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ANDREW LATREILLE
19 PARTISANS
22 RHAD Architects
23 Sixteen Degree Studio
STUDIO NORTH
21 Ply Architecture
15 Chad Manley Practice in Landscape and Building Arts
18 PARKA Architecture & Design
JIM DOBIE
17 Office OU
20 PLOTNONPLOT
SPECTACLE
14 atelier rzlbd
PARTISANS
OFFICE OU
EST ARCHITECTURE MARK ROSEN
16 est architecture
CHAD MANLEY
BORZU TALAIE
13 Acre Architects
KELLY DOYLE
12 1x1 architecture
JESSY BERNIER
LISA STINNER-KUN
MARK HEMMINGS
EMERGING TALENT
05
CANADIAN ARCHITECT
JULY 2017
24 SPECTACLE Bureau for
25 Studio North
Architecture and Urbanism
6 VIEWPOINT
Has the time come for architecture firms to pay overtime?
9 NEWS
Shigeru Ban in Vancouver; Moriyama RAIC International Prize shortlist announced.
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27 PRACTICE
Helena Grdadolnik makes the case for why Canada needs a public architecture policy.
30 BOOKS
New books on tall wood buildings and the history of ice arenas.
33 CALENDAR
Summer exhibitions and walking tours from coast to coast.
34 BACKPAGE
Julie Bogdanowicz reports on the M+ Pavilion in Hong Kong by JET Architecture.
Sub Marine House by SPECTACLE Bureau for Architecture and Urbanism.
COVER
V.62 N.07 THE NATIONAL REVIEW OF DESIGN AND PRACTICE / THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE RAIC
17-06-29 2:17 PM
CANADIAN ARCHITECT 07/17
06
VIEWPOINT
The Price of Architecture With summer upon us, several hundred newly graduated architecture students are coming into the work world from schools across Canada. A mixed bag of experiences awaits them. Some will start their own practices, others will work with established firms of various sizes. Yet others may continue their studies, or pursue opportunities in other fields. One experience is all too common: many will start working in architecture offices where working unpaid overtime is the norm. Putting in extra time—especially approaching deadlines—is generally accepted as simply part of the culture of working as an architect. Just as students accept the rigours of late-night design studio work in school, staying past regular hours in an office (especially when others are doing the same) can seem like no big deal. But unremunerative work takes its toll. On a personal level, it affects work-life balance for employees. This is an especial concern for contract-to-contract millennials, and for employers who aim to retain talented young staff. The expectation of unpaid work also creates an unequal playing field for those who have other obligations—such as the care of parents or children—and who can’t put in the extra hours that are an understood requisite for career advancement. On a broader level, a reliance on unpaid labour allows firms to low-ball their fees, feeding a downward spiral of underpriced design services. Unpaid overtime is tacitly supported by employment legislation across most of the country. In most provinces, with the notable exception of Quebec, the labour regulations that stipulate the requirement for overtime pay don’t apply to registered practitioners of architecture and students in training to become practitioners. This exception has been interpreted variously, but in some jurisdictions it is used to avoid paying overtime to a broad swath of employees. The exemption stems from an intention to protect the public interest. As self-regulated professionals, architects must adhere to the highest standards of care for public safety. They can’t design a faulty building and excuse themselves by saying that they had maxed out on their daily allotment of hours. But should this expectation apply to all of those that work at architecture firms?
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EDITOR ELSA LAM, MRAIC
At this year’s meeting of the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA), Kitchener architect John MacDonald advanced a motion addressing the exemption clause in Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA). MacDonald suggested that the exemption from overtime pay should be narrowed to apply only to architects that hold a certificate of practice—not all licensed architects— as well as to non-employees who are students-in-training. MacDonald argued that most architects are not stamping drawings nor assuming ultimate responsibility for their integrity, and should therefore retain full rights under the ESA. Interns should also be paid overtime since they are more advanced and qualified than regular students. The motion received nearly unanimous support from the members present—a hopeful intdication of the profession’s readiness to address the issue of unpaid overtime in a unified and systematic way. On a broader level, the OAA hopes to take things even further: it aims to entirely remove the exemption for architects from the legislation. For the past two years, it has been working with the provincial government in a broader review of the ESA . The most recent report, produced by an independent body, has recommended a review of all of the exemptions in the Act. Even if architects are subject to the Act, there will be loopholes. For instance, managers as a group are exempt from overtime provisions across the country (the review in Ontario also hopes to set stricter guidelines for how managers are designated). In Quebec, employers can offer a fixed weekly salary to employees that isn’t tied to a minimum or maximum number of working hours, so long as they end up paying at least minimum wage. Nonetheless, the direction of the current discussion is promising. It points towards architects taking action in promoting fair working conditions and granting due recognition to the profession’s most important asset: its people. It’s a step that is necessary to ensure the healthy future of architecture culture and to assert the importance of architecture’s role in society. Elsa Lam
ART DIRECTOR ROY GAIOT ASSISTANT EDITOR SHANNON MOORE EDITORIAL ADVISOR IAN CHODIKOFF, OAA, FRAIC CONTRIBUTING EDITORS ANNMARIE ADAMS, FRAIC ODILE HÉNAULT DOUGLAS MACLEOD, NCARB, MRAIC REGIONAL CORRESPONDENTS HALIFAX CHRISTINE MACY, OAA REGINA BERNARD FLAMAN, SAA MONTREAL DAVID THEODORE CALGARY GRAHAM LIVESEY, MRAIC WINNIPEG LISA LANDRUM, MAA, AIA, MRAIC VANCOUVER ADELE WEDER, HON. MRAIC VICE PRESIDENT & SENIOR PUBLISHER STEVE WILSON 416-441-2085 x105 SALES MANAGER FARIA AHMED 416-441-2085 x106 CUSTOMER SERVICE / PRODUCTION LAURA MOFFATT 416-441-2085 x104 CIRCULATION CIRCULATION@CANADIANARCHITECT.COM PRESIDENT OF IQ BUSINESS MEDIA INC. ALEX PAPANOU HEAD OFFICE 101 DUNCAN MILL ROAD, SUITE 302 TORONTO, ON M3B 1Z3 TELEPHONE 416-441-2085 E-MAIL info@canadianarchitect.com WEBSITE www.canadianarchitect.com Canadian Architect is published monthly 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. Subscription Rates Canada: $54.95 plus applicable taxes for one year; $87.95 plus applicable taxes for two years (HST – #80456 2965 RT0001). Price per single copy: $6.95. Students (prepaid with student ID, includes taxes): $27.00 for one year. USA: $105.95 US for one year. All other foreign: $125.95 US per year. Single copy US and foreign: $10.00 US. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Dept., Canadian Architect, 101 Duncan Mill Road, Suite 302 Toronto, ON M3B 1Z3. Postmaster: please forward forms 29B and 67B to 101 Duncan Mill Road, Suite 302 Toronto, ON M3B 1Z3. Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in part or in full without the consent of the copyright owner. From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: Telephone 416-441-2085 x104 E-mail circulation@canadianarchitect.com Mail Circulation, 101 Duncan Mill Road, Suite 302, Toronto, ON M3B 1Z3 MEMBER OF THE CANADIAN BUSINESS PRESS MEMBER OF THE ALLIANCE FOR AUDITED MEDIA PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT #43096012 ISSN 1923-3353 (ONLINE) ISSN 0008-2872 (PRINT)
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PROJECTS
Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has unveiled details of his first project on Canadian soil, in partnership with Vancouver-based developer PortLiving. The 19-storey residential building, named Terrace House, will be the world’s tallest contemporary hybrid timber structure. The innovative wood, glass and concrete tower aims to make a prominent gesture that demonstrates Vancouver’s commitment to forward-thinking sustainable design and advanced timber engineering and construction. Located in the heart of Vancouver’s Coal Harbour, the building will pay tribute to the neighbouring Evergreen Building, a listed landmark in Vancouver that stands as one of the most significant urban works of the late Arthur Erickson. Visually, the terraces on the Evergreen Building continue across Terrace House on every level. Additional connections to Erickson’s work are made through the use of triangular shapes, natural materials and greenery. www.shigerubanarchitects.com
National Capital Commission announces finalists in design competition for Nepean Point.
