Canadian Architect May 2008

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GOVERNOR GENERAL’S AWARDS 2008 RAIC GOLD MEDAL

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25 2008 GOVERNOR GENERAL’S AWARDS THIS YEAR’S WINNING PROJECTS EXEMPLIFY HIGH STANDARDS IN THE AREAS OF SUSTAINABILITY, TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, CONCEPTUAL RIGOUR AND DESIGN EXCELLENCE.

60 2008 RAIC GOLD MEDAL MONTREAL-BASED ARCHITECT DAN HANGANU IS SELECTED AS THE RECIPIENT OF THE 2008 RAIC GOLD MEDAL.

ARCOP

NIC LEHOUX

TOM ARBAN

CONTENTS

15 NEWS Bing Thom Architects design Tantalus Winery in Kelowna; Jean Nouvel of France selected as the 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

70 BOOKS A variety of recent publications enlighten us on the evolution of the city: The Endless City; A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Montreal; Mapping London: Making Sense of the City; and Aldo van Eyck: Writings.

80 CALENDAR MICHEL BRUNELLE

Historic Cities exhibition in Vancouver; Some Ideas on Living in London and Tokyo by Stephen Taylor and Ryue Nishizawa at the CCA in Montreal.

82 BACKPAGE Adele Weder considers the work of West Coast architect Duncan McNab in an exhibition at the West Vancouver Museum and Archives.

MAY 2008, V.53 N.05

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

COVER INTERIOR OF DAN HANGANU’S ANGLICAN CHURCH IN LÉVIS, QUEBEC. PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHEL BRUNELLE.

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LEILA ARAGHIAN

VIEWPOINT

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

EVEN AT 80 YEARS OF AGE, FUMIHIKO MAKI REMAINS COMMITTED TO TEACHING, MOST RECENTLY GIVING A LECTURE TO ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. ABOVE

Shortly after Fumihiko Maki’s visit to Vancouver in late March, the 1993 Pritzker Prize-winning architect reminded me that, “Architecture is a career that you can enjoy throughout your life. It is not a 100-metre dash, but a marathon. You should have a very long view of how you would like to associate yourself with this particular profession.” These are inspiring words, especially as we present this issue devoted to the select firms and individuals receiving a 2008 Governor General’s Medal in Architecture and the RAIC Gold Medal.

Maki’s career spans over 50 years, beginning with his first mentor, Kenzo Tange. After receiving an architecture degree from the University of Tokyo in 1952, he spent the next year at the Cranbrook Academy under the tutelage of Eliel Saarinen before continuing his education under the legendary Spanish-born architect Josep Lluís Sert at Harvard. Attracted to the allure of participating in a global architecture community and appreciative of the fact that architects share a similar world view, he continued to develop and strengthen his friendships with architects the world over.

His firm is currently working on Tower 4 at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan.

Sharing space on the 11th floor of an office building, he is working alongside Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, and Toronto’s Adamson Associates Architects—his local partner in New York.

Despite changes in practice since Maki opened his own office in 1965, certain professional tenets remain the same, and he continues to work with clients and architects who share his professional ethos and sense of compassion.

Maki limits the number of his staff to between 40 and 50 architects, thus avoiding excessive hierarchy. There is even an unwritten rule in his office: with the exception of a few key personnel, employees reaching 40 years of age understand 10 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

that they will voluntarily leave the firm to benefit from new career challenges. However, built within this philosophy is a sense of long-term loyalty.

Every year, roughly 100 former employees attend an office reunion. Recently, an American architect who worked for Maki 40 years ago planned a long-anticipated trip back to Japan to participate in the firm’s reunion, staying with former Maki and Associates alumni as he toured the country.

According to Maki, one of his most significant achievements is the Hillside Terrace Complex, a community development in Shibuya, Tokyo, comprising residential, commercial, retail and public spaces. Beginning in 1969 and continuing to this day, these Hillside projects represent some of his most rewarding experiences: in addition to the fact that he and his client have maintained a relationship of mutual trust for nearly four decades, the partnership has resulted in excellent buildings that have contributed positively to the public realm of Shibuya.

When asked if securing a repeat client is more important than winning the Pritzker, Maki laughed. “Winning the Pritzker is a slightly different situation. It is one that is more about recognition.” Maki’s appreciation of what’s truly meaningful in his career—distinguishing between producing quality buildings and being internationally recognized—is part of what makes him respected as an architect.

Despite the glory of belonging to an elite cadre of global architects, Maki’s focus remains on community and on enduring community service: “I feel that I am a community architect...an architect is not unlike a baker. He should learn to serve his community.” This admirable display of humility, dedication and commitment to the greater good from this most revered figure is an important lesson for the architectural profession.

IAN CHODIKOFF

ICHODIKOFF@CANADIANARCHITECT.COM

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NEWS PROJECTS Bing Thom Architects design new Tantalus Winery in Kelowna.

Located in the Mission district in the city of Kelowna, BC, a 50,000-square-foot winery on a 48-acre property is being designed by Bing Thom Architects. The site is characterized by gentle sloping vineyards interjected by a treed ravine and breathtaking views of Okanagan Lake.

Designed to support the owner’s desire to produce exceptional wine in small volumes, the new estate production facility will house a gravity flow system of wine-making, a tasting bar, an event room and an art gallery that doubles as an educational and recreational resource for the public.

The new winery is partially sited on the upper portion of the ravine to allow natural ventilation through the production facility, and is partially buried to allow the natural cooling properties of the earth to provide the desired temperatures for barrel and bottled wine storage. Furthermore, the facility’s siting on non-cultivable land allows maximum on-site agricultural use of the property. The design intent is to create a visual icon that is a contemporary architectural statement of timeless quality in keeping with the goal of producing high-quality wines. Using exposed architectural concrete, the building’s form unravels to become the roof of the wine-tasting room and art gallery, and the sculptural gesture of the barrellike form alludes to the rolling vineyards and lake beyond. Passages through the winery have been very meticulously choreographed so that visitors become engaged in the wine-making process through a series of carefully crafted and sequenced views of the vineyard as well as of the wine-making, storage and tasting facilities. The Tantalus Winery is set to begin construction in the summer of 2009 with anticipated completion in the fall of 2010.

Prize is to honour annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture. Nouvel, who came to international attention with the completion of his Institut du Monde Arabe (usually referred to as IMA) in 1987 as one of President François Mitterand’s Grands Travaux in Paris, now has several projects in the United States, including the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis that was completed in 2006, a 75-storey tower (Tour Verre) next door to the MOMA in New York, and recently announced plans for a highrise condominium (Suncal Tower) in the Century City district of Los Angeles. In Europe, some of his other important works are the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art (Paris 1994), the Branly Museum (Paris 2006), the Agbar Tower (Barcelona 2005), a Courthouse (Nantes 2000), a Cultural and Conference Centre (Lucerne 2000), the Opera House (Lyon 1993), and Expo 2002 (Switzerland). Also currently under construction is a concert hall in Copenhagen. In Nouvel’s own words, “My interest has always been in an architecture which reflects the modernity of our epoch as opposed to the rethinking of historical references.” Pritzker Prize jury chairman Lord Palumbo elaborated with more of the citation:

“For Nouvel, in architecture there is no ‘style’ a priori. Rather, a context, interpreted in the broadest sense to include culture, location, program and client, provokes him to develop a different strategy for each project.” The jury that selected Nouvel as the 2008 Laureate consists of its chairman, Lord Palumbo, internationally known architectural patron of London, and, alphabetically: Shigeru Ban, architect and professor at Keio University (Tokyo, Japan); Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman of the board, Vitra (Basel, Switzerland); Carlos Jimenez, professor, Rice University School of Architecture and principal, Carlos Jimenez Studio (Houston, Texas); Victoria Newhouse, architectural historian, author, and founder and director of the Architectural History Foundation (New York); Renzo Piano, architect and Pritzker Laureate (Paris, France and Genoa, Italy); and Karen Stein, writer, editor and architectural consultant (New York). Martha Thorne, formerly a curator of architecture at the Art Institute of Chicago, is executive director.

Velikov & Thün of RVTR receive Young Architect’s Award from the Architectural League of New York.

Kathy Velikov and Geoffrey Thün of the firm RVTR have been named winners in the Architectural League of New York’s 27th annual Young Architects Forum Competition. Their work, along

AWARDS Jean Nouvel of France the 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

BING THOM ARCHITECTS

Jean Nouvel of Paris, France has been chosen as the 2008 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture’s highest honour will be held on June 2nd in Washington, DC at the Library of Congress. At that time, a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion will be bestowed on the 62-year-old architect.

Nouvel is the second laureate to be chosen from France, the first being Christian de Portzamparc in 1994. The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture RIGHT DESIGNED BY BING THOM ARCHITECTS, THE NEW TANTALUS WINERY IN KELOWNA, BRITISH COLUMBIA IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN CONSTRUCTION IN THE SUMMER OF 2009.

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with that of the five other winners, will be displayed on the Architectural League’s website and in a catalogue to be published by Princeton Architectural Press. A public exhibition of the work opened May 8th at the Urban Center in New York City, and will remain on display through July. This year’s Young Architect’s Forum theme, Resonance, focuses on how emerging architectural practices engage issues that matter to the world at large, and what innovative working techniques and operations these firms are deploying to realize their work. Velikov and Thün, collaborators in the Toronto-based RVTR with Colin Ripley and Paul Raff, were recognized for their works in architecture and urbanism, including S.W.A.M.P. House, a flexible off-grid vacation home (which received a 2005 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence); a model sustainable development master plan in China; Xin Yuan: Nexus | Park | City (Changchun China); and as team leaders of North House, a collaborative research project with the University of Waterloo, Ryerson University and Simon Fraser University to develop an entirely solar-powered prototype home that combines interactive technologies with leadingedge building envelope components to create a highly responsive domestic environment. RVTR was recently formed with a mandate to develop a small, agile, professional firm that combines intensive research with deep capacity in the design and delivery of remarkable architectural and urban projects that address contemporary

matters of concern. The firm operates internationally, with current projects in Canada, the United States, China, Thailand, and Argentina.

Additionally, Kathy Velikov and Geoffrey Thün are both Assistant Professors at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. Founded in 1881, The Architectural League of New York is an independent forum for the presentation and discussion of creative and intellectual work in architecture, urbanism, and related design disciplines. Since its inception in 1981, the Architectural League’s Young Architect’s Forum has provided many of the leading talents of succeeding new generations of architects and designers a valuable opportunity to present their work and ideas. Previous winners include Steven Holl, Billie Tsien, Neil Denari, Stan Allen, Rick Joy, Lewis Tsurumaki Lewis, Julia Czerniak, Anuradha Mathur & Dilip da Cunha, and Teddy Cruz, as well as Toronto firms WilliamsonWilliamson and Lateral Architecture: Lola Sheppard and Mason White. www.archleague.org Winners of the 2008 OAA Awards announced.

One-hundred-and-sixty-two submissions were received and reviewed by three juries for the 2008 Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) Awards, from which several award-winning projects illustrate the diversity, expertise and leadership within the profession today. For the Design

Excellence & Plachta Awards, the jury included jury chair Shirley Blumberg, partner of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects; Ian Chodikoff, editor of Canadian Architect magazine; Christina Zeidler, film/video artist and developer; and Hilary Smyth, deputy editor of Canadian House & Home magazine. For the Concepts & Presentations & Allied Arts Awards, the jury was comprised of jury chair Rick Haldenby, director of the School of Architecture, University of Waterloo; Edward Burtynsky, photographer and artist; Alessandro Munge, managing partner of Munge Leung Design Associates; and Kendra Schank Smith, chair and associate professor of the Department of Architectural Science, Ryerson University. And for the Landmark, da Vinci, G. Randy Roberts and Best Emerging Practice Awards, the jury included jury chair and architect Liza Medek; Mark Guslits, chief development officer of Toronto Community Housing; Sean O’Reilly, OAA president; and Diana Osborne of Osborne Architect. Winners in the Design Excellence category include: Brian MacKay-Lyons Architect (Design Architects) with Rounthwaite, Dick & Hadley Architects (Prime Consultant) for the Academic Resource Centre, University of Toronto at Scarborough; Montgomery Sisam Architects Inc. in joint venture with Stantec Architecture Ltd., Architects for Bloorview Kids Rehab in Toronto; MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects Ltd. for the Brampton Soccer Centre in Brampton; Ogilvie and Hogg Architects Inc.,

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Desnoyers Mercure & AssociĂŠs, Spencer R. Higgins Architect Inc. & Lundholm Associates Architects for the Conservation, Rehabilitation and Upgrade of the Library of Parliament in Ottawa; Studio Junction Inc. for the Courtyard House in Toronto; Shore, Tilbe Irwin & Partners Architects for the Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre, University of Toronto at Mississauga; Kongats Architects for the Hespeler Library in Cambridge; Moriyama & Teshima Architects for the Multifaith Centre for Spiritual Study and Practice at the University of Toronto; gh3 inc. for the Museum of Inuit Art in Toronto; Farrow Partnership Architects for the Peel Regional Cancer Centre and Ambulatory Care Centre at the Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga; Shore, Tilbe Irwin & Partners Architects for the Recreation, Athletic and Wellness Centre, University of Toronto at Mississauga; Teeple Architects Inc. for the Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church in Toronto; Montgomery Sisam Architects Inc. for the George and Kathy Dembroski Centre for Horticulture, Toronto Botanical Garden; Kohn Shnier Architects for the Umbra Retail and Concept Store in Toronto; and Levitt Goodman Architects Ltd. for the University of Waterloo, School of Architecture & Design at Riverside, Cambridge Libraries and Galleries in Cambridge. In the Concepts and Presentations category, student Johnathan Wong won an Image Award of Excellence for Camera Obscura Image of a Church Inside a Room; intern Catherine Lin won

an Artifact Award of Excellence for LED Lighting: Baby Fish Tide; and intern Andrea Ling won an Artifact Award of Excellence for The Girl in the Wood Frock. Dubbeldam Design Architects of Toronto won the Best Emerging Practice Award, while two Landmark Awards were given to Zeidler Partnership Architects and Bregman + Hamann Architects for the Toronto Eaton Centre, and to NORR limited Architects and Engineers, the successor firm of John B. Parkin Associates, for the Rosedale Valley Bridge in Toronto. James William Strutt won the G. Randy Roberts Service Award recognizing members of the OAA for extraordinary service, while Stephen V.E. Irwin captured the Order of da Vinci, presented to persons who have made a significant and meaningful contribution to the profession of architecture. www.oaa.on.ca Winners of the 2008 CSLA Excellence & Recognition Awards announced.

The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) has announced that 26 projects located in Canada as well as in South Korea, Cuba and the United States have won national and regional recognition in the prestigious 2008 CSLA Awards of Excellence in Landscape Architecture. In addition, the CSLA is delighted to honour seven Canadians with the Society’s 2008 Recognition Awards. The CSLA Awards of Excellence recognize and encourage excellence in all aspects of

the landscape architecture profession as well as promote a strong awareness of landscape architecture among related professions, potential clients and the general public. This year’s winners are: Alvin D. Regehr, Landscape Architect and Zeidler Partnership Architects/Tarek ElKhatib (Toronto); Serge Poitras, Jim Vafiades, Jim Melvin and Claude Potvin (Montreal, London, Toronto and Ottawa); PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc./Don Wuori Design (Vancouver and Surrey); Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg (Vancouver); space2place design inc. (Vancouver); Lees & Associates (Vancouver); EIDOS Consultants Incorporated, Robert Gibbs, FSCLA (Edmonton)—two project awards; Carlyle + Associates (Edmonton)—three project awards; Katherine Dunster—Unfolding Landscapes (Bowen Island, BC); BeauprÊ & AssociÊs Experts Conseils inc. (Laval); Schollen & Company International Inc. (Toronto); Janet Rosenberg & Associates (Toronto); Crosby Hanna & Associates (Saskatoon); PMA Landscape Architects Ltd. and Vafiades Landscape Architect Inc. (Toronto and London); Plant Architect Inc. (Toronto); du Toit Allsopp Hillier (Toronto); Vafiades Landscape Architect Inc. (London); Alexander Budrevics & Associates Ltd. (Don Mills, Ontario); BDA Landscape Architects (Sussex, New Brunswick); Garry Hilderman (Winnipeg); Landplan Associates Ltd./Marc Boutin Architect (Calgary); Pluram/ Daniel Arbour & AssociÊs (DAA) Inc. (Montreal); and Hilderman Thomas Frank Cram (Winnipeg).

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Additionally, the CSLA honoured seven Canadians with its Recognition Awards to recognize their commitment to the profession of landscape architecture: Donald W. Graham (Iroquois, Ontario); James Taylor (Guelph, Ontario); Peter Jacobs (Montreal); Liane McKenna (Vancouver); Cathy Sears (Calgary); Judy Lord (Chelsea, Quebec); and Wendy Graham (Montreal).

