Canadian Architect June 2017 by IQ Business Media

CANADIAN ARCHITECT JUN/17

COLLABORATIVE ENDEAVOURS

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE RAIC

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COLLABORATIVE ENDEAVOURS

CANADIAN ARCHITECT

JUNE 2017 09

SAUCIER + PERROTTE ARCHITECTES / ZAS ARCHITECTS

12 VIEWPOINT

Editor Elsa Lam considers the architectural impact of Canada’s sesquicentennial celebrations.

15 NEWS

Winning team for Etobicoke City Centre announced; design unveiled for the Memorial to the Victims of Communism; RAIC College of Fellows inducts 37 new members.

40 PRACTICE

Firms need to invest in talent management as a key strategy for retaining staff, explains business consultant Rowley Mossop.

42 INSITES

20 RIVER CITY—PHASE 1 & 2 A development in Toronto by Saucier + Perrotte Architectes and ZAS Architects sets a superior standard for condo complexes. TEXT Alex Bozikovic

28 CREW COLLECTIVE Architect Henri Cleinge revitalizes a former banking hall in Montreal as an elegant co-working hub for creative professionals. TEXT Olivier Vallerand

32 LAZARIDIS HALL A new gateway to Wilfrid Laurier University by Diamond Schmitt Architects with David Thompson Architect brings together students and tech entrepreneurs. TEXT Magdalena Milosz

45 BOOKS

New releases on the buildings of Mount Allison University, architecture and environmental change, and an architectural novel set in Montreal.

49 CALENDAR

Exhibitions on Expo 67 and Habitat 67 in Montreal; architectural walking tours in Victoria, Vancouver and Toronto.

50 BACKPAGE

Andrea Carson Barker examines the architecturally integrated artwork Two Circles by Micah Lexier.

DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY

ADRIEN WILLIAMS

Shannon Moore rounds up the latest architectural tour apps, websites and podcasts.

COVER Lazaridis Hall by Diamond Schmitt Architects with David Thompson Architect (Associate Architect). Photo by Doublespace Photography.

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DIAMOND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS

CANADIAN ARCHITECT 06/17

VIEWPOINT

LEFT The renovated National Arts Centre in Ottawa, by Diamond Schmitt Architects, will open on Canada Day.

Sesquicentennial Spin-offs Happy 150th birthday, Canada! As July 1 approaches, celebrations from coast-to-coast are materializing—from themed art exhibitions to free national park access. The federal government is spending half a billion dollars on the sesquicentennial, and the lion’s share is going towards construction. The $300-million Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program (CIP 150) was first announced in 2015. It’s one of three key funding pools for Canada 150, alongside programs to support large-scale celebrations and community-oriented activities, respectively. But little of this funding will be seen by architects. CIP 150 is geared towards the rehabilitation and renovation of existing structures, rather than new builds. A broad range of projects qualify: from cultural centres and museums to bike paths, golf courses, local airports and wastewater infrastructure. Unfortunately, the deployment of the program has seemed rushed. Municipalities were given only a month to apply after the program’s announcement, and preference was expressed for projects that could be completed by the end of 2017. These criteria limited submissions to construction-ready, mostly smaller-scale initiatives. It’s a far cry from the solid architectural undertakings commemorating Canada’s centennial in 1967. Architecture was a key part of Canada’s 100th anniversary celebrations, with modernist arts centres and museums erected across the country, from the Fathers of Confederation Memorial Buildings in Charlottetown, PEI, to the Vancouver Centennial Planetarium and Museum. These avant-garde buildings announced, as scholars Marco Polo, FRAIC and Colin Ripley, MRAIC put it, that “Canada and Canadian culture would be about the future, about new forms and new ideas.” The Commission’s architectural efforts were conceived to establish lasting impact at both community and national levels, through two major building programs. The first provided funds to municipalities to support cultural and recreational projects, such as libraries. The second gave each province an amount dedicated to a single cultural project of a lasting

nature. The latter resulted in landmark works such as the Grand Théâtre de Québec, by Victor Prus, and the Centennial Centre for Science and Technology in Toronto, by Raymond Moriyama, FRAIC. Selected projects opening this year do have a national mandate. The grandest of these is Diamond Schmitt Architects’ renovation and expansion of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa—a building whose original construction was partly funded by a special grant from the federal Centennial Commission. It will be reopening on July 1. The $225-million cost is being footed by the federal government, outside of CIP 150. The Bank of Canada Museum will also reopen this year, in a plaza adjoining the renovated Bank of Canada, by Perkins+Will. Montreal is simultaneously celebrating its 375th anniversary, and recently opened the newest pavilion of its Museum of Fine Arts, by Atelier TAG and Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes, as part of its festivities. However, the majority of projects funded under CIP 150, in the end, seem to be expanded trails, resurfaced running tracks, rehabilitated playgrounds, re-roofed arenas and the like. These improvements will no doubt be of value to many communities. But are they up to the task of marking a landmark anniversary? Fifty years ago, the creation of a legacy through building wasn’t a question of money alone. The Centennial Commission’s total spending for buildings and cultural programming was about $85 million—roughly $600 million in today’s dollars, comparable to the spending for Canada 150. In 1967, the crucial decision to focus part of this spending on a dozen noteworthy buildings resulted in a built heritage that would endure. In 2017, funds are being lavished on one spectacular building—the National Arts Centre—along with a patchwork of minor improvements. Canada could do better in creating a truly national architectural legacy to remember with pride 50 years down the line.

EDITOR ELSA LAM, MRAIC 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 elam@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 Build Toronto announces winning design team for Etobicoke Civic Centre.

Build Toronto, in partnership with the City of Toronto, has announced Adamson Associates Architects, Henning Larsen Architects and PMA Landscape Architects as the winning team to design the new Etobicoke Civic Centre. The partnership of firms from Toronto and Copenhagen will create a 500,000-squarefoot centre as part of the 14-acre Westwood Theatre Lands redevelopment. The new Centre is composed of municipal offices, a community recreation centre, a Toronto Public Library district branch, a child care centre and an outdoor civic plaza. An urban park, south of the civic plaza, will complement the outdoor civic function for new and existing residents. The submission was selected for its flexibility and iconic design, which the jury felt was well suited for the community. Etobicoke Centre is one of four vital mixeduse communities identified in the City’s Official Plan as a hub for rapid transit, jobs, housing and services. buildtoronto.ca

Lemay and Atelier 21 design protective shell for Grand Théâtre de Québec.

Lemay and Atelier 21 have designed a new glass envelope that will protect the Grand Théâtre de Québec in Quebec City. In order to address the severe deterioration of its prefabricated concrete envelope, the protective shell will enclose the brutalist icon, designed by Victor Prus and inaugurated in 1971. The future glass casing will be integrated with the building as a modern, conserving cocoon. The gap formed by the double façade will be climatecontrolled and ventilated, protecting the concrete panels. Repair and protection work is anticipated for completion in fall 2018 at a cost of $16 million. www.lemay.com

Diamond Schmitt’s Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences breaks ground in Texas.

The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences by Diamond Schmitt Architects has broken ground in Lubbock, Texas, home to the 1950s pop legend Buddy Holly. The $155-million project will allow for a wide range of activities, from opera, broadway shows and symphonic music, to rock concerts, conferences and social events. The hall, which is expected to open in 2020, will also provide access to the Lubbock Independent School District as a learning centre.

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ABOVE A rendering of the competition-winning scheme for Etobicoke Civic Centre, by Adamson Associates Architects, Henning Larsen Architects and PMA Landscape Architects.

“The aim for Lubbock is to create a performing arts centre as good acoustically, as welcoming to the public and as attractive to performers to be among the best halls in North America,” said Jack Diamond, FRAIC, principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects. www.dsai.ca

Hariri Pontarini Architects to design new façade for ROM’s Weston Entrance.