The National Capital Commission has announced the finalists in the international design competition for the redevelopment of Nepean Point in Ottawa, a historic and picturesque public space situated behind the National Gallery of Canada and one of the Capital’s most iconic lookouts. A jury reviewed 26 submissions and selected the finalists on the basis of their qualifications and previous work. The finalist teams are: PUBLIC WORK with KPMB Architects and Blackwell; Janet Rosenberg & Studio with Patkau Architects, Blackwell, and ERA Architects; WAA Landscape Architecture with Tectoo Architecture and Milan Ingegneria; and West 8 with Barry Padolsky and Fotenn. Each team will now prepare a proposal that includes: an overall design concept, a development plan for the entire site, a detailed design for Nepean Point, a design of a pedestrian bridge linking Major’s Hill Park and Nepean Point, a gathering place for events and programming, and various other facilities. A public exhibition of the finalists’ designs will be held on October 5, and the winning design team announced in November. Construction is planned to begin in 2019. www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca
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COURTESY OF PORTLIVING
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban designs residential development in tribute to Arthur Erickson.
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NEWS
ABOVE Designed by Shigeru Ban, the Terrace House residential building in Vancouver will be a hybrid timber structure that harmonizes with the adjacent building by Arthur Erickson.
City of Ottawa launches Request for Qualifications for Ottawa Central Library.
The City of Ottawa has issued its Request For Qualifications (RFQ ) for professional design services for the new Ottawa Central Library. The $168-million Ottawa Central Library has been approved to be built in collaboration with Library and Archives Canada, pending Government of Canada project approval and City Council approval of the funding strategy. The facility will bring together the Central Library as well as Library and Archives Canada’s public services and programs. The new building will be located at 556 Wellington Street, at the edge of Lebreton Flats. A facility on this site will be close to the downtown core and Parliament Hill, while benefiting from the elevation of the escarpment and enjoying views to the Ottawa River. The goal is to create a modern, iconic library that responds to today’s rapidly developing technologies, increasing consumer expectations, and changing demographics. Components will include a public forum, meeting spaces, exhibition gallery, genealogy centre, creative centre, children’s discovery area, preservation lab and town square. Based on the RFQ submissions, a shortlist of up to five teams will be chosen during the summer and invited to submit a formal proposal in the fall. Public feedback will play an important role in 2018, when the Ottawa Public Library and the successful architectural design team will actively engage the public on the design. The project is anticipated to break ground in 2018 and to open in 2022. www.ottawacentrallibrary.ca
AWARDS Shortlist announced for 2017 Moriyama RAIC International Prize.
The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has announced the shortlisted projects for the 2017 Moriyama RAIC International Prize. The Prize, which was established in 2014 by Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama, F RAIC, along with the RAIC and the RAIC Foundation, consists of a monetary award of $100,000 and a handcrafted sculpture by Canadian designer Wei Yew. The Prize celebrates a single work of architecture that is judged to be transformative within its societal context, and that ref lects Moriyama’s conviction that great architecture transforms society by promoting social justice and humanistic values of respect, fairness and inclusiveness. The inaugural winner of the prize was the Liyuan Library, a modest library on the outskirts of Beijing, China, designed by architect Li Xiaodong. The 2017 shortlist consists of: 8 House in Copenhagen, Denmark by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group); Fuji Kindergarten in Tokyo, Japan by Tezuka Architects; Melbourne School of Design at the University of Melbourne, Australia by John Wardle Architects and NADAAA ; and The Village Architect, Shobac Campus in Upper Kingsburg, Nova Scotia by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects. The winner of the 2017 Prize will be announced at a gala event in Toronto on September 19, 2017. www.raic.org
CONTINUED ON PAGE 33
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EMERGING
ROBERTS CREEK HOUSE BY CHAD MANLEY PRACTICE IN BUILDING AND LANDSCAPE
TALENT
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LAUNCHING A DESIGN FIRM IS, IN ITSELF, A DESIGN EXERCISE. IT STARTS BY SKETCHING OUT AN IDEA FOR A STUDIO, THEN GRADUALLY BUILDING IT UP, REACHING A POINT WHERE IT PICKS UP ITS OWN MOMENTUM. LIKE ANY SUCCESSFUL DESIGN, IT TAKES A GREAT DEAL OF TALENT AND PERSISTENCE, AND A SPRINKLING OF LUCK. WE’VE ROUNDED UP SOME OF CANADA’S TOP YOUNG DESIGNERS THAT ARE MAKING IT HAPPEN.
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1x1 architecture GLEN GROSS, TRAVIS COOKE, MARKIAN YERENIUK, JASON KUN, JORDAN PAULS, KAILEY KROEKER, MIKE KARAKAS, JASON WALL
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The work of Winnipeg-based 1x1 architecture is a lot like the sorts of characters Gary Cooper played in classic movies: unpretentious, principled, and quietly charismatic. Partners Travis Cooke, MRAIC, Glen Gross, MRAIC, Jason Kun, MRAIC and Markian Yereniuk, MRAIC, all in their forties, met in architecture school at the University of Manitoba and working at Cibinel Architecture. In 2010, they founded what is now an eight-person practice. St. Vital Park Pavilion, which serves as a picnic shelter in the summer and a heated skate change enclosure in the winter, embodies the studio’s mix of thoughtful design and resourceful pragmatism. The shelter was carefully positioned to preserve existing trees in one of Winnipeg’s oldest parks, and its adjacency to a duck pond inspired a roof evocative of f light. The type of bi-folding doors often used on auto showrooms provided an affordable, off-the-rack means of completely opening the pavilion’s long sides in warm weather. Janzen Residence, a house designed for an expansive Manitoba prairie site, has a sparseness that says “Mies” and “barn” at the same time. Many of 1x1’s other works are parks and recreation projects, or industrial buildings with challenging budgets. “We take a lot of satisfaction in designing industrial buildings that are not just boxes, but work environments with well-placed access to natural light,” says Cooke. “We hit the programming and budget objectives,” Gross adds, “and then try to take it one step further with design.” Pamela Young
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1 A new changeroom facility for Winnipeg’s Transcana outdoor pool and splashpad opened this summer. 2 1x1 headed the design of a helicopter base for fighting forest fires at Lac du Bonnnet, Manitoba, delivering the project through a design-build process in collaboration with Graham Design Builders. 3 The St. Vital Park Pavilion in Winnipeg is inspired by the arcing form of a bird’s wing during takeoff. 4 The Janzen Residence is a low-lying home set within the prairie landscape.
PHOTOS: 1, 3, 4—LISA STINNER-KUN; 2—1X1 ARCHITECTURE
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Acre Architects
CANADIAN ARCHITECT 07/17
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MONICA ADAIR, STEPHEN KOPP
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PHOTOS: TEAM—SCOTT MUNN; 1, 2, 3, 4—MARK HEMMINGS; 5—SEAN MCGRATH
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1 The recently completed Rose Coast Residence references local barn typologies. 2-3 Picaroons General Store is a community hub in uptown St. John, New Brunswick. Acre is currently renovating an 1885 railway roundhouse as the company’s new brewery and head office. 4 Tinker’s Orchard combines a residence and cider house, overlooking a working apple farm in rural New Brunswick. 5 The Centennial is a contemporary bachelor’s suite addition to an existing Saint Andrews home.