World Architecture Festival Awards open for entry.

The World Architecture Festival Awards—the largest architectural awards program in the world—is open to buildings completed between January 1, 2007 and June 20, 2008. With 16 categories covering 96 building types, the awards program is designed to showcase your latest completed buildings from anywhere in the world. Two-hundred-and-fifty-six shortlisted entrants will present their buildings live in front of the Festival audience and a prestigious international jury, which includes Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid and Richard Meier. The 16 winners will go on to compete against each other to win the first architectural Prix de Barcelona. All entries are permanently displayed on the Festival website, and will be exhibited on site at the Festival in the Awards Gallery, where the jury and Festival audiences alike will view them. All entries must be submitted online by June 20, 2008. www.worldarchitecturefestival.com

California College of the Arts confers Honorary Doctorate on architect Thom Mayne.

An honorary doctorate degree was conferred to architect Thom Mayne by the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco on May 10th.

As the recipient of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2005, Mayne is best known to Bay Area residents for the bold design of San Francisco’s new Federal Building, which opened last year. The building eliminates corner offices in favour of democratic space and city views for 90 percent of the workstations; it also features operable windows, natural lighting and ventilation.

In conjunction with CCA’s commencement, 3A Gallery in San Francisco will present an exhibition of photographs by Livia Corona of the famed 2-4-6-8 House in Venice, California, which Mayne designed in 1978. Mayne was a cofounder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in 1972, and he established his Santa Monica-based architecture firm, Morphosis, that same year. He has held teaching positions at many international architectural institutions. Currently, he is a tenured faculty member at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture.

His distinguished honours include the CooperHewitt National Design Award (2006); the Pritzker Architecture Prize (2005); the Chrysler Design Award (2001); the American Institute of Architects/Los Angeles Gold Medal in Architecture (2000); and the Rome Prize (1987). With Morphosis, he has been the recipient of 25 Pro-

gressive Architecture Awards and 70 American Institute of Architecture awards.

COMPETITIONS Arquitectum 8th International Contest: London 2008.

The design challenge concerns a movable architecture gallery, containing and distributing design to the city that travels across the River Thames to connect various art spaces and to collect visitors along the river, especially in the South Bank. The exhibition space should adapt to the movement of the river, to the different requirements of the exhibitions and the artists, and to the weather conditions in London. The jury for the competition is comprised of Architectural Association (AA) members and distinguished London architects. The deadline to register is June 30, 2008, and the submission deadline is July 20, 2008, followed by an exhibition to be held from September 22-26, 2008. The winner will come to London, and a ceremony will take place at the AA together with available members of the jury. All entries must be submitted in digital format. www.arquitectum.com/londres2008.php?idioma=1

WHAT’S NEW Shifting Into the Mainstream: Canada Green Building Council National Summit.

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industry decision-makers will learn about how LEED® Canada is evolving from one-time certification to a life-cycle building performance management system for any type of building, new and existing. The summit program will deliver all you need to know to appreciate and prepare for the opportunities and challenges ahead, as LEED engages all building sectors enabling widespread improvements in energy and environmental performance. Real building performance, economic opportunities, the potential for GHG reductions, and the best Canadian solutions for high-performance buildings will be on the table. Shifting Into the Mainstream will be a zero-waste event with the CaGBC and the MTCC working directly with suppliers to minimize waste and ensure sustainable materials are being used as much as possible. LEED® Canada for Existing Buildings will be launched in 2009 ensuring further development of LEED in Canada, allowing for the massive scaling-up necessary to meet the CaGBC goal of 100,000 buildings and one million homes certified by 2015, with 50% reduction in energy and water use, and 50 megatonnes of GHG emission reductions. The summit takes place from June 11-12, 2008, and the post-summit workshops run on June 13th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Keynote speakers include David Suzuki and Ray Anderson. www.shiftingintothemainstream.ca

ROMwalks offer free guided walking tours of Toronto’s architecture and history.

Discover Toronto’s unique architecture and rich history through ROMwalks, a series of free, guided walking tours of the city. From May to October, tour leaders from the Royal Ontario Museum’s (ROM) Department of Museum Volunteers will lead the public through some of the city’s most distinctive neighbourhoods, visiting Toronto landmarks and illuminating their architectural and historical significance. The 2008 ROMwalks series kicked off on May 4th with Along the Front, which highlights the St. Lawrence Market, Flatiron Building, BCE Place, Dominion Public Building, Royal Bank Plaza, Royal York Hotel and Union Station. Launched in 1980, the ROMwalks repertoire continues to expand, with 20 walks (up to 14 different walks given per season) and two ROMwalks Plus. This summer, ROMwalks will offer two new walks. Yorkville: A Tollgate Village includes historical sites such as the library, fire hall, Heliconian Club, Hazelton Lanes, Church of the Redeemer and selected 19th-century homes. A brand-new ROMwalk Plus, Rosedale Part Two is the sequel to the Rosedale Walk and explores a different area of this early suburb intended for Toronto’s wealthy and influential citizens. Walks take place on most Sundays at 2:00 pm and Wednesdays at 6:00 pm and last from 1.5 to 2 hours. Look for the blue ROM umbrella at the starting point of each ROMwalk. The tours are free to the public, with

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the exception of private group walks and ROMwalks Plus walks. www.rom.on.ca New Act for Newfoundland.

The Newfoundland Provincial Government has passed a new Act governing the architectural profession, replacing its previous Act from 1995.

The new Act Respecting Architects and the Provision of Architectural Services provides greater consumer protection by placing the onus on architects to uphold the highest professional standards. Says the Honourable Kevin O’Brien, Minister of Government Services: “The new Act includes criteria for governance, conduct and discipline procedures similar to other self-regulatory occupations in the province.” These criteria include filing annual reports, establishing a conduct and complaints committee, appointing lay people to boards and putting in place processes for appeals and disciplinary procedures. “The new Act goes a long way to reducing red tape for architects,” says Paul Blackwood, chairman of the Newfoundland Association of Architects’ Act Review Committee.

“No longer will there be a need for an architect to obtain a certificate of registration, a certificate of practice, and a certificate of approval in order to practice in this province. These certificates have all been replaced with a simple licence.” The new Act also clarifies a longstanding list of building types that require the services of an architect with emphasis on renovation projects.

05/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

RECOGNITION THROUGH SUBTLETY

It is with great pleasure that we present the recipients of the 2008 Governor General’s Medal.

Most of the projects presented on the following pages are well-known to readers of Canadian Architect, as nine of the 12 winning projects have already been published in our magazine. Nonetheless, revisiting these buildings as a collection of award-winning works provides an opportunity to review their architectural, technical, social and cultural value.

As Canadian architects continue to develop regional design sensibilities in contemporary architecture, defining an overarching trend remains difficult. However, a few characteristic drivers emerge when assessing this year’s winning projects. Firstly, there is the ongoing consideration with respect to the skillful incorporation of sustainable design strategies that respond to the often-harsh Canadian climate. The Winnipeg Centennial Library Addition, the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, and the National Ballet School are all examples of projects that deftly utilize architectural and engineering strategies to maximize the benefit of sun-drenched interior spaces during the short days of winter when sub-zero temperatures prevail upon Canadian cities. The three projects from British Columbia—the Gleneagles Community Centre, ROAR_one and the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre—exist in mild but potentially challenging climates, but which encompass artful architectural responses with an emphasis on craft that illustrate, respectively, the legacy of West Coast timber detailing, a humane response to residential design on a tight urban site, and the geography and social history of a First Nations community.

Another ongoing topic of consideration for Canadian architects is the landscape. What is remarkable about the winners of this year’s Governor General’s Awards is the range of explo-

rations in the relationship between landscape and architecture. Ian MacDonald’s own house at 4a Wychwood Park in Toronto evidences an obvious mastery in capturing views of the site while maintaining privacy and a sense of intimacy. As for the influences of landscape on the expression of building geometry, both the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa and the Chemical Sciences Building at Trent University represent projects that are fluid reconciliations between site, program and architectural ambitions. Even the Communication, Culture & Technology Building at the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus and the Scarborough Baptist Church display considered and thoughtful responses to their sites—one at the edge of a suburban campus, the other at the edge of a suburban parking lot.

One project that offers delight and surprise is the Jaypee Institute of Information Technology in Noida, India. Designed by Montreal’s Le Groupe Arcop and led by Ramesh Khosla, the Jaypee Institute boasts a subtle display of masonry, framing, and the sequencing of interior spaces.

There are hundreds of huge projects currently being designed and built by Canadian architects in rapidly changing markets like India, China and the United Arab Emirates, and the Jaypee Institute represents only one of several high-calibre Canadian-designed international projects worthy of merit.

The breadth of work recognized here is the result of the jury’s keen selection of a wide range of prize-winning projects from this year’s 160plus entries. Comprised of Manfred Sabatke from Stuttgart, Pina Petricone and John McMinn from Toronto, Anne Cormier from Montreal, and Steve Christer from Reykjavík, the jury was suitably diverse. Complementing each other’s experiences and ideologies, the jury dutifully advocated for projects that exemplify high standards in the areas of sustainability, technological innovation,

conceptual rigour and design excellence.

Manfred Sabatke worked for Gunner Birkerts and Associates before joining and building up the internationally renowned Behnisch Architekten.

After he was made partner in 1970, Sabatke remained with the firm for another 24 years until his retirement.

As a partner in Giannone Associates Architects in Toronto and an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, Pina Petricone’s notable projects include the re:TreetHouse and Welcome Mat installations, the award-winning Herman Miller Canada Showroom in Toronto, and the recently completed Centre for Ethics, a new interfaculty and interdisciplinary initiative at the University of Toronto.

John McMinn was awarded the Canada Council Prix de Rome in Architecture in 1992. An Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo, McMinn also maintains an active design practice and has been involved in many publications and curatorial projects, including 41° to 66°: Architecture in Canada—Region, Culture, Tectonic, the Canadian exhibition at the 2008 Venice Biennale in Architecture.

As a cofounder of Montreal-based Atelier Big City, Anne Cormier has led the firm to success, receiving numerous awards in the process, including three Governor General’s Medals for architecture, the Grand Prix from the Quebec Order of Architects in 1994, and the Canada Council Prix de Rome in Architecture in 2006.

Additionally, Cormier has taught in Canada and abroad, and is currently Director of the School of Architecture at the Université de Montréal.

Steve Christer has taught at the Architectural Association in London and was a guest professor at the Berlage Institute. In 1987, he founded Studio Granda in Reykjavík with Margrét Hardardóttir. CA

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NIC LEHOUX

GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

ROAR_ONE

ARCHITECT LWPAC LANG WILSON PRACTICE IN ARCHITECTURE CULTURE INC. AND HOTSON BAKKER BONIFACE HADEN ASSOCIATED ARCHITECTS LOCATION VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

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The ambition for the ROAR_one project was to create a qualitative paradigm shift for dense urban living and live-work culture. The project is positioned through design innovation with regards to livability, flexibility, choice, sustainability, compactness and strategic spatial qualities.

Situated in Vancouver in the dynamic context of an emerging metropolis on the Pacific Rim, the project addresses the global reality of significant population increases. The world’s urban population will double from three to six billion by 2050 (U.N. estimate). Until then, Metro Vancouver will add another 1.5 million+ residents. At the same time, environmental concerns will continue to increase. For the dense and sustainable metropolis, it seems therefore imperative to develop housing models that address or counter urban sprawl, curb unnecessary commuting, catalyze entrepreneurial activities, address the issue of affordability and facilitate cultural and social inventiveness. One of Canada’s greatest assets is its cultural and ethnic diversity. Tenants come from diverse cultures, with different lifestyles associated. Yet today, typical commercially developed condominiums are highly standardized and prescriptive with regards to living culture in their layouts, and are no longer adequate responses to the changing and multifaceted demographics, or to the processes of change in our society.

By making the project strategically incomplete, the individuality and creativity of future tenants is welcomed. The building is defined as a qualitative spatial infrastructure for living and working, which was accomplished through research-driven scenario planning, and which resulted in significant potential arrays of programmatic and spatial adaptations for occupation. Based on the scenario studies, the units are designed from the inside out. All homes have two storeys with a double-height area, a patio linking interior and exterior space seamlessly, and they essentially operate as compact houses in the sky. Units range from 800 to 2,000 square feet.

The absolute maximum volume/envelope permissible with all possible relaxations was generated and negotiated. From this, a process of subtraction was undertaken, perforating the volume with striations or “slots” that create continuous open spaces from front to back. These void spaces,

NIC LEHOUX

excluded from density calculations, allow for a substantial reorganization of the unit layouts and address a typical dilemma. Natural daylight and natural cross-ventilation is now abundant and flexible unit types are ensured.

Combining both approaches, the resulting double-storey stacked patio houses are highly adaptable, yet, through the superimposition of multiple scenarios, remain compact. Through porosity and its subsequent impact on livability, relaxations from the City could be negotiated that allowed increased density and affordability.

Primary attention was given to strategic translations that would limit environmental impact at its root cause. In particular, considerations were paid to livability, possibilities for work, privacy issues, social and cultural vitality, community, diversity of units, flexibility and adaptability, energy issues such as solar gain and direct gain systems, daylight and ventilation, landscaping and rainwater collection, and the elimination of unnecessary materials. Aluminum grating sliding screens and extensive bamboo planting is used to regulate seasonal heat gain and to control privacy.

Despite its significant architectural features, the project has been built at $195 per square foot, less than the typical construction cost for comparable developments. This was made possible through the adaptation of commercial construction techniques, extensive value engineering, and most importantly, by refocusing the project.

ALONG A SECTION OF VANCOUVER’S WEST 10TH AVENUE STRIP, THE FRONT FAÇADE AND GROUND-FLOOR SHOPFRONTS EXUDE A SUITABLE COMMERCIAL-RESIDENTIAL HYBRIDIZED AESTHETIC. OPPOSITE BOTTOM A DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATES THE INTERNAL DIVISION OF THE PROJECT INTO THREE DISTINCT ELEMENTS THAT ENABLE NATURAL DAYLIGHT TO PENETRATE INTERIOR SPACES WHILE AFFORDING CROSS-VENTILATION THROUGH THE BUILDING. ABOVE THE PROJECT’S TERRACES—SEEN FROM THE COMPARATIVELY ROUGHER VANTAGE POINT OF THE REAR LANEWAY—ARE AN IMPORTANT URBAN DESIGN FEATURE IN THE CITY. OPPOSITE TOP

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Steve Christer: ROAR is located between two streets. Housing units are

arranged on the street façades and are separated by a semi-public court containing the vertical circulation. The green colour of the court gives a welcome feel even though the planting is immature and the building finishes raw. Flats are separated by interstitial walkways, and each has generous private external space emphasizing the open nature of this highly urban scheme. The sheer glazed skin of the façades are shielded and articulated by moveable panels, but the project on a whole has a remarkable solidity and permanence that transcends its lightweight build. CA

CLIENT ROAR VENTURES ARCHITECT TEAM OLIVER LANG, CYNTHIA WILSON, ALAYNE KAETHLER, DON CHAN, SHAUN MCINTYRE, MARCELLO MEJIA, ROBERTO BOTTAZZI, PIA HABEKOST, DARIO OECHSLI, TAK MING CHAN, FEI CAI, TED FEENSTRA, BRUCE HADEN, ROLAND KUPFER, DERYK WHITEHEAD STRUCTURAL FAST + EPP STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL STANTEC (FORMERLY KEEN ENGINEERING) BUILDING ENVELOPE MARCEAU EVANS JOHNSON ARCHITECTS LANDSCAPE ECKFORD AND ASSOCIATES COST CONSULTANT BTY GROUP GEOTECHNICAL GEOPACIFIC ACOUSTICS BKL ENGINEERING INTERIORS LWPAC LANG WILSON PRACTICE IN ARCHITECTURE CULTURE CONTRACTOR HAEBLER GROUP AREA 21,000 FT2 BUDGET $4.15 M COMPLETION FEBRUARY 2006

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JAMES DOW

GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

GLENEAGLES COMMUNITY CENTRE

ARCHITECT LOCATION

PATKAU ARCHITECTS WEST VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

The Gleneagles Community Centre is located on a sloping site adjacent to a golf course, and the program is organized on three levels to limit the area of the building footprint. By reshaping the cross-sectional topography of the site, the lower and intermediate levels can both be located at grade. The intermediate level is accessible from a generous porch along the street and contains a community “living room,” café, meeting room, administration and child care facilities. The lower level opens on the opposite side of the building to covered terraces and courtyard spaces adjacent to the golf course, and includes a gymnasium, multi-purpose room, arts room, and outdoor specialty area. The upper level accommodates fitness facilities.