The Royal Ontario Museum has announced that it is re-opening the museum’s heritage Weston Entrance, on its east side, in an effort to enhance the institution’s role as a vital civic hub for visitors and offer greater access to Canada’s pre-eminent museum. The new façade, which will become one of two public entry points to the museum, will be designed by Siamak Hariri, FRAIC, of Hariri Pontarini Architects. The reconstruction includes extending and refurbishing the limestone steps, new accessibility ramps to provide greater access, contemporary glass doors to offer clear views into the museum’s historic rotunda, new architectural lighting and enhanced landscaping. Slated for completion in September 2017, the re-opening of the entrance on Queen’s Park is timed to coincide with the Canada 150 celebrations. www.hariripontarini.com

Winning design revealed for Ottawa’s Memorial to the Victims of Communism.

The winning design for the Memorial to the Victims of Communism has been revealed. Toronto architect Paul Raff ’s proposal, created

in partnership with Michael A. Ormston-Holloway, Brett Hoornaert and Luke Kairys, will be built just west of the terraces of the Garden of the Provinces and Territories along Confederation Boulevard in Ottawa. Last fall, the Department of Canadian Heritage re-launched a national design competition after the original competition elicited heated public debate. Some of the concern was related to its proposed site, a prominent location between Library and Archives Canada and the Supreme Court that since the 1920s had been reserved for a new building for the Federal Court. The revised competition called for a monument placed on a new location, a grassed area approximately 500 square metres in size. The Memorial to the Victims of Communism – Canada, a Land of Refuge will recognize Canada’s international role as a place of refuge for people fleeing injustice and persecution. The memorial will honour the millions who have suffered under communist regimes. The winning $3-million project will be funded by the federal government and Tribute to Liberty, and is expected to be completed by 2018. canada.pch.gc.ca

AWARDS Winners of AIBC Architectural Awards announced.

The Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC) has announced the winners of its 2017 Architectural Awards. The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia Awards in Architecture recognize excellence in completed architectural projects led

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 06/17

NEWS Five Canadian buildings win 2017 North American Copper in Architecture Award.

ABOVE The winning design for the Memorial to the Victims of Communism in Ottawa, by architect Paul Raff in partnership with Michael A. Ormston-Holloway, Brett Hoornaert and Luke Kairys.

or designed by AIBC members. Two projects were awarded Medals: the Audain Art Museum by Patkau Architects and the FriesenWong House by D’Arcy Jones Architecture. Two additional projects received awards of Merit: the UBC Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre by KPMB Architects in joint venture with HCMA Architecture + Design, and Tsawwassen Beach Home by Frits de Vries Architect. The AIBC Emerging Firm Award was given to D’Arcy Jones Architecture, in recognition

of a firm that shows exemplary promise, clear vision and defined goals in the practice of architecture. The AIBC Special Jury Award is given for exceptional achievement, selected from all awards submissions and determined by the jury. The recipients were Christ Church Cathedral Restoration and Renewal by Proscenium Architecture and Interiors, and Sneakerbox by DCYT Architecture. www.aibc.ca

Five Canadian buildings are recipients of the 2017 North American Copper in Architecture Award, recognizing building projects for their outstanding use of architectural copper and copper alloys. Entries were evaluated on overall building design, integration of copper, craft of copper installation and excellence in innovation or historic restoration. The Canadian winners include: 166 Dovercourt House in Toronto by Ja Architecture Studio; Centre Block of Parliament - East Pavilion Roof Rehabilitation in Ottawa by EVOQ ; Le Windsor-Mansard Rehabilitation Project in Montreal by DMA architectes; Saskatchewan Legislative Building Dome Conservation in Regina by Spencer R. Higgins, Architect; and The Wellington Building Renovation Project in Ottawa by NORR Architects, Engineers & Planners. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Awards, 10 additional projects from the last decade were selected. Among these were three Canadian winners: the Canadian National War Museum by Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Griffiths Rankin Cook Architects, the Royal Military College Currie & Mackenzie Buildings Roof Replacement by Colbourne

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& Kembel Architects, and the Montreal City Hall Restoration by Aff leck & de la Riva Architectes. www.copper.org

The Canadian Institute of Steel Construction announces 2017 award winners.

The Canadian Institute of Steel Construction has announced the winners of the 2017 Alberta Steel Design Awards, celebrating projects in six categories including architecture, engineering, and sustainability. This year’s winners include: Studio Bell by Kasian Architecture and Allied Works Architecture (Architecture Award and Steel Edge Award); Emerald Hills Leisure Centre by MJMA and Marshall Tittemore Architects (Building Communities Award); Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary by Diamond Schmitt Architects and Gibbs Gage Architects (Engineering Award); Rogers Place by HOK (Collaboration Award); and the St. Louis Hotel by Nyhoff Architecture (Sustainability Award). www.cisc-icca.ca

Alberta Association of Architects announces creation of new award.

The Alberta Association of Architects (AAA)

has announced the creation of an award that honours the qualities of the late Tom Sutherland, who practiced architecture and made impactful contributions in Boston, Toronto and Edmonton before passing away in a ski accident in 2015. The Tom Sutherland Award of Merit will be awarded annually to an AAA member who exemplifies exceptional leadership qualities, excellence in design and extraordinary service to their community. Sutherland’s legacy will be used to recognize professionals who demonstrate his same dedication to positively impacting architecture and design, as well as his emphatic leadership ability. www.aaa.ab.ca

WHAT’S NEW RAIC College of Fellows inducts 37 architects from across Canada.

The College of Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada has bestowed Fellowship to 37 architects from across Canada. Recognizing outstanding achievement, design excellence, exceptional scholarly contribution, and/or distinguished service to the profession or community, the new Fellows include: Ron Fougere, Noel Fowler (deceased), A. Sandy

Gibbons and Douglas G. Steen (Atlantic); Giovanni Diodati, Martin Troy and Andrea Wolff (Quebec); David Stuart McRobie (Ontario North and East/Nunavut); Philip Beesley, James Kenneth Brown, Martin S. Davidson, Harald Bernd Ensslen, Helena Grdadolnik, G. Mitchell Hall, Ross Hanham, Carl A. Knipfel, Susan Spencer Lewin, Birgit Siber, Kim Storey and Alexandru Taranu (Ontario Southwest); Johanna Hurme, David John Kressock, Sasa Radulovic and Peter Sampson (Manitoba); Heney Nicholas Klypak (Saskatchewan); Carol G. Bélanger, Aziz Bootwala, Catherine Chernoff, Donald Wm. A. Davidson, Andrew John King, Peter Osborne and R. Allan Partridge (Alberta/ N.W.T.); and David Philip Dove, Alan Hart, Graham McGarva, Catherine Nickerson and Sean Francis Rodrigues (B.C./Yukon). In addition, the College of Fellows has inducted three Honourary Fellows: Jeanne Gang, Brian Carter and Annette LeCuyer.

CANADIAN ARCHITECT 06/17

NEWS

www.raic.org

Lemay merges with Toker + Associates.

Lemay has merged with Calgary-based architecture and interior design firm Toker + Associates. The addition of Toker’s 32 architectural and interior design experts boosts Lemay’s headcount

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 06/17

NEWS to close to 450 Canada-wide. This union will produce broader career opportunities and multidisciplinary collaboration, as well as support for anticipated growth, particularly in Western Canada. As new Lemay partners, Toker founders Eric and Dedre Toker will continue their leadership of the Calgary office, with a mandate to further develop markets in the region. Toker + Associates will operate under the name Lemay + Toker as of June 1, 2017, and maintain its current offices on 12th Avenue.

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New exhibition celebrates 50th anniversary of Habitat 67.