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Seven years after launching, Acre Architects has piled up multiple accolades: they were named one of Canada’s top emerging design firms by Twenty + Change, and selected for Wallpaper magazine’s 2016 directory of rising-star practices from around the globe. Co-founder and studio lead Monica Adair, MRAIC, 39, also received the RAIC ’s 2015 Young Architect Award. It’s heady stuff for the seven-person team led by Adair and co-founder Stephen Kopp, 40. Partners in business and life, the two left busy careers in New York a decade ago, stored their belongings with Adair’s father in New Brunswick, and traveled in Europe while planning their next endeavour. “We didn’t originally plan to settle in St. John,” says Adair. “But when we returned, we discovered that we have a lot of freedom here to explore new directions—there are no constraints in terms of ‘how things have always been done.’” Adair and Kopp describe their practice as “storied architecture,” designing buildings that inspire people to live great stories. It’s an approach that has resonated in projects such as Picaroons Traditional Ales, a microbrewery set in a reimagined 1885 former railway roundhouse, and Port City Royal, a top Canadian restaurant in a once-neglected heritage storefront. There are also new builds, like the airy Tinker’s Orchard, designed to take advantage of breathtaking orchard and river views, and an increasing number of private residences for discerning clients. Presently, the studio is collaborating with the mayor of Grand Falls, New Brunswick, on an exceptional new fire station and teaming up with comedian Shaun Majumder to design a summer home in Newfoundland. And if that’s not enough, they’ve got three research projects in process—including a submission to the Venice Biennale. Sarah Brown
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atelier rzlbd REZA ALIABADI, ARMAN AZAR, SEBASTIEN BEAUREGARD, AZIZA ASAT
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The vertical Shaft House is organized around a central light well flanked by stairs. Level changes, rather than walls, are used to separate rooms. The shifted section results in a ground floor canopy and a south-facing roof terrace. 3-5 Located to the east of downtown Toronto, Opposite House presents a low, dark brick profile to the street. Facing the water, its south side opens up with floor-to-ceiling curtain wall, framed in bright white stucco. 1-2
spired a long, simple bar of a house, divided lengthwise by a central corridor. The opaque north side, clad in dark brick, contains bathrooms, closets and other utilitarian “servant” spaces; on the white, light-filled, lake-facing south side are the “served” main living areas. “For me, architecture is about the intangibles—the contained spaces, not the container,” says Aliabadi, 45. “First, I must secure a good spatial organization. Then come the details.” Pamela Young
PHOTOS: BORZU TALAIE
Reza Aliabadi sometimes conveys the sizes of his four-person studio’s projects in vehicular terms. Shaft House is barely two London doubledecker buses wide (16 feet), for example, while Opposite House is as long as an Airbus A321 commercial jetliner (146 feet). Shaft House, a 1,400-square-foot spec project for a developer, was one of the first buildings Aliabadi designed after closing a successful studio in Iran, completing a second Masters of Architecture at McGill University in Montreal, and founding atelier rzlbd in Toronto in 2010. In a city where “affordable modernism” was an oxymoron, he demonstrated that a smart little machine for living could be built for not much more than the going per-square-foot rate for mass-market residential development. He describes Shaft House as “a fortified castle open to the sky.” Its vertical circulation winds around a central light shaft, with one room on each floor, in an offset arrangement that provides views into adjacent spaces half a storey above and below. Opposite House, completed in 2016 on a large lakefront site, is a 6,000-square-foot horizontal counterpart to Shaft House’s compressed verticality. Here, Louis Kahn’s idea of “servant” and “served” spaces in-
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Chad Manley Practice in Landscape and Building Arts
CANADIAN ARCHITECT 07/17
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CHAD MANLEY
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PHOTOS: 1, 2, 3—CHAD MANLEY; 4—JORDAN MANLEY
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Chad Manley is a designer and a builder who, on any given day, might spend as much time propagating plants for his Pacific Northwest Living Plant Catalogue as he does designing structures and spaces. The results, like Whistler’s Freaux Sauna, bespeak a design spirit that strongly values the synthesis of landscape and built form. Chad Manley Practice in Landscape and Building Arts (CMPLBA) enjoyed a fairytale start when Manley’s Masters of Architecture thesis proposal, a series of backcountry warming huts on Whistler Mountain, began growing into a real project upon his 2011 graduation from the University of British Columbia. Although Manley is no longer involved in the Spearhead Huts project, which is now in the fundraising stage, the project did help solidify his understanding of what he calls “the interface between natural spaces and city spaces” that continues to inform his work. For a 2017 single family house in Roberts Creek, British Columbia, Manley began his design process by grappling with philosophical questions: What is artifice? What is nature? How does culture fit? For him, the act of building on a densely forested site meant that the constructed form should describe some tension and ambivalence about the act of liv-
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ing there. This, along with a scrupulous adherence to an existing fourdegree slope, results in a pair of structures that evoke a fallen tree beside its stump and subtle off-kilter spaces that give the house a nestled final resting place in the forest. Currently a one-man operation, CMPLBA relies on a set of close collaborators around Vancouver. Manley is keenly aware of the “millennial trap where my friends and I end up endlessly gigging for one another— but it can be productive when it works.” Courtney Healey 1 Nestled in the woods, Freaux Spa reaches up from the forest floor towards its canopy. 2 The pavilion includes an enclosed sauna and a freestanding tub with framed views of the surrounding landscape. 3 Completed with Principle Architect and Goodweather Studio, Roberts Creek House is carefully sited to minimize damage to its sloped site. A series of glass-walled courtyards connect interior and exterior spaces. 4 The Apres Ski Bar in Whistler evokes the dynamism of the sport.
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est architecture FÉLIX TUE
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1 Plywood, oriented strand board and glass give an industrial character to AT Office, which accommodates 50 employees of a transportation company. 2 Crisan House adds a contemporary second floor to an existing bungalow, bringing in natural light and river views. 3 A rendering from a competition entry for the House of Hungarian Music in Budapest. 4 Windmill, an eleven-unit residential building, is currently undergoing site plan review with the City of Ottawa.
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Translation is central to the work of Félix Tue, 45. He began his architectural career in his native Romania, and after moving to Canada in 2002, worked for a decade in the Montreal offices of two large firms. In 2013, he founded his own studio, est architecture. Its website describes the firm’s work in French, Romanian and English. In addition to being trilingual, Tue has a talent for translating inspiration into modern forms that may look very different from the source, but remain faithful to its spirit. A case in point: a client born in Sibiu, Romania, wanted to renovate and expand his 40-year-old traditional bungalow home in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec. In adding a second floor, Tue radically updated the residence. The oversized dormer windows popping out of the new mansard-like roof pay tribute to the vernacular of steeply pitched, window-inset roofs in the client’s home city. “Roofs to me are like haircuts on a human—a way to show personality and individuality,” Tue says with a laugh. He is now working on a number of multi-unit residential projects with distinctive roofs that help to mediate between building types, in neighbourhoods where a residential area abruptly morphs into something else entirely. Est architecture’s first commercial project, AT Office, incorporates plywood, OSB and sliding doors to give a transport company’s administrative space what Tue describes as a “cargo” character. This project was also designed for the client of Crisan House, and the reception desk’s geometric patterns recall traditional Romanian craft motifs. Pamela Young
PHOTOS: 1—EST ARCHITECTURE; 2—CLAUDIU OLARU; 3,4—RENDERINGS BY EST ARCHITECTURE
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Office OU
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STEPHEN BAIK, SEBASTIAN BARTNICKI, SOPHIA SZAGALA, UROS NOVAKOVIC, JIA LU, NICOLAS KOFF
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RENDERINGS: OFFICE OU
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Once upon a year ago, Office OU entered a competition. It looked like an exceptionally good one to the young Toronto firm because it was an international open call for a huge project, with an anonymous submission process. For the studio’s founders—Sebastian Bartnicki, Nicolas Koff, and Uros Novakovic, who are all 31—the outcome was also exceptionally good. Office OU beat out 80 firms from around the world to plan a two-million-square-foot national museum complex in Sejong, South Korea, and to design three of the project’s dozen buildings. Working with the large South Korean firm of Junglim Architecture, they are tackling the National Children’s Museum, the central operations centre, and a storehouse, all slated for completion by 2020. All three partners studied architecture at Canadian universities, and Koff also has a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. The integration of those disciplines is central to their winning approach to Sejong Museum Gardens. In their scheme, specific site characteristics generate the concept and materiality for each museum. For instance, fruit trees on the site yielded an orchard model for the children’s museum—it includes trees in a courtyard and on the roof, and uses wood as the main building material. As the trees grow, the relationship between the simple architecture and the landscape will evolve. “We’re trying to let the context speak as much as possible,” says Novakovic, and Koff finishes the sentence: “rather than have the building crush the context.” The competition’s publicity is now generating Canadian projects for Office OU, including a winery. Pamela Young
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1 A rendering of TRK Winery, a current project in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. 2 The masterplan for Sejong Museum Gardens integrates a variety of courtyard spaces that tie the complex together and support the individual museums. 3 The Children’s Museum is one of three buildings that will be constructed by Office OU. 4 Modeled on an orchard, the children’s museum includes fruit trees in its courtyard. 5 A multimedia wall for film screenings is envisaged for the Digital Museum.
