works well for family portraits and vacation snaps, but architectural subjects are more troublesome. Fortunately, there is a solution built into all but the most basic of digital cameras called “auto-bracketing,” a user-selectable option that creates two or more additional exposures above and below the exposure setting recommended by the camera’s light meter. (Best to put the camera on a tripod, so all images are framed identically.) Another point in favour of a higher-end camera choice is their ability to save files in RAW format. RAW, as opposed to JPEG, preserves the maximum of image information— information that will be extremely useful later along in the digital workflow.

The next step is to move your captured images from camera to computer. The fastest way is with a stand-alone memory card reader: premium units use the FireWire 800 data transfer protocol.

This can shorten download times by 75 percent or more, as compared to USB, FireWire 400, or plugging the camera directly into the computer.

As far as computers are concerned, faster is always better since high performance allows for manageably short download times and for crisp performance during Photoshop enhancements of the relatively large files produced by high-end digital cameras. With respect to Photoshop, all images destined for the web or for photographic or lithographic reproduction need to be properly “stroked” in Photoshop before use. This exceptionally well-developed image manipulation program is an absolute necessity for anyone interested in producing superior architectural imagery with digital cameras.

Photoshop is not a simple program, but it’s not neurosurgery either. Bite the bullet and learn at least the basic operations: colour and density adjustment, perspective control, and other basic retouching transformations that allow the additions of an interesting sky, and the removal of signs and hydro poles, etc. Even the most basic Photoshop skills will dramatically extend your

visual repertoire. In my work, the camera occupies perhaps 40 percent of my time, while Photoshop takes up the balance. There are three efficient ways of acquiring basic Photoshop skills: 1) take a course, perhaps at a community college or technical school, 2) buy a DVD tutorial (there are several very good ones out there; check availability with www.vistek.ca), 3) hire a graphic arts student who has the necessary skills, and take an hour or two of private instruction per week over the course of a few months. Of course, trial and error experimentation will speed up the process.

Distribution of finished images has changed in the digital era. I rarely handle prints anymore: most images are distributed by e-mail or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) uploads. Disks (CD or DVD) are also common. Assuming that appropriate tonal and colour values have been established in Photoshop, the key requirement for successful file transfer is to determine in advance the exact file format and file size that the end user of the image requires. Compressed JPEG files are typical for web use, while larger TIFF files are necessary for printing and publication. It’s always best to work with the largest-size files that your equipment is capable of producing, since large files can easily be made smaller if required, but small files artificially enlarged are basically useless for reproduction purposes.

Anyone who is even moderately prolific in generating electronic photos will eventually run up against what I consider to be the Achilles Heel of digital imaging: archival storage. The problem is two-fold: decent cameras generate large files, and lots of large files add up to lots of hard-drive space, and it is not a question of if a hard drive will fail, but when.

DVDs offer a method of cheap long-term backup, but over the course of a year or two the physical volume of DVDs will become an issue, as will efficient retrieval of archived images. The best solution for reliable long-term storage is something called a RAID (Random Arrangement of Independent Disks) Array. A RAID is a box containing two or more hard drives that are electronically interconnected so as to act as one large drive. RAIDs come in different types, but the most useful—a Level 5 RAID—uses three or more hard drives configured to be “self-healing.” This means that if one drive in a multi-drive Level 5 RAID fails, the bad drive can be replaced and the data stored on the RAID will be automatically rebuilt. This is a truly useful setup: fast, easy access to huge amounts of data, with a built-in bulletproof backup regime. At present a 2TB RAID—that’s 2,000 gigabytes—can be had for about $1,500. A bargain, in my view. CA Gerry Kopelow is an architectural photographer whose work has appeared in many publications. He is the author of several books on architectural photography, including How to Photograph Buildings and Interiors.

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CALENDAR ORD: Documenting the Definitive Modern Airport

January 14-May 31, 2008 Curated by Charles Waldheim and Urban Agency, this exhibition takes place in the Eric Arthur Gallery at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. ORD features photographs of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport—a seminal modernist structure—by Robert Burley and Hedrich-Blessing. www.ald.utoronto.ca Citizen Lambert: Joan of Architecture

February 24, 2008 As part of the Reel Artists Film Festival, the screening of this film takes place at 3:30pm in the Al Green Theatre at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre in Toronto. Teri Wehn-Damisch’s film provides a unique glimpse into the world of Phyllis Lambert, renowned Canadian architect, urban activist and founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. www.canadianart.ca

Juhani Pallasmaa lecture

February 26, 2008 Part of the Bulthaup lecture series, Helsinkibased architect and professor Juhani Pallasmaa lectures on “Ecological Functionalism: Performance and Beauty in Animal Architecture” at 6:30pm in Room 103 of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

Evan Douglis lecture

February 26, 2008 Evan Douglis of the Pratt Institute in New York delivers this lecture entitled “InfraThin: In an Era of Manufactured Nature” at 5:00pm in Amphitheatre 3110, Université de Montréal School of Architecture.

