Canadian Architect February 2022

FEB/22 V.67 N.01

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT

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DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY

04 VIEWPOINT

Remembering Eb Zeidler, 19262022.

06 NEWS

Shortlisted competitors announced for Block 2; winners of BC architecture awards.

09 RAIC JOURNAL

Unveiling a new strategic plan; working towards a climate action plan.

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16 CLAYTON COMMUNITY CENTRE

A rec centre designed by hcma in Surrey, BC, is North America’s largest non-residential building to attain Passive House certification. TEXT Jim Sutherland

23 CLEARVIEW LIBRARY

Kenneth Frampton’s expanded edition of Modern Architecture, and a new volume of writings about Frampton’s legacy.

34 BACKPAGE

Dubbeldam Architecture’s coworking space, Lokaal, offers lessons in post-pandemic workplace design.

Lebel & Bouliane’s addition to an arena in Stayner, Ontario, creates a light-filled space for community and books. TEXT Pamela Young

26 CORNISH LIBRARY

A Winnipeg library renovation and addition by Public City Architecture yields peopleoriented spaces both inside and out. TEXT Lawrence Bird

28 JOHN MUIR LIBRARY LINDSAY REID PHOTOGRAPHY

TOM ARBAN

Studio g+G crafts a vibrant library from a historic Windsor fire hall and horse stable.

TEXT Rebekah Mayer

Clayton Community Centre, Surrey, BC, by hcma Architecture + Design. Photo by Ema Peter.

COVER

V.67 N.01 THE NATIONAL REVIEW OF DESIGN AND PRACTICE / THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE

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OF THE RAIC / THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE AIA CANADA SOCIETY

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VIEWPOINT COURTESY ZEIDLER ARCHITECTURE

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ABOVE Eb Zeidler, seen here in his office, passed away this January at the age of 95.

REMEMBERING EB ZEIDLER The Canadian architecture community is saddened to mark the passing of architect Eberhard (Eb) Heinrich Zeidler.

Born in Braunsdorf, Germany in 1926, Zeidler emigrated to Canada in 1951. He is best known for a series of radical new projects created in the late 1960s and early 1970s: Ontario Place in Toronto (designed with landscape architect Michael Hough, 1968-71), the Health Sciences Centre for McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (1972), and the Eaton Centre in Toronto (with Bregman and Hamann Architects, 1974-81).

Zeidler’s modernist pavilions for Ontario Place included a series of interconnected mast-hung structures as well as a 35-metrediameter dome. The site design integrated canals, walkways, and wooded areas, created in part by sinking a series of old ships and landfill around the foundations of the Pods to create an artificial reef.

The design for the hospital at McMaster University was equally innovative. “The hospital has none of the traditional spatial hierarchies we associate with institutions built in the early 20th century,” writes architectural historian Annmarie Adams, who considers it among Canada’s most significant buildings. Interstitial floors were intended to facilitate the upgrading of specialized mechanical and electrical systems, and a supersized grid plan anticipated future additions. “The project’s a precious reminder of a time when architecture sprung from new ideas and anything seemed possible,” writes Adams.

The Eaton Centre’s design extended over a long, sloping city block to connect two subway stations, while preserving historic buildings including Old City Hall. In what architect and historian George Baird calls a “design tour de force,” the multi-layered building was modelled on Milan’s Victor Emmanuel Galleria, yielding a soaring space framed by a “glistening white superstructure” and fleshed out with a “brilliantly detailed metallic interior.”

Other notable works include the master plan for the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco

ART DIRECTOR ROY GAIOT CONTRIBUTING EDITORS ANNMARIE ADAMS, FRAIC ODILE HÉNAULT DOUGLAS MACLEOD, NCARB, FRAIC ONLINE EDITOR CHRISTIANE BEYA

(1980–84); Queen’s Quay Terminal, Toronto (1979–83); and Canada Place for Expo 86, Vancouver. Zeidler’s design for the Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre in Edmonton (1975-86) was a global pioneer in using a large atrium in a healthcare setting—a typological innovation continued in Zeidler’s Atrium at the Hospital for Sick Children (1993) and Princess Margaret Hospital (1995).

Zeidler’s passing occurs in the midst of contention about the future of Ontario Place.

Last fall, the provincial government released plans for the redevelopment of the site in partnership with private sector companies.

Grassroots advocacy group Ontario Place for All opposes the plan, citing a lack of public consultation. “Private companies, working for their own profit, should not be shaping the future of Ontario Place,” the group writes.

“There must first be a publicly developed Master Plan to ensure that any future projects are aligned with the public vision and values of Ontario Place.”

Zeidler and his wife, Jane, were quiet philanthropists whose support of a variety of causes included donating more than two million dollars to the University of Toronto in gifts dating back to 1978. “Eb was a commanding figure with an equal grasp—and mastery—of the urbanistic and technical dimensions of architecture,” says architectural historian and former Daniels Dean Richard Sommer. “Even beyond the celebrated works like the Eaton Centre and Ontario Place, he designed a diverse body of built and unbuilt works that are worthy of further study by professionals and scholars.”

Zeidler was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in 1984, received the Order of Ontario that same year, and received the RAIC Gold Medal in 1986. He received an honorary Doctor of Architecture from the University of Toronto in 1989.

Zeidler is survived by his wife, Jane, and children Katie, Robert, Margie and Christina.

Elsa Lam

EDITOR ELSA LAM, FRAIC

REGIONAL CORRESPONDENTS MONTREAL DAVID THEODORE CALGARY GRAHAM LIVESEY, FRAIC WINNIPEG LISA LANDRUM, MAA, AIA, FRAIC VANCOUVER ADELE WEDER, HON. MRAIC SUSTAINABILITY ADVISOR ANNE LISSETT, ARCHITECT AIBC, LEED BD+C VICE PRESIDENT & SENIOR PUBLISHER STEVE WILSON 416-441-2085 x3 ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER FARIA AHMED 416-441-2085 x5 CUSTOMER SERVICE / PRODUCTION LAURA MOFFATT 416-441-2085 x2 CIRCULATION CIRCULATION@CANADIANARCHITECT.COM PRESIDENT OF IQ BUSINESS MEDIA INC. ALEX PAPANOU HEAD OFFICE 126 OLD SHEPPARD AVE, TORONTO, ON M2J 3L9 TELEPHONE 416-441-2085 E-MAIL info@canadianarchitect.com WEBSITE www.canadianarchitect.com Canadian Architect is published 9 times per year by iQ Business Media Inc. The editors have made every reasonable effort to provide accurate and authoritative information, but they assume no liability for the accuracy or completeness of the text, or its fitness for any particular purpose.

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NEWS

ABOVE The Nanaimo Airport, by the office of mcfarlane biggar architects & designers in association with Checkwitch Poiron Architects, won a Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia Award in Architecture.

AWARDS BC Architecture Awards announced

Architecture; Nanaimo Airport by the office of mcfarlane biggar architects & designers in association with Checkwitch Poiron Architects; Full House by Leckie Studio Architecture + Design and Gaile Guevara Studio; and Vancouver House by DIALOG in association with Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and James K.M. Cheng Architects (advising architect).

Three additional projects were selected to receive a Design Excellence Award: The Shipyards by DIALOG; Clayton Water Reservoir

by Local Practice Architecture + Design; and Pearl Block by D’Arcy Jones Architects.

The Emerging Firm Award went to Stark Architecture. Two Innovation Awards went to 1 Lonsdale by John Hemsworth Architecture and the Prototype Infill Station by Perkins&Will.

Three Equity Awards went to Tsawwassen First Nation Youth Centre by Mackin Architects, Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification Cost Comparison Feasibility Study by hcma architecture + design, and N C’A?MAT CT Strathcona Library / YWCA Cause We Care House by DIALOG. Three Special Jury Awards were also selected. They went to: Gastown Child Care Centre by Acton Ostry Architects, SoLo by Perkins&Will, and Shift House by Measured Architecture.

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www.architecturefoundationbc.ca

The winners of the AFBC Architectural Awards of Excellence—the highest level of architectural awards in British Columbia—have been announced.

The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia Awards in Architecture recognize excellence in completed architectural projects led or designed

by AIBC members. Four projects received the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia Award in Architecture – Medal, as well as a Design Excellence Award: Upper Skeena Recreation Centre by John Hemsworth

WHAT’S NEW Block 2 Competition finalists announced

Public Works and Government Services Canada has announced six shortlisted teams for the Block 2 international design competition to redesign the urban block facing Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The six

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finalists were selected from a long-list of 12 competitors who prepared initial design concepts, which were evaluated by a team of technical advisors, as well as by a jury that met in Ottawa earlier this fall.

The following teams will advance to stage 2 of the competition: Diamond Schmitt Architects (Toronto, Canada) in joint venture with Bjarke Ingels Group (New York, United States), KWC Architects (Ottawa, Canada) and ERA Architects (Toronto, Canada) NEUF Architects (Ottawa, Canada) in joint venture with Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Paris, France) Provencher Roy + Associés Architectes Inc. (Montreal, Canada) Watson MacEwen Teramura Architects (Ottawa, Canada) in joint venture with Behnisch Architekten (Boston, United States) Wilkinson Eyre (London, United Kingdom) in association with IDEA Inc. (Ottawa, Canada) Z eidler Architecture Inc. (Toronto, Canada) in association with David Chipperfield Architects (London, United Kingdom)

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Vancouver Art Gallery receives $100 million gift from the Audain Foundation

The Vancouver Art Gallery has received a $100-million gift from the Audain Foundation to support the creation of a new building in downtown Vancouver. The donation has been reported to be the largest single cash gift to an art gallery in Canadian history.

The building is being designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron together with Vancouver architects Perkins&Will, in consultation with Coast Salish artists.