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An exhibition at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Centre de design examines the design and legacy of pioneering urban housing complex Habitat 67, by architect Moshe Safdie, FRAIC. A Canadian National Heritage Site and living landmark, Habitat 67 evolved from Safdie’s thesis project at McGill University and was commissioned by the Canadian government, the province of Quebec, and the city of Montreal as a major, living exhibition for the 1967 World’s Exposition. Habitat 67 vers l’avenir/ The Shape of Things to Come traces the trajectory of Safdie’s work from its origins to the present, demonstrating how Safdie has applied Habitat’s design principles and ideologies. Jointly organized by Safdie Architects and UQAM’s Centre de design with curator Donald Albrecht, the exhibition includes archival images and objects from the project’s origins, as well as conceptual drawings and models. It also showcases plans for unbuilt iterations of Habitat that Safdie designed for New York, Puerto Rico and Israel. “Habitat 67 is more than just Montreal’s favourite building—it’s one of the most important architectural constructions of our time. Its great promise—to industrialize and democratize modern, high density, humanist housing throughout the world—stands as one of the most ambitious endeavours of the previous century,” says Patrick Evans, UQAM Centre de design director. The exhibition is on view until August 13, 2017. www.centrededesign.com

Strutt House in Gatineau to become teaching model in architecture and conservation.

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The Strutt Foundation is rehabilitating Gatineau’s Strutt House as a teaching model in architecture and heritage conservation. Until October 31, the house will be featured in two exhibitions at the Gatineau Park Visitor Centre: one focused on conservation, the other a showcase of influential modernist residences across Canada. The historic house will also be open for tours and workshops until November 30. Designed and built in 1956 by James W. Strutt as his family home, the house incorporates a series of weight-efficient modular components and a unique grouping of wooden hyperbolic paraboloids that form the ceiling and roof. Strutt’s inspired design arose from a desire for a house that was affordable and easy to build and maintain. The house was recognized by the National Trust for Canada and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada with the Prix du 20e siècle in 2014, and by the Getty Foundation as an icon of modernist design in 2015. It was purchased by the National Capital Commission in 2010, and is now a recognized Federal Heritage Building. www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca

TeamMTL to compete in 2018 Solar Decathlon Competition in China.

McGill and Concordia universities have teamed up to form TeamMTL and will compete in the 2018 Solar Decathlon China competition

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ABOVE The Strutt House, designed and built by James W. Strutt in 1956, is being rehabilitated as a teaching model in architecture and heritage conservation, and will be open for tours this summer.

to be held in July 2018 in Dezhou, Shandong Province. The Montrealbased team comprises students and faculty from multiple departments from the two institutions, led by the McGill School of Architecture. The competition is an international showcase of collegiate innovation in design and construction. Team MTL is the only Canadian team. In addition to the competition, a public exhibition of the houses is expected to attract three million visitors over three months. The home will remain in Dezhou as part of a permanent Innovation Park dedicated to high-performance building and renewable energy research. Team MTL’s entry is a net-zero energy capable home that uses Passive House-inspired design and a Building Integrated Photovoltaic Thermal system. The design ensures high-performance capability through passive and active systems, superior indoor air quality, and reduced energy demand of 70 to 80 percent. Conceptual design began a year ago and the competition building will be constructed and displayed in Montreal this summer. Tours, media and fundraising events will be held July through September as part of the city’s 375th celebration and Canada’s 150th anniversary programming, before dismantling, packing, and shipping the building to China by the end of the year. www.teammtl.ca

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has announced its 6th International Student Tall Building Design Competition, which aims to shed light on the meaning and value of tall buildings in modern society. Participants are free to determine the site, size, height, function, accommodation and responsibilities of the building. The intention is to maximize the diversity and creativity of the responses. It is also intended to allow students from specific high-rise educational studies around the world to submit their projects for consideration. The deadline for submissions is July 24, 2017. www.ctbuh.org

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Photo: Nick Merrick ©Hendrich Blessing

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River City—Phase 1 & 2, Toronto, Ontario Saucier + Perrotte Architectes / ZAS Architects Inc., in joint venture TEXT Alex Bozikovic PHOTOS Jose Uribe PROJECT

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“I have a project in my mind,” says Gilles Saucier, FIRAC, “which is a black object of 14 storeys— slowly changing, descending into the ground, going under a highway—and then re-emerging in a tower of 28 storeys, with something white and precious contained in it.” The Montreal architect isn’t talking about some fantastical piece of paper architecture. He is describing River City, a four-phase multi-family housing complex in downtown Toronto. What’s more remarkable is that his vision is in large part being realized. Emerging on the banks of the Don River are four buildings with sloped sides and protruding extrusions, none of them a glass box and each of them interesting within and without. The scheme is being designed by Saucier + Perrotte with ZAS Architects of Toronto. Its first two phases are now occupied, while the third is well into construction and the fourth about to begin sales. Already the project has set a new standard among Canadian condo buildings for formal ambition. It shows that even in this often-formulaic building type, real architectural creativity is possible. This is achieved despite the site’s many constraints. The complex is in the West Don Lands, part of the city’s old industrial waterfront, on a brownfield bisected by a ramp from the Don Valley Parkway. Contaminated soil has ruled out any substantial excavation, so the entire program area, including parking, sits above grade. The project resides within the oversight of Waterfront Toronto, the government agency tasked with revitalizing the broader area, whose aims include fostering distinctive architecture and thoughtful urban design. Accordingly, its developer, Urban Capital, escaped some of the usual market pressures: teamed with their architectural partners, they won the job through an RFP process in which design excellence and sustainability were strongly weighted criteria. (The buildings, separately and collectively, are required by Waterfront Toronto to achieve LEED Gold certification.) This was no small feat—the competing design and development teams included international heavy hitters such as Foster and Partners. Toronto’s River City development is nestled on a site framed by major roadways and the Don River. Subsequent phases will include two additional buildings, extending the complex to the edge of Corktown Common park.

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ABOVE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP A playful façade composition gives individual identity to the condomiumum units in the white Phase 2 building; an open-plan suite enjoys sweeping views of downtown Toronto; a light-box addresses a highway ramp adjacent to the project’s south side; the tower is subtly articulated with a vertically tapered volume. OPPOSITE A multi-storey bridge connects the tower and bar components of the black-clad Phase 1.

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Waterfront Toronto’s high standards are, in this case, shaping an impressively large project: the four phases will comprise 1,075 residential units covering nearly one million square feet. At the time of the commission in 2008, the Governor General’s Medal-winning Saucier + Perrotte had never designed a multi-family residential project. And, Saucier says, “Our non-experience was our best advantage. We tried to reinvent the typology—and that was a great challenge.” This outlook allowed the firm to take a fresh approach to massing, materials and organization. Saucier’s scheme evokes a jagged outcropping emerging from the ground—a strategy his office has explored in several projects, including the recent Montreal Soccer Stadium (see CA, June 2016), to strong effect. River City begins at its north end with a pair of black buildings in an L configuration; these connect, above a public lane, with a three-level pedestrian bridge. The northernmost tower rises 16 storeys along busy King Street, then tapers to a faceted, squared-off point at the eastern corner, where it addresses the Don River and a prominent road bridge. It aspires to be an icon in what was an empty brownfield, and it succeeds. The design is replete with intelligent urban design moves. The pedestrian bridge connecting the black buildings provides visual surprise; practically, it connects corridors in the two buildings, which each have their own main entrances, allowing residents to access shared amenities. The southern half of this phase defines a new block of Lower River Street, and includes two-storey townhouse units at grade. The laneway that pierces the block is designed out as a woonerf—a street model adopted from the Netherlands that allows for service vehicles, but restricts them to a walking pace so as to prioritize pedestrians and cyclists. The second phase of the complex, completed in 2015, is tucked into the crook of the L. It is a 13-storey white rectilinear slab, internally