The section energizes the building. The gym28 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

ABOVE VARIOUS SPACES INCLUDING A LOUNGE, CAFÉ, FITNESS STUDIO AND MEETING ROOMS OVERLOOK THE THREE-STOREY GYMNASIUM IN THE GLENEAGLES COMMUNITY CENTRE. OPPOSITE EXPOSED CONCRETE, HIGHLY EXPRESSED TIMBER ELEMENTS AND GENEROUS GLAZING ALL CONTRIBUTE TO A DISTINCT ARTICULATION OF THE BUILDING.

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nasium and multi-purpose rooms rise through the three levels; walls that separate these volumes from adjacent spaces are glazed to facilitate visual connection within the building. Simultaneous views of multiple activities animate the interior, and the life of the building and the energy of the place are palpable to the community within and without.

The structural system consists of cast-in-place concrete floor slabs, insulated double-wythe tiltup concrete end walls and a heavy timber roof.

This structure is used as part of the interior climate control system of the building, and acts as a huge thermal storage mass. A giant static heat pump absorbs, stores and releases energy to create an extremely stable and robust indoor climate with constant temperatures inside occupied spaces, regardless of exterior climate. Radiant heating and cooling in both floors and walls maintains a set temperature, as the concrete surfaces act alternately as emitters or absorbers. The thermal energy for this system is provided by water-to-water heat pumps via a ground-source heat exchanger under the adjacent parking area.

The mechanical plant required to do this is 40% of the capacity of a conventional HVAC plant, resulting in both fewer and smaller equipment requirements, which means reduced material consumption and space requirements. Roof overhangs provide protection from winter rains, shield interiors from excessive local solar loads in summer, and discharge storm water into adjacent landscape swales to permeate back into the site.

Ventilation is accomplished using a displacement system. 100% fresh air is tempered and supplied at low velocity at low levels. This air rises, flushing contaminants upward, where it is then captured and exhausted. Since air is not being used as a medium for climate control, openable windows and doors do not affect the performance of the heating and cooling system.

CLIENT DISTRICT OF WEST VANCOUVER ARCHITECT TEAM JOHN PATKAU, PATRICIA PATKAU, DAVID SHONE, OMER ARBEL, GREG BOOTHROYD, JOANNE GATES, SAMANTHA HAYES, PATRICK O’SULLIVAN, CRAIG SIMMS, NICK SULLY STRUCTURAL FAST & EPP MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL EARTH TECH CANADA CIVIL WEBSTER ENGINEERING LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT VAUGHAN LANDSCAPE PLANNING & DESIGN PROJECT MANAGEMENT MAURICE J. OUELLETTE CONSULTING CODE CONSULTANTS GAGE-BABCOCK & ASSOCIATES AREA 24,068 FT2 BUDGET $4.675 M COMPLETION MARCH 2003

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John McMinn: Sheltered under the encompassing gesture of a large overhanging roof, the building deftly negotiates a subtle level change between a busy suburban street to the east and a protected lower court to the west. This sectional shift is further accentuated with a spatial juxtaposition of scale with the large volume of the gymnasium, contrasting the more intimate stacked program spaces of the lobby, public areas and exercise rooms, providing strong visible connections between all parts of the building. CA

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WORKSHOP ART STUDIO MAINTENANCE MECHANICAL ELECTRICAL OFFICE WORKSHOP COURTYARD KITCHEN

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GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

NK’MIP DESERT CULTURAL CENTRE ARCHITECT LOCATION

HOTSON BAKKER BONIFACE HADEN ARCHITECTS + URBANISTES OSOYOOS, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located in the most endangered landscape in Canada, the design of the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre is a specific and sustainable response to the building’s unique context—the spectacular Canadian desert found south of the Okanagan Valley in Osoyoos, British Columbia. This 1,600acre parcel of land belonging to the Osoyoos Indian Band is the largest intact remnant of this unique habitat in Canada.

The building features indoor and outdoor exhibits that honour the cultural history of the Band and are designed to be an extension of the remarkable site. The desert landscape flows over the building’s green roof and is held back by the largest rammed-earth wall in North America. The partially underground building is sited specifically to focus the visitor’s eye away from the encroaching development of Osoyoos, with the height of the wall set to create a layered view of the desert, receding to the riparian landscape and the mountains in the distance. The building is also intended to challenge the fake adobe building stylization that is becoming more common in the South Okanagan.

Extreme climatic conditions made sustainable design a particular challenge, which nonetheless 30 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT THE RAMMED-EARTH WALL POETICALLY EXPRESSES THE COLOUR OF THE NK’MIP SOIL AS THE DESERT MOUNTAINS RISE UP BEHIND THE CULTURAL CENTRE; THE COR-TEN STEEL COMPLEMENTS THE WARM TONES OF THE RAMMED-EARTH WALL WHILE LAKE OSOYOOS CAN BE SEEN IN THE DISTANCE.

offered a great opportunity for true innovation.

Hot, dry summers and cool, dry winters see average temperatures ranging from –18°C to +33°C and often reaching +40°C in the summer season.

The building’s siting and orientation are the initial strategic undertakings toward sustainability; the partially buried structure mitigates the extremes in temperature and its orientation optimizes passive solar performance, with glazing minimized on the south and west sides.

The project’s ambitious approach towards sustainable design is addressed in a number of ways.

To begin with, the Centre boasts North America’s largest rammed-earth wall, which gives the building exterior a unique material and poetic sensibility. Its graduated layers of earth evoke geological sedimentation within a distinctly contemporary architectural language. Constructed from local soils mixed with concrete, the wall retains warmth in the winter and allows for substantial thermal mass cooling in the building during the summer.

Blue-stain pine is used throughout the project.

Harvested from local forests devastated by the infestation of the pine beetle, the wood is cast with a tint as though a blue wash has been applied. While its inherent structural qualities are equivalent to white pine, blue-stain pine is not normally specified for finished building use.

In this way, Nk’Mip is something of a demonstration project, showing how the pine can be utilized and its unique visual qualities celebrated.

A habitable green roof reduces the building’s visual imprint on the landscape and allows a greater percentage of the desert habitat to be reestablished on the site. In-slab radiant cooling and heating reduces energy use substantially, and low-flow fixtures and waterless urinals contribute to water use reduction, which is especially important in the desert.

Endangered species research is housed on site and includes facilities for the Band’s awardwinning rattlesnake research project. Included

NIC LEHOUX

NIC LEHOUX

are public viewing areas where visitors can see endangered rattlesnakes captured, tagged and microchipped for further study and protection.

CLIENT OSOYOOS INDIAN BAND ARCHITECT TEAM BRUCE HADEN, BRADY DUNLOP, NORM HOTSON, STEPHANIE FORSYTHE, TINA HUBERT, JULIE BOGDANOWICZ STRUCTURAL EQUILIBRIUM CONSULTING INC. MECHANICAL COBALT ENGINEERING ELECTRICAL MCL ENGINEERING LANDSCAPE PHILLIPS FAREVAAG SMALLENBERG EXHIBIT DESIGN ALDRICH PEARS ASSOCIATES CODE CONSULTANT LMDG ACOUSTICS BKL CONSULTING THEATRE ELECTRICAL ACUMEN CONSULTING ENGINEERS LIVE DISPLAY BUFO INCORPORATED THEATRE DESIGN DOUGLAS WELCH DESIGN CONTRACTOR GREYBACK CONSTRUCTION AREA 1,115 M2 BUDGET $3.5 M COMPLETION JUNE 2006

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Anne Cormier: This very strong yet entirely discreet cultural centre becomes a museum of site—one which innovatively represents the locale’s desert earth in the form of an insulating rammed-earth wall. Although very large, the chameleon-like wall defines an ambiguous threshold between landscape and building and positions the partially buried auditorium and exhibition room with strategic orientation. These intimate spaces seem to be defined by a tamed earth and sky rather than walls and ceilings. CA

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JAMES DOW

WINNIPEG CENTENNIAL LIBRARY ADDITION ARCHITECT

PATKAU ARCHITECTS/LM ARCHITECTURAL

GROUP LOCATION

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA

JAMES DOW

The Winnipeg Centennial Library is a threestorey building that along with a public park occupies a city block. Both library and green space sit on a below-grade parking garage. The connection between library and park is surprisingly limited. The monolithic concrete of the existing building and the disconnection from its setting results in a fortress-like building with introspective interiors.

The addition to the library includes the reorganization and expansion of the collections, the reconfiguration of circulation systems, and the creation of new social spaces as well as the renovation of the existing library. Expanding the library into the park would have destroyed valuable public green space and required costly foundation work in the parking garage. An alternative approach involved extending the library vertically. Fortunately, the building had the structural capacity to accept an additional floor, and most of the added space is contained in a new, light, steel-framed fourth floor covered by a new roof.

Because of severe winter conditions, many buildings in downtown Winnipeg are linked by an interior tunnel and skywalk system. The library is connected to this system by bridges at the second level. A two-storey lobby, created by removing a portion of the second floor, connects the street-level entrance to the library with the skywalk.

From this urban intersection, patrons are drawn towards the park through the building along an interior “street” animated by displays and events. At the park edge, new elevators and a system of stairs and reading terraces tie existing floors to each other and to the new fourth floor.

The glazed wall of this multi-storey space opens every level to light, landscape, and the city. All public and collections space is accessible from this route. The compact footprint of the addition maintains maximum park space, and the highly visible interactive terraces generate a radically new identity for the library.

The library program is ordered in strips, in a series of zones that run parallel to the window wall across the long dimension of the space. The five strips order the program of the library in height categories: the first strip is the park; the second strip includes tables, comfortable chairs and casual seating for reading; the third strip includes “low” structures of reference collections, help desks and computer stations; the fourth strip comprises high masses of shelving running in clear sequences; and the fifth strip includes reading rooms, offices, meeting rooms, 34 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

staff areas, service areas and book-handling access. These strips progress from park to interior, from open to enclosed, from low to high, from areas of greatest public access and interaction to areas of privacy and quiet. This spatial order allows visitors to understand the arrangement of collections and functions whether they approach from the public elevators or from reading terraces.

Pina Petricone: This project skillfully utilizes a

CLIENT CITY OF WINNIPEG LIBRARY SERVICES/CITY OF WINNIPEG PLANNING, PROPERTY, AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT ARCHITECT TEAM PATKAU ARCHITECTS: SAMANTHA HAYES, MAUREEN KWONG, HECTOR LO, IMKE MARON, TOKIMI OTA, JOHN PATKAU, PATRICIA PATKAU, CHRISTIAN SCHULTE, CRAIG SIMMS, YONG SUN, PETER SUTER. LM ARCHITECTURAL GROUP: DAVID KRESSOCK, KEN DUCHNYCZ, ANDREW BRIMBLE, GREG TOMASZEWSKI, LLOYD MYMKO, BRENT MEHYDEN, ROBERT WINSLOW, RON KINASH. STRUCTURAL CROSIER KILGOUR & PARTNERS LTD. MECHANICAL SMS ENGINEERING LTD. ELECTRICAL MCW/AGE CONSULTING PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS LANDSCAPE HILDERMAN THOMAS FRANK CRAM CODE GAGE-BABCOCK AND ASSOCIATES LTD. ACOUSTIC DANIEL LYZUN ASSOCIATES CONTRACTOR MAN-SHIELD CONSTRUCTION AREA 115,000 FT2 (RENOVATION); 45,000 FT2 (ADDITION) BUDGET $16 M COMPLETION FALL 2005

LM ARCHITECTS

LM ARCHITECTS

JAMES DOW

multivalent glass veil that masks the eroded face of the existing brutalist concrete library, which is blown open to invite in the adjacent park. Rather than expanding the three-storey building, a fourth floor is cleverly added in order to maintain the minimal footprint and leave unoccupied the valuable adjacent urban green. The economy and simplicity of this gesture interestingly creates a complexity in the interconnectedness of newly programmed spaces where degrees of reflectivity, transparency and opacity render a layered, urban experience. CA

OPPOSITE, TOP TO BOTTOM SUNLIGHT STREAMS ONTO THE TERRACED READING STACKS; LIBRARY PATRONS ENJOY A QUIET PLACE TO READ WITH OPPORTUNITIES TO LOOK OUT TO THE LANDSCAPED GARDEN BEYOND. TOP THE ADDITION OF A NEW FAÇADE TO THE EXISTING LIBRARY PROVIDES A GLIMMERING BACKDROP TO A PARK USED FOR SKATING IN THE WINTER AND OUTDOOR CONCERTS IN THE SUMMER. ABOVE THE SITE PLAN AND CONCRETE FAÇADE OF THE LIBRARY BEFORE THE ADDITION OF ITS NEW FAÇADE.

SECTION

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35

GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

SCARBOROUGH BAPTIST CHURCH

SHAI GIL ARCHITECT LOCATION

TEEPLE ARCHITECTS INC. SCARBOROUGH, ONTARIO

This new church and community centre has been conceived as a direct reflection of the liturgical vision of its Baptist congregation. This liturgical vision has a dual focus—fellowship, which the church characterizes as horizontal relationships between people, and spirituality, which is seen as a vertical relationship between people and God. The church is nestled into a clearing in a remnant woodlot along Kennedy Road in suburban Scarborough. The woodlot becomes essential to the experience of the church, as it is the focal point of a 200-seat chapel and a point of reference as one moves through the public circulation spaces of the church.

The physical form and experience of the church directly reflect this vision. Horizontal roofs and views to the woodlot setting characterize the community wing, while soaring vertical 36 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

forms characterize the sanctuary, emphasizing natural light from above. These wings are interconnected by the fellowship hall, a place of gathering before and after each service. The church serves both as a significant place of worship with a sanctuary for 1,600 and as a focal point of activity for the Chinese community in Scarborough, offering banquet facilities and meeting places along with recreation facilities via a large gymnasium.

The project included the City of Toronto’s first approved bioswale parking lot. Storm water is processed through a sequence of swales that incorporate specific plant materials and special soils. An extremely high level of energy efficiency was achieved at a very low cost through a carefully designed building envelope and clever heat recovery systems.

Pina Petricone: This project defies the indiffer-

ence of its site and creates a transporting architecture via a reduced but ambidextrous material palette. Teeple’s unparalleled sculptural mastery is well suited to the spiritual program, where controlled but requisite natural light becomes palpable merely through the manipulation of gypsum wall board and its off-the-shelf metal extrusions. CA CLIENT SCARBOROUGH BAPTIST CHURCH ARCHITECT TEAM STEPHEN TEEPLE, BERNARD JIN, CHERYL ATKINSON, DAVID JENSEN, GRAHAM BAXTER, WILLIAM ELSWORTHY, ROBERT CHEUNG STRUCTURAL CPE MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL LKM CIVIL MASONGSONG ASSOCIATES ENGINEERING LANDSCAPE DUTOIT ALLSOPP HILLIER INTERIORS TEEPLE ARCHITECTS INC. CONTRACTOR DERBTILE CONSTRUCTION INC. AREA 80,000 FT2 BUDGET $12 M COMPLETION 2007

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SHAI GIL

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UPLIGHTING ENHANCES THE CURVED SWOOPING WALL OF THE CHURCH, WHICH IS SHEATHED IN A COOL METAL SKIN. TOP LEFT AN ENGAGING DYNAMIC IS ESTABLISHED IN THE METAL-CLAD ABSTRACT FORMS OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH. TOP RIGHT THE COLUMN-FREE, ALMOND-SHAPED SANCTUARY ENJOYS EXCELLENT ACOUSTIC QUALITY.

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SANCTUARY FELLOWSHIP COURT CLASSROOM CHAPEL LIBRARY COMMUNITY ROOM GYMNASIUM PARENTS’ ROOM OFFICES/ADMINISTRATION

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GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

COMMUNICATION, CULTURE & TECHNOLOGY BUILDING

MARC CRAMER ARCHITECT LOCATION

SAUCIER + PERROTTE ARCHITECTES MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO

Located at the edge of the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus, the new Communication, Culture & Technology Building (CCT) assumes the role of an interface. Organized along the principal façade, the building is closely bordered by a park on one side and a new courtyard garden on the other. Its main circulation creates a linear public space that provides a line of connection between the Student Centre and the library as well as between the landscape and the building’s public and educational spaces. CCT becomes a place of transition, adjacency and inhabitation all at once.

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ABOVE THE HIGH DEGREE OF REFLECTIVITY IN THE CCT’S FAÇADE REFLECTS BACK THE BEAUTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO’S MISSISSAUGA CAMPUS. OPPOSITE BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT THE SCULPTURAL ENTITY OF THE DARK SOLID MASS OF A STAIRCASE BECOMES THE CENTRAL FOCAL POINT OF THE MAIN FLOOR INTERIOR; PROJECTING BOX-LIKE ELEMENTS RELIEVE THE SIMULTANEOUSLY TRANSPARENT AND REFLECTIVE GLAZED WEST ELEVATION.