The Audain Foundation gift follows a gift of $40 million by the Chan Family Foundation to establish the Chan Centre for the Visual Arts, and an initial investment of $50 million by the Province of British Columbia. In addition, $50 million has been pledged to date by individual donors and foundations. www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

Order of Canada appointments announced

Design community members Rick Haldenby, Alexander Reford, and Robert Eisenberg will be among 135 new appointees to the Order of Canada.

Eric (Rick) Haldenby, the former director of the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and a champion of historic preservation in the Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge regions, is cited “for his contributions to the advancement of architectural education in Canada, and for his efforts to preserve industrial and mid-century buildings.”

Alexander Reford, the director of Les Jardins de Métis—and the great-grandson of Elsie Reford, who created the historic gardens—is being recognized “for his leadership in the Canadian horticultural community, for bolstering regional tourism, and for promoting both heritage and environmental conservation.”

Robert Eisenberg, the co-founder of development firm York Heritage Properties, is cited “for his commitment to the revitalization of Toronto’s architectural heritage and for his community service benefiting the environment and youth.”

Haldenby, Reford, and Eisenberg will be presented with their insignia at investiture ceremonies to be held on future dates. www.gg.ca

For the latest news, visit www.canadianarchitect.com/news and sign up for our weekly e-newsletter at www.canadianarchitect.com/subscribe

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09 Briefs En bref

RAIC Journal Journal de l’IRAC

Registration is open for the RAIC Virtual Conference on Architecture 2022 The event will bring together professionals at every stage of their career to learn, explore, and discuss the challenges and opportunities facing their practice. This year, the programming will be hosted online in the month of June. Delegates will be able to register for an All-Access Pass or individual Day Passes. Content will also be made available on-demand in the RAIC continuing education program in early August.

L’inscription à la Conférence virtuelle sur l’architecture 2022 est ouverte La conférence réunira des professionnels qui en sont à toutes les étapes de leur carrière pour apprendre, explorer et échanger sur les défis et les opportunités qui se présentent pour leur profession. Cette année, le programme se tiendra en ligne dans le courant du mois de juin. Les délégués pourront se procurer un laissez-passer donnant l’accès complet à l’événement ou des laissez-passer individuels d’une journée. Le contenu de la conférence sera également disponible sur demande dans le cadre du programme de formation continue de l’IRAC au début du mois d’août.

What’s Coming up in the RAIC In 2022, we’ll be continuing to modernize with a complete redesign of our website, including the online member’s portal. Stay tuned for exciting new developments as we launch a blog, build on our successful inaugural podcast series, and invest in some of the most significant advocacy issues in the profession, including climate change, inclusivity, and advocating for architects to the Canadian government.

Les nouveautés de l’IRAC En 2022, nous poursuivrons notre modernisation avec la refonte complète de notre site Web, y compris le portail des membres en ligne. Restez à l’affût des nouveautés : nous lançons un nouveau blogue, nous mettons à contribution notre première série de balados couronnée de succès et nous investissons dans certains des enjeux les plus importants de la profession, notamment les changements climatiques, l’inclusivité et la défense des intérêts des architectes auprès du gouvernement canadien.

The RAIC is the leading voice for excellence in the built environment in Canada, demonstrating how design enhances the quality of life, while addressing important issues of society through responsible architecture. www.raic.org L’IRAC est le principal porte-parole en faveur de l’excellence du cadre bâti au Canada. Il démontre comment la conception améliore la qualité de vie tout en tenant compte d’importants enjeux sociétaux par la voie d’une architecture responsable. www.raic.org/fr

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The RAIC’s strategic plan underpins its vision of supporting a strong architectural community that is valued and empowered to create change.

Le plan stratégique de l’IRAC renforce sa vision de soutenir une communauté architecturale forte, appréciée et en mesure de créer le changement.

A New Strategy for the RAIC Une nouvelle stratégie pour l’IRAC Tanner Morton Editor, RAIC Journal Rédacteur en chef, Journal de l’IRAC

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the nature of work has shifted in Canada.

This shift has affected how the RAIC functions, and how it can best support its members has evolved as priorities have changed and developed. A fresh strategic plan was necessary to guide the organization when considering these changes.

Informed by key stakeholder interviews and formal and informal member and architectural community feedback, the RAIC’s board of directors and staff came together to map out a guiding document to direct the organization for the next three years.

On December 13, an open forum was held for architecture and design professionals to learn further details about the forthcoming plan. During this session, participants heard from RAIC President John Brown and had the opportunity inquire further about the details of the plan.

The complete strategic plan is extensive, but here is a summary of its foundational aspects.

Mission The RAIC’s Mission is at the core of everything the organization does—from its Awards and Honours program and Continuing Education courses to its events and advocacy

Dans notre climat social contemporain qui évolue sans cesse, la nature du travail a changé à l’IRAC, comme ailleurs au Canada. Le mode de fonctionnement de l’Institut et ses mesures pour mieux soutenir ses membres ont évolué en fonction des changements de priorités. L’élaboration d’un nouveau plan stratégique est devenue nécessaire pour orienter l’IRAC dans la prise en compte de ces nouvelles réalités sociétales et organisationnelles.

Après avoir mené des entrevues avec des parties prenantes clés et avoir reçu les commentaires formels et informels de membres et d’intervenants du milieu de l’architecture, le conseil d’administration et le personnel de l’IRAC se sont réunis pour élaborer un document d’orientation qui guidera l’organisation pendant les trois prochaines années.

Le 13 décembre, l’IRAC a convié les professionnels de l’architecture et du design à une discussion ouverte au cours de laquelle le président de l’IRAC, John Brown, a donné aux participants un supplément d’information sur le plan.

Le plan stratégique est un document exhaustif. Voici un sommaire de ses aspects fondamentaux.

Mission La mission de l’IRAC est au cœur de toutes les activités de l’organisation, qu’il s’agisse de son programme de Prix et distinctions

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work. The RAIC is the national voice for architecture in Canada, and its mission has evolved over the years to reflect the values of its members and how they can be best served.

The RAIC’s fundamental purpose is: “To create a better world for all by empowering Canada’s architectural community.”

With this Mission in mind, the RAIC will provide the tools, practice support, educational opportunities, and advocacy needed to advance a built environment that is more livable and sustainable—not only for humans, but for all of the natural world.

Vision Working in tandem with the organization’s Mission, the Vision helps guide the RAIC’s initiatives, events, and content—investing in ideas today to reach ambitious goals tomorrow.

The RAIC is working towards a Vision of: “A strong architectural community that is valued and empowered to create change.”

To achieve this Vision, education, engagement and outreach are vital in demonstrating to Canadians the importance of architecture in everyday life. As the national voice for architecture, the RAIC has an instrumental role to play—benefitting everyone across the country.

Ultimately, the RAIC aims to help Canadians better understand the role of the architectural community and its ability to inspire,

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impact, and facilitate change in the built environment, particularly with respect to climate action, equity, and justice. The RAIC champions architects as leaders in the built environment, with the capacity to use their knowledge, expertise, and skills to foster meaningful, long-lasting change in their communities.

Values Key to the success of the RAIC’s Mission and Vision is adhering to a robust and effective set of Core Values. Establishing a clear set of values for a national organization guarantees every program and initiative implemented across Canada is consistent with the priorities articulated by the RAIC’s members. The Core Values identified are: Integrity: Being accountable, transparent, and acting with high ethical standards in all of the organization’s work, both internally and outward-facing.

Climate Action: Counteracting climate change and mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis on people and communities.

Innovation: Using creativity and design excellence to create thoughtful change in the architectural profession and the built environment.

Strategic Priorities To support the RAIC’s mission and vision, a set of Strategic Priorities has been identified. Work in four distinct areas will advance the greater mission of the organization: elevating membership in the organization; targeting advocacy to issues that matter to the architectural community; further building and strengthening the organization; and connecting the architectural community. Focusing the RAIC’s initiatives on these areas will help bring about the greatest positive change in Canada’s built environment.

With a reaffirmed Mission, Vision, and Values in place, the RAIC’s new strategic plan will serve as a springboard to launch the RAIC’s efforts until the end of 2024 in exciting new directions.

Reconciliation: Building, rebuilding and strengthening our relationship with Indigenous peoples.

Social Justice: Creating a just culture that strives for social and spatial equity, embraces and respects inclusivity, fosters diversity, and is accessible to all.

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RAIC Journal

et de ses cours de formation continue ou encore de ses événements ou de son travail de promotion et défense des intérêts.

La mission de l’IRAC comme porte-parole national de l’architecture au Canada a évolué au fil des ans pour refléter les valeurs de ses membres et tenir compte des meilleures façons de les servir.

L’objectif fondamental de l’IRAC est « de créer un monde meilleur pour tous en donnant à la communauté architecturale du Canada les moyens d’agir ». Dans cette optique, l’IRAC fournira les outils, les services d’aide à la pratique, les occasions de formation et la défense des intérêts nécessaires pour favoriser une viabilité et une durabilité plus grandes de l’environnement bâti – pas seulement pour les humains, mais aussi pour l’ensemble du monde naturel.

Vision Allant de pair avec la mission de l’organisation, la vision contribue à orienter les initiatives, les événements et le contenu de l’IRAC, à investir aujourd’hui dans les idées pour atteindre les objectifs ambitieux de demain.

L’IRAC s’efforce de réaliser sa vision « d’une communauté architecturale forte qui est appréciée et en mesure de créer le changement ». À cette fin, l’éducation, la mobilisation et la diffusion sont des mesures essentielles pour sensibiliser les Canadiens à l’importance de l’architecture dans la vie quotidienne.

En tant que porte-parole national de l’architecture, l’IRAC a un rôle déterminant à jouer – à l’avantage de toute la population canadienne.