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divided into three mini-towers separated by short glazed corridors. The first two levels of this building are fronted by townhouse units, as in the adjacent Phase 1 building. An aboveground parking garage is cleverly tucked in the space framed between the two phases. This garage, with its two large floor plates, is in turn capped by a rooftop courtyard shared by residents of both the black and the white buildings. The courtyard is a highly unusual space for Toronto. It separates the Phase 1 and Phase 2 buildings, which are about 20 metres apart, with a shared patio, a pool and a lightly planted green roof. Residents of all three facing buildings have access, while party rooms in two buildings face the courtyard, giving it a heavily social character. This evokes the semi-private courtyards favoured by modernist architects of the 1950s and 1960s, many of them attempts to evoke piazzas or mews from historic urban contexts. Paul Stevens, the partner who oversaw the project for ZAS, argues that it will escape the no-man’s-land quality that many such spaces created: restricted access and many overlooking apartments keep it safe and comfortable. The courtyard was empty on the winter day I visited, not surprisingly, but the space’s agreeable proportions and attractive design, by The Planning Partnership, were very convincing. This is a place where you would want to hang out. Outsiders never see this space. What they do get to enjoy is the artful, irregular massing of the buildings, and their equally interesting façade treatments. The Phase 1 buildings are clad in aluminum panels with a matte black finish—a radical choice when they were designed, and only marginally less so a decade later. The façade steps back in some places, and is pierced by protruding balconies wrapped in the same black cladding; in other places, recessed balconies are carved out of its surface.

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ABOVE The interiors include dramatic staircases and common areas overlooking a shared courtyard. Diverse unit layouts accommodate a range of residents. LEFT Oversized portals mark building entrances from a street designed to prioritize pedestrian activity over cars. OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP The Phase 3 tower, currently under construction, blends design elements from the first two phases; a raised terrace will include a pool and other amenities; the preliminary design for Phase 4, the final building in the complex, is torqued to fit the geometry of its pentagonal site.

While the floorplate and balcony positions remain consistent, the visual effect of the façade varies significantly between the elevations. Saucier likens this to “changing the appearance of a body with a dress— even if most of the body remains the same. It changes the rapport with the environment completely.” The façades on Phase 2 are wrapped in white aluminum cladding, which forms rectangular extrusions at the corners in a somewhat random pattern—deliberately so, again, for variety. Residents can identify where they live by the pattern of the balconies, a marker that Saucier likes: “In residential buildings, there can be a repetition that is very alienating,” he says. Not so here. The meticulous detailing of the cladding panels allows this game of formal push-and-pull to work even up close. If the exterior design suggests variety, that promise is borne out by the interiors of the suites. The unit layouts in condo developments are

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customarily driven by specialist interior design firms. Here, Saucier + Perrotte and ZAS designed all the suites, and were able to insist on a variety of units. In the first phase alone, there are more than 25 different floor plans; in Phase 2, more than 40. Some are wide and shallow, others long and narrow. Envelope and contents are linked. For Saucier, the diversity of both provides the complex with urban resilience—people can find a just-right home here—and creates a sense of community. It turns the building into something like a landscape, filled with rises to catch your eye and outcroppings on which to hang memories. “This is something I’m not comfortable with when we work in housing: that the repetition, at the end, starts erasing the personality of people, to assimilate them to a door number within the complex,” he says. That’s unlikely here. And the next phase, still incomplete, continues

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that theme even more forcefully. The 29-storey Phase 3 will be half-black and half-white, a tower that steps down slowly into a thick slab whose edges protrude outward, gesturing across the highway overpass to its neighbours. In doing so, it will continue River City’s expression of both a sense of community and a consistent and powerful aesthetic vision. Toronto-based journalist Alex Bozikovic is the architecture critic for The Globe and Mail.

CLIENT URBAN CAPITAL | ARCHITECT TEAM ANDRE PERROTTE, PAUL STEVENS, GILLES SAUCIER, PETER

DUCKWORTH-PILKINGTON, GUY D’ALESIO, OLIVIER KRIEGER, MARIE-EVE PRIMEAU, GREG NEUDORF, PATRICK BISSON, DOMINIQUE DUMAIS, LIA RUCCOLO, YUTARO MINAGAWA, DAVID MOREAUX, GUILLAUME SASSEVILLE, YVES DE FONTENAY | STRUCTURAL ADJELEIAN ALLEN RUBELI LIMITED | MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL SMITH + ANDERSEN | LANDSCAPE THE PLANNING PARTNERSHIP | INTERIORS SAUCIER + PERROTTE ARCHITECTES | SUSTAINABILITY WSP/MMM GROUP LIMITED | CONTRACTOR BLUESCAPE CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT INC. | AREA 50,455 M2 | BUDGET $140 M | COMPLETION FALL 2015

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COAST CAPITAL HEADQUARTERS Vancouver, BC

The eye-catching curtain wall that adorns the new headquarters of Coast Capital Savings is a reflection of the modern spaces within. Flynn’s team of designers and engineers worked closely with the architect on a design-assist basis to devise a seamless curtain wall system that fits over the dramatic positive and negative slopes of the building. Visit FlynnCompanies.com for information on our design-assist program.

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OPPOSITE The grand entance to Montreal’s former Royal Bank headquarters is retained in its renovation for startup Crew Collective. ABOVE Private meeting rooms are set like jewel boxes behind the teller counters.

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BUILDING NET WORTH A CO-WORKING SPACE BRINGS FRESH GLAMOUR AND ELEGANCE TO A HISTORIC BANK BUILDING IN OLD MONTREAL. Crew Collective, Montreal, Quebec Henri Cleinge, Architecte TEXT Olivier Vallerand PHOTOS Adrien Williams PROJECT

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Spurred by changing workplace trends, co-working environments have proliferated across cities in recent years. These multi-use spaces deploy strategies to support both individual and team work by freelancers and small companies. While they are often situated in adaptively reused industrial buildings, few consider historic preservation the way architect Henri Cleinge did for Crew Collective. Crew—a startup tech company that brings together a network of freelance creative professionals—worked with the architect to create a co-working space and coffee shop in the main hall of Montreal’s former Royal Bank headquarters. Located in the Old Port, the neoclassical edifice was the British Empire’s tallest building when it was constructed in the late

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1920s, when Montreal was the country’s financial capital. Cleinge faced the challenge of creating a dialogue with the opulent space—while also organizing a complex program that includes both secure and publicly accessible areas, without breaking the visual unity of the grand banking hall. Both challenges are addressed by designing around the existing teller stands, which the building’s owner wanted to preserve. New meeting rooms are added behind and to either end of the stands, creating a U-shaped arrangement that separates the co-workers-only spaces from the public café. The barista counter sits parallel to the stands, masking views from the café to the co-working spaces, while maintaining some transparency. In addition to private desks arranged in an open layout, meeting rooms of diverse sizes are available—some only for Crew members and others for anyone visiting. Groups of desks can be rented to people working as a team. A kitchen and more informal spaces complete the services offered to members. The design fosters a similar experience to the coffee shop ambiance that many of these workers choose as an alternative to a traditional office environment. Crew’s approach to co-working is similar to other such organizations, in that it avoids closed-off spaces. Instead, it offers different working configurations that allow independent-minded millennials to meet with colleagues and clients in a relaxed setting throughout the day. In the design of the meeting rooms, counters, tables and lamps, Cleinge uses a limited number of materials, inspired by the teller stands, to create a contemporary signature in harmony with the heritage setting. Glass, white granite, concrete, oak, and especially brass-plated steel dialogue with the existing décor, while creating a contemporary language that subtly contrasts with it. Special attention was given to lighting, with Cleinge choosing and designing task lights that complement the mostly daylit space. The project was also an occasion for the building’s owner to clean and repair the existing chandeliers, as well as adding electricity outlets to the restored floor to power the café tables. Designed by Cleinge and fabricated locally, these tables are mobile, allowing for large events to take place, but also permitting future changes within the existing historic setting. The overall result is very elegant, if perhaps somewhat too restrained. For instance, Cleinge sized the meeting rooms so that they would not be higher than the teller stands, foregoing a grander gesture that might have been more appropriate to the scale of the hall. However, the decision to keep signage to a minimum works well, as the grand staircase already invites visitors to discover the renewed hall. Crew Collective exemplifies the new kinds of programs that are appearing as formalized “third places” in an increasingly cloud-based world. Distinguishing it from many of these spaces, it has done so by designing its physical environment with care. Its success lies in the clear identity that, in Cleinge’s words, conveys being new, while also remaining in harmony with the existing space. While banks were never public spaces in the strictest sense, they were built with the financial means gathered from a broader society, and served as secular cathedrals to commerce in the economic heart of cities. In Montreal, their transformation into tech spaces and condominiums is rapidly changing the fabric of Old Montreal. Instead of closing off the banking hall, Crew reopens its doors, creating a community hub that is accessible well outside of regular business hours for the public, and 24/7 for its members. This refined design stands as an exemplar for transforming the symbols of old economic power into dynamic spaces for the contemporary creative economy. Minimalist glass doors separate the membersonly co-working area from the public café; heritage features including ornate cheque-writing counters were meticulously restored; the tellers’ stands were reinvented as a servery and enhanced with bespoke lights. ABOVE A palatte of burnished gold, matte black, and warm grey materials and furnishings complements the heritage space.