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PARKA Architecture & Design CLARA BOULANGER COUTURE, PHILIPPE CHABOT, VÉRONIQUE BOULET, GISÈLE FRASER, LUC BÉLANGER, OLIVIER LEBRUN, STÉPHANE SARIAN, KARINE AUDY, CAMILLE BERNARD, MARIE-HÉLÈNE CLICHE, GABRIEL COUGHLAN (MISSING: GENEVIÈVE GUIMONT)
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1 PARKA is currently designing the Base de plein air de Sainte-Foy, Quebec. 2 Graphic elements such as signage are integral to the firm’s projects. 3-4 The team’s graphic sensibility extends to the sharp geometries of the Saint-Apollinaire Multipurpose Centre in Quebec, which includes a double gymnasium and four community rooms. 5 Realized in collaboration with Christine Lavallée and Jérémy Hall, the design for the mexican restaurant chain Zolé! extends from branding to interior.
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A parka is warm and enveloping, promising protection on a human scale. It’s an ideal name given the aspirations of Luc Bélanger and Geneviève Guimont, who co-founded PARKA Architecture & Design in 2013. “We wanted our name to give the sense of what we aim to do, without sounding too architecty,” says Bélanger, 41. Their one-stop-shop strategy has paid off, allowing the 13-person firm to thrive as an architecture firm while also pursuing product design. PARKA looks for work based on three principles: Is it fun? Is it creative? Do they have the resources to design it to a high level of quality? In the past few years, this has led them to take on complex projects in the $20-million range, but also small renovation and branding jobs. Of late, three disparate projects have their creative juices flowing. The firm is restoring and renovating a former fire station, Caserne No5, as a hub for start-ups, and designing a multi-purpose building to service a recreational green space in Sainte-Foy. There’s also a new sports complex on the go in Quebec City. The latter stems from the success of the first sports centre PARKA designed—the sleek and light-filled SaintApollinaire Multipurpose Centre, which opened in 2015. “That project gave us credibility,” says Bélanger. “It let everyone know that we could handle a job of that size.” As for the future? The co-founders plan to keep doing what they’re doing, while growing the product design side of the business. Says Bélanger, “Now that we’re starting to have repeat clients, we don’t have to do as much business development. People are coming to us because they like what we do and how we do it.” Sarah Brown
PHOTOS: TEAM—MARIE-NOËLLE CLOUTIER; 1—RENDERING BY ÉTIENNE DUMAS; 2, 3, 4, 5—JESSY BERNIER
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PARTISANS
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ZAHRA SHARBATI, JUSTIN SMITH, FAN ZHANG, NATHAN BISHOP, IVAN VASYLIV, TIM MELNICHUK, ADRIANA MOGOSANU, CATHY TRUONG, MICHAEL BOOTSMA, TEDDY SHROPSHIRE, ALEX JOSEPHSON, NICOLA SPUNT, POOYA BAKTASH, JONATHAN FRIEDMAN
PHOTOS: TEAM, 1—JONATHAN FRIEDMAN; 2—HECTOR VASQUEZ; 3—RENDERING BY GH+A; 4—RENDERING BY NORM LI STUDIO; 5—RENDERING BY MIR; 6—COLEN COLTHURST
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“We’ve got a lot of tech today, but not a lot of talk,” says Alex Josephson, co-founder of Toronto’s PARTISANS. The five-year-old studio has created some voluptuously maximal calling cards with the latest tech— most famously Toronto’s always-packed Bar Raval—and is striving to revive the sort of conceptual thinking and critical debate generated in the last century by the likes of Archigram, Cedric Price and John Hejduk. To that end, last year PARTISANS collaborated with architecture critic and historian Hans Ibelings on the book Rise and Sprawl: The Condominiumization of Toronto, which its authors describe as “a call to action to do things differently and design better, bolder buildings.” Josephson and co-founder Pooya Baktash, who are both 33, met as architecture students at the University of Waterloo. The two other leads at what is now a 16-person firm are partner Jonathan Friedman, 39, and writer/producer Nicola Spunt, also 39. PARTISANS ’ work has ranged from the temporary conversion of Toronto’s decommissioned Hearn Generating Station into the 2016 Luminato cultural festival venue, to a few forays into product design— notably with their spectral, rippling Gweilo light sculptures. Works-inprogress include a retail and food court fit out at Toronto’s renewed
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1 Sinuous strips of CNC-cut mahogany line Toronto’s Bar Raval. 2 In collaboration with Luminato’s Jorn Weisbrodt and Charcoalblue, PARTISANS revamped the decommissioned Hearn Generating Station to host an arts festival. 3 The firm is working with GH+A and DIALOG to fit out the commercial spaces of Toronto’s Union Station. 4 Cloud Village envisages transforming a heritage highrise rooftop into an event space. 5 A rendering from a competition entry for the Seoul Ferry Terminal. 6 Gweilo lamps are hand-sculpted from thermoformed acrylic.
Union Station, featuring characteristically curvaceous ceiling modules that integrate lighting, speakers, sprinklers and HVAC. Josephson believes that ornament is rooted in—and returning to— functionality. “Everything today is about speed, and that means financing also has to be fast,” he says. To pay for itself, architecture has to find other ways to make itself relevant. “If ornament becomes another avenue in which architecture functions, how is it superfluous?” Josephson asks. “Isn’t it now actually performing?” Pamela Young
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PLOTNONPLOT GRANT OIKAWA, REBECCA FERNANDO, MARK ROSEN
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1-2 The Reflex House is anchored by a central skylight and circulation core. On the ground level, a section of glass floor acts as a lightwell that channels daylight to the house’s basement. 3 Located in Quebec, the Chelsea Passive House is a highly energy-efficient home that includes a timber frame structure, super-insulated walls and southfacing windows. 4 The Rowan Restaurant in Ottawa uses glass garage doors to create a patio-like feel for patrons.
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If you ask its three co-founders about their firm’s name, you’ll get at least three answers. PLOTNONPLOT references CAD, with the plot and non-plot layers that make up a digital drawing, says Mark Rosen. Grant Oikawa, meanwhile, says the name alludes to a good story, wherein the plot and background (or non-plot) elements are equally important to the whole. Bex Fernando reflects on how the name hearkens back to a literal plot of land. It’s a fitting introduction to a firm whose strength is in the individualism of each of its members. “We each have very different aesthetics and very different skill sets,” explains Fernando. “But we see our differences as an asset—we debate all the time, and that lends a richness and harmony to each project.” The trio, all age 36, met while studying at Carleton University, then went their separate ways, with Oikawa and Fernando working on larger projects at established firms and Rosen immersed in sustainability consulting. But something was missing. They wanted to design on a human scale, so they began charting a new course, and formed Ottawa-based PLOTNONPLOT in 2013. It was a big leap, but one that has paid off in an ever-growing list of one-of-a-kind residential and small-scale commercial projects. The firm, which has spearheaded a number of Passive House projects, brings an undercurrent of sustainability to every project. “Design comes first, and green is a strengthening force,” says Rosen. Four years in, the co-founders are reaching the point where their body of work means they no longer have to convince people to take a chance on them. On the horizon? A modest home with a modernist aesthetic in a pretty woodland setting, a rustic off-the-grid countryside home built with Passive House principles, and an imaginative infill in Ottawa’s urban core. Sarah Brown
PHOTOS: MARK ROSEN
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Ply Architecture
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ARNOLD CHAN, CASEY BURGESS
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PHOTOS: PORTRAITS—JEREMY JUDE LEE; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5—ANDREW LATREILLE
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After three years designing for offices in Hong Kong, in 2013 itinerant travellers Arnold Chan, MRAIC and Casey Burgess took a huge leap of faith establishing Ply Architecture in Vancouver—a city where neither had any professional ties. As unknown newcomers, they started from scratch in their living room, building relationships and eventually landing work through word of mouth. Ply now occupies a sunny studio space in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood. Architect Chan and interior designer Burgess liken the past four years to running a “design-business boot camp.” Ply has quickly carved out a niche designing fitness studios, pop-up shops, and local foodie-fast-food joints like Joe Pizza, Juke Fried Chicken, Peaked Pies, and Pacific Poké. The duo describes their clients as kindred spirits who are, like Ply, young entrepreneurs and small business owners. Ply’s outsider perspective has resulted in shop fronts that sparkle with unusual materials and forms, from the green and gold diamond plate on the walls of Juke Fried Chicken to the steel origami canopy at Pacific Poké. For Tight Club, a local fitness studio, Ply used simple folded white slats to define an entry zone with a mirrored workout space beyond. For
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Peaked Pies, Ply suspended tall stacks of brightly spattered pie plates, creating a playful ceiling over a long communal table. Alongside single family homes and condo renovations, retail and restaurant work continues to fill the boards. The Ply partners describe their studio and their work as a fluid process with no predetermined outcome. Or as Chan puts it, “you never arrive; you just ply your craft everyday.” Courtney Healey The design for Juke Fried Chicken is a mix of modern elements and eclectic moments, yielding a space as soulful as the food it serves. 3-4 The new home for a local gym, Tight Club, includes a front check-in area that evokes the club’s former home in a coach house. In the workout area, floor markings and lighting are used to animate the openplan space. 5 An origami-like canopy evokes an ocean wave at Pacific Poké, which serves seafood-topped rice and salad bowls. 1-2
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RHAD Architects RAYLEEN HILL
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1 Fernbrae Barn, a new residential project. 2 The Victoria Park Pavilion is a skating shelter in Edmonton. 3 For SOMA, Hill transformed a bland commercial space into a contemporary clinic with an apartment above. 4 A concept design for Fundy Gateway includes an interpretive centre and observatory. 5-6 At Spirit Spa Hydrostone, RHAD partnered with Studioworks to create a six-storey infill that combines a three-storey spa, two floors of commercial space, and a residential penthouse.