Au bout du compte, l’IRAC vise à aider les Canadiens à mieux comprendre le rôle de la communauté architecturale et sa capacité d’inspirer, d’influencer et de faciliter le changement dans l’environnement bâti, particulièrement en ce qui concerne l’action climatique, l’équité et la justice.

L’IRAC fait valoir que les architectes sont les leaders de l’environnement bâti et qu’ils ont la capacité d’utiliser leurs connaissances, leur expertise et leurs compétences pour favoriser un changement significatif et durable dans leurs collectivités.

Valeurs L’adhésion à un ensemble solide et efficace de valeurs fondamentales est la clé de la réussite de la mission et de la vision de l’IRAC. L’établissement d’un tel ensemble de valeurs claires pour une organisation

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nationale garantit que tous les programmes et les initiatives mis en œuvre à la grandeur du Canada concordent avec les priorités exprimées par les membres de l’IRAC. Les valeurs fondamentales qui ont été déterminées sont les suivantes : Intégrité : être responsable et transparent et agir selon des normes éthiques élevées dans toutes les activités de l’organisation, tant à l’interne qu’à l’externe.

Action climatique : contrer le changement climatique et atténuer les impacts de la crise climatique sur les individus et les communautés.

Honorary Fellow Wanda Dalla Costa.

La fellow honoraire Wanda Dalla Costa.

Réconciliation : bâtir, rebâtir et renforcer nos relations avec les peuples autochtones.

Justice sociale : créer une culture juste qui vise l’égalité sociale et spatiale, qui soutient et qui respecte l’inclusivité, qui favorise la diversité et qui est accessible à tous.

Innovation : faire preuve de créativité et d’excellence en design pour créer un changement réfléchi dans la profession architecturale et l’environnement bâti.

Priorités stratégiques En appui à sa mission et à sa vision, l’IRAC a établi un ensemble de priorités stratégiques. L’action dans quatre domaines distincts lui permettra de faire progresser sa mission élargie : augmenter le nombre de membres; cibler le plaidoyer sur des questions d’importance pour la communauté architecturale; continuer de bâtir et de renforcer l’organisation; et créer des liens avec la communauté architecturale.

En centrant ses initiatives dans ces domaines, l’IRAC contribuera à susciter le plus grand changement positif dans l’environnement bâti du Canada.

La mission, la vision et les valeurs de l’IRAC ayant été réaffirmées, son nouveau plan stratégique lui servira de tremplin pour lancer ses initiatives dans de nouvelles directions emballantes jusqu’à la fin de 2024.

Wanda Dalla Costa named RAIC Honorary Fellow Wanda Dalla Costa nommée fellow honoraire The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has selected Indigenous architect Wanda Dalla Costa to receive its 2022 Honorary Fellowship.

Wanda Dalla Costa is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation and was the first First Nations woman to become an architect in Canada. Her firm, Tawaw Architecture Collective, is based in Phoenix, Arizona. She is the director and founder of Arizona State University’s Indigenous Design Collaborative, a community-driven design and construction program that brings together tribal community members, industry and multidisciplinary teams of university students and faculty to co-design and co-develop solutions for tribal communities.

Dalla Costa’s teaching and research is focused on Indigenous ways of knowing and being, co-design methodologies, sustainable design, and the resiliency of vernacular architectures. In 2019, she was recognized as a YBCA 100 honoree, an award which celebrates people, organizations, and movements shifting culture through ideas, art, and activism. Dalla Costa was one of 18 Indigenous architects selected to represent

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ensemble des solutions pour les communautés tribales.

L’enseignement et la recherche de Wanda Dalla Costa sont axés sur les façons autochtones d’apprendre et d’être, les méthodes de conception collaborative, la conception durable et la résilience des architectures vernaculaires. En 2019, elle a été lauréate du YBCA 100, un prix qui rend hommage à des personnes, des organisations et des mouvements qui font évoluer la culture par les idées, l’art et l’activisme. Elle a également fait partie des 18 architectes autochtones choisis pour représenter le Canada à l’exposition Terres en récit : Terres non cédées de la Biennale de Venise de 2018 et elle compte parmi les six architectes présentés dans le long métrage documentaire From Earth to Sky de TVO. Wanda Dalla Costa est une pionnière, étant la première voix autochtone féminine dans le discours universitaire sur l’architecture en Amérique du Nord. Comme le souligne l’architecte autochtone David Fortin, « ses recherches allient une solide compréhension des précédents architecturaux autochtones à une expertise en matière d’engagement communautaire au profit des communautés, ce qui a permis d’établir des normes pour les universitaires et les praticiens autochtones aux États-Unis et au Canada ».

Canada at the 2018 Venice Biennale exhibition Unceded. She is one of a half-dozen architects featured in the full-length TVO documentary From Earth to Sky. Dalla Costa is a trailblazer as the first Indigenous female voice within the academic discourse on architecture in North America. As Indigenous architect David Fortin writes, “Her research couples a sound understanding of Indigenous architectural precedents with an expertise in community engagement and benefit, which has been setting the standards for Indigenous academics and practitioners throughout the United States and Canada.”

“I am humbled to be named an Honorary Fellow of the RAIC,” says Dalla Costa.

“As the first First Nations woman to become a registered architect in Canada, during this time of reconciliation, I accept this honour on behalf of all of my fellow Indigenous Canadians whose knowledge, generosity and perseverance continues to inspire my team and guide the work.

I will continue to honour our communities across Canada, their history, aspirations, resiliency, and futurity.”

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“The Officers of the RAIC College are thrilled to recognize the considerable achievements of Honorary Fellow Wanda Dalla Costa through her extensive contributions and advancement of excellence in Architecture,” says Susan Ruptash, FRAIC, Chancellor of the RAIC College.

Dalla Costa will address members of the RAIC College of Fellows at the upcoming RAIC Conference on Architecture.

L’Institut royal d’architecture du Canada (IRAC) décerne le titre de fellow honoraire 2022 à l’architecte autochtone Wanda Dalla Costa.

Wanda Dalla Costa est membre de la Nation crie de Saddle Lake. Sa firme, Tawaw Architecture Collective, est établie à Phoenix, en Arizona. Dalla Costa est également directrice et fondatrice de l’Indigenous Design Collaborative de l’Arizona State University, un programme communautaire de conception et de construction qui réunit des membres de communautés tribales, des intervenants de l’industrie et des équipes multidisciplinaires d’étudiants et d’enseignants universitaires pour concevoir et développer

Dalla Costa was part of a team that worked on a conceptual design for the Indigenous Peoples’ Space in Ottawa.

Wanda Dalla Costa a fait partie de l’équipe chargée de développer une vision de la conception de l’Espace des peuples autochtones à Ottawa.

Tawaw Architecture Collective is currently designing the St. Francis Cree bilingual school in Saskatoon.

Le Tawaw Architectural Collective travaille actuellement à la conception de l’école bilingue crie St. Francis à Saskatoon.

« C’est avec humilité que je reçois ce titre de fellow honoraire de l’IRAC », a déclaré Dalla Costa. « En tant que première femme des Premières Nations à devenir architecte au Canada, en cette ère de réconciliation, j’accepte cet honneur au nom de tous mes collègues autochtones canadiens dont les connaissances, la générosité et la persévérance continuent d’inspirer mon équipe et d’orienter notre travail. Je continuerai de rendre hommage à nos communautés du Canada, à leur histoire, à leurs aspirations, à leur résilience et à leur futurité. » « Les dirigeants du Collège de l’IRAC sont ravis de rendre hommage à la fellow honoraire Wanda Dalla Costa en reconnaissance de ses réalisations considérables et de ses grandes contributions à la promotion de l’excellence en architecture », a pour sa part déclaré Susan Ruptash, chancelière du Collège de l’IRAC. Wanda Dalla Costa s’adressera aux membres du Collège de l’IRAC dans le cadre de la prochaine Conférence sur l’architecture de l’IRAC.

2022-01-20 10:16 AM

RAIC Journal

The Road to a Climate Action Plan En route vers un plan d’action pour le climat Giovanna Boniface & Tanner Morton Vice President of Corporate Affairs Vice-présidente des affaires corporatives Editor, RAIC Journal Rédacteur en chef, Journal de l’IRAC

The worsening global climate crisis impacts architecture and society to a magnitude that is nearly impossible to overstate. To provide proactive leadership to the architectural industry, the RAIC will soon publish a new future-minded Climate Action Plan.

Working in partnership with the Committee on Regenerative Environments, the Congress on Architecture Steering Committee and the Board of Directors, the Climate Action Plan will serve as a guiding document as the RAIC navigates the environmental challenges ahead.

Consultations and feedback from the RAIC membership, concluding this February, are the latest stage in informing the development of a considered plan for the RAIC. The built environment has a substantial impact on climate—Architecture 2030 cites that nearly 40% of global GHG emissions come from the maintenance, operation, and construction of buildings. Reducing the profession’s environmental impact is a vital priority.

A watershed initiative for environmental advocacy by the RAIC was the presentation of the Resolution for Urgent and Sustained Action on Climate and Ecological Health, first at an October 2019 board meeting, and subsequently in a presentation to members at the Annual General Meeting. Approved in principle by the board, the resolution provided a framework for the RAIC to prioritize and support members in designing for holistic health, resilience, and regenerative built environments. The resolution acknowledges the facts “that the built environment is a major contributor to climate change, that the continued use of status quo practices has contributed to the climate emergency, and that architects through their central role in shaping the built environment have both the capability and moral duty to directly enable transformational climate solutions.”

The resolution itself, which is available to read on the RAIC website, charts the environmental advocacy of the organization back to 2002—with the formation of the

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Sustainable Buildings Canada Committee—while looking to the future for accelerated climate action by the organization.