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Olivier Vallerand is an architect with 1x1x1 Creative Lab, and a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design. CLIENT CREW COLLECTIVE | ARCHITECT TEAM HENRI CLEINGE, PAULETTE TAILLEFER | MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL PAGEAU MOREL ET ASSOCIÉS INC. | CONTRACTOR GESTION GEORGES COULOMBE |

AREA 12,000 FT 2 | BUDGET $750,000 | COMPLETION MAY 2016

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EXCHANGE CENTRE A NEW FACILITY IN WATERLOO SERVES TRIPLE-DUTY AS A TECH INCUBATOR AND THE HUB FOR WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY’S MATH DEPARTMENT AND BUSINESS SCHOOL.

Lazaridis Hall, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario Diamond Schmitt Architects with David Thompson Architect Ltd. (Associate Architect) TEXT Magdalena Milosz PHOTOS Doublespace Photography PROJECT

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Since its founding in 1960, Wilfrid Laurier University has had a habit of looking inward—at least in terms of urban design. Situated at the southwest corner of University and King, the Waterloo campus of the mid-sized university has, until recently, faced the street with a series of seemingly impenetrable walls. Lazaridis Hall—its newest addition—breaks the pattern by extending the campus northward and embracing the community. Inside, math and business students rub shoulders with faculty and professionals in a dynamic, high-tech environment centred on a soaring atrium. “It was the first venture across the street, so to speak,” says Donald Schmitt, FRAIC, principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects, “an opportunity for real identity and presence on University Avenue.” From a distance, the building announces itself with four stories of shifting, rectangular volumes clad in vertical strips of charcoal-coloured zinc,

punctuated by two drums covered in warm-toned wood. The first drum contains a 300-seat classroom hovering above a glass-wrapped café; the second is a 1,000-seat auditorium for convocations and other events. As a gateway building, Lazaridis Hall is dramatic yet effortless, distinguishing itself from its surroundings and creating visual openness with continuous glazing at grade. From the sidewalk, one can catch glimpses of student club meetings and the bustle of the café, which will include outdoor seating in the warmer months. Planning the 21,000-square-metre facility was a challenge due to a four-metre slope across the site and the rapidly changing neighbourhood context of Northdale. The post-war, single-family residential area has been shifting towards denser development—chief ly in the form of apartments catering to students of Laurier and the nearby University of Waterloo. The formal push-and-pull of Lazaridis Hall

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PREVIOUS SPREAD Lazaridis Hall’s bold massing is bookended by wood-clad cylindrical volumes that house auditoriums. OPPOSITE A luminous atrium at the heart of the building is animated by the projecting forms of glass-clad learning labs and study rooms. ABOVE A 1,000-seat auditorium accommodates convocation and other large-scale events. RIGHT The building’s transparent ground floor addresses its prominent location on University Avenue.

responds to these transforming surroundings, anticipating future densities while respecting the height of existing low-rise neighbours to the east. As the building sits tight to the east and west lot lines, north-south circulation through the site converges on an interior “street” that leads to a rear parking lot, recently outfitted with an electric vehicle charging station. The lot provides space for future development, which may reinterpret Lazaridis Hall’s north elevation. At present, the stacked volumes that work well on the front appear monolithic and stark at rear, particularly with a mechanical penthouse looming over the fourth floor. The building regains nuance with its west elevation, which faces St. Michael’s Catholic Church, built in 1965 with an iconic, swooping roof. “There’s something really lyrical about it,” says Birgit Siber, FRAIC, the lead principal on the project, pointing to the visual interplay of the church roof and the auditorium drum. On this side, the top two floors of Lazaridis Hall cantilever dramatically over the drum’s cylindrical form, which continues inside and is legible from a variety of vantage points. Originally known as the Global Innovation Exchange, the building was renamed following a $20-million donation by Mike Lazaridis (founder of BlackBerry and a prolific philanthropist in research and education) to create the Lazaridis Institute for the Management of Technology Enterprises. Capitalizing on the tremendous output— in both revenue and startups—of Waterloo Region’s technology industry,

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ABOVE A long-spanning, curvilinear skylight tops the central atrium, giving it an open, courtyard-like atmosphere. The structural glass and steel skylight, which covers a 140-foot by 70-foot area, includes a 40 percent frit to eliminate glare. The design achieves a maximum of glass surface supported by a minimal structure. Virtually all spaces in the building, including its 240 faculty offices, have windows to the exterior or to the atrium. OPPOSITE The main entry from University Avenue includes a sculptural stair and playful lighting.

the institute aims to assist in scaling up Canadian tech companies. It will share the new building with Laurier’s Department of Mathematics and the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics, one of the largest business schools in Canada. The building is thus a hybrid between a school and a centre for incubating emerging tech firms. Wisely, the design team has eschewed gimmicky tech startup references in favour of an elegant interior palette of wood, concrete, glass and Algonquin limestone. “As architects, we have a certain sensibility and a way of thinking, of organizing programs,” says Schmitt. Nowhere is this attuned insight more evident than in the heart of the building, where the four-storey atrium, capped by an expansive, undulating skylight, orients circulation and functions as a central forum. Initially conceived as an exterior courtyard, Wilfrid Laurier’s president, Max Blouw, saw an opportunity for a grand interior gathering space, and the design team gladly followed suit. Recalling the firm’s previous projects—the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto and the nearby Cambridge City Hall come to mind—the atrium enables a kind of architectural hide-and-seek, with glass-enclosed balconies and meeting rooms alternating with wood-slat screens that mediate daylight and views. A sculptural staircase in glass and white ceramic panels, located at one end of the atrium, acts as a stage from which students and faculty can see and be seen. In addition to formal and material cues, the firm’s past experience was influential in the care taken with acoustics throughout the building. “Everything we use in our theatres goes into these spaces,” says Siber. In the rings of corridors surrounding the atrium, 240 faculty offices are interspersed among classrooms, high-tech math labs and meeting

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rooms. The entire building is wired for active learning and digital collaboration. Yet nearly every space also has access to daylight; whether from outside or through the atrium, whose skylight is fritted to even out glare. Siber says that maintaining daylight throughout the building was a priority. “It’s much healthier to have a sense of time of day.” A small bamboo grove at ground level, chosen to add greenery while maintaining views across the atrium, is another feature that connects the comfort and health of users to the sustainability of the project. The building is a LEED Gold candidate, and Siber says it is aiming to meet 2030 Challenge targets: data from its first months of operation is now available and will be verified against energy models. The photovoltaicready roof sports an installation of 300 panels. While the atrium is the formal and functional core of the building, another space will exalt those who stumble upon it, or have the good fortune to be near it day-to-day. At the top of the atrium stair, a spacious and light-filled corridor leads to a delightful roof terrace situated over the auditorium. Framed by simple planting beds and a continuous bench, the terrace provides a moment of stillness away from the bustle of academic—and entrepreneurial—life. “As architects, we are very interested in community—and architecture as a vessel for community,” Schmitt observes. “That’s especially important in academic buildings.” While the atrium brings people together, the terrace provides space for contemplation. In this, as in other aspects of this landmark project for Wilfrid Laurier, Lazaridis Hall has struck a fine balance. Magdalena Milosz is a writer and PhD student in the School of Architecture at McGill University.