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When she launched a solo practice in August 2010 out of a room in her house, Rayleen Hill, MRAIC had little idea where it might lead. “I pictured doing small residential projects—interior design, kitchens, that sort of thing,” says Hill. Just six months later, she won a prestigious international design competition to build one of five park pavilions for the City of Edmonton. It was a game-changer for Hill, who moved into an office in downtown Dartmouth and added the $4.2-million Victoria Park Pavilion to her to-do list. But even as her three-member team doubled down on the multi-use pavilion, which opened in 2015, Hill maintained equal focus on the smaller residential projects that still form the bulk of her practice. Her mission statement includes the words: “Create powerful moments that can be brought into everyday life.” It’s a value that she holds close, no matter the size of the project. “We always drive home the point that even if a client has a small budget, they don’t need to think small in terms of design.” Hill’s current portfolio is a mix of small and large, old and new. The firm recently took over downtown Dartmouth’s second-oldest building, renovating the 1797 wood-framed house and turning it into its office. For a dramatic six-storey infill project in Halifax’s historic Hydrostone neighbourhood, Hill designed a three-level spa, two levels of commercial space and a stunning penthouse. The eclectic mix also includes a public art project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Halifax explosion in December 2017, as well as Fundy Gateway, an interactive tourism and interpretive centre to be built in Truro, Nova Scotia. Sarah Brown
PHOTOS: PORTRAIT, 1, 5, 6—DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY; 2, JIM DOBIE; 3—GREG RICHARDSON; 4—RENDERING BY RHAD ARCHITECTS
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Sixteen Degree Studio
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KELLY DOYLE, STEPHANIE VERMEULEN
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PHOTOS: TEAM—MICHAEL DOYLE; 1, 2—BOB GUNDU; 3, 4, 5—KELLY DOYLE
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In the website photo of Sixteen Degree Studio’s two principals, Kelly Doyle and Stephanie Vermeulen are wearing dark, monochromatic clothing and standing in front of a concrete wall. But even so, this Toronto-based firm’s self-presentation departs significantly from the hyper-serious default setting for young architectural practices: both women are smiling, and the concise, friendly text describes the studio as “organized and personable.” Doyle, 34, and Vermeulen, 36, met eight years ago as co-workers at Toronto’s Kohn Shnier architects. A good working relationship grew into a strong friendship when they travelled to Europe together, and in 2014, an opportunity to design a house in Port Hope, Ontario, provided the impetus to go out on their own.
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The completed project, Augusta House, uses insulated concrete formwork that allows it to occupy a plunging ravine site that had remained undeveloped in a built-up part of town. Clad in hand-formed red brick with cedar siding insets and capped with elementally simple zinc fascia, this house conceals its structural bravura behind an impeccably refined street presence. Doyle and Vermeulen’s two-person practice now has multiple residential projects and a winery expansion on the go, and has completed a brewpub and a jewelry store. Why the name Sixteen Degree Studio? Toronto’s street grid is rotated sixteen degrees west of north, which means that an apparently north-facing site may actually get a smattering of late-day sun. In other words, a thoughtful study of site and context often reveals potential that isn’t obvious at first glance. Pamela Young Augusta House is built using insulated concrete formwork that facilitates the structural requirements for building on a steep ravine slope. The concrete’s thermal mass minimizes heating and cooling needs. 3-4 Clad with dark metal siding to blend with surrounding pine trees, Balsam Boathouse includes a wet slip, dry storage and upper loft. 5 Heath Residence is a brick-clad residence for a family of five, designed to sit quietly alongside its Toronto neighbours. 1-2
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SPECTACLE Bureau for Architecture and Urbanism PHILIP VANDERMEY, JESSIE ANDJELIC
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When Jessie Andjelic and Philip Vandermey, MRAIC founded SPECTACLE Bureau for Architecture and Urbanism in 2013, the University
of Calgary grads set out to tackle big cultural issues that are both farout and close to home. Their first commission, for Andjelic’s hometown of Medicine Hat, provided just such an opportunity. Employing casestudy thinking on Canada’s “doughnut effect” of hollowed out historic town centres, Andjelic, 31, and Vandermey, 39, envisioned ways to revitalize the sleepy downtown. Their concepts for temporary and permanent interventions and the adaptive reuse of historic buildings coincided with local elections and gained traction when the newly elected mayor declared downtown revitalization his number-one priority. On the other end of the spectrum, Andjelic recently taught a design studio about habitats for Mars. As Vandermey says, “we are interested in taking situations to their extreme outcomes.” Some of this approach can be traced to three years spent training at OMA spinoff firms in the Netherlands, where the partners developed a belief that “architects are uniquely trained to look for gaps between disciplines and problems, and are uniquely positioned to solve them.” It is precisely that ability to work simultaneously on Mars and in Medicine Hat, or to address local flooding in Calgary while proposing a bath house that straddles the Korean border, that sets their work apart. The firm has recently completed an interior fit out of the new WHL Tigers arena. “Our first built project is a hockey rink,” notes Andjelic. “Can you get more Canadian than that?”
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1 A city-funded study for revitalizing downtown Medicine Hat included this concept for a commercial development entirely composed of corner offices. 2 Responding to the Alberta floods, these luxury pods allow the privileged to enjoy life above the waterline. 3 The Sub Marine House presents a different coping strategy, in the form of a floating house. 4 The firm recently completed the Player’s Locker Room for the Medicine Hat Tigers. 5 Water Whirl was a runner-up in an ideas competition to design a bath house in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
PHOTOS: TEAM—PHIL CROZIER; 1, 2, 3, 5—RENDERINGS BY SPECTACLE BUREAU FOR ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM; 4 —JAMIE HYATT
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Studio North
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MARK ERICKSON, MATTHEW KENNEDY, BRIGHTON PARKS, NORBERT HOLLMAN
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PHOTOS: TEAM—DIANE + MIKE PHOTOGRAPHY; 1, 2, 3, 4—STUDIO NORTH
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Matthew Kennedy, MRAIC and Mark Erickson have led eerily parallel lives. Both grew up in Calgary, attended the same high school, even drove the same kind of car, but only met for the first time in an art class at the University of Calgary. There they learned they were both headed to Dalhousie to study architecture and, after settling in Halifax, realized they lived across the street from one other. Design collaborations soon followed. In 2006, while still students, Kennedy, 32, and Erickson, 33, parlayed Matt’s summer job as a camp counselor into their first built project. With their unshakable can-do attitude, the pair ran fundraisers, petitioned the government and moved onto the property in Prince Edward Island to build a camp hall at Cabot Beach with the help of a few friends. The camp project was a launch pad, bringing recognition and more work their way. The partners rode that momentum right out of architecture school, setting up shop in the house of Matt’s mother, and eventually moving into Blank Page Studio, a warehouse they transformed into a co-working community space. In 2013, they founded Studio North as a design-build practice. While many an architecture student dreams of starting an office right out of school, it does make it more challenging to gain the work experience necessary for an architectural license in Canada. Studio North continues to occupy what the partners call “architecture adjacent space,” but also sees the opportunities that come with the design-build business model. Acting as developer, designer and contractor gives the sevenperson office control over almost every aspect of its work, and lays out what the co-founders hope could be a path to larger projects. Kennedy and Erickson view the practice as an extension of their personalities: “playful and experimental, with the ability to dream up reality.” Courtney Healey
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1 A pavilion for Camp at Cabot Beach in PEI includes a dining hall, washrooms, and outdoor showers for children from families affected by chronic illness. 2 Sliding walls and moveable storage allow Blank Page Studio to be quickly reconfigured to accommodate individual needs or community events. 3 This custom millwork wall was commissioned by a family of musicians. 4 A second-storey addition to a garage forms a compact home office during the day and a guest suite at night.