One of the instrumental follow-up actions in environmental advocacy by the RAIC was establishing the RAIC Congress on Architecture. The kickoff event took place in October 2020. “Taking Action: A Conversation on Climate Action and Architecture in Canada” brought together four presenters and introduced the main subjects for the 2021 Congress on Architecture.

The 2020 event was an online single-day discussion, with topics including the facts of climate change, its challenges and opportunities, strategies for implementation and application, and looking towards future solutions. Following the presentations, a virtual roundtable discussion between the presenters was delivered as a precursor to Congress in 2021. In between the 2020 and 2021 Congress events, the RAIC kept the conversation going by launching the RAIC Podcast on Architecture. Its inaugural season featured interviews with activists, architects and design professionals who centre sustainability in their practices, including Seth Klein, Louis Conway, Harriet Harriss, Bianca Dalhman, Wanda Dalla Costa, Mona Lemoine, Cristina Gamboa, and Joanne Perdue. The fourepisode first season is available on a range of popular podcast services like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podbean, and Google Podcasts. To promote accessibility, each episode was accompanied by a full transcript in both French and English. The season finale of the Podcast on Architecture concluded the activities leading up to the Congress on Architecture, which took place on World Architecture Day, October 4, 2021.

The 2021 Congress on Architecture brought podcast speakers together, live, for a deeper dive into the topic. Following an opening and welcome by Indigenous Elder Otsitsakenra, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier began the day with a session focusing on how the environment, the economy, foreign policy, global health, and sustainability should not be viewed as separate concerns but as a deeply interconnected whole.

A moderated panel with Klein, Harris, and Gamboa paved the way for small group dis-

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L’aggravation de la crise climatique mondiale a un impact tel sur l’architecture et la société qu’il est pratiquement impossible de l’exagérer. Dans une perspective proactive et en tant que chef de file de l’industrie de l’architecture, l’IRAC publiera bientôt un nouveau plan d’action pour le climat axé vers l’avenir.

Créé en partenariat avec le Comité des environnements régénératifs, le comité directeur du Congrès sur l’architecture et le conseil d’administration, le plan d’action sur le climat servira de document d’orientation à l’IRAC pour relever les défis environnementaux à venir.

Le processus de consultation et de rétroaction des membres de l’IRAC s’est terminé en février 2022 et a constitué la dernière étape de l’élaboration d’un plan durable et réfléchi pour l’IRAC. Étant donné que l’environnement bâti a un impact considérable sur les émissions mondiales - selon Architecture 2030, près de 40 % des émissions proviennent de l’entretien, de l’exploitation et de la construction des bâtiments - la réduction de l’impact environnemental découlant de la profession est devenue une priorité essentielle pour l’IRAC. La présentation de la Résolution pour une action urgente et soutenue en matière de climat et de santé écologique, d’abord lors d’une réunion du conseil d’administration en octobre 2019, suivie d’une présentation aux membres lors de l’Assemblée générale annuelle, a été une initiative décisive de l’IRAC en matière de défense de l’environnement. Approuvée en principe par le conseil d’administration, la résolution vise à établir un cadre permettant à l’IRAC de prioriser et de soutenir des mesures urgentes et durables pour permettre aux membres de concevoir des environnements bâtis holistiques, résilients et régénératifs. Cette résolution reconnaît en partie le fait que «l’environnement bâti contribue grandement au changement climatique, que le maintien continu du statu quo a contribué à l’urgence climatique, et que les architectes, qui jouent un rôle central pour façonner le cadre bâti, ont la capacité et le devoir moral de favoriser directement les solutions climatiques transformationnelles».

La résolution elle-même, que l’on peut lire sur le site Web de l’IRAC, retrace l’historique de la défense de l’environnement de l’organisation depuis 2002 - notamment avec la formation du Comité des bâtiments durables du Canada - tout en se tournant vers l’avenir pour accélérer l’action climatique de l’organisation.

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er l’accessibilité, chaque épisode était accompagné d’une transcription complète en français et en anglais. La dernière saison du balado sur l’architecture a conclu les activités qui ont mené au Congrès sur l’architecture, qui s’est déroulé le 4 octobre 2021 et est célébré comme la Journée mondiale de l’architecture.

Le Congrès sur l’architecture 2021 a réuni en direct les conférenciers des balados pour approfondir le sujet. Après l’ouverture et le mot de bienvenue de l’aîné autochtone Otsitsakenra, candidate au prix Nobel de la paix, Sheila Watt-Cloutier a commencé la journée par une séance axée sur la façon dont l’environnement, l’économie, la politique étrangère, la santé mondiale et la durabilité ne doivent pas être considérés comme des préoccupations distinctes, mais comme un tout profondément interconnecté.

cussions organized in a World Café format.

Participants engaged in deep conversations about tools, resources, solutions and changes needed in areas of practice, education and advocacy.

To extend the World Café discussions beyond the single-day event, the RAIC created a toolkit and workbook so that architects and design professionals could host discussion groups and conversations in their own networks across Canada. The workbook was developed to ensure that interested groups and individuals have a voice in the development of the RAIC Climate Action Plan, and is designed to be completed by anyone interested in providing input, including architects, interns, students, allied professionals, clients, or members of the public. The final deadline for submitting feedback is February 28, 2022.

The RAIC aims to produce an initial draft of the Climate Action Plan to guide the institute’s environmental initiatives, benchmarks, and strategies by mid-2022. Ultimately, the creation and adoption of this plan will lead to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly profession for all practitioners—and all Canadians.

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La création du Congrès sur l’architecture de l’IRAC a été l’une des principales mesures de suivi de la défense de l’environnement prises par l’IRAC. L’événement de lancement a eu lieu en octobre 2020, Prendre action : Une conversation sur l’action climatique et l’architecture au Canada a réuni quatre conférenciers et présenté les principaux sujets du Congrès sur l’architecture de 2021.

L’événement de 2020 comprenait une discussion en ligne d’une journée, avec des sujets tels que les faits liés aux changements climatiques, les défis et les perspectives, la mise en œuvre et l’application, et la recherche de solutions éventuelles. Après les présentations, une table ronde virtuelle entre les conférenciers a été organisée en prélude au Congrès de 2021. Entre les Congrès de 2020 et 2021, l’IRAC a poursuivi la conversation en lançant le balado sur l’architecture. Cette première saison a donné lieu à des entretiens avec des architectes et des professionnels du design - dont Seth Klein, Louis Conway, Harriet Harriss, Bianca Dalhman, Wanda Dalla Costa, Mona Lemoine, Cristina Gamboa et Joanne Perdue - qui intègrent la durabilité dans leur pratique.

La première saison de quatre épisodes est diffusée sur une série d’agrégateurs populaires comme Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podbean et Google Podcasts. Pour favoris-

Un panel modéré avec Seth Klein, Harriet Harris et Cristina Gamboa a préparé le terrain pour des discussions en petits groupes organisées sous la forme d’un World Café.

Les participants ont pris part à des conversations approfondies sur les outils, les ressources, les solutions et les changements nécessaires dans les domaines de la pratique, de l’éducation et de la promotion et la défense des intérêts.

Afin de prolonger les discussions du World Café au-delà de l’événement d’une journée, l’IRAC a créé une boîte à outils pour que les architectes et les professionnels du design puissent organiser des groupes de discussion et des conversations dans leurs propres réseaux partout au Canada. Le cahier de travail a été élaboré pour permettre aux groupes et aux personnes intéressés de s’exprimer dans le cadre de l’élaboration du plan d’action pour le climat de l’IRAC. Le cahier de travail a pu être rempli par tout individu souhaitant apporter sa contribution, qu’il soit architecte, stagiaire, étudiant, membre d’une profession connexe, client ou membre du public. La date limite de soumission des commentaires était le 28 février 2022, et les professionnels ont eu trois mois pour soumettre leurs commentaires, réflexions et idées sur le plan.

Speakers in the RAIC’s Congress on Architecture and its accompanying podcast series included Sheila WattCloutier, Wanda Dalla Costa, Cristina Gamboa, Dr. Harriet Harriss, Seth Klein, Louis Conway, Bianca Dahlman, Joanne Perdue, and Mona Lemoine.

Les conférenciers du Congrès sur l’architecture de l’IRAC et de sa série de podcasts comprenaient notamment Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Wanda Dalla Costa, Cristina Gamboa, Harriet Harriss, Ph. D., Seth Klein, Louis Conway, Bianca Dahlman, Joanne Perdue et Mona Lemoine.

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L’IRAC prévoit de produire d’ici le milieu de 2022 une première ébauche du plan d’action pour le climat qui orientera les initiatives, les critères et les stratégies environnementales de l’Institut. En fin de compte, la création et l’adoption de ce plan conduiront à une profession plus durable et plus respectueuse de l’environnement pour tous les professionnels et les Canadiens.

2022-01-20 9:56 AM

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2022-01-05 12:27:48 2022-01-20 9:52 AM

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A NEW RECREATION CENTRE IS NORTH AMERICA’S LARGEST NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDING TO ATTAIN PASSIVE HOUSE CERTIFICATION.

Clayton Community Centre, Surrey, British Columbia hcma Architecture + Design TEXT Jim Sutherland PHOTOS doublespace photography, unless otherwise noted PROJECT

ARCHITECT

It’s 8:30 in the morning on Tuesday, November 30, and outside the Clayton Community Centre in Surrey, BC, the third atmospheric river in a week is transitioning from routine downpour to certified deluge.

This one won’t produce the record-setting precipitation of the first two—but that’s not much of a consolation, because the camel’s back has already been broken. Just 40 kilometres east of here, in Abbotsford, hundreds of homes and farms lie deep underwater, and thousands of animals have drowned.