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SECTION GROUND FLOOR CLIENT WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY | ARCHITECT TEAM DSAI—BIRGIT SIBER, ANDREA GAUS, GARY

WATSON, JESSIE SHIFFMAN, NELSON LAI, BRIAN KAO, STEVE BONDAR, ANDREEA SCARLAT, MATTHEW LELLA, LILLY KRALJEVIC, LU WEN-YING, BRAD HINDSON, BRYAN CHARTIER, DONALD SCHMITT, DONNA DOLAN, JEFF HANNING, CHRISTOPHER WANLESS, PUZHEN ZHOU, RACHEL COHEN-MURISON. DAVID THOMPSON ARCHITECT—DAVID THOMPSON | STRUCTURAL VANBOXMEER & STRANGES ENGINEERING LTD. | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL SMITH + ANDERSEN | LANDSCAPE DTAH | CIVIL MTE CONSULTANTS INC. | INTERIORS DIAMOND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS | THEATRE THEATRE CONSULTANTS COLLABORATIVE | ACOUSTICS AERCOUSTICS | LEED AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN WSP (FORMERLY MMM / ENERMODEL) | CONTRACTOR BONDFIELD CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LTD. | SKYLIGHT DESIGN-BUILD NOVUM | AREA 21,000 M2 | BUDGET $103 M | COMPLETION APRIL 2017

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1 OUTDOOR TERRACE

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TALENT MANAGEMENT TEXT

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Rowley Mossop

“They’re stealing our best people. Why can’t we keep them?” Our clients looked across the table at me, their brows furrowed. We’d only been working with their mid-sized architectural firm for a few weeks, and I’d heard the same question in almost every meeting. Their firm was having trouble retaining its best design and technical staff. Most losses were at the intermediate and senior levels, and staffing projects was getting tougher. Teams were having trouble with deadlines and deliverables, and tempers were short. The partners were being drawn into project management and interpersonal conflicts. At first, the partners thought it was all about money. Then they learned that their pay levels were more or less competitive. In fact, some talented people were jumping ship for relatively small increases. Some were even leaving for less money at relatively unknown studios. The whole situation left them puzzled. Was it about personality conflicts? Nope. The partners were well-liked and respected. In fact, employees consistently told us that they wanted much more time with the partners, valuing their design insight and mentorship. Was it about projects? Nope. The office was winning a steady stream of challenging, publishable work in which everyone took pride. In fact, the partners believed their award-winning firm offered everything they themselves had wanted as young architects. Great projects. Fair pay. Casual studio. Yes, the hours were long, but sometimes people could take time off in lieu. The partners had the strong impression that their most talented employees were using the studio as a training ground, and then moving on to greener pastures after a few years. These architects were discovering an awkward and costly reality. Their old-school approach to recruiting, compensating and promoting people wasn’t working. And in the increasingly competitive market for talent, the firm was losing out. The best were leaving. The adequate were staying. The supply of applicants was dwindling to a trickle. And new recruits were expecting an unfamiliar array of benefits and supports, such as formal mentoring programs, off-site BIM training, and paid overtime. How did this firm begin to turn its talent situation around? They’re still on the journey, but the steps they’ve been taking are already showing excellent results. They started by looking outside their own firm— and outside their peer group—to learn how industries such as tech compete for gifted people. The firm is gradually shaping its workforce to realize its creative and business goals, and creating a meaningful and challenging experience for its employees. Along the way, the partners are answering a question that is becoming increasingly important for Canadian architects: “How do we encourage the best and the brightest to share their creative and entrepreneurial talent?” What did the partners actually do? In their busy, project-driven environment, the toughest part was taking time out to think about their long-term goals and the kind of firm they wanted to build. They considered what strengths the firm needed to win and perform exciting work—such as design talent, production ability, business development and management skills. They worked hard to better understand what employees wanted in a first job and long-term career, as well as their aspirations for work-life balance and professional progress. Importantly, the partners are now looking at talent management as a strategic and business-critical consideration, and they’re devoting

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time and attention to it. They’re no longer treating their human resources in an ad hoc, transactional way. They’ve started to use the firm’s talent management tools—such as recruitment, assessment, professional development and promotion— to build a stronger, more competitive studio. The firm has stopped just hiring from the applications that popped into partners’ inboxes, and started actively recruiting for strategic needs. On a day-to-day level, the partners have made changes to enrich workplace culture and increase employees’ sense of control over their time and work. Roles and responsibilities were clarified, and there were frank conversations about expectations at each level. Some of these chats were difficult, as some long-serving employees had never had their work evaluated. Communications about the firm, new projects and new ideas improved through a structured, curated meeting schedule. Communications with individuals also improved, with a plan put in place for regular desk visits. Performance assessments were simplified to leave the political behind and focus on how employees were helping realize the firm’s goals. Politics were taken out of salaries and bonuses, too. For the first time, the partners created a clear, predictable and fair link between performance and compensation. Promotions could no longer be misinterpreted as favoritism. More importantly, employees understood the pathways to their own professional advancement, as well as the criteria for earning leadership and ownership. It’s been a lot of work—accompanied by some uncomfortable moments— but the rewards are beginning to come. High-performers are staying and are more engaged than ever. Average performers are trying harder. And the firm is attracting better quality candidates. Why are the partners bothering? Their peers tell them the situation is temporary. Why don’t they simply wait for the business cycle to turn, and for a flood of talented people to come on the market? This firm is acting now because its partners recognize that unless they wish to become a commodity firm—one without special expertise and skill to offer their clients—they have to take action. They understand that employees who can’t exceed expectations for creativity and quality will hamper the growth (or even threaten the survival) of their firm. After all, they’re now competing for work with international firms that have successfully harnessed the creativity and skill of large teams, and who use that knowledge to deliver better work for competitive fees. The partners also have a strong personal interest in success. Each one knows they’re in the middle of the relay race that is a business owner’s career. They realize that unless they develop their successors in a purposeful way, no one will be ready to take the baton. In cultivating the next generation of potential owners, they’re building an engine for growth and succession. For our clients, growing and keeping great talent in their studios matters just as much as it does in the global offices of Google and Apple. For them, a strategic approach to talent is one of the primary tools for building the value of their architecture firm—and a key driver of design capability, competitive success, growth and legacy. Rowley Mossop is principal of Innovia, a management consultancy that works with businesses in the creative sector.