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Submission Portal Opens: July 17th, 2017 Early-Bird Deadline: August 17th, 2017 ($120 entry fee*) Regular Deadline: September 21st, 2017 ($175 entry fee*) Projects must be in the design stage, scheduled for construction or under construction but not substantially complete by September 21, 2017. All projects must be commissioned by a client with the intention to build the submitted proposal. All building types and concisely presented urban design schemes are eligible. Awards are given for architectural design excellence. Jurors will consider the project’s physical organization and form, response to context, innovation, and demonstration of exemplary environmental or social awareness. Winners will be published in a special issue of Canadian Architect in December 2017. Submissions will be accepted in PDF format, up to 12 pages with dimensions no greater than 11” x 17”. Total file size is not to exceed 25MB. There is also the option to submit a video up to two minutes in length. For more details and to submit your entry starting July 17th, visit: www.canadianarchitect.com/awards/ * PLUS APPLICABLE TAXES
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WINNERS OF 2016 CANADIAN ARCHITECT AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE, FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: BARRY JOHNS (ARCHITECTURE) LIMITED, KANVA, GH3 WITH MORRISON HERSHFIELD, KANVA.
CANADIAN ARCHITECT INVITES ARCHITECTS REGISTERED IN CANADA AND ARCHITECTURAL GRADUATES TO ENTER THE MAGAZINE’S 2017 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE.
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WORKSHOP ARCHITECTURE
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WHY CANADA NEEDS A PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE POLICY TEXT
Helena Grdadolnik
Fifty years after Canada’s Centennial, it is natural to compare the public patronage of architecture in the 1960s with today’s procurement for public buildings. On the positive side, there is increased transparency in public sector commissions, and former practices such as nepotism or cronyism have been greatly reduced. But on the flip side, the interpretation of current rules has created unnecessary barriers to achieving architectural design quality and long-lasting value. Our municipal, provincial and federal governments should be promoting innovation and design excellence. This is necessary to create highquality buildings and spaces in Canadian cities, and also to develop a strong market both in Canada and abroad for designers and architects. A solid architecture policy could achieve this by providing a clear set of guidelines to direct the processes of selection, design development and execution for public commissions of buildings and spaces. A policy can expand on existing directives—for example, providing guidance on how the public-sector procurement principles of fairness, transparency and value for money should be interpreted specifically for architecture projects. Some of our provincial and national architecture bodies have bandied about the idea of an overarching architecture policy, but without yet achieving successful widespread adoption. My experience as a director of a small architecture studio in Ontario, and as a representative of England for the United Kingdom government at the European Forum for Architectural Policies in the late 2000s, have led to some thoughts on principles that would foster architectural excellence in public buildings. These are intended as a starting point for a much-needed discussion to which I welcome my colleagues in architectural practice, public sector roles and architectural associations to contrib-
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ute. The ideas draw heavily on examples from Edmonton and Montreal, Canada’s current leaders in the public commissioning of quality architecture. 1. Select architects based on quality, not lowest cost. Selecting architects based on lowest-priced design services is a false economy. Fee is rarely the only evaluation criterion for design team selection. Nonetheless, even on the low end (weighted at 15-20 percent), it is often the tipping point for selection. There is nothing in Ontario’s Procurement Directive that stipulates lowest fee as a requirement for selection. Nonetheless, many publicsector agencies include this constraint in their policies or in practice. To address this misconception, the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) recently commissioned a study from a preeminent construction lawyer, who agreed that public sector clients were mistaken about the requirement for lowest fee, and that they were free to instead focus on selecting architects based on best quality service or design. The City of Edmonton recognizes that low architectural fees can have a detrimental effect on quality. Therefore, it sets a fee target within plusor-minus five percent of the Alberta Association of Architects fee schedule. Anyone submitting a price higher—or lower—will lose points. This may seem radical, but research supports it as a fiscally responsible approach. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the National Research Council of Canada and the Government of Canada have produced ABOVE Workshop Architecture’s entry to a Montreal competition proposed a moveable space with robotic components. The RFP gave them latitude in selecting an appropriate team to develop the design.
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a national guide entitled Selecting a Professional Consultant. They found that the best value for a client is “achieved when the focus is on finding the most effective, long-term solution to a problem, not the cheapest design.” The design team’s work represents less than 10 percent of the capital cost of a building, but directly affects the other 90 percent in construction costs—not to mention impacting long-term maintenance costs, the health of the people who use the spaces for years to come, and the vitality and competitiveness of our cities. According to the National Guide, even a modest increase in design cost of 0.3 percent can return savings in the ratio of 11:1. 2. Construction expertise and quality must be valued. Last November, City of Toronto chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat hosted a roundtable discussion titled “Design Excellence: Implementation in Public Projects.” Brent Raymond, partner at DTAH, made a point that seems obvious to architects—design detailing and construction quality are both important to the final result. Raymond demonstrated how, whether you select high-grade or standard low-cost materials, quality will only be delivered if the person building the project understands the materials and takes care in how it is constructed. This is why contractor selection by tender price alone is not
Kawva
ABOVE Detail of Toronto’s Queen’s Quay Boulevard by DTAH and West 8. ABOVE RIGHT Detail of the Bloor Street Revitalization by architectsAlliance with Brown + Storey Architects. RIGHT KANVA’s winning competition entry for a roadworks shelter in Montreal. Opposite The John Fry Sports Park Pavilion by the marc boutin architectural collaborative was selected through an anonymous design competition.