In days to come, there will be debates over how much of the rain was due to climate change, and how much to mere weather, but one thing will remain indisputable: the f looding wouldn’t have been so extreme or impactful if humans hadn’t altered the environment in such an illconsidered way. Which helps explain this visit to the Clayton Community Centre. As the first community centre in Canada and largest non-residential building in North America to receive Passive House certification, it was expressly intended to both slow the progression of climate change and perform in a climate-changed world.

It’s also designed to be radically inclusive. Melissa Higgs, a principal at Vancouver-based hcma and the lead architect for the centre, is sitting at a table in the vast central “commons”—a type of space which is out of the norm within the familiar community centre genre. Nearby is a reception desk that serves everyone who enters the 7,060-square-metre building, whether intending to use the library, the gyms, the arrays of exercise equipment, the meeting rooms, the performing or visual arts facilities, the community kitchen, the community workshop, or to simClayton Community Centre’s carefully detailed and constructed envelope helps it meet the rigorous air-tightness requirements for Passive House certification.

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Inside, a large central commons serves as a multi-purpose community living room. A single reception desk simplifies access to the community centre’s various program spaces, and a central stair leads to the library. OPPOSITE LEFT The building’s mass timber structure lends a warm touch to the library’s reading areas. OPPOSITE RIGHT Large sliding doors connect the central gathering space to the outdoor terrace.

ABOVE

ply sit in the commons doing nothing in particular. “From a social justice perspective, it’s perfectly legitimate to just come in,” says Higgs.

When hcma won the commission to build the centre in 2014, Passive House was not part of the picture. At the time, the movement was restricted almost exclusively to northern Europe, even if its proponents happened to trace many of their ideas back to the Saskatchewan Conservation House, an airtight and super-insulated home built in Regina in 1976 by a team including architect Hendrik Grolle. But sustainability was very much part of the agenda: Clayton was the first project to employ a program developed by hcma to ensure that environmental and social factors are fundamental to everything the firm produces. The building was envisioned to not only achieve high environmental standards, but first and foremost, to meet the community’s needs and aspirations.

Geographically, East Clayton is the precise definition of an exurb, situated near Surrey’s eastern border, some 50 kilometres from downtown Vancouver. Typologically, though, it is not the expected sprawl of houses and lawns. Beginning in the 1990s, the community was developed using the principles of New Urbanism, which seeks to create

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walkable, sociable neighbourhoods somewhat in the mode of old-time small towns. Successful in its intentions or not, with its dense array of relatively inexpensive townhomes, East Clayton was definitely a hit in the marketplace. It quickly became one of the fastest-growing neighbourhoods in Canada, and one of the most diverse.

Those characteristics had implications for the community centre, as hcma discovered during its consultation phase. The area’s schools were overcrowded, and it was underserved by parks and gathering places. Residents couldn’t fall back on the typical suburban abundance of personal space. Both designers and locals were adamant about preserving the remnant forest on the community centre’s site, and eager to accrue a place where families and groups could get together. That helped settle the question of where the centre would be sited—on an unforested corner of the plot—and ensured that a gleaming, industrialscale kitchen, opening onto a patio, would become a central feature.

In addition to the community consultations, hcma’s early focus was on knitting together the deeply siloed civic departments that would have to apportion and then operate the building in some kind of har-

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mony. This process was well underway when Higgs received a phone call from Surrey’s manager of civic facilities, Scott Groves. He was disappointed with the results the City had seen from previous attempts to reduce energy consumption using programs like LEED, and had a question for Higgs. Might it be possible to steer the project toward Passive House? “I remember thinking, this is kind of the best call of my entire life—and kind of the most terrifying one,” she says. “Because it had literally never been done.”

Higgs had no Passive House training, but the firm did have expertise in the methodology, and she agreed without hesitation. She believes the decision had positive effects that extended beyond environmental benefits, in that it rallied both the community and the departments running the building. “It worked so well with the integration [of programs] because with Passive House, you’re either 100-percent-in, or you’re not Passive House. It has a ton of operational and spatial implications, so it required the client team to be really collaborative.”

The typically residential orientation of Passive House meant that many new design and engineering trails had to be blazed. With a house, pro-

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viding winter warmth is key. Not so with a community centre, modelling quickly revealed. “In an entire year, there might have been two days when we would have had to heat the building,” says Higgs, explaining that this was the case because of the energy gains from people, equipment and lighting. “We actually had to strip away some of the insulation and get it to a more conventional envelope.”

On the f lip side, keeping the building comfortably cool was a major challenge. Huge roof vents and optimized natural ventilation were part of the answer, but a facility so large and with such diverse components ultimately required several different solutions. These included a Passive House-certified heat recovery ventilator, radiant ceiling heating and cooling panels, and a focus on natural light and lowenergy lighting fixtures. The program placement needed to be tailored in myriad ways, too: for instance, gyms and exercise facilities were placed against the north wall, where the excess heat load they generated would best balance out. When temperatures rocketed above 40 degrees during last summer’s heat dome, the building remained respectably cool.

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COMPUTER LEARNING WORKROOM FITNESS STUDIOUPPER FLOOR PLAN FITNESS CENTRE SPIN STUDIO 1. Library MEETING ROOM2. Silent Study SILENT STUDY 3. Meeting Room 4.

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OPPOSITE A skylit corridor leads past one of the community centre’s universal change rooms, designed to facilitate access for families and people of all genders. ABOVE Operable roof lanterns allow fresh air to regularly sweep through the building, helping to keep it naturally ventilated and at a comfortable temperature year-round.

Both residential and commercial Passive House buildings rely on a highly airtight building envelope. This remains an asset even in pandemic conditions, allowing the building’s air f low to be precisely set to ensure an ample supply of fresh air balanced with comfortable temperatures. “An airtight envelope is not about eliminating air f low— it is about controlling and regulating air flow,” says Higgs. “This fall, even with much lower usage levels, the motorized windows were often open in the fitness centre to maintain the internal set point temperature. During regular usage, the building would also be flushed nightly through the clerestory windows to keep the internal temperatures down to a comfortable level. So there is potentially a great deal of air exchange— it is just highly regulated.”

“There is a misperception that the air-tightness requirements of a Passive House building result in a strict separation from the surrounding environment,” adds Higgs. “In fact, Passive House buildings can be quite open to the exterior. This is ideal for spring and summer days, when the outside temperatures are close to the desired interior temperature.”

At Clayton, the central social space includes large, manually operated sliding doors that allow the interior social space to open onto the adjacent outdoor terrace.

At just over $500 a square foot, the Clayton Community Centre cost roughly 10% more to build than similar complexes during the construction period—a surcharge that Higgs chalks up partly to the innovation premium of being the first of its kind. That investment has already yielded dividends not only in energy—the facility reports 75% energy savings and 98% carbon savings compared to other community centres in BC—but also in the expertise generated among the consultant, owner and contractor teams. Higgs describes how at one point, the contractor built a full-scale façade mockup to orchestrate the sequence of construction moves needed to meet Passive House’s rigorous airtightness standards. The envelope, along with many other details, required a precision of construction that went beyond the status quo— but that also brought a real pride to the building team. The quality

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of their work was confirmed by blower-door tests, which showed that, in terms of air changes per hour, the building was more than three times as airtight as it needed to be.

Even beyond the floods and heat domes, current requirements under BC’s Step Code and upcoming revisions to the National Building Code mean that many—if not most—future construction projects will have to follow similar paths. Client and architect agreed that a building with such important implications would have to be handsome as well as efficient. And it is. Early on, the feeling of standing in a forest became a design inspiration, and looked upon from the outside, there’s a sense that the structure is like a grove of trees, lighter and more compact at the bottom, and darker above as the branches spread. Inside, an irregular matrix of glulam beams evokes a forest canopy.

“All along the way, we thought of Passive House as just one of the balls that had to be juggled,” Higgs says.

Jim Sutherland has been editor of magazines including Western Living. He lives in Vancouver, where he writes comic novels that sometimes involve architects.

CLIENT CITY OF SURREY | ARCHITECT TEAM DARRYL CONDON (FRAIC), MELISSA HIGGS (FRAIC), AIDEN CALLISON, JESSIKA MACDONALD, JUENESSA COLLINS, SEBASTIAN ELLIOTT, MARTHA SHIELDS, JOSHUA POTVIN, ELI HARRIS, BONNIE RETIEF, ALBERTO BULDÓN, FIONA JONES, JAMES WOODALL, ZINA BERRADA, NIC WORTH, MARK BUSSE, RACHEL DOO | STRUCTURAL READ JONES CHRISTOFFERSEN | MECHANICAL INTEGRAL GROUP | ELECTRICAL AES ENGINEERING | LANDSCAPE HAPA COLLABORATIVE | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER ELLISDON CORPORATION | PROJECT MANAGER TURNBULL CONSTRUCTION | BUILDING ENVELOPE MORRISON HERSHFIELD | CODE GHL CONSULTANTS | COST RTA | CIVIL APLIN & MARTIN CONSULTANTS | ARTS & CULTURE FACILITATOR PAUL GRAVETT CONSULTING | ENERGY MODELLING ENERSYS ANALYTICS | ENVIRONMENTAL DIAMOND HEAD | SURVEYING MURRAY & ASSOCIATES | TRAFFIC BUNT & ASSOCIATES | ACOUSTICS RWDI | ARBORIST ACL GROUP ARBORTECH | WAYFINDING/SIGNAGE HCMA | PASSIVE HOUSE CERTIFIER MEAD ENERGY + ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN LDT | PASSIVE HOUSE CONSULTANT PEEL PASSIVE HOUSE | AREA 7,000 M2 | BUDGET $42 M | COMPLETION JUNE 2020 ENERGY USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 73 KWH/M2/YEAR | GHGI 0.73 KG CO2E/M2/YEAR | ENERGY USE COMPARED TO CODE (ASHRAE 90.1-2010) WITH GAS 72% ENERGY SAVINGS; 98% CARBON EMIS-

SIONS SAVINGS CERTIFICATIONS PASSIVE HOUSE, RICK HANSEN FOUNDATION ACCESSIBILITY GOLD CERTIFICATION

2022-01-20 10:24 AM

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The Gordy Located in the heart of downtown Houston, architects faced the challenge to curb exterior noises. Seven acoustical smoke vents limit noise intrusion from the exterior and carry STC and OITC sound ratings.