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 06/17

INSITES

Charge your phone Today, there is a mobile application for just about anything—apps that can help you learn a new language, keep track of your fitness goals, even find your lost car in a busy parking lot. In the world of architecture and design, mobile apps help users experience their surrounding built environment in unique and valuable ways. Portrait Sonore, an independent, non-profit organization, has developed a series of “pocket documentaries” that guide listeners to locations in various Canadian cities that are marked by modernity—including Toronto, Vancouver, Quebec City, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Halifax and Montreal. Often highlighting little-known buildings, the engaging documentaries combine interviews, archival images and music. www.portraitsonore.org

POCKET-SIZED TOUR GUIDE DIGITAL TOOLS ARE CHANGING THE WAY WE EXPERIENCE ARCHITECTURE. HERE’S A ROUNDUP OF DOWNLOAD-WORTHY APPS, PODCASTS, VIDEOS AND INTERACTIVE WEBSITES THAT INSPIRE A NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT. TEXT

Shannon Moore

I’ll never forget my first trip to Chicago. Nineteen years old and studying architectural history at the University of Toronto, I planned to see as much architecture as I possibly could. It started with a boat tour through the city. As I sat on a damp bench and flipped through my paper map, a tour guide pointed out landmarks like the Willis Tower and Wrigley Building. The next day, I hopped a bus to the suburbs and embarked on a walking tour of Oak Park. The tour, which involved a flimsy headset and a monotone, pre-recorded narrative, began in Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio before leading me along the neighbourhood’s streets, where Wright designed numerous houses. I can’t help but wonder how my architectural experience would differ had I visited Chicago for the first time today. With the development of mobile technology, there are a growing number of ways to explore, interact with, and experience architecture. Here’s a selection of digital tools that go beyond traditional guided tours, offering new paths for engaging with architecture.

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The Toronto in Time and Vancouver in Time apps— both part of the Cities in Time series developed by John H. Marsh, Editor in Chief of the Canadian Encyclopedia—detail the history of particular locations of interest using photos, slideshows, stories and tours. Material is searchable by theme, neighbourhood, maps or trails, inspiring connections between places and their history. www.citiesintime.ca Drawing on a user’s current location, the Google-powered app Field Trip draws attention to interesting buildings, natural wonders, historic sites, restaurants and more within the vicinity, anywhere in the world. For architecture lovers, the app pulls data directly from sources like ArchDaily, Architizer, Dezeen and the American Institute of Architects, providing information on the surrounding built environment whenever the mood strikes. www.fieldtripper.com Similarly of interest to international travellers, Pocket Guide offers audio tours of more than 150 cities worldwide (including Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal). Designed to encourage exploration on foot, the app pinpoints landmarks of interest while narrating the history of specific buildings and nearby neighbourhoods. Once audio tours and maps are downloaded, the app can operate in offline mode—ensuring full access to content with zero roaming charges. www.pocketguideapp.com

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Grab your headphones

Put up your feet

For those who would rather tune out the world around them while contemplating topics in architecture, podcasts are the way to go. Though not always tour-based, these episodic audio files can help both architectural aficionados and seasoned professionals alike learn more about the intricacies of design.

Not all experiences need to happen on the go. In fact, you can access a variety of architectural content from your computer. While not always adhering to the traditional “tour guide” format, these videos and interactive websites offer a unique glimpse into the world of architecture.

The Archispeak podcast by Evan Troxel, Cormac Phalen and Neal Pann presents casual conversations on a variety of design topics, ranging from the current state of architectural magazines, to climate change in the architectural context, to how architecture can make a difference in everyone’s lives. www.archispeakpodcast.com

Google Earth recently relaunched its platform to include 2D and 3D virtual tours of buildings and sites around the world. Titled Voyager, the platform allows users to explore museums, architectural and natural wonders, and other areas of interest, while “Knowledge Cards” offer tidbits of information on the locations themselves. earth.google.com

The Halifax-based Planning and Design Centre’s Cities Alive podcast tells the stories of citizens, changemakers, experts and artists from Canada and abroad. The thematic episodes raise awareness of grassroots efforts while inspiring listeners to exchange dialogue and pursue positive change. www.pdcentre.ca Originally produced from his bedroom, Roman Mars’s 99% Invisible podcast takes a quirky approach to the discussion of architecture. With almost 300 episodes and more than 150 million downloads, Mars’s podcast inspires listeners to contemplate the unnoticed architecture and design that surrounds us, with episodes including “The Accidental Music of Imperfect Escalators” and “Unpleasant Design and Hostile Urban Architecture.” www.99percentinvisible.org First broadcast from her office in the Empire State Building, Debbie Millman’s Design Matters podcast— which is nearing 300 episodes—presents conversations with designers, writers, artists, curators and musicians, exploring contemporary thinking on creativity. Awarded the Cooper-Hewitt People’s Choice Award in 2011 and recognized with a personal congratulations by Michelle Obama in 2012, the archive includes interviews with architects from around the globe. www.debbiemillman.com

CANADIAN ARCHITECT 06/17

Inspired by the arrival of Canada’s urban era—characterized by wealth, opportunity and big city growth— the team at In-Context travelled the country to report on the impact of recent architecture on the evolution of Canadian cities. The seven resulting multimedia stories travel from Waterloo to Winnipeg, challenging viewers to consider how design affects Canada’s competitiveness, sustainability and social inclusion. www.incontextvideos.com The National Film Board of Canada’s website contains an impressive collection of archival videos and interactive projects related to architecture. Farewell Oak Street (1953) for example, documents the original redevelopment of Toronto’s Regent Park, while the Emmy Award-winning interactive film series Highrise explores the lives of apartment residents around the world. www.nfb.ca Canadian architects Michael Green, Moshe Safdie, Siamak Hariri and Frank Gehry are among those featured in TED Talks. Presented since 1984, TED Talks provide inspiration in videos of 18 minutes or less. The architecture category is quite robust, including talks on craftsmanship, sustainability and more. www.ted.com YouTube channels offer another useful form of video content. The University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, for example, posts lectures and roundtable discussions, while the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s channel features talks by prominent figures like Douglas Coupland and David Suzuki. www.youtube.com

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT INVITES ARCHITECTS REGISTERED IN CANADA AND ARCHITECTURAL GRADUATES TO ENTER THE MAGAZINE’S 2017 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE. 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.

IMAGE CREDITS

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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A Vision in Wood & Stone: The Architecture of Mount Allison University By John Leroux and Thaddeus Holownia. Gaspereau Press, 2016.

More than anything else, a single colour defines the architecture of Mount Allison University’s picturesque campus in Sackville, New Brunswick. The university’s first building—Samuel Bugbee’s 1843 wood-framed neoclassical home for what was then called the Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy—was built upon a foundation of reddish sandstone. As the university prospered, wood construction gave way to masonry, and Sackville sandstone became the university’s material of choice. A quarry was opened on a nearby farm in 1898, which the university would later purchase in 1930. Over a century later, this colour continues to define the appearance of Mount Allison’s architecture, cladding collegiate gothic, modern and postmodern buildings alike. Historian John Leroux, MRAIC and photographer Thaddeus Holownia’s A Vision in Wood & Stone offers a meticulous and compelling history of the evolution of the Mount Allison campus. Perhaps its most important contribution is the documentation of Mount Allison’s modernist heyday, when the university acquired its present form during a frenetic postwar building boom. Between 1958 and 1970, nineteen new buildings or major additions were completed on campus. In examining these works, Leroux and Holownia’s tome takes its place alongside recent books such as Robert Mellin’s Newfoundland Modern (2011) and Bernard Flaman’s Architecture of Saskatchewan (2013) in offering a history of Canadian modernism outside the country’s major population and cultural centres. With its f lat roof and Miesian curtain wall, Charles A.E. Fowler’s 1958 Physics and Engineering Building was Mount Allison’s first truly modernist building. A student of Jack Russell at the University of Manitoba, Fowler had returned to join his father’s Halifax-based firm, C.A. Fowler & Co., which had first worked for Mount Allison in the 1920s. No architect was to have more influence on the Mount Allison campus than the Toronto firm of Brown, Brisley & Brown, beginning with their 1963 campus master plan. If nineteenth-century Mount Allison was defined by its “college row” of buildings facing the town of Sackville from atop a rise, Brown, Brisley & Brown’s master plan turned the