appropriate, and does not demonstrate the best value for money. He reinforced his argument by quoting Benjamin Franklin: “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.” The City of Toronto has recently received private donations for key public spaces including the Don River Trail and The Bentway. As program manager in urban design Alka Lukatela shared, City staffers recommend that these third parties procure construction outside of the City’s lowest-bid tender process—a true sign that the process is broken. 3. Foster innovation. The way a Request for Proposal is structured can stymie innovation. Evaluation criteria are often drafted to prefer bidders who have completed multiple similar projects, but not necessarily the best or most innovative work. RFPs also frequently ask for a laundry list of consultants that may or may not be relevant, rather than allowing the team lead to build their own list based on their approach and experience. An alternative can be seen in the work of city agency Design Montréal. In a recent competition for a four-year temporary design solution to mitigate the effect of roadwork on Saint Catherine Street West, the agency didn’t specify whether the lead needed to be an architect,
value of design
investing in quality workflow
cost of change
ability to impact cost & performance
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design
16.5%
82%
Project initiation
context definition
preliminary design + decision making
construction design
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construction administration
operations + maintenance
operations + maintenance typical building costs over a 35-year life cycle
redrawn from a graphic by DTAH
construction
worst time to change
cost / effort
ideal time to change
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landscape architect, or graphic designer. Any design practice that met a minimum experience requirement could apply and assemble a team. Our studio was shortlisted for the second stage, and we were paid $25,000 to develop our idea. We were allowed to build a team appropriate to our design solution. We proposed a narrative that brought “Catherine” to life through a responsive moveable public space involving robotics, so we brought communications and interactive designers on board, as well as a structural and lighting engineer, and a company that had built temporary Cirque du Soleil venues. The evaluation criteria and process for this commission consistently stressed innovation and design excellence. The winning team, KANVA, is building a series of large-scale inflatable shelters. They didn’t need to show that they had built three temporary inflatable structures of the same scale in the last five years. They were asked instead to demonstrate that their design team had the relevant experience to execute their vision. 4. Strengthen the architecture industry through creative opportunities. It is important for the design industry as well as public-sector agencies to nurture a healthy pool of talent and competition for future projects. To counter challenges such as the difficulty for small firms to compete and the tendency towards mergers in the industry, Design Montréal has set up a multi-pronged program that is seeing tangible results. In the last ten years, the city has held 49 design competitions and workshops. Among its project competitions, 22 were anonymous. Over 30 design and architecture firms won their first municipal contracts through Design Montréal’s activities—and many of these projects have gone on to win awards. Design Montreal is modestly sized, with six staff members and $1.5 million in annual funding from the city and province. Why not scale up its success through federal innovation funding, creating a Design Canada agency to support the design sector in every Canadian city? Anonymous design competitions for key small- and medium-scale buildings are effective in sparking innovation, achieving the best design quality, and creating opportunities for talented architectural practices— arguably more so than competitions for large building projects with multiple stakeholders. For smaller buildings, competitions can bypass the initial Request for Qualifications stage, which can be a barrier for entry to small and emerging firms. In 2011, the City of Edmonton ran an anonymous design competition for five park pavilions. Running the competition cost $65,000—money well spent if you consider the lasting legacy of the park
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structures, which received many accolades, and positive press for the city. Due to the lack of true “open” competitions, our talented designers are going elsewhere to compete: Office OU from Toronto recently won an anonymous international competition for the new National Museum Complex Master Plan in South Korea, but would likely not have passed the RFQ stage for local design competitions of a comparable size, like the new Toronto Courthouse or Etobicoke Civic Centre. 5. Foster design champions in the public sector. We need champions supporting design at every level. This is vividly demonstrated in the City of Edmonton. In 2005, then-mayor Stephen Mandel said, “Our tolerance for crap [architecture] is now zero.” In 2010, the City of Edmonton formed a new department integrating infrastructure services. They created the position of City Architect and hired Carol Bélanger, FRAIC, who says: “I want to franchise my position across the country. Every city needs an architect at the table who is a steward, and who is looking out for the public interest.” 6. Simplify the process—from procurement to design decisions. Simplifying the processes for selecting a design team, and later for internal approvals, is important to achieving quality results. Design sign-off can be confusing in public sector agencies: the role of various departments and committees in decision-making is not always clear, and their directions can be contradictory. A good project manager will help the architect understand what input must be incorporated, and will negotiate between their internal colleagues at an early stage. At the City of Edmonton, policy direction and manuals detailing the decisionmaking process are in place, so that projects don’t get derailed by personal opinions or design choices by committee. There are many examples of excellent public buildings and spaces in Canada, but there could be many more. The country would benefit from following the examples of the City of Edmonton and Design Montréal, and implementing quality-based guidelines for commissioning architects and building architecture. Through a concerted effort, architects and their public-sector clients can work together to build a lasting legacy that Canadians can be proud of in 2067. Helena Grdadolnik is a director at Toronto-based studio Workshop Architecture.
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BOOKS Tall Wood Buildings: Design, Construction and Performance By Michael Green and Jim Taggart. Birkhäuser, 2017.
Architect Michael Green, FRAIC and sustainability expert Jim Taggart, FRAIC are on a mission to champion tall wood buildings. Striking a careful balance between the big picture and specifics, this book makes a strong case by carefully explaining why timber construction is important for the future, and delving into complex issues without oversimplifying or getting stuck in details. At times, the text verges on the pedantic in its implication that this is not only a possible scenario for new buildings, but the only truly sustainable option available today. The book opens with an introduction that explains the fundamentals about how the carbon cycle acts for engineered wood products. This places emphasis on the importance of “maintaining forest carbon stocks.” Detailed introductions to different types of engineered wood products follow, along with a chapter on how tall wood building projects have helped to change legislation in various countries. The addition of project photos in this section would have made it easier to follow the discussion;
as it is, there’s a lot of flipping back and forth to the next section, which focuses on projects. This is where the book gets really inspiring. The book clearly shows the range of possibilities that timber construction allows through 13 best-practice case studies. These showcase different construction methods used in buildings around the world. The case studies are divided into three groups, focusing respectively on the use of engineered wood in panel, frame and hybrid systems. Each building is represented with photos, sections and plans, as well as details of its structural systems. The case studies are thoroughly presented in a way that will be useful to professionals, both with regards to their architectural and structural design. Tall Wood Buildings is a very important book for the future—not only of architecture and construction—but also in presenting a viable option of how we might build a sustainable future for our planet. David Valldeby is editor of trä magazine, Sweden.
Architecture on Ice: A History of the Hockey Arena By Howard Shubert. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2016.
Exceptionally researched and peppered with intriguing photographs and illustrations, Architecture on Ice examines the development of buildings for skating and hockey. Having previously published work on the Montreal Forum, Shubert, former curator of prints and drawings at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, draws on a long-standing fascination with the subject to present a rich history of what may be “North America’s most overlooked cultural buildings.” For Canadian architecture and sport enthusiasts, Architecture on Ice is a fascinating read, as it delves into the complex dialogue between hockey and architectural histories. While the narrative unfolds around the exploration of specific buildings, Shubert is conscious to frame the significance of these projects within the development of the sport. Given our country’s role in the emergence and popularization of hockey, many of the precedents explored in the book are Canadian. The book opens with an exploration of 19thcentury buildings for skating and hockey before moving into the interwar development of the sport. This period sees the creation of a number of long-standing shrines to the game. The book provides intriguing background on the development of both the Montreal Forum (1924) and Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens (1931). For Shubert, it is only in the post-war suburban
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context that the hockey arena emerges as a distinct typology, with long-spanning, functionally expressive projects such as the OaklandAlameda County Coliseum (1966). Despite the architectural clarity of these arena-type projects, they have not been adopted as primary models for the development of NHL buildings in the late 20th century onward. Instead, explains Shubert, in an age of spectacle and mass consumption, it is projects such as New York’s Madison Square Garden (1968)— focused on expanding functionality—which serve to inform the development of the contemporary corporate-entertainment complexes that have emerged since the 1990s. Shubert successfully traces ice rinks from their humble origins on naturally occurring surfaces to today’s massive entertainment complexes. With an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, Architecture on Ice is particularly useful in understanding the forces that are driving the contemporary development of these projects. While the opportunities presented by these facilities are often touted, it remains important to highlight the major financial, architectural and urban impacts that can result from their creation. Andrew Bramm is an architect with Toronto-based MJMA .
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Join Canada’s A & D community for an evening of celebration @
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AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE
BESTOFCANADAAWARDS
Canadian Architect and Canadian Interiors magazines are marking the 50th Awards of Excellence and the 20th Best of Canada Awards and are holding an Architecture & Design Party – a PARTi – to celebrate!
PARTi will be an exclusive gathering of architects and interior design professionals: a chance to celebrate, network, reconnect and mingle with industry peers and colleagues.
There are a limited number of tickets to PARTi – Order yours today at:
www.parti2017.com
7 – 11 p.m., November 29 (after Day 1 of The Buildings Show) The Storys Building 11 Duncan Street, Toronto
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The BuildMaster approach — Canam’s advance planning, design and improved steel delivery features — can be combined with any of our construction solutions. 1-866-466-8769 | canam-construction.com
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Concrete Mixer July 13 and August 10, 2017
Concrete Mixer is a casual monthly social evening in Toronto bringing together people working in architecture and design. www.concretemixertoronto.com
It’s All Happening So Fast: A Counter-History of the Modern Canadian Environment To July 15, 2017 Curated by CCA Montreal, the
Toronto stop of this exhibition questions our stereotypical views of nature through narratives by environmentalists, artists, photographers and architects. artmuseum.utoronto.ca
Temple of Light Opening
University of Manitoba Architecture Tour
Canadian and Indigenous Art: From Time Immemorial to 1967
August 9, 2017
To September 4, 2017
Led by architectural historian Jeffrey Thorsteinson, this tour focuses on buildings from the post-1945 period, including St. Paul’s College, St. John’s College, University Centre and the John A Russell Building.