The glazed vertical surface of this connection acts as a thickened membrane which becomes a technological filter between the existing natural material of the forest and the tamed controlled environment of the building and its garden. At the level of the ground, the membrane is completely transparent; the line between exterior and interior disappears. The earth plane forms a continuous public room that slips into the building, flows through it toward the courtyard onto the landscaped roof of the garage and into the campus beyond.

Like the bark of the London Plane trees con-

served on the site, the layers of landscape detach and lift, establishing a new topography from which grow both the building and its garden landscape. Nestled into this landscape are the building’s “mineral” public functions (the Multimedia Studio Theatre, the E-Gallery and the Image Bar), each with its own identity yet tied together by the new terrain. Continuous, interwoven strands of this topography lift and wind vertically through the structure, connecting spaces between the shifting program elements, which puncture the vertical façade membrane at its upper levels. This in-between space, occupied

by platforms, bridges, stairs and ramps, fosters openness and interaction between the occupants, program, and the outside environment, each allowed to flow through the envelope by means of the shifting solids. Fluid public space is thereby created, reinforcing the uniqueness of the campus.

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Steve Christer: Shrouded in an exquisitely craft-

ed glass veil, the principal internal environments, lobby and circulation spaces are inventively interwoven and filtered with visual fragments of the surrounding wood, lawn and campus court. A tightly controlled and precisely managed materiality ensures that the magic of this effect is both consistent and multifarious. CA

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MAIN LEVEL 1 LINK 2 LECTURE THEATRE 3 LAPTOP LECTURE THEATRE 4 MULTIMEDIA STUDIO 5 DESKTOP COMPUTER CLASSROOM 6 E-GALLERY (OPEN TO BELOW)

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7 LINK TO SOUTH BUILDING 8 COURTYARD GARDEN 9 PRESERVED LONDON PLANE TREES 10 NEW GROUND PLANE ABOVE PARKING GARAGE 11 ADJACENT PARK 12 LOUNGE/ACCESS TO MEZZANINE LEVEL

CLIENT THE INSTITUTE OF COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE (ICC), UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO AT MISSISSAUGA ARCHITECT TEAM GILLES SAUCIER, ANDRÉ PERROTTE, ALAIN DESFORGES, ANDREW BUTLER, THOMAS BALABAN, ANNA BENDIX, NATHALIE CLOUTIER, DOMINIQUE DUMAIS, ÉRIC DUPRAS, LOUIS-PHILIPPE FRAPPIER, DARRELL DE GRANDMONT, LOUIS-CHARLES LASNIER, CHRISTINE LEVINE, JEAN-FRANÇOIS MATHIEU, CLAUDIO NUÑEZ, BENJAMIN RANKIN, PIERRE-ALEXANDRE RHÉAUME, SAMANTHA SCHNEIDER STRUCTURAL QUINN DRESSEL MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL RYBKA, SMITH AND GINSLER LANDSCAPE SAUCIER + PERROTTE ARCHITECTES INTERIORS SAUCIER + PERROTTE ARCHITECTES ACOUSTICS AERCOUSTICS ENGINEERING CONTRACTOR ELLISDON AREA 10,800 M2 BUDGET $34 M COMPLETION SEPTEMBER 2004 LONGITUDINAL SECTION

MARC CRAMER

MARC CRAMER

05/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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CIRCLE REPLY CARD 47

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CIRCLE REPLY CARD 48

Vicwest helps you push the building envelope

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Manitoba CIRCLE REPLY CARD 34

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Atlantic Provinces

GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

TOM ARBAN

TERRENCE DONNELLY CENTRE FOR CELLULAR AND BIOMOLECULAR RESEARCH ARCHITECT ARCHITECTSALLIANCE & BEHNISCH ARCHITEKTEN LOCATION TORONTO, ONTARIO

The University of Toronto and its affiliated institutions are world leaders in the quest to link genes to disease. Envisioned by its founders as a collaborative, interdisciplinary research facility, the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (TDCCBR) brings together some 400 specialists—biologists, computer scientists, physicians, pharmacists and engineers—to advance the University’s groundbreaking research in molecular biology. The program encourages interaction between disciplines and among researchers, and is expressed largely through a series of functional, highly flexible and technically advanced research laboratory floors.

Situated on the edge of the historic U of T campus, adjacent to the Provincial Legislature and one of the largest hospital precincts in North America, the TDCCBR is the fulcrum between leading-edge research and medical application.

The site is located between two historic buildings SET BACK FROM TORONTO’S BUSY COLLEGE STREET, FLANKED BY HERITAGE CAMPUS BUILDINGS AND PROTECTED BY A GENEROUS FORECOURT, THE RESEARCH TOWER GLOWS AT DUSK. BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT NUMEROUS INTERIOR LANDSCAPES, SOCIAL SPACES AND SITTING AREAS DEFINE THE HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT OF THE NEW FACILITY; SCIENTISTS AT WORK. OPPOSITE TOP TRANSPARENCY IN THE WEST FAÇADE IS CREATED THROUGH PATTERNED CERAMIC FRITTED GLASS THAT ALLOWS VIEWS INTO THE COLOURFUL INTERIOR GUTS OF THE BUILDING.

TOM ARBAN

TOM ARBAN

LEFT

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TOM ARBAN

on a closed street allowance previously used for parking and building services.

The TDCCBR reflects the University’s status as a leader in genomic research, and will aid in the recruitment of international-calibre researchers to the University. Considerations of function, flexibility, amenity and interaction informed all aspects of the design. The parti of the building—its transparency, orientation within the site, and extensive connections with surrounding buildings—convey an urbanity and civic-mindedness that is highly unusual in research labs. This has been achieved without sacrificing building security or well-controlled lab environments.

A 12-storey transparent box is elevated above a new public thoroughfare connecting the city to the historic campus centre. Consisting of a landscaped plaza, building entrance and public concourse through to the adjacent Medical Sciences Building, this route is lined with gardens, lounges, offices, seminar rooms and a cafeteria. In contrast to the simple tower above, its architectural language unfolds as a modulated landscape, creating a new public forum for the University at large, while maintaining important public pathways across the site. By biasing the building on the site, the architects created a multi-storey glazed atrium between the new building and the historic building to the west.

The shallow plates of the lab floors maximize daylight penetration and, depending upon demands of specific research requirements, allow for natural ventilation.

Double- and triple-height gardens are located at various points on the perimeter of the lab floors, providing valuable informal meeting places for researchers, students and staff. Each façade is treated differently to address individual programmatic and climatic requirements. The doubleglazed south façade provides solar and acoustic control as well as creating a richly layered transparency on the building’s primary face. The east, west and north façades are glazed with patterned ceramic fritted glass and coloured laminated glass, providing shade, privacy or amenity as required by program and circumstance. An intermediate mechanical floor is articulated to break down the mass of the lab block in a way that relates to the scale of surrounding buildings. The architectural expression of an elegant and highly transparent glass tower reflects TDCCBR’s status as the country’s leading centre of genomic research.

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John McMinn: This building presents a generous figure of program elements which participate in the urban streetscape while mediating the level change between campus and street with a free-flowing series of terraces and open connections to surrounding exterior spaces. The enlargement of public corridors at several levels, combined with stair connections on the west face of the building create generous, casual meeting places for spontaneous interaction between researchers. CA CLIENT BRENDA ANDRES, DIRECTOR, TDCCBR AND DR. JAMES FRIESEN, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, TDCCBR ARCHITECT TEAM STEFAN BEHNISCH, ADRIAN DICASTRI, PETER CLEWES, VOLKER BIERMANN, WALTER BETTIO, DENI PAPETTI STRUCTURAL YOLLES PARTERSHIP LTD. MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL STANTEC CONSULTING LAB CONSULTANT FLAD & ASSOCIATES LANDSCAPE DIANA GERRARD LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE BUILDER VANBOTS CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION AREA 20,550 M2 BUDGET $86 M COMPLETION SEPTEMBER 2005

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GROUND FLOOR CONCOURSE LEVEL 1 2 3 4 5 6

TO MEDICAL SCIENCE BUILDING CAFETERIA TERRACE SEMINAR ROOM ADMINISTRATION FORECOURT

7 ENTRANCE 8 WINTER GARDEN 9 ROSEBRUGH BUILDING 10 MINING BUILDING 11 FITZGERALD BUILDING

05/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

43

GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

TOM ARBAN

NATIONAL BALLET SCHOOL

ARCHITECT KUWABARA PAYNE MCKENNA BLUMBERG ARCHITECTS AND GOLDSMITH BORGAL & COMPANY LTD. ARCHITECTS, ARCHITECTS IN JOINT VENTURE LOCATION TORONTO, ONTARIO

Canada’s National Ballet School (NBS) is the only institute in North America to offer an integrated program of professional dance training, advanced-level academic education and resident living. Stage 1 realizes the school’s vision to create a student-centred training facility which supports its mandate to nurture mind, body, and soul and to balance innovation and tradition in the art form. It also participates in the revitalization of the North Jarvis precinct of downtown Toronto.

A partnership between the school, the previous land owners, and a residential developer was formed to combine residential land use and institutional cultural amenities in one precinct. The massing strategy was co-authored by respective architects of the school and the development to achieve maximum density on two constrained 2.4-acre urban blocks. The school and the residential development are configured to define a shared interior courtyard that also facilitates pedestrian and vehicular circulation through the block. The NBS campus is sited to face Jarvis, and 44 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

ABOVE WRAPPING ITSELF AROUND THE 1856 NORTHFIELD HOUSE AND FRAMED BY SEVERAL OTHER HISTORIC PROPERTIES ALONG JARVIS STREET, THE NATIONAL BALLET SCHOOL COMPRISES A SMALL CAMPUS THAT BOTH CONTRIBUTES TO AND SITUATES ITSELF WITHIN ITS CONTEXT.

integrates three heritage properties.

The design of the training centre was conceived as a vertical campus of three elevated transparent volumes—the six-storey North Tower, a horizontal five-storey “Bar” building, and a four-storey Pavilion building—organized into an asymmetrical U-shaped configuration around Northfield House (1856), and connected to the Margaret McCain Academic Building (formerly Havergal Ladies’ College, 1889/1901) and the R.A. Laidlaw Centre (1988 restoration and renovation).

The concept fuses architecture, dance, movement and spectacle within a series of horizontal stacked platforms or “stages.” The glazed curtain wall of the North Tower presents elevated views of the dance studios, which in turn allow the dancers to acquire the city as backdrop and audience. The art of ballet as an act of storytelling is expressed on the façade of the Pavilion where a suspended plane of frit glass carries, in Benesh notation, the choreography of the opening scene of James Kudelka’s The Nutcracker.

The space between the heritage residence and

the training centre is enclosed to create a threestorey “Town Square.” Here, the major support programs—café, physio department and resource centre—converge, and the mandate of the NBS to nurture the whole person is made manifest. Corridors and stairs provide generous “warm-up” and “hang-out” spaces for the students. The second level functions like a piano nobile: it is seamlessly linked via a bridge to classrooms in the Margaret McCain Building and is directly connected to the Betty Oliphant Theatre, allowing students and performers to walk from the training centre onto the stage. Custom-designed studio volumes, sprung floors, ballet barres and lighting systems express the school’s student-centred focus.

This project applies broadly recognized urban planning principles that link the vitality of street life and diversity of uses to the level of safety in a neighbourhood. The emphasis on transparency has brought the art of dance to the street, stimulating community pride and enhancing the identity of this treasured Canadian institution. The thoughtful refinement of all elements, from the grand vol-

TOM ARBAN TOM ARBAN

umes of the studio spaces to the ergonomics of the customized ballet barre creates a supportive and inspiring environment to encourage creativity and innovation. As a model for the harmonious coexistence of heritage and contemporary architecture, the design offers a metaphorical resolution to the dilemma of ballet in contemporary times, which is to both preserve and challenge its art form.

John McMinn: This project was complimented

TOP INSIDE ONE OF THE DANCE STUDIOS, WITH A VIEW TO THE CITY BEYOND. ABOVE ORIGINAL HERITAGE COMPONENTS ARE USED AS ARCHITECTURAL COUNTERPOINTS TO THE PROJECT’S NEW CONSTRUCTION.

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ATRIUM STUDY ROOM ROOFTOP TERRACE TOWN SQUARE CONCOURSE LEVEL PARKING

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for its strong yet varied relationship to the street, particularly in presenting the ballet studios as a vitrine of stacked spaces. The dynamic multi-level spatial interplay of circulation spaces linking diverse elements of the program also facilitates the skillful integration of an existing Victorian house within the composition of the complex. CA

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CLIENT MAVIS STAINES, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, NATIONAL BALLET SCHOOL ARCHITECT TEAM BRUCE KUWABARA, SHIRLEY BLUMBERG, MITCHELL HALL, OLGA PUSHKAR, MYRIAM TAWADROS, RAMON JANER, JEFF STRAUSS, JILL GREAVES,VIRGINIA DOS REIS, JIMMY SUN, KRISTA CLARK, MARYAM NOURMANSOURI STRUCTURAL YOLLES PARTNERSHIP INC. MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL CROSSEY ENGINEERING LTD. LANDSCAPE THE MBTW GROUP URBAN PLANNERS URBAN STRATEGIES INC. ACOUSTICS AERCOUSTICS ENGINEERING LTD. ARBORIST SHADY LANE EXPERT TREE CARE INC. AUDIOVISUAL ENGINEERING HARMONICS CONTRACTOR EASTERN CONSTRUCTION LTD. AREA 180,000 FT2 BUDGET $75 M COMPLETION DECEMBER 2005

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GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

HOUSE AT 4A WYCHWOOD PARK

ARCHITECT LOCATION

IAN MACDONALD ARCHITECT INC. TORONTO, ONTARIO

This project is located in the heritage conservation district of Wychwood Park in Toronto, of which the defining characteristic is the landscape, the most intact Carolinian Forest remnant in the region. Registration of property lines is generally discouraged in this place; as a result, the buildings sit enigmatically within the mature, apparently continuous forest landscape.

The original buildings and houses, many designed by renowned and inventive architect Eden Smith, derive from the English Cottage Arts and Crafts Style and date back to the beginning of the 20th century. 4a Wychwood makes careful connections to its historic surroundings, and through strategic siting and a modern idiom of expression, extends the essential tradition of engagement between residential architecture and landscape established in the original conception.

Heritage restrictions dictated that the new dwelling should exist within the volume of the derelict 1950s spec builder’s bungalow as found.

An inventive strategy was required to accommodate the program of a four-person family dwelling within the 1,100-square-foot envelope of the existing building, and to create private outdoor spaces on the awkward triangular site while dis46 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

tancing them from public overview. Moreover, the goal was to transform one’s read of the spec building into a site-specific modern project interpreted out of the Arts and Craft movement.

The project presents a creative solution, respecting the Arts and Crafts character of the neighbourhood within a modernist idiom. While the “universal” type of the bungalow is retained, it is made particular for its site and function through the manipulation of boundary-defining elements and spatial reorganization. From the outside, the house virtually disappears into a new landscape of dry-laid stone walls and dense planting. Building envelope and footprint restrictions result in a design of considerable sectional ingenuity, and a strategy that involved creating a site within the site to maintain privacy.

The interior is an exercise in controlling view and site: principal spaces of the house and their respective landscape prospects are developed strategically to create an intimate relationship to the site while ensuring privacy.

The living/dining room extends spatially to the low concrete garage wall, which terminates the foreground view and includes an exterior court. A language of slipping planes and flush thresholds diminishes the boundary between inside and out, and makes the modestly sized space appear generous. Through sectional strategy, the middleground landscape is edited out of view, eliminating privacy conflicts; the distant-ground view of

the ravine and forest expand the illusion that the house is sited directly in relation to nature, rather than in midtown Toronto.

The double-height kitchen/hall space provides an experiential armature for the house, and opens to a shallow landscape of the sideyard, fully one floor below grade. The composition of the glazed screen, which includes translucent and clear panels addressing the redefined grade of the light well, gives a sense of considerable distance between the house and its neighbour, focusing on the space of the outdoor court and allowing distant glimpses to the sky and landscape beyond.

The family room offers a complement to the open character of the living/dining room, where its focus shifts from outward to inward around a hearth and inglenook. The view is to the distant ravine and forest beyond, and the middle ground (which accommodates the public road), is edited out for privacy and to enhance the scale of the landscape prospect.