Roemer van Toorn lecture

March 4, 2008 Part of the Bulthaup lecture series, Roemer van Toorn of the Projective Theory Program, Berlage Institute/Delft School of Design lectures on “The Quasi Object” at 6:30pm in Room 103 of the University of Toronto’s Faculty

of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

tegies” at 5:00pm in Amphitheatre 3110, Université de Montréal School of Architecture.

Iara Boubnova lecture

March 6, 2008 As part of the Urban Field Speakers Series held at the Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art in Toronto, Iara Boubnova, Curator of the Institute of Contemporary Art—Sofia and Co-Curator of the Moscow Biennale speaks on urban changes in the society of transformation at 7:30pm. www.prefix.ca

Reiser + Umemoto lecture

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Alicia Imperiale lecture

Teresa Sapey lecture

March 10, 2008 As part of the Carleton School of Architecture’s Forum series, Teresa Sapey of Teresa Sapey Estudio de Arquitectura in Madrid delivers this lecture at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa at 6:00pm.

Mark Goulthorpe lecture

March 12, 2008 Mark Goulthorpe of dECOi/MIT in Boston delivers this lecture entitled “Hox Aesthetics: Second-Order Digital Design Stra-

March 18, 2008 Alicia Imperiale of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey delivers this lecture entitled “Seminal Space: Getting under the Digital Skin” at 5:00pm in Amphitheatre 3110, Université de Montréal School of Architecture.

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BACKPAGE

FRANÇOIS CARTIER

SLICING THROUGH HISTORY

A LANDMARK DELICATESSEN LIVES ON IN MONTREAL, THANKS TO THE WORK OF THE MCCORD MUSEUM.

TEXT

FRANÇOIS CARTIER

It was a sweltering summer day back in 2006 when I was walking along boulevard de Maisonneuve and noticed about a dozen people picketing, holding up union-made signs, chanting and asking onlookers to sign petitions. Clearly, a strike was brewing in downtown Montreal! But not just any strike—these were the employees of one of Montreal’s oldest and most beloved 50 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08

TOP A SECTION THROUGH ONE OF BENS’ SMOKED MEAT SANDWICHES. ABOVE WITH POSTERED WINDOWS ANNOUNCING ITS DEMISE, THE ONCE-BUSTLING DELI FINALLY CLOSED ITS DOORS AT THE END OF DECEMBER 2006.

restaurants: Bens Delicatessen. Founded in 1908

by Lithuanian immigrant Ben Kravitz, the deli quickly became a legend, a place that every smoked-meat lover or tourist had to visit at least once. Relocated in the ’50s to the corner of rue Metcalfe and boulevard de Maisonneuve, its kitschy interior—complete with yellow and green Formica tables, walls covered with autographed

portraits of celebrities, and retro-style benches and counters—hadn’t changed much since it first opened. And now, for the first time in 98 years, Bens was closed. Unionized since 1994, the employees went on strike in July 2006 asking for modest salary adjustments and better working conditions.

I went back a few weeks later with a camera and photographed the building and its interior.

Call it the “historian’s instinct,” but I felt I had to document the “institution.” A few months later and a few days before Christmas, the deli’s management decided to close the business for good.

The community was astounded. The employees, some who had worked there for more than 50 years, were shocked. The media had a field day.

Almost a century after the first smoked meat sandwich was served by the Kravitz family, the mythical Bens was no more.

Bens was a symbol of many things. Its streamlined Art Deco building was one of a few of its type in Montreal. Smoked meat, along with bagels, became one of Montreal’s defining icons.

Most importantly, Bens was the success story of a Jewish immigrant family and reflected a multicultural Montreal. Luckily, the Kravitzes, who still owned the restaurant after three generations, also wanted Bens’ spirit to live on.

The McCord Museum was keeping a close eye on the events and formal contacts were established in early 2007. By September, I assembled a team of curators and archivists to spend a week at the deli to select artifacts and archives. Several boxes of records were salvaged, along with key pieces such as dinnerware, tables, chairs, paintings and a few well-used kitchen knives (that had sliced their fair share of smoked meat brisket!).

The “material culture” of Bens was thus protected.

Realizing that telling the complete tale of Bens also meant preserving its vast oral history, the salvage operation entered its second stage. The Museum entered into a partnership with Concordia University’s Centre for Oral History and Montreal’s Musée de la Personne, both experts in collecting personal histories, and began conducting interviews with members of the Kravitz family and former employees.

2008 will mark the centenary of Bens’ opening, and the McCord Museum, with its interest in food, business and community history, is contemplating a small exhibition on the Montreal delicatessen, with Bens at the forefront. With objects, archives and oral testimonies gathered from Bens, the McCord is well positioned to chronicle the deli’s place in the culinary and social history of North America—as well as one of the best places to eat. CA François Cartier is the Archives and History Curator at the McCord Museum in Montreal.

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