BILCO’s acoustical smoke vents are widely used in concert halls, theaters and other interior applications that require limiting noise from the outside. They also include the standard smoke vent properties that help firefighters bring a fire under control by removing smoke, heat and gases from a burning building.

Project Snapshot • The $35 million renovation of a former storage warehouse extends across 66,850 square feet. It includes a new addition and 3 separate stages. The largest venue has 251 seats.

Maximum occupancy among the 3 stages is 660.

• Each stage is unique at The Gordy, but the overriding theme is intimacy. Having showgoers feeling connected to the design facility was an important part of the design intent.

BILCO Acoustical Smoke Vents • Acoustical smoke vents prevent noise intrusion from exterior surroundings while providing the security of automatic venting.

• BILCO’s smoke vents feature an industry-high STC 50 and OITC 46 sound rating, and are found in many theaters and performing arts venues.

“We spent a lot of time researching and designing the envelope of the performance space. With the acoustical hatches, you will not hear rain, you won’t hear traffic. With a regular smoke hatch, you will hear sirens and other external noises.”

– Bruno Cardenas, Charcoalblue, an international theater and acoustics design consultancy

Experience.

Innovation.

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BRINGING IN THE LIGHT AN ADDITION TO A SMALL-TOWN ONTARIO ARENA CREATES A VIBRANT NEW COMMUNITY HUB.

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Clearview Library—Stayner Branch, Stayner, Ontario Lebel & Bouliane Inc. TEXT Pamela Young PHOTOS Tom Arban. unless otherwise noted PROJECT

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Context is typically a catalyst for architecture. But when the context is a standard-issue hockey arena and its adjoining box of a community centre, surrounded by acres of parking lots and playing fields, where’s the generating concept? That was the big question for Lebel & Bouliane at the outset of designing Clearview Public Library’s new branch in Stayner, Ontario, a small but rapidly growing town 100 km northwest of Toronto.

The answer, in a word, was: light. “We thought about how to create a space that generated the best light for the library’s needs,” says architect Luc Bouliane. With that thought, and some riffing on how the same type of standing-seam metal that clads the arena could be bent and twisted into something livelier than a straight-ahead shed, a modest but captivating library began to take shape.

Positioning the library east of the community centre and angled away from it, on the north/south axis, enabled the design team to work with the site’s full potential for natural light. At the south end, a deep, zigzagging canopy shields the entrance to a new atrium shared by the library and community centre. From this compact lobby, a view opens through the library to its glazed north wall, which spikes up to the west and faces onto farmland. To the east, large windows punctuate bookshelf-lined walls, offering long-range views of park space and playing fields. The northern exposure provides optimal ambient light for reading and study, while the windows along the east side bring morning sun into the children’s section, a lounge area with a fireplace, and the staff area.

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Rotating the library away from the community centre created space for a line of west-facing clerestories, allowing late-day sunlight to stream in without causing glare. A dynamic roofline makes the library visually arresting from the outside and comfortably bright inside: three southfacing light monitors echo the arena roof ’s peaked form and draw indirect light deep into the building.

Stayner’s snow-belt location also factored into the roof ’s design—multiple slopes encourage the white stuff to slide off rather than accumulate. Pale, prefinished cedar cladding on the exterior walls contrasts cleanly with the dark roof; the cedar’s tactile surface, reminiscent of barn board, humanizes the toughness of the standing-seam metal.

All of this helps explain why the building—the first new-construction library designed by Bouliane after leaving Teeple Architects and establishing a practice with Natasha Lebel—received a 2021 Architectural and Design Transformation Award from the Ontario Library Association. But the Stayner Branch’s success also comes from how it handles larger shifts in this building typology.

Today’s libraries are so much more than book lenders and places for quiet study. They’re where people gather for everything from crafting sessions to ESL classes. They’re where an ex-convict might check in with her parole officer, or where teenagers might play video games with their friends after school. These needs require f lexible spaces, with room for more people rather than more books.

The new Stayner branch replaces a tiny downtown library with ineradicable, budget-hoovering condition issues. “The original concept the board looked at was putting up a two-storey building on the existing site, but the cost was going to be astronomical,” says Clearview Public Library CEO Jennifer La Chapelle. Relocating to the ex-urban site next to the community centre and arena was a fiscally

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responsible choice that enabled shared-use efficiencies. The library can hold its largest events, such as lectures, in community-centre spaces. And the new boardroom in the atrium is for library and community-centre use.

Due to factors including the digitization of media, accessibility requirements for greater between-shelves space, and a shift to lower-height stacks for improved sightlines, the Stayner branch’s physical collection is 25 percent smaller now than in its previous location, even though the new library is three times larger. La Chapelle says Lebel & Bouliane did an exemplary job of “listening to our concerns and ideas and turning them into a functional, visually appealing library.” The space allocation will continue to change over time. Bouliane believes that pressure on libraries to provide many different types of space for community use will increase. He designs libraries with an eye to facilitating the conversion of some collection space to community programming space five or ten years from now.

Stayner’s new library was nearing completion just as Ontario’s first Covid-19 lockdown commenced. Nearly two years later, operations revert to curb-side pickup when pandemic-related school closures occur, and at other times there’s a one-hour limit on library visits. Meeting rooms cannot be booked. The branch’s official opening has been postponed to May 2022. Bouliane is particularly eager to see how this library gets used when the pandemic retreats. Previously, whenever someone in the family had ice time, lots of Stayner kids and parents ended up, by default, in the arena. For many, this bright and accommodating new library will provide welcome alternative options to watching the home team chase the puck.

Pamela Young is a Toronto-based writer and communications manager.

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OPPOSITE The library addition’s standing seam metal roofing and cladding references local barns and nods to the construction of the existing arena. ABOVE Skylights and clerestories are positioned to optimize natural light in the library’s open-plan reading and meeting areas.

BELOW The multiple slopes of the roof encourage snow to slide off, rather than accumulating atop the structure.

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CLIENT CLEARVIEW PUBLIC LIBRARY | ARCHITECT TEAM LUC BOULIANE (MRAIC), NATASHA LEBEL, THILANI RAJARATHNA, TIFFANY TSE | STRUCTURAL/MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL R. J. BURNSIDE & ASSOCIATES LTD. | LANDSCAPE ENVISION – TATHAM | INTERIORS LEBEL & BOULIANE LTD. | CONTRACTOR COREBUILD CONSTRUCTION LTD. | AREA 1,110 M2 | BUDGET $4.3 M | COMPLETION MARCH 2020

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MICHAEL MURAZ

LIBRARY 7 ENTRANCE / VESTIBULE 8 COMMUNITY ATRIUM & ART GALLERY 9 NORTH CORRIDOR & ART GALLERY 10 NORTH VESTIBULE 11 CEO OFFICE 12 BOOK DROP 13 STAFF KITCHENETTE 14 STAFF WORK AREA 15 STAFF LOCKERS 16 STAFF W/C 17 CIRCULATION DESK 18 LIBRARY ENTRANCE 19 COMMUNITY LOUNGE 20 CHILDREN’S AREA 21 COMPUTERS 22 MAIN LIBRARY 23 QUIET STUDY 24 TEENS’ AREA 25 TUTORIAL ROOM 26 UNISEX W/C 27 UNIVERSAL WC 28 COMMUNITY BOARDROOM 29 LIBRARY READING GARDEN

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HEALING A DIVIDE A MODEST ADDITION TO A WINNIPEG LIBRARY ENGAGES A DIFFICULT URBAN CONDITION, WITH A HIGH-END NEIGHBOURHOOD TO ONE SIDE AND UNHOUSED PEOPLE ON THE OTHER. Cornish Library, Winnipeg, Manitoba Public City Architecture TEXT Lawrence Bird PHOTOS Lindsay Reid Photography PROJECT

ARCHITECT

For Public City Architecture, all projects begin with the urban condition.

In their renovation of Winnipeg’s Cornish Public Library, the firm had to negotiate a particularly tricky situation. The library sits on the edge of a privileged neighbourhood—Armstrong’s Point—whose residents are highly aware of the heritage value of “their” library, and resistant to changes to its front entrance. Behind the library, people sleep rough under the Maryland Bridge on the Assiniboine River. A daily flood of commuters cross the same bridge, with a view only of the library’s rear elevation, not of its front.

The firm has solved accessibility issues (the original remit of the project) through a subtle front ramp and deftly integrated elevator and universal washroom; they also restored heritage woodwork. But the project’s most clever gesture is completely new: the addition of a reading room which appears, at first, to be a simple glass prism. Closer examination reveals a clever reconciliation of the contradictory geometries of existing building and adjacent road. The solution also goes some ways towards reconciling more difficult aspects of the city.

Public City has oriented two of the room’s glass walls to the road and bridge, where they draw the eye of commuters passing through this urban gateway. But more importantly, and subtly, those walls reshape the library’s relationship to a contentious public space: the space under the bridge, where people, tents and collections of personal belongings accumulate in warmer months. A fence used to separate the public space under the

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bridge from the garden at the rear of the library, keeping itinerants out of the latter. At the designers’ urging, that fence is gone. In its place, Public City placed their reading room, dramatically raised up on a single concrete column. The eye f lows under the glass volume, across a landscape striated by limestone slabs, some of which serve as benches. An outdoor faucet, too, is a simple gesture of welcome, providing a source of clean water for drinking, cooking, and washing up.