The house aims for a paradoxical condition of “cozy open spaces,” an attempt to resolve one of the more persistent penchants of modernist architecture to leave its occupants feeling overexposed due to excessive transparency. The house explores enduring domestic themes—the hearth, the garden, the relationship of public to private space—with considerable material and spatial inventiveness.

TOM ARBAN

TOM ARBAN

A VIEW INTO THE LIVING ROOM FROM THE ENTRY FOYER REVEALS VISUAL AND PHYSICAL ACCESS TO A SIZEABLE EXTERIOR COURTYARD, WHILE THE NEIGHBOURHOOD’S ARTS AND CRAFTS STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE IS REFERENCED THROUGH THE ABUNDANT MILLWORK USED THROUGHOUT THE INTERIOR. ABOVE RIGHT THE SECTIONAL COMPLEXITY AND SPATIAL DYNAMISM OF THE HOUSE IS PERCEIVED IN THIS VIEW FROM THE SECOND-FLOOR STUDY. BELOW VIEWED FROM THE EXTERIOR FRONT COURTYARD, THE GENTLE COMPRESSION AND INTIMACY PROVIDED BY THE 7’-4” CEILING HEIGHT IN THE LIVING/DINING ROOM IS REVEALED. MIKE AWAD

OPPOSITE

Pina Petricone: This house gives

the split-level bungalow type a whole new meaning. The strategy seems to erode and intertwine the domestic structure of street frontage, backyard and neighbouring setbacks within the modest volume of a vintage bungalow, where spaces are brilliantly mined from the site rather than added to the structure. The result is a sequence of compact indoor and outdoor “rooms” that unexpectedly unravel into exquisite grand moments of expansion. CA

CLIENT DIANE MACDIARMID ARCHITECT TEAM IAN MACDONALD, OLGA PUSHKAR, SCOTT SORLI, TIM WICKENS, MICHAEL ATTARD STRUCTURAL BLACKWELL BOWICK ENGINEERING MECHANICAL TOEWS SYSTEM DESIGN MILLWORK KOBI’S CABINETS CONTRACTOR CENED CONSTRUCTION AREA 2,600 FT2 + 1,500 FT2 STUDIO COMPLETION 2002

05/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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CIRCLE REPLY CARD 34

CIRCLE REPLY CARD 35

GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

CHEMICAL SCIENCES BUILDING, TRENT UNIVERSITY

TOM ARBAN ARCHITECT TEEPLE ARCHITECTS INC. AND ASSOCIATE ARCHITECTS SHORE TILBE IRWIN & PARTNERS LOCATION PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO

The science centre is conceived as a promenade, both architectural and natural, that brings one into repeated contact with the Otonabee River, the central focus of Ron Thom’s Trent University campus. It is directly linked to the ground floor of the existing science precinct and to its +15 circulation system. The promenade weaves between these two levels, presenting views of Trent’s unique river landscape to students as they move through the campus and the building. The river is the constant reference point, ever present in one’s experience of the place.

The building is tucked into the landscape to allow the views to and from the Otonabee River to remain intact. The new Chemical Sciences Building at Trent University is intended to be both a respectful and innovative addition to Ron Thom’s master plan. By following the eroding contours of the landscape, the structure highlights its exceptional natural beauty. Instead of simply placing the building on the site, the building becomes part of the landscape itself, embodying a reverence for the topography that characterizes the work of Ron Thom. The single-storey building allows the land to literally extend over the roof of the building, blending natural and built form.

50 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

ONE OF THE PROJECT’S SEVERAL COURTYARDS. OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP THE NEW SCIENCE CENTRE, SITED ALONG TRENT UNIVERSITY’S BEAUTIFUL OTONABEE RIVER; A CLOSER LOOK AT ONE OF THE FOLDED ROOF PLANES; THE ROCK COURT OFFERS STUDENTS A PLACE TO STUDY OR SOCIALIZE; THE OVERALL SITE PLAN STRATEGY OF THE DYNAMIC NEW BUILDING.

ABOVE

The project is organized to form a sequence of new courtyards on the campus: a rock court is cut into the hill, another court extends over the river, and an internal court is formed between the CSB and the existing Environmental Studies Building.

A highly regularized and flexible system of teaching labs can be combined, as required, into various research projects. The ordered nature of the spaces stands in contrast to the sculpted complexity of the public space as it reaches outward to the river. The centre includes a 3,000square-foot water quality lab (where conditions of the Otonabee itself are tested), teaching labs, a computational lab, and high-level research labs.

These are brought together in a shared social space, overlooking both courts. The laboratories accommodate the methodical pursuits of the researchers while evoking the complex realm of intricate and unforeseen speculation.

The project employs low-flow variable air volume fume hoods to minimize heat loss in the building. Heat is recovered from the fume hood exhaust system to achieve an exceptional level of energy efficiency. Green roofs and natural cleansing of all storm water complement its environmental approach.

Anne Cormier: This is a successful exploration of walk-on and folded roof architecture, a new form of “landscape architecture” inside and out that is a contemporary interpretation of Ron Thom’s campus. Interior and exterior gardens and paths continue trajectories launched by the existing bridge, while the heaviness of the masonry gives way to a lighter steel structure, creating a tension between the weight of the ground and the heaviness of the roof. CA

CLIENT TRENT UNIVERSITY ARCHITECT TEAM TEEPLE ARCHITECTS INC: STEPHEN TEEPLE, CHRIS RADIGAN, MATTHEW SMITH, MYLES CRAIG, MARK BAECHLER, DEAN LAVIGNE, ANYA MORYOUSSEF, LUC BOULIANE. SHORE TILBE IRWIN & PARTNERS: STEPHEN IRWIN, STEPHEN PLOEGER, JAN WILLEM GRITTERS, TERRY LEVENTOS, BOB ASHBY. STRUCTURAL YOLLES PARTNERSHIP INC. MECHANICAL SMITH & ANDERSON ELECTRICAL CROSSEY ENGINEERING LANDSCAPE MBT CONTRACTOR VANBOTS AREA 38,736 FT2 BUDGET $17.5 M COMPLETION 2004

TOM ARBAN

TOM ARBAN

TOM ARBAN

05/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

51

GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

NEW CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM

TOM ARBAN

MORIYAMA & TESHIMA ARCHITECTS, GRIFFITHS RANKIN COOK ARCHITECTS, ARCHITECTS IN JOINT VENTURE LOCATION OTTAWA, ONTARIO ARCHITECT

52 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

TOM ARBAN

Regeneration embodies the sequences of devastation, survival, rebirth, adaptation and life. In war, nature—comprising the land and the human spirit nurtured thereon—is ravaged and seemingly destroyed. Miraculously and somehow inevitably, however, nature survives and regenerates as the power of life prevails. It is this process of regeneration and healing that nourishes and rekindles human hope, faith and courage.

The design concept of regeneration was inspired by stories of Canadian veterans, war poetry, and images found in photographs and paintings in the Canadian War Museum’s Beaverbrook Collection of War Art: Canadian soldiers standing in desolate foreign landscapes, and the Beaumont Hamel Memorial in France where trenches, now covered with lush green vegetation, preserve the memory of the 710 Newfoundlanders sacrificed at the 1916 Battle of the Somme.

The building emerges gently from the bank of the Ottawa River, rising slowly towards the east to engage the urban cityscape and pay homage to, in the distance, the Parliamentary Precinct. The overall expression of the building is horizontal, with a rooftop of wild grasses. One can imagine peeling back this protective cover to reveal the interior spaces: the memory of war captured in the complex system of tilting planes that collide and intersect with one another lending to a sense of disorientation from within. The landscape overlay is evidence of the healing power of time and nature: land fusing with ruin in a slow process of regeneration and hybridization.

The concept of regeneration demanded design

and construction strategies that embraced sustainability and energy conservation. Recycled copper cladding from the Library of Parliament covers two walls in the foyer and the north wall of the Lebreton Gallery. The green roof is an effective and economical solution to stormwater management and provides significant energy savings and air pollution remediation.

Concrete, incorporating recycled fly ash, provides an energy-conserving mass. River water is used for mechanical cooling, non-potable uses and ground irrigation.

With a total gross floor area of 40,860 square metres, wall slopes from three to 31 degrees, and 32,000 cubic metres of concrete weighing 80,000 tonnes, the project engendered certain feats of engineering and building science. For example, in order to avoid the controlled appearance and relatively limited panel size inherent in a precast panel system, a custom poured-inplace cladding system was developed. All exterior cladding panels were formed and poured in situ in a process known as site-casting.

Anne Cormier: This is a building for war that conveys a sense of peace. Light and water offer a sense of tranquility to the darkness and solitude of the “trenches” while the mass of the building has a discreet rather than triumphant presence in the landscape. As a form of land art, unusual geometries are articulated with an authenticity of material—inside and out—that lend themselves to a brutal yet sculptural honesty. The result is an evocative and introspective architecture. CA

TOM ARBAN CLIENT CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM, CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION CORPORATION ARCHITECT TEAM MORIYAMA & TESHIMA ARCHITECTS: RAYMOND MORIYAMA, TED TESHIMA, DIARMUID NASH, JASON MORIYAMA, AJON MORIYAMA, BRIAN RUDY, GREG KARAVELIS, MARK THOLEN, NATHALIE MARION, DREW WENSLEY, GENE ASCENZI, JOHN BLAKEY, TAWNYA CLARK, ADAM DUNN, SHAWN GEDDES, ROY GILL, NORMAN JENNINGS, AUBREY MCINTOSH, KARLENE MOOTOO, ELIAS SAOUD, PHIL SILVERSTEIN, GEORGE STOCKTON, SANDRO UBALDINO. GRIFFITHS RANKIN COOK ARCHITECTS: ALEX RANKIN, ALEX LEUNG, EARL REINKE, LOUIS LORTIE, EMMANUELLE VAN RUTTEN, NATASHA AMO, AL BUSSIERE, MICHAEL CONWAY, JOHN COOK, DAN HENHOEFFER, JAN KAPSA, ERIC LAFLAMME, TAMMY LAVERTY, SHERRY MACKAY, GREG MANLEY, JANIS NORRIS, GINA PAPOUTSIS, PETER RANKIN, MICHELLE SEVIGNY, MARTIN TITE, JAMIE WHALEY, ROBERT WRIGHT, MICHELLE ZUNTI. LANDSCAPE WILLIAMS, ASSELIN, ACKAOUI STRUCTURAL ADJELEIAN ALLEN RUBELI MECHANICAL THE MITCHELL PARTNERSHIP INC. ELECTRICAL CROSSEY ENGINEERING LTD. CIVIL STANTEC CONSULTING EXHIBITION DESIGN CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM, HALEY SHARPE DESIGN, ORIGIN STUDIOS, LORIMER & ASSOCIATES PROJECT MANAGERS GESPRO/GENIVAR CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS PCL CONSTRUCTORS CANADA INC. AREA 41,000 M2

OPPOSITE TOP LEFT THE NEW CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM RISES MAJESTICALLY FROM THE TABULA RASA OF OTTAWA’S LEBRETON FLATS. OPPOSITE TOP RIGHT A VIEW OF REGENERATION HALL INCLUDES WALTER ALLWARD’S PLASTER MAQUETTES USED FOR THE VIMY RIDGE MONUMENT. ABOVE HIGHLY EXPRESSIVE TEXTURAL CONCRETE CHARACTERIZES THE PASSAGE THROUGH COMMISSIONERS WAY. BELOW AN AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH REVEALS THE PROJECT’S SITING IN LEBRETON FLATS, ALONG THE BANKS OF THE OTTAWA RIVER.

BUDGET $115 M INCLUDING $21 M FOR EXHIBITS COMPLETION DECEMBER 2004

9 14 15

3

8

1

2

10 13

5 11 6

NATIONAL CAPITAL COMMISSION

7

4 12 15

MAIN FLOOR 1 2 3 4 5

MAIN LOBBY HALL OF REMEMBRANCE CAFÉ GIFT SHOP THEATRE

0 6 GROUP ENTRANCE 7 ATELIERS 8 LIBRARY 9 CHANGING EXHIBITIONS 10 PERMANENT EXHIBITIONS

11 12 13 14 15

10M

EXHIBITIONS BALCONY COMMISSIONERS WAY LEBRETON GALLERY REGENERATION HALL LE TRAVERSE

05/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

53

GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER

EYEPIECE

EYEPIECE

JAYPEE INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

ARCHITECT LOCATION

LE GROUPE ARCOP NOIDA, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA

Initiated by Jaiprakash Gaur’s charitable trust, the Jaypee Institute of Information Technology (JIIT) located in Noida, India is a private institute which accommodates approximately 2,200 students. A government-recognized university, it has an international reputation and offers multidisciplinary degree courses.

The challenge of the campus project design emerged from tight site conditions, a modest budget, and the high cost of energy. The approach thus involved the reconsideration of development trends to demonstrate to the campus community how the built environment can vastly improve the lives of its people.

Nestled within a compact planning system, each building on the campus possesses its own personality, with brick and terracotta providing unified coherence through materiality. The campus is free of vehicular traffic and parking, which is relegated to the periphery.

The buildings on the campus are comprised of the academic block, library, auditorium, staff housing, student hostels, sports block and Annapurna dining hall. They are woven around a central circulation spine, progressing from a fourstorey atrium space to a tree-lined boulevard.

The central spine is also boasts “perforations,” providing a variety of gathering spaces for students both indoors and outdoors. This placemaking is spurred through architectural features 54 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

TERRACOTTA JALI (SCREENS) AND SLENDER MASONRY PIERS PROVIDE A FINER DEGREE OF DETAIL WHILE DELINEATING A MULTITUDE OF INTERIOR SPACES THROUGHOUT THE CAMPUS; VARIOUS ACADEMIC SPACES ARE LINKED THROUGH A NETWORK OF PASSAGEWAYS, STAIRS AND PORTALS; THE COMPOSITION OF APERTURES ALONG THE PROJECT ALLOWS FOR THE LENGTH OF THE COMPLEX TO BE BROKEN DOWN INTO MORE HUMANE SPACES. OPPOSITE MIDDLE A FLOATING ROOF AND NUMEROUS BALCONIES HELP ADD LEVITY TO THE HEAVY MASS OF THE FACILITY. OPPOSITE BOTTOM THE HIDDEN DELIGHT OF A SWIMMING POOL INSIDE ONE OF THE MANY INTERIOR COURTYARDS. ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT

like the terracotta jali (screens), the vertical and horizontal circulation systems of the bridges and staircase, which also enhance collegiality and friendship along with professional and educational collaboration.

The vocabulary employed for the JIIT campus is not only visually and aesthetically appealing, but clearly establishes connections with its site and context. It responds to the particularity of the regional climate in the campus’s spatial configuration, the orientation and linkages of the buildings, and the native materials and building techniques that are employed.

The entire campus is built with a simple RCC frame structure with brick walls complemented by perforated terracotta screens which encourage air flow throughout the buildings and which also provide shade from the intense heat of the Indian sun. The outer walls of the buildings are an Indian version of the rain-screen principle, while the inner walls boast windows of varying sizes. Two feet separate the outer and inner walls, providing a double-skin façade that maximizes natural ventilation in the creation of a truly energy-efficient building.

The roof of the building essentially acts as a large parasol providing shade while protecting the outer wall from heat and moisture. An energy-efficient cooling method is achieved in the way the roof is detailed, allowing the hot air between the cavity of outer and inner walls to rise and release. Furthermore, despite the lack of air conditioning, the central atrium maintains a comfortable temperature during India’s hot summers and cool winters, facilitated by the provision of a shading device made out of corrugated galvanized metal.

Steve Christer: A preliminary examination of

this project gives the impression of a simple and monolithic building, but further investigation reveals a multiplicity of spatial resolutions and a sense of openness within a tightly delineated palette. It serves as a reminder that challenging new architecture may be created with very modest means using well-known and tried methods.

Maturing planting and the patina of use will undoubtedly allow this project to mature in a most elegant manner while providing users with an enjoyable, understated environment. CA

EYEPIECE EYEPIECE EYEPIECE

CLIENT JAIPRAKASH SEWA SANSTHAN ARCHITECT TEAM RAMESH KHOSLA, SANJAY SINGH, ANCA HANGANU, DEBASISH GUHA, MANISH BAGGA STRUCTURAL PDB (B.V. CHOWDHRY) MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL ENERSAVE LANDSCAPE THE ARCOP GROUP & ARCOP ASSOCIATES PVT LTD INTERIORS THE ARCOP GROUP & ARCOP ASSOCIATES PVT LTD CONTRACTOR JAYPEE GROUP AREA 63,373 M2 BUDGET $15.4 M COMPLETION 2002

SPATIAL CONFIGURATION

05/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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2008 RAIC GOLD MEDAL

AN INCORRIGIBLE OPTIMIST Let’s start with Romania and a question that my students ask every time you visit our first-year studio. When did you decide to become an architect?

FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE MCGILL SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE DAVID COVO INTERVIEWS RAIC GOLD MEDALLIST DAN HANGANU.

It was an accident. I was expected to join the military. It was a family tradition. But a couple of months before my exams, my mother’s cousin came to visit us. She was an architect and when she started talking about architecture, I decided to switch careers. I didn’t know what architecture was, but I liked to draw and I was good in math, so I decided that this was for me.

And then you wrote the entrance exams for the school now known as “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest?

Yes, in 1955. The exams included math, drawing, chemistry, and even Russian language and Marxism-Leninism. There were eight of us competing for one seat in the program. Once admitted, we had no choice but to learn. If you failed one subject, you would repeat the whole year. If you failed a second time, you’d be expelled and likely sent to pick potatoes. I belonged to a generation that had a very short basic education. At the university, architectural history ended with the Second World War. At that time, the school was influenced by Socialist Realism—which called for the creation of a New Man, a Renaissance Man in Soviet clothes. Our classical program was so strong that I still know by heart all the Greek and Roman orders. An American critic once said to me that he detected a strong classical education behind my work and he was right—it stays with you. I finished the six-year program and became an architect at around the age of 21.

MICHEL BRUNELLE

How did you spend the first few years out of school?

ABOVE COMPLETED IN 1992, THE MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN POINTE-À-CALLIÈRE, MONTREAL REPRESENTED A TURNING POINT IN HANGANU’S CAREER. ITS ARCHITECTURE CONVEYS A COMPLEX BALANCE OF RECREATING, MEMORIALIZING AND POSTULATING THE SITE’S HISTORY AND MORPHOLOGY.

60 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

I alternated working as a full-time architect in a government-affiliated firm and working parttime as an assistant at the School of Architecture.

It was the custom that after two years of employment with an organization they would ask you to become a member of the Communist Party.

Saying again and again that I was going to switch jobs, I managed to avoid them until they said, “Comrade Hanganu, that doesn’t work.” So I left Romania for Paris. It was the second of January, 1970.

Did you just lock your apartment door and walk away?

RICHARD POISSANT ABOVE WORKING WITH JODOIN LAMARRE PRATTE ET ASSOCIÉS ARCHITECTES, HANGANU COMPLETED THE NEW HOME FOR HEC MONTREAL AT THE UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL IN 1996. THE BUILDING INCORPORATES A SERIES OF INTERNAL LANDSCAPES WHILE DUTIFULLY ACKNOWLEDGING CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURAL REFERENCES.

More or less. Although I prepared my departure for two years, I told my parents two days in advance. With Anca, my wife, I went from Romania to Yugoslavia and from Yugoslavia, we crossed the border into Austria, then into Germany and finally to France. We never told any of our friends about it because we didn’t want them to be in the position of being collaborators had the event turned out badly for us.

Were many of your classmates leaving the country in those days?

How long did you stay in Paris?

Almost one year, while I attended courses at the École des Beaux-Arts. After Paris, I moved to Toronto and worked for Bregman + Hamann, but after another year—it was not easy living in Toronto after Paris—I moved to Montreal. When I told Sidney Bregman that I wanted to move to Montreal, he said, “Dan, there is no future in Montreal, but if you ever want to come back, you are always welcome.”

Have any returned?

You finally arrived in Montreal in 1971. When you and I first met in 1975 or ’76, you were working with Eva Vecsei on the Concordia project. What did you do when you first came to Montreal?

Permanently? I don’t know. None that I know of, but some go back periodically, like I do. I continue to work on some projects in Romania.

I worked with Victor Prus. He had no work at the time, but he liked my stuff and hired me. I worked on the Molson House, the Langelier metro station

About 60 percent. Most of my friends eventually left Romania to work in France, England, Italy, Switzerland, the United States, and so on.

05/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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MICHEL BRUNELLE

turning it over to Eva Vecsei, who ran with it and invited me to join her. So I did. Dimakopoulos had asked me to be his associate but I declined. He didn’t talk to me for 10 years.

What happened after the Concordia project?

I formed a partnership with Eva in 1975 when she left Dimakopoulos, and we stayed together for four years. Although I had been working on small projects on my own since 1974, it wasn’t until 1979 that I started my own office with a housing project on Nuns’ Island where I played the roles of architect, builder and developer. Since then, I’ve built other projects on the Island.

ÉRIC PICHÉ

One of the housing projects on Nuns’ Island—Habitations Rue de Gaspé, where you still live—was recognized by the OAQ (Quebec Order of Architects) in 1981 with your first major award in Canada, and between 1981 and 1991, you received 10 more awards, all celebrating your work in housing. Housing projects were very important to you in this first period of your practice.

Yes, because I learned so much about building. Years ago, I was lucky to work for one of Romania’s best architects—Nicolae Porumbescu. He was a talented architect who could also talk to plumbers, masons and electricians, and he knew construction better than anyone. Years later in Canada, I asked a mason to do a certain type of joint. He said that it couldn’t be done. I said, “Give me your trowel! You do it like this!” All of this comes from Porumbescu.

You’ve also written and spoken about what you once described as “the natural behaviour of building materials...”

That I learned from Prus. Every material has its own way of expressing itself. Metal, wood, concrete: “the obedient concrete,” he used to say.

Masonry is all about gravity and history. Metal is volatile, granite imposing and arrogant! Wood works according to its own set of rules: compression, no tension, and so on. In my first years, this was my obsession. I used to build with the Italians 10 hours a day. I learned how to work with them and to see where you needed room to nail, or place a pipe. Doing, demolishing and doing it again.

You enjoy surprising people with the materials that you use, like the corrugated metal columns in the Gelber Library at McGill and the chipboard in the School of Business Administration at the Université de Montréal.

TOP WORKING WITH ENLIGHTENED CLIENT STEPHEN TOOPE ON THE NAHUM GELBER LAW LIBRARY AT MCGILL UNIVERSITY (1996-98), HANGANU EXPLORED THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN THE GRAVITY OF MASONRY AND THE LEVITY OF GLASS AND STEEL. ABOVE FOR THE MONTREAL STUDIOS AND OFFICES OF THE WORLD-FAMOUS CIRQUE DU SOLEIL (199497), HANGANU REVEALED THE BUILDING’S STEEL STRUCTURE THROUGH A THIN SKIN OF GLASS WHILE ALSO INCORPORATING A SERIES OF PLAYFUL CIRCULAR WINDOWS.

and a competition for the National Gallery in Ottawa. Victor was a very good architect, well cultured but with an unhappy Slavic character. I asked him one day, “Why are you so unhappy? You radiate such tension. I am the same, although I am Latin.” His answer was, “If you are like me, why don’t you understand me?” We were too much alike, and I eventually left.

Then I went and worked for Dimitri Dimakopoulos until 1974. During the ’70s, ARCOP had been working on the Concordia Project, and, when Ray Affleck resigned, Dimakopoulos took over. Soon after, he also resigned, 62 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

There was a period of time when I used a lot of chipboard in my projects. It is such a beautiful material. Once you stain it, add colour and light, it becomes a noble material—you make something out of nothing—arte povera, which prepares the background for the final, precious intervention.

My only regret is that I haven’t been able to complete my buildings with that “special thing” that would make people even more aware of the socalled poor materials. That “special thing,” which is supposed to be the icing on the cake, seldom appears because clients never seem to have the money or any understanding of it. Sometimes I try to do this intervention myself.

For example, the canopy of the Hotel Godin, the ceiling at le Théatre du Nouveau Monde, and a few others. Sometimes I think that I don’t have a single “finished” building in Montreal.

Some of your projects are marked in interesting ways by your relationships with your clients—friendships that outlast the design and construction process.

This was certainly the case with Stephen Toope, former Dean of McGill’s Faculty of Law and the client for McGill’s Law Library. Toope was such an

articulate man. He knew so much about architecture. He was well informed and so taken by architecture and its real meaning. It was such a pleasure to talk to him.

Was that also the case with the Benedictine monks in St-Benoîtdu-Lac?

MICHEL BRUNELLE

With the monks, it became a personal relationship. The commission was a result of a competition that I won. As a Greek Orthodox, I told them that I would observe them from the outside. I even stayed with them at the monastery for a few days. At first, they wanted a contemporary building but as the scheme evolved, they began to demand a more traditional religious architecture. I told them, “I cannot do that.” It has to be a contemporary gesture, as well as a continuation of the work of Dom Bello and Dom Coté— the previous architects.

At the end of construction, Père Garneau, the Abbot at the time, drove an hour and a half into Montreal to tell me, “Today I prayed and I thanked God for He gave you the force to say no to us.” And later: “We are very pleased.

You have brought a certain Byzantine mystique to the design of our church.”

I was shocked. I had been so keen to create a Catholic gesture. I studied Catholic essentials, Vatican II for example. I went to Italy, Spain, France and Germany in order to understand and learn. In the end, this is what I achieved.

We carry deep down within our subconscious the traditions that we are a part of and the unsayable that stays within us. We have remained such good friends ever since. Our office started working on the monastery in 1989 and finished it in 1994. I spent five years on the project, going there every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. At the time, our office was also working on Pointe-à-Callière which opened in 1992.

Do you see these two projects, executed almost simultaneously, as having shaped your practice in some way?

Each of them explores the same idea, which is related to Aldo Rossi’s “the presence of the past.” They are about architecture as a cultural phenomenon, about history, knowledge of the past, continuity and especially the skillful and humble insertions of “who we were” into the demanding present, while hoping for a bright future. I think this is the essence of our profession.

It was the most complex. We had to respect the site’s environment, its history. In the end, we had to copy—like a phantom—the silhouette of the old building. On many levels—social, philosophical, contextual—we had to manipulate and balance the challenges. The building refers to the architectural legacy of the French and shows how you build on top of older civilizations while managing to achieve continuity. In the end, I felt good about it.

In the early stages of the project during the public hearings, it was called “a scar on Montreal’s cheek,” but after 16 years it still passes quite well the test of time.

MICHEL BRUNELLE

You have said that Pointe-à-Callière stands out as your most successful project. Why is it so important to you?

TOP STOIC QUALITIES ARE APPARENT IN THE ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL AT THE UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL (1992-95), AN URBAN BUILDING CONTAINING LARGE PUBLIC EXHIBITION FACILITIES AND A SERIES OF STUDIO SPACES. ABOVE AFTER WINNING A LIMITED DESIGN COMPETITION FOR THE EXPANSION OF A PREVIOUSLY CONVERTED CHURCH IN LÉVIS, QUEBEC, HANGANU SET OUT TO CREATE A CLEAR DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE PROJECT’S HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE.

Is there anything about Pointe-à-Callière that you would change?

I would complete it. There is still, literally, an empty niche to fill with a “precious intervention.”

Let’s talk about the office. You once said that you started some projects with a weekend charrette at your country place. Do you still do that? How do you manage your projects as a sole practitioner?

We used to do that primarily for competitions because you are away from the

phone and fax. But we don’t do that so much anymore. As for the process, I may be the boss, but I have Nathan Godlovitch and Gilles Prud’homme.

They are my right hands. Nathan has been with me for 25 years, ever since he left school. Gilles joined us in 1985 or so. We do a lot of design development together but for site supervision we rely on Olivier Grenier, who used to work with us but now has his own firm. Guillaume Delorimer and Tom Schweitzer, who were also with me for many years, have moved on. I also have some young people in the office—about a dozen. And I have satellites too—people who used to work here and who now have their own practices. They provide support with design development, detailing and site supervision.

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DAN HANGANU ARCHITECTS

DAN HANGANU ARCHITECTS/THE ARCOP GROUP

DAN HANGANU ARCHITECTS/THE ARCOP GROUP

DAN HANGANU ARCHITECTS/LEMAY DORVAL FORTIN DOYLE/MILL & ROSS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT AS ONE OF THE COMPETITION FINALISTS FOR THE CANADIAN MUSEUM FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN WINNIPEG, HANGANU’S PROPOSAL WAS EVENTUALLY DEFEATED BY THE DESIGN TEAM LED BY ANTOINE PREDOCK; A SERIES OF NEW TOWERS IN CHINA, ONE OF THE NEW MARKETS HANGANU HAS EXPLORED IN RECENT YEARS; THE NEW AHMEDABAD NEIGHBOURHOOD CENTRE IN AHMEDABAD, INDIA WILL INCLUDE OFFICES, RETAIL SPACE, APARTMENTS, AND A HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTRE WHEN COMPLETED; A PROPOSAL FOR THE BANK STREET DESIGN COMPETITION, LOCATED IN THE PARLIAMENTARY PRECINCT IN OTTAWA. THE WINNER WAS NEVER ANNOUNCED.

Do you still spend a lot of time on the site yourself?

Are we, as a society, complacent?

Yes, I do still go on site—to make noise and problems! I love the smell of wood and concrete. It is important to verify your ideas from the early stages, to verify whether you are right or wrong.

In Canada—but not only here—we assist in a strong polarization towards two extremes. On one hand, you have the developers, obsessed with commercial success and the eternal game of power. On the other hand, we have the selfproclaimed “crusaders,” defending us against doomsday scenarios that are based on mostly fabricated, amplified fears. They present a subjective and negative perception of natural progress, often based on a lack of historical knowledge and their perception of the complexity of the contemporary horizon. Bad projects are aborted for bad reasons and good projects, unfortunately, experience the same fate, for the same bad reasons. Architects are caught in between, and we say nothing on the public stage.

You spend a lot more time on airplanes these days. You are working all over the world, in India, China and of course, Romania. Does this international experience change the way you approach your work here?

When I return I sometimes feel a little uneasy, because I sense that something has changed. Look at Eastern Europe, which includes Hungary, Romania, Russia, etc. Look at India and China. When Arthur Erickson returned from China some years ago, he described it as a society that doesn’t plan for tomorrow or the day after, but is instead concerned about the years ahead. In these countries we discover ambition, desire and a determination to define their place in a world which has been neglecting them for so long.

But have our own attitudes changed? Have we lost the ambition to be excellent, the desire to make a difference?

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Ruskin is often cited as having said, “There is nothing in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and those who buy on price alone are this man’s lawful prey.” But it’s not just about money, is it? It’s about values and how we define them.

Architecture is like any other contemporary phenomenon: it is character-

ized by a natural relationship with the taste of the masses and calls for a set of laws different from those associated with the individual.

Jean-François Revel refers to the “sweet tyranny of public opinion.” This public opinion is based on what people see and think they can easily judge: the physical aspects of architecture. We are witnessing today, in a marketdriven culture, the continuous development of two tendencies: on one hand, the lowest common denominator or what we could call the vulgar expression of advanced mediocrity, and on the other, the courageous leap forward of an illuminated minority obsessed with technological supremacy in all aspects of life.

In order to secure consensus, complex issues are reduced to unidimensional thinking, making a debate obsessed only with the height of buildings and a servile attitude vis-à-vis “thy neighbour,” as if we contemporaries have nothing else to say. Absent is the discourse about architectural qualities, about creating spaces and producing emotions—the discourse about architecture as a cultural phenomenon. Have we forgotten what happens when we explore proportion and volumetric harmony, colour and transparency, the notion of surprise and the subtle manipulation of light?

Isn’t this something that we can fix?

I’m not sure that we can fix it. Attitudes have changed; culture and expectations have changed; the individual has changed. There is a strong and constant shift of interests in the balance between “us” and “me,” an almost unstoppable adulation of oneself in the mirror. The combination of our self-doubt, constant and destructive self-criticism, and rejection of any invention that does not fit “Procrustes’ bed” is going to leave a strong imprint on our present production.

I was once called to order in Quebec City when I said that democracy is not necessarily the best friend of architecture. What we once admired through history was built by the strong and the strong-willed. You cannot glorify that now because it is outdated and politically incorrect; but somebody has to remind us when the emperor has no clothes.

Do you remember when Alan Balfour came to Montreal a few years ago and shared the stage with Frank Gehry and Peter Eisenman? Balfour said that the history of architecture has three epochs, defined by the Athlete, the Mime and Acrobat. The Athlete is Modernism. The Mime is Postmodernism. To which Frank Gehry said, “The Acrobat is us?” And he said, “Yes sir, both of you.”

NO MISGIVINGS ON MASTERY A LONGTIME ADMIRER, INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN AND CRITIC KENNETH FRAMPTON WEIGHS IN ON THE CAREER OF DAN HANGANU.

TEXT

KENNETH FRAMPTON

Dan Hanganu is a justly revered Canadian architect of Romanian origin whose reputation on the national and international stage has long since deserved the ultimate distinction of the Gold Medal.