The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa unveils its transformed Canadian and Indigenous Galleries with an exhibition showcasing a range of popular and littleknown works from its collections. www.gallery.ca
www.winnipegarchitecture.ca
The Shape of Things to Come
EDIT Expo for Design, Innovation and Technology
To August 13, 2017
September 28–October 8, 2017
This exhibition at UQAM’s Centre de Design examines Habitat 67, its manifestation over the course of Moshe Safdie’s global career, and its lasting influence on the architectural field at large. www.uqam.ca
Located in Toronto’s former Unilever Soap Detergent Factory, this expo-meets-festival will present immersive exhibits and experiences, as well as a program of talks with globally celebrated thinkers. www.editdx.org
July 31–August 7, 2017
Celebrate the completion of the new Temple of Light at Yasodhara Ashram, a yoga retreat and study centre in Kootenay Bay, B.C. designed by Patkau Architects, through dance offerings, workshops and special dedications. www.yasodhara.org
October 5, 2017
This festival in Toronto explores sustainability processes, problems and solutions. www.sbcanada.org
Expo 67: A World of Dreams To October 8, 2017
This multimedia exhibition in Montreal includes archival images from the National Film Board and CBC/Radio Canada. www.stewart-museum.org
CAPITALizing on HERITAGE October 11 –14, 2017
This Ottawa conference will explore how people, policy and preservation practice intersect to renew landmarks sustainably. www.nationaltrustcanada.ca
AIBC Walking Tours
Toronto Architecture Tours
To August 31, 2017
To October 1, 2017
Each summer, the AIBC offers a variety of walking tours through Vancouver and Victoria, exploring areas such as Gastown, Yaletown, Strathcona and James Bay. www.aibc.ca
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Ontario Association of Architects announces three additional winners in 2017 Awards.
In addition to the 10 winners of the Design Excellence Award, the Ontario Association of Architects has announced the winners of three additional awards. The winner of the Michael V. and Wanda Plachta Award for projects under $8 million is Rosemary Residence in Toronto by Kohn Shnier Architects. River City—Phase 1 & 2 in Toronto by Saucier + Perrotte Architectes and ZAS Architects Inc. in joint venture has won the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Design Excellence in Architecture. Finally, Queen Richmond Centre West in Toronto by Sweeny &Co Architects Inc. was awarded the People’s Choice Award. The awards were presented in a ceremony in Ottawa on May 26. www.oaa.on.ca
WHAT’S NEW RAIC joins architects worldwide in support of AIA’s declaration on Paris Agreement.
The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has joined with architects around the world in supporting the American Institute
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The Toronto Society of Architects’ guided walking tours lead visitors along a two-hour journey to see some of downtown Toronto’s most iconic buildings. torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/tours/
of Architects’ (AIA) declaration on the Paris Agreement, issued in response to the White House decision to withdraw the United States from the landmark Agreement. On June 1, the AIA expressed its continued commitment to designing a more sustainable world and to making the goals of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement a reality. Urban areas account for more than 70 percent of global energy consumption and CO2 emissions, mainly from buildings. Architects will continue to embrace the responsibility to design buildings and communities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, foster healthier environments, protect and enhance natural resources, provide clean air and water, protect people from the impacts of climate change, and create sustainable, equitable and healthy communities for everyone. The RAIC affirms the Canadian architecture community’s commitment to doing its part in meeting the sustainability challenges of the 2015 Paris Agreement. “Each of us has a responsibility in our work and with our everyday choices to ensure a sustainable future,” says RAIC President-Elect Michael Cox, FRAIC. “The RAIC applauds and wholeheartedly endorses the American Institute of Architects’ commitment to continue to exercise that responsibility.” www.raic.org
World Design Summit October 16–25, 2017
This cross-disciplinary congress and expo culminates in a summit of 50 international, design-focused organizations. www.worlddesignsummit.com
National Trust for Canada reveals Top 10 Endangered Places for 2017.
The National Trust for Canada has released its Top 10 Endangered Places List for 2017. Every year, the list is published as part of a mission to raise awareness of the value of historic places. The list is compiled from nominations received as well as from reports and news items that the National Trust has been following throughout the year. The 2017 list includes: The Black Horse Pub and Pig’s Ear Tavern in Peterborough; Cathédrale Saint-Germain in Rimouski; Young Avenue in Halifax; Davisville Junior Public School/Spectrum Alternative Senior School in Toronto; Wallingford-Back Mine in Mulgrave-et-Derry; Bryn Mawr in St. John’s; Manie Opera Society in Lethbridge; Somerset House in Ottawa; Hangar 11 in Edmonton; and Sinclair Centre in Vancouver. The annual list was first published in 2005. Past listings include Canada’s wooden grain elevators and lighthouses, Woodward’s Department Store in Vancouver, the Rosedale Power Plant in Edmonton, Ontario Place in Toronto, 5 Place Ville Marie in Montreal, St. Patrick’s Church in Halifax, and the Fogo Island town of Tilting in Newfoundland. www.nationaltrustcanada.ca
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Julie Bogdanowicz Clad with reflective stainless steel panels, the M+ Pavilion cantilevers out towards panoramic views of Hong Kong Island.
ABOVE
A YOUNG CHINESE-CANADIAN FIRM CROWNS HONG KONG’S KOWLOON PENINSULA WITH A SHINING PAVILION. Shiny, shapely, shifty: a new arts pavilion has landed on the shores of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, designed by JET Architecture’s Jeff W. N. Leung, MRAIC and Tynnon Chow, an energetic pair who split their time between projects in China and Canada. They won the commission through an international competition in 2013, in collaboration with local firm VPANG and Lisa Cheung as architects of record. The M+ Pavilion, which opened last year, sits on newly reclaimed land on the Kowloon peninsula, and enjoys one of the best views of Hong Kong Island. The waterfront-hugging area was master-planned as the West Kowloon Cultural District by Foster + Partners, with other venues including Bing Thom Architects’ Xiqu Centre for Chinese opera and Herzog & de Meuron’s M+ museum for visual culture, under construction next door, for which this pavilion is ostensibly a folly related to a larger complex. As a kind of pop-up attraction, the pavilion, along with a nearby temporary tree nursery park, set the tone for what is to come. The building’s reflective, mirror-like stainless steel panels, which naturally encourage a selfie state of mind, have come to define the pavilion as “that mirror building on the peninsula.” Emerging from berms, the cladding was
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meant to camouflage the building in the landscape, but it instead produces wavy, fun-house reflections of nearby towers. The architect’s first choice was a pricier mirror-finish Alucobond panel, but their second choice is effective. Once you ascend to the main gallery level, you’re immediately struck by the view of unrelenting urbanism flanking the mountains across the harbour. This panorama is framed by a cantilevered balcony that doubles as a kind of promontory where one goes to see and be seen. The cantilevered corner forms an edge to the gallery’s courtyard: a calm space set around a mound, a tree and a curved stairway that provides access to a future park. Beyond framing a vista, the orientation of the courtyard walls was conceived to block views of the adjacent tunnel ventilation building designed by Farrells, the first piece of infrastructure to inhabit the peninsula. The pavilion and its site organization take cues from traditional Chinese landscape gardening techniques by borrowing, concealing, penetrating and extending the view. Its shape was designed to scoop up the wind from the harbour and create a refreshing wind tunnel— an effect in play during my visit. The actual gallery space risks feeling ancillary
next to the courtyard and cantilever, but is well proportioned for installations and events. The gallery is connected to the courtyard with large, pivoting glass doors. In this, the architects paid homage to Barton Myers’ work on Woodsworth College at the University of Toronto, where they both studied architecture. However, the pavilion’s ability to accommodate crowds seamlessly between indoors and outdoors might under-perform and be compromised by the courtyard’s narrow walkway and small platforms. Several concessions were made between the initial vision and the final outcome—from the size of the building to its cladding, to having to paint an exposed concrete wall grey because of difficulties procuring quality concrete work. These compromises are unfortunate: pavilions are traditionally flawless, gem-like objects, whose ultimate function is irrelevant, besides being an object of pleasure. Nonetheless, after having withstood value engineering and the lack of local craftsmanship, the pavilion has effectively planted a stake on the peninsula as a harbinger of exciting things to come in the new cultural district.
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Julie Bogdanowicz is an architect working with the City of Toronto’s Urban Design department.
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