The eye also slips easily from inside to out. A glazed curtain wall opens the interior to garden, river, and bridge. Privacy is modulated by the slight smoking of the lower edge of the glass. Floor and ceiling are clad with identical wood flooring—emphasizing them as planes. To similar effect, columns are articulated at base and cap, where the circular sections become cruciform (a nod to Mies).

Inside the reading room, the skew of walls forces perspective, creating a space which, while small, has great presence. Its focal point is the kinetic sculpture Four Flowers by Michael Dumontier, one of the founding members of Winnipeg’s The Royal Art Lodge, a collaborative which helped put Winnipeg’s contemporary art scene on the map. Dumontier builds on the motif of the supportive column, adding his own column bedecked with a cluster of petals afloat in the circulating air. The artwork was intended to have a presence both within and beneath the reading room–and sure enough, at the base of the concrete column lies the rusted disk of a lonesome petal.

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ELEVATION

OPPOSITE A glass box addition to the rear of the library improves its accessibility, and also offers a sheltered space with an outdoor faucet for people sleeping rough nearby. ABOVE Inside, a sculpture by Michael Dumontier takes centre stage in a new reading room.

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Cornish Library was originally funded by Andrew Carnegie, at a time of great socioeconomic disparities. For some, our time has started to resemble his. Despite the contradiction with his own treatment of labourers, Carnegie’s libraries were attempts to mitigate those inequities: open to the general public, even children, at no cost. Public City’s renovation is a fitting complement to that ethos. It engages heritage and art, and quietly accommodates function—all while presenting a bold face to the city and bravely engaging a difficult urban condition.

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Lawrence Bird (MRAIC) is an architect, urban designer and visual artist. He works in Winnipeg at Sputnik Architecture Inc. CLIENT THE CITY OF WINNIPEG | ARCHITECT TEAM PETER SAMPSON, LIZ WREFORD, ANDREW LEWTHWAITE, TAYLOR LAROCQUE, DIRK BLOUW, LEANNE MUIR, MATT PILLER, MONICA HUTTON, RUSSEL KREPART, TIM HORTON | STRUCTURAL WOLFROM ENGINEERING LTD. | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL MCW / AGE | LANDSCAPE PUBLIC CITY ARCHITECTURE | INTERIORS PUBLIC CITY ARCHITECTURE | CONTRACTOR CONPRO INDUSTRIES | AREA 458 M2 | BUDGET $1.25 M | COMPLETION JUNE 2021

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1 READING ROOM WALKWAY LIBRARY SERVICES UNIVERSAL WASHROOM ENTRY LOUNGE AREA

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RESTORATIVE SPACE A HISTORIC FIRE HALL AND STABLE ARE TRANSFORMED INTO WINDSOR, ONTARIO’S NEWEST LIBRARY. Windsor Public Library—John Muir Branch, Windsor, Ontario studio g+G inc.

TEXT Rebekah Mayer PHOTOS Jason Grossi PROJECT

ARCHITECT

Established in 1797, Olde Sandwich Towne is located on the west side of Windsor, and is home to some of Ontario’s oldest heritage buildings. One of those gems is the 1921 Windsor Fire Hall No. 6, and its adjoining mid-nineteenth-century stable—one of few to survive from the era when fire engines were pulled by horses. In 2016, the City of Windsor and Windsor Public Library Board purchased both buildings, aiming to adaptively reuse them for a new library space.

For locals, the resulting John Muir Branch is more than a useful community amenity, and a sensitive piece of heritage restoration—it’s a work of art in itself.

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The project was designed by architect Jason Grossi of Studio g+G and completed by Intrepid General Limited contractors. The contractors lived up to their name, as the project proved complex from the start. The sandy soil of the building site haunted the team throughout the project, requiring foundation underpinning and shoring to support a new elevator. The disparate f loor elevations of the fire hall and stable also created challenges: in the contemporary addition that links the two historic structures, a suspended walkway on a slight incline connects one building’s upper f loor to the other.

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OPPOSITE The adaptive reuse included the transformation of the fire hall’s hose tower into a glass lantern lookout.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT The library’s main space includes a doubleheight atrium; a suspended bridge links to the former horse stable and negotiates a change in level between the two historic buildings; mobile furniture has helped the library adapt to distancing needs during the pandemic, and will enable the space to be cleared for larger gatherings and special events.

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COLLECTIONS 9 BRIDGE OPEN TO BELOW 10 GALLERY OPEN TO BELOW 11 YOUNG ADULTS’ AREA 12 STAIRS TO TOWER 13 MULTIPURPOSE ROOM

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ABOVE LEFT Bespoke shelves line the walls of the new addition linking the fire hall to the stable. ABOVE RIGHT The stable was clad with custom fabricated white cedar clapboard and treated with limewash; the addition is clad with lead-coated flat seam copper.

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Connections to local heritage pervade the project. In front, a ramp and piazza are paved with cobbles from the original entrance of the Ambassador Bridge joining Windsor and Detroit. The brickwork on the exterior walls was preserved; during the reconstruction, sand and aggregates were collected from the site to use in the mortar repointing. Extra Douglas Fir boards were found in the building during renovations, so Grossi used them to clad the interior of the new addition, specifying the same wood type to frame its multi-paned windows. The stable’s original roof was salvaged and restored; the walls were unsalvageable, and were reconstructed with cedar shiplap siding and a limewash finish.

Inside the branch, part of the fire hall’s second floor was removed to create an atrium; natural light flows through a generous skylight and windows. Tin tiles—reproduced from originals recovered in the renovation—cover the main room’s ceiling. Salt-and-pepper concrete flooring allows sound to travel through this space, one of several areas designed to have specific acoustic qualities by Grossi, who has a parallel career as a composer and classical guitarist. Sounds are more muted in the front section of the library, ideal for library users looking for a quieter library experience. Mobile furniture—from seating to the circulation desk—provides opportunities for performances and other community programs. Most of the collection is housed in shelf-lined walls and stacks on the first f loor of the contemporary addition, with the suspended walkway dancing overhead.

On the second floor, visitors can find the non-fiction and young adult collections, as well as a charred, exposed wooden beam across the ceiling—a relic from a 1940 fire that struck when the firefighters were out responding to a call, destroying most of the second floor. Visitors can also walk up another flight to the tower where firehoses were once hung to dry, now home to a colourful beacon light and lookout.

Upon opening in the fall of 2019, the branch quickly became a favourite meeting place for the community, and the unique programs created by library staff were widely successful. Six months later, this momentum halted as the world locked down. When the branches in the Windsor Public Library system reopened with limited services, the openconcept, f lexible design of the John Muir Branch allowed for easier physical distancing within the branch. As the project team had hoped, the building continues to adapt to changing user needs—both longand short-term.

Rebekah Mayer (MLIS) is a public service librarian at Windsor Public Library’s downtown branch.

CLIENT CITY OF WINDSOR / WINDSOR PUBLIC LIBRARY | ARCHITECT TEAM JASON GROSSI | STRUC-

TURAL HADDAD MORGAN AND ASSOCIATES LTD. | MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL STANTEC CONSULT-

ING | LANDSCAPE BEZAIR AND WHITE | INTERIORS STUDIO G+G INC. | CONTRACTOR INTREPID GENERAL LIMITED | AREA 687 M2 | BUDGET $4.6 M | COMPLETION 2020

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BOOKS

OSCAR TENREIRO

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Modern Architecture (Fifth Edition)

By Kenneth Frampton (Thames & Hudson, 2020)

Modern Architecture and the Lifeworld: Essays in Honor of Kenneth Frampton Edited by Karla Cavarra Britton and Robert McCarter (Thames & Hudson, 2020) REVIEWS

Elsa Lam

For several generations of architects worldwide, the figure of architectural critic and historian Kenneth Frampton looms large. According to architecture professor Mary McLeod, he is “arguably the most influential architectural historian since Sigfried Gideon.” Frampton has been a respected scholar, teacher, and practitioner for five decades; his book Modern Architecture: A Critical History has been translated into thirteen languages and his 1983 essay “Towards a Critical Regionalism” into many more. His wide-ranging interests and generosity towards both architects and colleagues are encapsulated in an oft-quoted quip among architectural researchers—that the definition of a “rare architectural book” is one that doesn’t bear a preface by Frampton.

Frampton’s legacy comes to the fore in a new festschrift, or book of celebratory essays, marking his 90th birthday in 2020. The volume, titled Modern Architecture and the Lifeworld: Essays in Honor of Kenneth Frampton, is edited by architectural professor Karla Cavarra Britton and architect and writer Robert McCarter.

Its publication coincides with the release of the fifth edition of Modern Architecture.

Taken together, the two volumes describe

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the expansion of Frampton’s scholarship and inf luence over the decades. Modern Architecture began as a largely European-centred account of the evolution of the Modern Movement in architecture; at 735 pages, the current edition more than doubles the length of the original tome, and includes accounts of Modernism’s manifestation in regions around the world. The expansion is thematic, as well: an afterword entitled “Architecture in the Age of Globalization” addresses issues such as globalized capital, the crisis of housing, and sustainable design. As Frampton remarks, “The impasse of escalating climate change […] is ever more apparent today as we encounter the worldwide crisis of democracy and the accompanying hysteria of populist political reaction.”

In fact, politics were always intertwined with Frampton’s understanding of architecture, as he consistently espoused a humanist, placebased vision of architecture, grounded in his readings of philosophers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Hannah Arendt, and Walter Benjamin. Frampton’s affiliations with the leftist Frankfurt School of political philosophers, and his attempt to square these readings with an interest in architecture’s experiential qualities, is detailed in Mary McLeod’s essay in Modern Architecture and the Lifeworld, entitled “Kenneth Frampton’s Idea of the Critical.”