It is an honour for me to be asked to write a brief tribute to the achievement of a lifetime of dedicated practice, and in so doing to remind myself that I have known Dan Hanganu and his work for over a quarter of a century—that is to say even since his first row housing for Nuns’ Island, dating from 1980, a canonical exceptionally sensitive piece of low-rise high-density housing in brick, the realization of which I publicly celebrated as soon as it was published.

Now some 50-odd works later, most of which I have never seen, one is forcibly struck by the prodigious output of the office as a whole, entailing numerous buildings designed by both himself and his wife, Anca. Within this impressive and fertile trajectory, there are a number of works which stand out in my personal memory for the unique spirit and quality that they exude. In particular, the understated but rigorous Pavillon de Design for the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) (1995), the social housing of Habitations de Sienne/ Ste-Lucie, the church in the monastery of St-Benoît-du-Lac (1994) and the Pointe-à-Callière Museum of Archaeology (1992) in Old Montreal. This is Dan in his monumental bâtiment d’angle mode; a highly elaborated quasi-classical piece which could hardly be in greater contrast to the spirited, colourful hitech environment he would realize five years later for the Cirque du Soleil.

What more can one say except that this is a proven master architect who, despite his perennial misgivings about being a displaced figure, is indisputably a talented Canadian designer who, through his faithful and rigorous work has a proven commitment to both the cultural heritage of Canada and the city of Montreal. CA

But the Acrobats are so few in number. Are they so dangerous?

I don’t think that they are dangerous, but I question their place, in the long run, in the history of architecture. I think that they are making noise for a period of time and will eventually lose their spark. It’s very interesting that they share certain common qualities: they all talk very well, they are charming. Give the Acrobats an audience and they will be happy.

And what about the architecture in between? Aren’t we starting to think more constructively about cities, paying more attention to the public realm? When we look to cities like Barcelona, Prague, Singapore, Helsinki—it’s a very long list—will we not find models that restore value to the idea of place-making?

Some, but there seems to be such a cacophony in almost everything that we do. We have to be more careful. We need to pay attention, to focus on what we do best as architects. At the end of the day, we also have to deal with new kinds of issues—deadlines, profits and market forces, and all the other things that, in the real world, make capitalism successful. What happened to the pleasure that we used to take in drawing and building? Where once we had builders, now we have legislators. We used to be very much interested in the end result, but now we are mesmerized by the process itself and its morphology. Success has a different colour.

Kenneth Frampton is the Ware Professor of Architecture at Columbia University in New York.

And yet, over a period of almost 50 years, you have managed to design and build a body of work that is consistent in its exuberance, inventiveness and optimism about the future. How is it that your work is so full of light but your present outlook so dark?

Deep down, I am an incorrigible optimist, but that does not prevent me from noticing the negative forces that influence our profession today. I used to say people are not so much interested in architecture, they are interested in construction.

Who are some of the architects who inspire you?

Rafael Moneo, Toyo Ito, Renzo Piano. There are some young Japanese who are very strong. Jean Nouvel, although lately he seems to have a weak spot for the Acrobats. Why? He was such a Cartesian!

Are the sophisticated and increasingly accessible computer applications that make it so easy for all of us—not just the Acrobats— to model our buildings and cities an issue here? Richard Sennett 05/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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DAVID COVO

MAX TREMBLAY

DAVID COVO ABOVE WORKING WITH THE EXISTING CONTEXT OF AN EARLY 20TH-CENTURY BENEDICTINE MONASTERY IN ST-BENOÎT-DU-LAC, QUEBEC (1989-94), HANGANU SPENT FIVE INTENSE YEARS LEARNING FROM AND COLLABORATING WITH HIS CLIENTS, ACHIEVING AN ARCHITECTURE THAT SUCCESSFULLY INCORPORATES MASONRY, LIGHT AND LITURGY.

has written about the “abuse of CAD” and observed that sometimes the machines seem to learn more quickly than the people using them.

The technology has taken off and there is a generation of people in our offices who know how to manipulate the machine. But the machine has the seductive ability to hide the lack of depth and essential knowledge of the user. They manage to reach the emotions and satisfy the joy of ownership with images that are simply beautiful. There is nothing else: they are beautiful. They stand out. They are impressive. But sometimes, when it comes to the essentials of space-building, there is not so much beyond the image itself. And there is also the basic attitude that informs everything we do— perception versus reality. Reality doesn’t seem to matter; it is the perception of reality which seduces us all. Remember that “today, all experiences must be reproduced in order to be real.”

Perhaps we are only seeing the beginnings of this technology— what the future will reveal as the lowest expression of the power 66 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

of the computer to explore architectural ideas. I remember a student whose computer skills were so developed that he could not only model but also express conceptual ideas—about the building, about space and organization, about structure and materials— without sacrificing the ambiguity of the gestural sketch. One day near the end of term, I found him cleaning his drafting table and his parallel ruler. “It’s time to build,” he explained, because for him, drawing the project by hand was analogous to building it, and building it was how he verified it. I understood then in a way that I hadn’t before that these two modes of thinking and working are, and always will be, complementary.

Let’s be clear: I am not against the computer. I think that everything is in evolution. In what I have been doing recently with masonry, glass, perforated metals or mirrors, I want to explore transparency and materiality, trying not to be in line with fashion but to discover what’s beyond all that. My question is how do we recognize serious practice from the other? Twenty years ago, when you looked at a drawing done by hand by a student, it would

take you five seconds to determine whether this guy was a good architect.

Today, there are beautiful pictures. One more beautiful than the other. The guy starts talking and says nothing, yet his presence is so appealing. This is a problem.

I do not accept that the time of the idea has passed and that things are changing in such a way that the substance is eliminated. I’ll go back to Hegel’s spiral. You go forward and then back to the same position, but always at a higher level. You only achieve a different level. There is knowledge of history and construction. Many younger architects lack that awareness. The good architects? You see everything behind them. For example, Eisenman has such a strong classical knowledge base.

You have taught at McGill, the Université de Montréal, and lectured at schools all over the world. What about the traditional role of part-time teachers in schools of architecture: teacher-practitioners, like you, who come in from busy offices not just to teach but also provide an essential link with the profession? Is the teacher-practitioner becoming an endangered species?

Yes it is. When you see a student who makes a basic mistake, there might be a weak professor behind him. But when the student finishes school, he hits the real world and has a shock, because he knows how to make beautiful pictures but he doesn’t know how to draw a brick. Does he have to? Is somebody else going to do it for him? Maybe. In my time, I was forced to absorb knowledge in school. It was not a privilege, but a duty. Philosopher George Steiner once said that absorbing knowledge “is not easy, it must not be easy.”

What happens to your own practice when you leave?

I will die with my boots on. I have Nathan and Gilles and hope they will carry on. That would be great.

DAN HANGANU: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

The 2008 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Gold Medal is awarded to Dan S. Hanganu, FRAIC for successfully transcending the professional and academic worlds as well as for having an extensive body of internationally published articles and projects. One of Hanganu’s primary concerns focuses on how the culture of architecture can have an impact on people, which is evident in the scale, form and materiality of his buildings, where the mystique of classical references can be found.

Hanganu completed a degree in architecture at the University of Bucharest in 1961, and arrived in Canada in 1970. Hanganu has been internationally recognized as an Officer from the National Order of Quebec (2005), also receiving a doctorate honoris causa in architecture from Laval University (2004) and the University of Bucharest (2003), the Prix Carrière Sam-Lapointe from the Institute of Design Montreal (2004), Man of the Year from the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal (1998), and the Prix Paul-Émile Borduas (1992)—an award given by the Government of Quebec to individuals practicing in the field of visual arts. Receiving the Prix Borduas was of great significance to Hanganu, as it was the first time the prize was awarded to a practicing architect, thus representing an affirmation of his contribution to the culture of architecture in Quebec.

Additionally, Hanganu has received more than 50 architectural awards, many from the RAIC, the Quebec Order of Architects and from preservation organizations such as the Sauvons Montréal cultural group. He has taught at the Université de Montréal and McGill University, as well as having been a visiting lecturer in architecture schools across North and South America and Europe.

The RAIC Gold Medal is awarded in recognition of significant contribution to Canadian architecture, and is the highest honour the profession of architecture in Canada can bestow. It recognizes an individual whose personal work has demonstrated exceptional excellence in the design and practice of architecture, and/or whose work related to architecture has demonstrated exceptional excellence in research or education.

Will your practice change? How? NOTABLE PROJECTS

It will change because I did not have the ability and quality which are almost sine qua non for a prima donna or star architect. I don’t have that. Those kinds of architects are so enchanted with their own destiny that they care for little except the preservation of their name after they leave.

I was not so enchanted by what I do. I am not a great admirer of my buildings. If you are blinded by your place in history and the continuity of your name, then you take care in leaving it to somebody else. For me, I didn’t think that it was worth the effort. I am not trying to be modest or a hypocrite. Some people, like my good friend the French architect Henri Ciriani, is so conscious about it that, in a restaurant, his sketch on a paper placemat would carefully disappear into his pocket. Jean Nouvel was different. He would draw a bunch of sketches on the table and would leave them behind: a different approach. Perhaps I have not taken care of this because I don’t think it is so important; perhaps it is just my nature.

The juries responsible for the more than 50 awards you have received since 1981 might disagree with you. Of all the awards that have recognized your work—apart from the RAIC Gold Medal—which was the most precious to you?

The Prix Paul-Émile Borduas is an awards program that recognizes the contributions of artists. From what I understand, I was the only practicing architect to receive this award. The prize acknowledged the idea that an architect can be an artist. CA

2004, 20072006200320012000-2004 1999-2003 1997-2000 1996-1998 1994-1997 1994-1997 1992-1996

1992-1995 1990-1992

1989-1994 1988-1990 1984-1986 1982-1984 1980

LeBreton Flats Housing, Phase I and II, Ottawa, Ontario Espace 400e Museum, Quebec City, Quebec St-Hyacinthe Performance Hall, St-Hyacinthe, Quebec Sussex-Mackenzie Mixed-Use Housing Complex, Ottawa, Ontario (in joint venture with IBI Group) Hotel Godin, Montreal, Quebec L’Anglicane de Lévis, Lévis, Quebec Centre d’archives du Québec, Montreal, Quebec (with Provencher Roy + associés) New Law Library, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Montreal, Quebec Cirque du Soleil, Montreal, Quebec École des Hautes Études Commerciales, Montreal, Quebec (in joint venture with Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et associés architectes) Pavillon de Design, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Quebec Pointe-à-Callière Museum of Archaeology, Montreal, Quebec (in joint venture with Provencher Roy + associés) Abbey Church, St-Benoît-du-Lac, Quebec Val de l’Anse Residential Condominium Tower, Nuns’ Island, Quebec Habitations Crémazie (Housing for the Elderly), Montreal, Quebec Berlioz Street Row Housing, Nuns’ Island, Quebec de Gaspé and Corot Streets Row Housing, Nuns’ Island, Quebec 05/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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2008 RAIC GOLD MEDAL

A STRONG WILL HAVING SEEN DAN HANGANU’S CAREER EVOLVE THROUGH SEVERAL ECONOMIC CYCLES OF MONTREAL’S HISTORY, ODILE HÉNAULT RECALLS A FEW EPISODES IN THE 2008 RAIC GOLD MEDALLIST’S CAREER.

TEXT

ODILE HÉNAULT MICHEL BRUNELLE

PHOTO

ABOVE AN INTERIOR SHOT OF THE CENTRE D’ARCHIVES DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL, A PROJECT SHOWCASING DAN HANGANU’S ABILITY TO LINK THE PAST WITH THE PRESENT, THE CLASSICAL WITH THE CONTEMPORARY, AND THE SOLID WITH THE VOID.

It is difficult to write about Hanganu, the architect, without talking about Dan, the individual. A man possessed by the idea of building, constantly looking for a project—big or small—to sink his teeth into. I watched him slowly evolve from his first buildings on Nuns’ Island to Pointe-àCallière, the Benedictine Abbey at St-Benoît-duLac, the Université de Montréal’s HEC, UQÀM’s School of Design and the Centre d’archives du Québec à Montréal. I watched him win many competitions. And I watched him lose a few as well—the Canadian Museum for Human Rights competition in Winnipeg was particularly painful.

When I think of Dan Hanganu, I remember a

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local jury refusing to give him an award under the pretext that he had already received one the year before. In search of a more credible assessor, I called Kenneth Frampton at Columbia University and asked him if he would like to provide some architectural commentary. A few weeks later, I sat in Frampton’s office for an entire afternoon while he wrote his first piece on Hanganu, who received an incredible boost after reading it.

I remember when Pointe-à-Callière was inaugurated in May, 1992. On that particular day, the Montreal daily, Le Devoir, published an article calling for the building’s demolition. I telephoned the newspaper, flabbergasted at such a

lack of understanding of the building’s architectural merits. Fortunately, Pointe-à-Callière rapidly gained recognition and has become a major landmark in the city. This project eventually contributed to Hanganu being given the Prix Paul-Émile Borduas (the most prestigious artistic achievement award in Quebec) later that year.

When he started work on the Benedictine Abbey, Hanganu bought a house 10 minutes away from St-Benoît-du-Lac so that he could more easily oversee construction. On the day of the project’s inauguration, I sat down with him and some friends in front of the altar’s solid block of granite that Hanganu himself had carefully oiled.

When, according to tradition, the myrrh rubbed on each of the four corners was lit, the whole altar appeared to go up in flames. It was an extraordinary experience, one that transcends architecture.

Hanganu’s most provocative building to date is without a doubt the HEC business administration school at the Université de Montréal. Around the time of the building’s opening, I remember reading an unfortunate comment made to the press by one of his detractors. At the time, no one dared to applaud the building’s merits, yet it is considered one of the most remarkable projects to be built in Quebec over the last 20 years.

Dan Hanganu has contributed much to Montreal’s architectural scene, raising the bar for all.

Because of his dedication and perseverance, other architects have been able to create a body of work in Montreal that is the envy of other Canadian cities. Hanganu has also been a great source of inspiration to students and young professionals, and rarely has an architect devoted so much energy, talent and passion to his work. I would like to thank him for the beauty he has given us since he arrived in Montreal in the early 1970s, and I am extremely happy that he is receiving this much-deserved RAIC Gold Medal.

I wish him strength and serenity to continue in the often unappreciative culture in which architecture is practiced. CA

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BOOK REVIEWS COMPILED BY

IAN CHODIKOFF, JON SCOTT BLANTHORN AND LESLIE JEN.

one seeking to understand the energy, optimism and thoughts constituting van Eyck’s view of the city. The second volume, entitled Collected Articles and Other Writings 1947-1998, covers a wide range of subjects such as the De Stijl period; the fragility of preserving ancient buildings like Angkor Wat; the dynamics of slums; Sandy van Ginkel’s plan for Expo ’67; and the importance of pueblos or the architecture contained within the African settlements throughout the Dogon in Mali. But van Eyck was not stuck in the 1960s. His 1984 essay entitled “Symmetry from the Bright Side” and his 1987 lecture “The Circle and the Centre” both allow us to appreciate the merits of balance and composition while eschewing saccharine historicisms associated with Postmodernism.

This ambitious collection of Aldo van Eyck’s writings clearly represents a labour of love for both the publisher and the editors. Anyone willing to sit down and enter the headspace of this very ambitious and humane architect will emerge enlightened and considerably delighted. IC Aldo van Eyck: Writings (Volume 1: The Child, the City and the Artist; Volume 2: Collected Articles and Other Writings 19471998) Edited by Vincent Ligtelijn and Francis Strauven.

Amsterdam: SUN Publishers, 2008.

Every so often, one discovers a seemingly esoteric publication which, upon closer examination, becomes a veritable treasure trove of information. Aldo van Eyck (1918-1998) was a Dutch architect who believed that writing was as important as designing buildings. Initially designing hundreds of children’s playgrounds after the Second World War, he later joined CIAM in 1947, dedicating his life to the pursuit of a more humane architecture while rejecting the production-oriented functionalism contained within the concepts of Modernist thinking.

Through his writings, he would eventually develop theories relating to identity, the in-between, place and occasion, reciprocity and twin phenomena.

If we can put aside our 21st-century cynicism for a moment, reading through this wonderfully illustrated two-volume set (accompanied by a DVD of a lecture he gave in Delft in 1967) is both comforting and inspiring. Van Eyck’s writings constitute a considerable palimpsest to the architectural history and theory of the 1960s.

The first volume is entitled The Child, the City and the Artist, and it is based on a series of courses that van Eyck gave at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960 and which led to the creation of an unpublished manuscript in 1962. For the first time, the book has been published in its entirety and the essays are indispensable reading for any72 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

The Endless City: The Urban Age Project by the London School of Economics and Seutscha Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society Edited by Ricky Burdett and Deyen Sudjic. London: Phaidon, 2008.