This conf luence comes to the fore in the essay “Towards a Critical Regionalism,” where “[Frampton’s] position seems closer to that of both Habermas and Gramsci, who emphasize culture’s potential as a constructive form countering prevailing ideologies, than to that of Tafuri and Adorno, who seem to accept a darker, more totalizing view of capitalism’s power,” writes McLeod. That

essay—with its hopefulness about architecture’s ability to create meaning and to resist the forces of globalization and capitalism— has made an impression on many architects.

In Modern Architecture and the Lifeworld, luminaries such as Wang Shu, Steven Holl, Wiel Arets, Marion Weiss, Michael A. Manfredi, and Emilio Ambasz testify to the impact of Frampton’s writings, and especially of “Towards a Critical Regionalism.”

“To understand Frampton’s impact on the field of practice, it is important to reflect on the state of the profession in the late 1970s and early 1980s,” writes Brad Cloepfil, founder of Allied Architecture. He notes how, at that time, international modernism seemed to be coming to an end, the influence of major corporate firms was apparently waning, and a new culture of ‘studio’ architecture was emerging in New York and Los Angeles.

Yet, discourse had been frozen between a view of architecture as a kind of rarified art-from, or as a kind of container for symbolic meaning. “Practitioners and theorists alike were locked in a desperate battle of association and borrowed authority,” writes Cloepfil. Into this atmosphere, Frampton’s concept of critical regionalism, with its emphasis on the material and structural tectonics of architecture, “effectively asserted the very specific language of architecture as the critical cultural pursuit […] The building, the made artifact, can embody and transmit something true about its own construction, and by extension, the cultural forces at work upon it.”

As Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, co-founders of Grafton Architecture, summarize: “The main thrust of these ‘Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance’ is to make sure that we do not forget the value of our senses,

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REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION FROM THE KENNETH FRAMPTON FONDS, CANADIAN CENTRE FOR ARCHITECTURE. GIFT OF KENNETH FRAMPTON

encouraging us to remember our impulse to touch, encourage us as architects to value the totally immersive poetics of construction.”

Frampton’s impact has equally been felt in Canada, where the idea of regionally inflected architecture is especially pertinent to a country with immensely varied geography, cultures, and land-based Indigenous and vernacular building practices. Frampton has long cited the work of Brian MacKay-Lyons, Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe, and John and Patricia Patkau as exemplars of critical regionalism.

In the newest edition of Modern Architecture, he extends his assessment of Canada back to the 1960s, citing works in Montreal including Ray Aff leck of ARCOP’s Place Bonaventure, Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67, and Dan Hanganu’s Pointe-à-callière museum. Turning to Toronto, he makes note of Ron Thom’s Massey College, John Andrews’ Scarborough College, and Barton Myers and Jack Diamond’s HUB dormitory at the University of Alberta. In Vancouver, he marks the importance of Erickson’s Simon Fraser University, University of Lethbridge, and Robson Square complex.

Characteristic of Frampton’s writing, this summary of modern Canadian architecture’s highlights is delivered in a compact six pages, including a sprinkling of carefully selected images. Modern Architecture’s fundamental role, Frampton writes, is as a “convenient reference work or textbook.” For someone unfamiliar with a particular subject, it’s best accompanied by illustrated companion texts, and perhaps an internet search engine, close at hand.

For this reader, it was a refreshing to alternate between the compact writing of Modern Architecture and the mix of narrative and academic texts in Modern Architecture and the Lifeworld. Canadian references show up here,

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too—from Mary McLeod’s opening essay, which mentions the impact of “Towards a Critical Regionalism” on architects and firms including John and Patricia Patkau, to the closing essay, written by Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe.

Shim and Sutcliffe’s “From the Archives of Kenneth Frampton” is based on a close examination of six documents, selected from Frampton’s archives, which are held at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. “There, in the light-filled study centre, as we contemplated a very large stack of archival boxes, we fully understood the breadth of Frampton’s insatiable curiosity and prodigious interest in the world and its relationship to architecture and life,” write Shim and Sutcliffe. Their selection of archival objects ranges from Frampton’s sketches of Alvar Aalto’s National Pensioners Institute in Holland, “in which Frampton interrogates […] Aalto’s choice of building materials, examining carefully his construction details and building connections,” to his measured drawings of Pierre Chareau and Bernard Bijvoet’s Maison de Verre in Paris.

Looking at materials from the archive, Shim and Sutcliffe assert that Frampton’s interests in global architecture, as well as the integrated role of landscape, built form and topography in shaping the public realm, are deep rooted. In the Frampton fonds, they discovered a letter from Frampton to Cornelia Oberlander from 1999, asking for an image of Robson Square to use on the cover of a book he was writing on megaform. He didn’t receive the photo he had in mind in time—but eight years later, he delivered a lecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design entitled “Megaform as Urban Landscape,” using the

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Kenneth Frampton, New York, 2010.

Sketches by Kenneth Frampton of Alvar Aalto’s National Pensioners Institute, Helsinki, Finland, c.1977

OPPOSITE LEFT

photo he eventually received from Oberlander.

One of the most delightful parts of Modern Architecture and the Lifeworld is a succinct tribute to Frampton from Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza: In space and time a lifelong traveler.

Eyes, ears and voice that find, receive, understand and send—open to the sharing.

Indeed, Frampton’s life’s work has played no small part in nurturing a critical understanding of modern and contemporary architecture today—as well as pointing towards architecture’s continued transformative potential for the future.

Serious Fun: The Landscapes of Claude Cormier

By Marc Treib and Susan Herrington (ORO, 2021)

Landscape historians Marc Treib and Susan Harrington teamed up to create this volume on the landscape architecture of Montrealbased Claude Cormier—a work that encompasses themes including humor and wit in public places, kitsch, sexual orientation, and social regard. “Cormier’s particular brand of landscape architecture has provided a needed breath of fresh air to Canada’s urban populace as well as to the landscape profession,” they write. Anyone who has visited his works—from Sugar Beach and Berczy Park in Toronto, to Pink Balls and Lipstick Forest in Montreal, or seen places to which he has contributed, including the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa and Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto—would doubtless agree.

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AN ARCHITECT-OWNED AND -OPERATED COWORKING HUB ANTICIPATES THE FUTURE OF WORKPLACES.

Sitting atop Dubbeldam Architecture’s own offices, a community-oriented co-working suite offers a “third space” for start-up businesses and locals working from home.

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Like many architects whose portfolio includes commercial office design, Heather Dubbeldam spent a good deal of last year speculating on the future of the workplace. But the stakes were higher for Dubbeldam—who not only designs offices for others, but also owns her own office space—along with owning and operating a coworking space called Lokaal (Dutch for local).

Just before the pandemic, Dubbeldam Architecture + Design acquired and renovated a three-storey brick building on Toronto’s busy St. Clair West, transforming the graffiti-ridden corner property into a mixed-use creative hub. Besides their own offices and coworking space, each of which occupies a full floor, the building contains a ground-floor marketing agency and indie coffee shop, as well as a residential unit in a raised basement.

Many of these spaces emptied out when the pandemic hit. Luckily, the marketing agency’s work remained stable, and they even renewed their lease mid-pandemic. But only one of Lokaal’s members—a building envelope consultant, with a staff of four—stayed put. “They had the whole f loor to themselves,” says Kevin McIntosh, Dubbeldam’s business and life partner.

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Dubbeldam, McIntosh, and their seven staff all returned to their office in August, as soon as everyone was fully vaccinated. They have also seen interest pick up in Lokaal. As people negotiate the changing landscape of work-fromoffice and work-from-home, the need for a third space—not home and not office—has made Lokaal busier now than pre-pandemic. The space hosts small businesses and start-ups, and its occupants have also included several medical students who came to study for exams away from their partners and young children at home, and others who work full-time from home, but use Lokaal for a change of scene. Recently, a Montreal architect worked out of Lokaal for a few days with his intern, who lives nearby.

On a wintery Monday in December, the space was pleasantly abuzz, but not uncomfortably crowded. The organizers of a Latin American film festival conversed around a table in the kitchen, a marketer went over the week’s social media content with a colleague, an architect who recently took an office chatted over coffee with a hot-desker about the recent snow—it was the hot-desker’s first winter in Canada. About two dozen people from some 20 businesses currently have access to the space, though not everyone comes in every day.

Mandatory vaccination, social distancing, and masking policies are in place. There are also marbled white-and-grey felt dividers between workstations, which complement a bespoke red felt pendant light in the lounge and a pleated felt entrance wall. The dividers, called deskPETs, are designed by Dubbeldam; both the luminaire and wall feature are by felt artist Kathryn Walter (whose studio is nearby).

By design, there is flexibility built into the space—if the meeting room is occupied, members sometimes use Dubbeldam’s meeting room upstairs; conversely, as Dubbeldam’s own office grows, they’ll use some of Lokaal’s desks for overflow. Outside, painted drop-shadows around the windows animate the façade, giving the brick building a dynamic presence on the street.

“Almost all of the members of Lokaal are from our neighbourhood,” says Dubbeldam, recalling how several members were drawn to the space by its lively façade. As post-pandemic models of online and hybrid work settle into place, Dubbeldam and McIntosh are confident that places like Lokaal will become even more essential to the urban fabric—flexible, community-oriented spaces that allow people to work together, even when their formal work arrangements might otherwise keep them apart.

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Dekton 8X Facade AD_Canadian Architect Feb.pdf

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This building façade features Dekton® Halo in our 12mm thickness large format, used for ventilated façade applications

8X On The Park 1111 Richards St, Vancouver,BC Architect: GBL Architects Inc Fabricator/ Installer: Keith Panel Systems

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