Although poverty, migration and constrained living conditions have been concerns for inhabitants, planners and politicians since the concept of the city was born 5,000 years ago, contemporary cities are distinguished by the very thing that makes them modern: the enormity and concentration of the problems due to accelerated expansion. This is the main platform onto which The Endless City is built. A series of essays by theorists

and practitioners from cultural, political and academic sectors, the book is intent on confronting these difficulties, exploring every facet of the urban experience from affordable housing in an open economy to civic engagement and diversity.

Framing their views around six cities (New York, Shanghai, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg and Berlin), chosen for their continuous rapid growth, the solutions offered are ultimately optimistic attempts to enable change and long-term viability.

The book succeeds in demonstrating how all these cities share progress and decline in seemingly equal measures though rarely implode due to a mutual desire to be “international,” an ambition that fuels their development. As a result, however, architecture across many cities is becoming indistinguishable, less about defining or reflecting the culture in which it is built and more about making it homogeneous. As wealthier local governments open up competitions to international architects in the hopes of attaining a landmark attraction, they risk neglecting local needs and eradicating identity in favour of a global brand.

The volume of facts and imagery here is astonishing. The reader becomes immersed in each city through essays—divided thematically—both factual and passionate. Jose Castillo’s moving “After the Explosion” charts Mexico City as a place that never stood a chance following environmental and industrial accidents, while the people ingeniously rise above their conditions by leading reforms through ground-level communication.

By contributing to the analysis of cities’ economic, architectural, governmental and social structures, the authors allow us to observe how cities and people respond to each other, eliciting anger and relief, frustration and hope. JSB A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Montreal

By Nancy Dunton and Helen Malkin. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2008.

Authored by Montrealers Nancy Dunton and Helen Malkin, both of whom have past affiliations with the Canadian Centre for Architecture, this guidebook emphasizes the period of building in Montreal from 1983 to the present. Similar to a previously published (1998) guide to Montreal architecture—part of the popular international miniature series published by Ellipsis from the UK—the current guide delivers more bang for the buck through its larger format, full-colour photographs and crisply articulated architectural drawings, along with clear and detailed mapping of all 75 projects covered.

For Dunton and Malkin, the 1983 construction of the seminal Maison Alcan on Sherbrooke

culminates in an unequivocally optimistic view towards what is yet to come for the city of Montreal. LJ Mapping London: Making Sense of the City

By Simon Foxell. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007.

Street in Montreal’s downtown core marked a sea change, a shift in attitude with respect to the city wherein a greater public consciousness of Montreal took hold. The increase in number of major architectural competitions and public consultations drastically altered—for the better—the educational and cultural context for the next generation of architects about to graduate, and it is their work that largely constitutes the projects covered in the guide; among them, consistently awardwinning firms such as Atelier Big City, Daoust Lestage, Saia Barbarese Topouzanov, Saucier + Perrotte, and Claude Cormier.

The buildings themselves were selected for their enduring quality—transcending the time period in which they were built—and for the contributions they make to their respective neighbourhoods or quartiers, to public space, and to civic life. But taking the buildings beyond their status as independent examples of good design, the guidebook is subdivided into regions and categories such as downtown, McGill University, Quartier Latin, Plateau Mont-Royal and Notre Dame de Grâce, encouraging readers to discover the buildings in the context of neighbourhoods, facilitating a greater understanding and comprehension of the city and its constituent parts. The approach incorporates layers of meaning into the exercise, resulting in an experience much greater than the sum of its parts. Towards this goal, the guide’s detailed maps enable readers to plan an ordered exploration of the city. An added bonus is that all listed projects are readily accessible from the city’s excellent public transit system.

Rounding out the offerings are insightful essays by Georges Adamczyk and Ricardo L. Castro, contributing a historical richness and philosophical context to the publication, which

This rich collection of over 150 maps of London spans over six centuries—from the 1500s to the present, from which a highly compelling story of this great city unfurls. Reduced to its most elemental two-dimensional representation, London is recognizable to a great many of us by the Thames that snakes its way through the city’s densely concentrated network of streets. But through the array of cartographic documents lovingly researched and compiled by architect Simon Foxell, London is presented in a variety of contexts: historical, social and political.

Organized into four major parts—London Change and Growth, Serving the City, Living in the City, and Imagining London, Mapping London reminds us of key historic events through the infinite variety of map types contained within. In one section, plans for rebuilding parts of London after the Great Fire of 1666 are presented, and in the “Health, Water and Waste” section, a map from 1855 illustrates the concentration of cholera cases during the city’s outbreak the previous year.

Reminders of more recent historical events are also contained within the collection: under the

theme of attack and defence, a post-World War II map from 1945 surveys bomb damage in central London.

Certain maps have embedded themselves in our collective consciousness: here, readers are treated to various iterations of the appealingly colourful London Underground subway map.

Equally iconic is the Monopoly board that generations have come to know and love—though most of us are familiar with the original American game, the London version has been in existence since the 1930s, and as such, the desirability of pricey real estate in such districts as Mayfair, Park Lane and Bond Street is reinforced in play as in life.

Significant emphasis is placed on planning the city over the centuries—right up to present day.

Contemporary figures like Rem Koolhaas and Richard Rogers make the cut, and we are reminded of their late-20th century imaginings of London in the former’s dystopic vision of the city in Delirious New York (1975) and the latter’s decidedly more optimistic London as it Could Be (1986), a scheme that proposes linkages of urban spaces and pedestrian connections. Most recently, Terry Farrell’s Thames Gateway Vision (2003) aims to accommodate the densification of the underpopulated areas east of the city.

Mapping London is an important historical journey, a captivating portrait that details—from so many perspectives—the evolution of one of the most fascinating cities in the world. LJ

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Ad Sizes 1/4 Page, 100 Words 1/8 Page, 50 Words For information about placing an ad in our Showcase & Literature Reviews, contact:

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Tom Arkell 416-510-6806 Greg Paliouras 416-510-6808 Canadian Architect 12 Concorde Place, Suite 800 Toronto, ON M3C 4J2 www.canadianarchitect.com

PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY

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CALENDAR Duncan McNab: Modern in Sight

March 4-May 31, 2008 This exhibition at the West Vancouver Museum features Vancouver architect Duncan McNab, and examines a career that paralleled the baby boom and the growing need for both affordable single-family homes and schools. It also looks at McNab’s unique style, a testament to clarity and simplicity inspired by European Modernism while remaining distinctly West Coast. www.wvma.net

pact of rapid economic development on architecture and design in China’s major cities. The exhibition takes the form of a journey through three fast-growing cities—Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Around 100 designers are featured, 95% of them Chinese, in a display that focuses on architecture, fashion and graphic design as well as film, photography, product and furniture design, youth culture and digital media. www.vam.ac.uk

China Design Now

Blaine Campbell: a repurposed architecture

March 15-July 13, 2008 This exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London explores the recent explosion of new design in China, and attempts to understand the im-

April 18-May 31, 2008 This exhibition at the Republic Gallery in Vancouver explores a building complex in transition in Istanbul, Turkey. Over the course of a week in

+

2006, Vancouver artist Blaine Campbell had the opportunity to compile a variety of architectural images for the exhibition. The complex had previously seen incarnations as a monastery, a prison, and a school, and is now slated to become studios and instructional space for the fine arts university.

This repurposing of space is somewhat different from the predominant tendency—as evidenced in Vancouver, with its persistent and accelerating construction boom—to replace rather than reuse. www.republicgallery.com Festival of Architecture & Design in Toronto

May 2008 The fourth annual Festival of Architecture and Design (fAd) puts Toronto’s architecture and design communities in the spotlight with 60 exhibitions, films, lectures, readings and walking tours taking place over the month of May. Discover how architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, industrial design, graphic design and fashion design work to shape the city and enrich the lives of its people. This year, the City of Toronto is sponsoring Jane’s Walk, an annual series of over 25 neighbourhood walks to honour thinker and urbanist Jane Jacobs. www.toronto.ca/fad/

Some Ideas on Living in London and Tokyo by Stephen Taylor and Ryue Nishizawa

May 14-October 26, 2008 This exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture features recent architectural projects by Stephen Taylor in London and Ryue Nishizawa in Tokyo that propose new approaches to living in urban environments. London and Tokyo provide particularly relevant ground for case studies not only due to the scale and complexity of their respective built environments, but especially for the way in which their increasing densities call for a redefinition of urban living. While facing similar issues related to growth, the two cities occupy cultural contexts in which themes of proximity, privacy, community, and public space take on different meanings and require distinct solutions. Taylor and Nishizawa have developed new ideas for living borne of their respective cultures. And their innovative residential designs challenge conventional norms and offer approaches that simultaneously shape the life of the resident and the face of the city. www.cca.qc.ca Doors Open Toronto

May 24-25, 2008 This hugely popular event returns this year with a special focus on Toronto’s sacred spaces and sacred circles. www.toronto.ca/doorsopen/

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May 11-29, 2008 An initiative of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, this exhibition at the Pendulum Gallery in Vancouver provides a unique lens on the role of culture in development. For the past 25 years, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture has promoted the conservation and reuse of buildings and public spaces in historic cities in the Muslim World.

The work is undertaken in ways that spur social, economic and cultural development and builds community participation, trains local professionals and institutions. While culture is often thought of as a “luxury,” the exhibition offers a perspective that looks at culture as an asset that can transform communities, many of which possess a rich cultural heritage, yet which live in poverty. www.akdn.org

Heritage Vancouver House Tour

June 1, 2008 The Vancouver Heritage Foundation presents its 6th Annual Heritage House Tour, which takes place from 10:00am to 5:00pm.

This one-day, self-guided tour features 10 unique heritage homes including early examples of infill housing, Victorian homes in Strathcona, Edwardian gems along Odlum Drive, 1912 craftsman houses in Kerrisdale, and “The Five,” a row of remarkable restored homes off Main Street. A 30-page guidebook details the history of each house on the tour. The focus of this year’s tour is the connection between heritage buildings and sustainability. www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org Design of Aluminum Structures

June 5, 2008 The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering invites you to

attend the Vancouver presentation of this one-day course, intended to provide consulting engineers, architects, building professionals, technicians, instructors, and students with training on the design of aluminum structures as well as extensive information on the main properties of aluminum. The workshop presenter is Dr. Denis Beaulieu, Professor of Civil Engineering at Laval University and Special Consultant to the Quebec Industrial Research Centre. www.csce.ca/docs/DAS_CSCE_2008.pdf Building Enclosure Science and Technology (BEST) conference

June 10-12, 2008 This first biennial international conference on building enclosure science and technology will be hosted by the Building Enclosure Council of Minnesota at the Minneapolis Convention Center, and aims to carry out BETEC’s mission in exploring the advancement of the energy efficiency of buildings as well as moisture, the indoor environment and the durability of buildings. www.thebestconference.org CIB W70 International Conference in Facilities Management

June 16-18, 2008 The CIB W70 International Conference in Facilities Management is being hosted at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, and concerns a diverse range of topics of relevance to conservationists, environmental behaviourists, building services engineers, architects and planners. The main theme of the conference is “Achieving Healthy and Creative Facilities,” and particular streams include: enabling creative and innovative environments; achieving healthy environments through FM; building intelligence and knowledge management; maintaining culture and heritage in built environments; exploring environment—behaviour as an FM tool; service procurement; supporting accessible environments; sustainable housing; and asset maintenance and management. www.fmresearch.co.uk The Works Art & Design Festival 2008

June 20-July 2, 2008 Open to the public with free admission, The Works

takes place in Edmonton and is the largest art and design festival in North America, drawing an audience representing all ages and interests and offering over 200 exciting exhibits and special events. This year’s architectural exhibit is The Poetics of West Coast Modernism in West Vancouver, a multi-media exhibition in three parts along with a lecture series and a monograph, all collaborations between curator Ruth Payne, project coordinator Katherine Tong, architect Barry Downs (author of the text), and the architects who designed the 18 selected buildings. www.theworks.ab.ca London Festival of Architecture

June 20-July 20, 2008 From the sites of the 2012 Olympic Games in the east to the 1851 Great Exhibition in the west, the new St. Pancras Station and German Gymnasium (the birthplace of the modern Olympic movement) in the north to the 1951 Festival of Britain in the south, LFA2008 will draw together London’s heritage and contemporary architecture. It will focus around five major hubs across London, each of which will host free and ticketed exhibitions, lectures, temporary structures and events— all around the theme of FRESH! www.londonbiennale.org.uk Steering the Current: National Festival of Architecture

June 25-28, 2008 Fredericton will host the largest national gathering of architects in 2008 as the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and the Architects’ Association of New Brunswick (AANB) stage the annual national Conference and Festival of Architecture. With “Steering the Current” as the theme of the festival, the event offers delegates an opportunity to exchange ideas and participate in professional development. Exhibitions of architecture, social events and architectural tours of Fredericton will be the highlights of this conference. www.raic.org FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THESE, AND ADDITIONAL LISTINGS OF CANADIAN AND INTERNATIONAL EVENTS, PLEASE VISIT www.canadianarchitect.com CIRCLE REPLY CARD 32 05/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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BACKPAGE

SECOND IN COMMAND PHOTOGRAPHED IN 1959, A MODERN CHRISTMAS, TAKEN AT THE MCNAB RESIDENCE, EXEMPLIFIES THE PROSAIC QUALITIES OF LIVING ON THE WEST COAST DURING THE HEIGHT OF VANCOUVER’S MODERNIST PERIOD.

A RECENT EXHIBITION OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF VANCOUVER ARCHITECT DUNCAN MCNAB REVEALS THAT EVEN THE LESSER-KNOWN WEST COAST MODERNISTS HAD A LOT TO OFFER.

TEXT

ADELE WEDER SELWYN PULLAN

PHOTO

As Ottawa regales the nation’s greatest architects at lavish galas, a modest exhibition on the north shore of Vancouver reminds us of what, paradoxically, the almost-great can offer us. Now in its concluding days at the West Vancouver Museum and Archives, Duncan McNab: Modernism In Sight provides a glimpse into the workaday reality of the Canadian architectural spirit.

If Arthur Erickson and Ron Thom were the 82 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/08

poet laureates of mid-century Modernism, Duncan McNab (1917-2007) was its prosaic voice of reason. A graduate of McGill’s School of Architecture, McNab defied the Beaux-Arts paradigm there and then when he settled in Vancouver after the Second World War, designing an archetypal furnished home for a fictional “McTavish Family” for the 1949 Design for Living exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. McNab quickly became a prolific designer of Modernist schools and other facilities, including Esquimalt’s 1964 Naval Armament Depot and the 1974 Vancouver Aquatic Centre. A Western Homes & Living article on display suggests that his own West Vancouver post-and-beam home was both a self-portrait of confident Modernism and a model of selfeffacement. For some curious reason, he (or the

writer) altered his own name to “Jim” in the article and photo captions, as if it were unseemly for an architect to boast publicly about his own residence.

McNab was awarded fifth place in the 1963 competition to design Simon Fraser University.

The West Vancouver exhibition displays McNab & Associates’ original crayon rendering alongside the edition of The Canadian Architect that reviewed the competition results. At first glance, his competition entry reads as a jambalaya of high-, medium- and low-rise forms, much less unified than Erickson’s winning scheme. Yet it’s easy to find a wayward charm in McNab’s scheme, which you might say reflected the fragmented consciousness of the day. In the end, McNab ended up designing the secondary buildings, the gymnasium and theatre for Simon Fraser University. But second base seemed to be his natural and most productive vantage point.

According to former McNab associate John Camfield, McNab harboured the firm conviction that the client’s practical needs came first, “apart from what aims, aesthetical and spiritual, might have drawn him to the architectural field in the first place,” writes Camfield for the exhibition panels. McNab’s glazed concept for the waterfront Aquatic Centre was replaced with an opaque façade that turned its back on the view, due to client concerns that light and shadow might interfere with training. Ultimately, it was built with rooftop glazing which, as many a swimmer there can attest, tends to interfere with your backstroke anyway. In this way, McNab exemplifies the architect’s perennial dilemma. He boasted a mighty strength in selling Modernism to a middlebrow clientele. He also seems to have harboured a correlating weakness to appease it.

While McNab never did achieve the consistent artistry of Erickson or Thom, he nonetheless won over much of the wider community. Neither a flamboyant bon vivant nor a doomed romantic, McNab offered an avuncular counterpoint to the era’s mythologized leaders. And as such, this workhorse of post-and-beam Modernism perhaps contributed as much or more to imbuing the vernacular with the new paradigm. CA Adele Weder is an architectural critic and curator based in British Columbia. Duncan McNab: Modern In Sight exhibits at the West Vancouver Museum and Archives (www.wvma.net) until May 31,2008.

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