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campus inside-out by establishing the central quad that now forms its most distinctive landscape. Whereas Fowler’s early modern buildings had used a wide material palette, Brown, Brisley & Brown chose to return to the distinctive red sandstone as a means of harmonizing new and old constructions. Brown, Brisley & Brown would ultimately design or renovate ten major campus buildings, a substantial contribution from an Ontario firm previously known for its ecclesiastical work. If an inward-facing master plan and use of red sandstone defined the campus’s overall form, its 1965 university chapel provides its jewel. Leroux justly praises it as “not only the most beautiful modern building in New Brunswick, but one of the most architecturally inspirational as well.” Situated in the heart of the newly established central quad, the Greek-cross plan chapel serves as the campus’s spiritual and spatial focal point. Immaculately detailed and materially flawless, the chapel’s most stunning architectonic feature is its vertical strips of stained glass, used as infill between the chapel’s four main concrete columns and its red sandstone exterior walls. Worthy of a place alongside other masterpieces of Canadian campus modernism, the chapel is deserving of far greater renown than it has enjoyed to date. Unsurprisingly for a university whose reputation for excellence in the arts dates to the nineteenth century, Mount Allison’s great modernist buildings have featured spectacular artworks. Of particular note are Lawren Harris’s five abstract tile mosaics (sadly, only one survives today), Anne Kahane’s wooden relief Sculptural Wall (1961) and two murals by Alex Colville. Until it was moved to the university’s Owens Art Gallery, Colville’s Athletes (1960) greeted students in the lobby of the university athletic centre. A “monumental tour de force of geometrical balance and composition,” the triptych adorned a fluted wall designed by the artist. The highlight of A Vision in Wood & Stone is undoubtedly its spectacular visual portfolio. Historic photographs gathered mainly from the Mount Allison University Archives (the earliest a circa-1843 daguerreotype of Bugbee’s Academy building) are seamlessly juxtaposed with Holownia’s documentation of the campus buildings in their current form. Holownia’s restraint is striking: he evidently laboured to harmonize the visual language of his black-and-white photographs with their antecedents. Each is given an equivalent graphic presentation within the book, creating a sense of historical continuity marked by continuous evolution. It is this continual evolution that makes Mount Allison a worthy subject for such a meticulous study. As the book notes, every single one of Mount Allison’s current buildings replaced an earlier structure. Often, fire was the driver behind the campus’s architectural development: between 1866 and 1972, Mount Allison lost twelve buildings in conflagrations. In other cases, older buildings were torn down to make way for newer replacements. This was the case for Mount Allison’s most recent building, Zeidler Partnership’s Purdy Crawford Centre for the Arts (see CA, March 2015), which replaced Andrew Cobb’s 1927 Memorial Library and C.A. Fowler’s 1960s Tweedie Annex. While the loss of the former Tudor Gothic work was widely lamented, the latter’s destruction passed largely without mention, despite it being an admirable work of campus modernism. This speaks to a larger malaise in the Maritime Provinces, which seem ill at ease with their modern heritage—perhaps because of the uncertain economic and social fortunes that modernity has brought. Above all, the public controversy surrounding the Crawford Centre testifies to the importance Allisonians and Sackvillians place upon their built surroundings. From their passion, an impressive campus and many of Canada’s great university buildings have resulted.

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Peter Sealy is a PhD candidate at Harvard University, and teaches at the University of Toronto.

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 06/17

BOOKS

Bracket [At Extremes]

The Measure of Darkness

Edited by Maya Przybylski and Lola Sheppard. Actar, 2016.

By Liam Durcan. Bellevue Literary Press, 2016.

The third issue of bookazine Bracket explores design’s agency within the new norm of accelerating environmental change. How does architecture relate to our ecological definition of “environment”? And how do both architecture and environment intersect with the shifting social and political dimensions of cities and their hinterlands, as well as with remote landscapes? Following in the steps of its predecessors, Bracket [At Extremes] consolidates a wide range of topics under its thematic umbrella, incorporating written reflection alongside speculative design work. The editors encouraged contributors to embrace disequilibrium, or imbalance, as a potentially productive tool. They note in the issue’s introduction that maximum risk often creates the opportunity for maximum reward. The resulting work crosses disciplinary and geographic boundaries. Contributions range from addressing more traditional issues of global climate change, like atmospheric degradation and temperature rises; to proposals for restructuring former energy-rich landscapes that are subject to lasting socio-political and ecological impacts post-depletion; to examinations of post-industrial urban spaces where land-use and connective tissue must be rethought; to conjectures on how destructive tech nological advancements could be appropriated for new and subversive ends. Though these speculations range widely in scale, many ultimately find their footing in architecture as a mediating strategy. The contributors identify places of productive tension—sites of action where designers might claim agency within chaotic environments. This is proof of the unique position architects and related professionals find themselves in. Architects are, admittedly, often victim to the speculative “fantasy” that sees little life beyond the academy walls or competition stack, observes Keller Easterling in this issue. But the “most interesting thinkers in the social, political and economic sciences are looking for hidden relationships in more complex test beds,” she continues. It is in locating these hidden relationships, or new sites of action, that the contributions of [At Extremes] are most exciting.

Move over Howard Roark! The protagonist of neurologist Liam Durcan’s latest novel, The Measure of Darkness, is Martin Fallon, a 56-year old McGill-trained architect seriously injured in a car accident. Fallon’s head trauma is known as “neglect syndrome,” impairing his ability to think spatially. As Fallon awakens from a coma, he begins psychotherapy with a doctor who wants to talk more about architecture than memory loss. The plot revolves around Fallon’s new relationship with family members, as well as the partners in his Montreal firm F/S+H, who together with the provincial architectural association have declared Fallon unfit to practice. A lifelong obsession with a Soviet architect, a lovable McGill professor, references to Montreal firms, and sharp descriptions of New York, Montreal, Expo 67, the Eastern Townships, and Detroitin-decline will satiate Canadian Architect readers. While Durcan’s descriptions of architects and architecture may seem familiar, the author insists they are pure fiction. He undertook research for the book at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, starting with the photographs of Richard Pare and a study of the situation of Melnikov under Stalin. “I was a complete outsider looking at Konstantin Melnikov’s work,” he says, “but I felt an immediate affinity for his struggle.” Ditto for his writing about Fallon’s architectural firm: “I wish I could tell you that I spent a week at some interesting Montreal firm but I didn’t. What I wrote about F/S+H is really an amalgam of what I’ve seen from various media, such the design podcast 99% Invisible or the ArchDaily twitter feed.” One thing missed by the fact-checkers? Fallon still uses blueprints. Annmarie Adams is jointly appointed in the Department of Social Studies of Medicine and the School of Architecture at McGill University.

Taylor Davey is beginning a PhD at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2017.

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Wood You Believe It’s Not Real?

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ALPOLIC’s new Timber Series features seven wood grain finishes so realistic, you’ll look twice. Give your project the stylish look of real wood without the limitations. Our adaptable, lightweight, fade resistant, easy-to-maintain aluminum metal composite materials offer endless design options. Exceptional projects demand exceptional materials.

Controlling impact sound through floorceiling assemblies in multi-story construction can present challenges, particularly with hard surfaces. Sound control materials tend to be compressible and not all provide adequate support for the tile covering. DITRA-HEAT-DUO reduces sound transmission, in addition to warming the floor and supporting the covering, all in a single layer.

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 06/17

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

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Canam-Buildings: Better Building Solutions

Stéphane Groleau

Canam-Buildings is an industryleading fabricator of steel joists, girders and steel deck. It also designs, manufactures and installs the Reveal Series decking system, Murox prefabricated building system, and Hambro composite floor systems. The BuildMaster approach, Canam’s advance planning, design and improved steel delivery features, can be combined with any of our construction solutions.

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Introducing the NEW Bil-Guard 2.0 Hatch Safety Railing System Stronger and easier to install than its predecessor, the Bil-Guard 2.0 boasts aluminum construction for increased strength and rigidity, a redesigned selfclosing hinge and stainless steel hardware throughout. Available with a safety yellow powder-coat finish, the Bil-Guard 2.0 features an innovative mounting system and is compliant with OSHA fall protection standards. For more information visit: www.bilco-colt.com

All-new MIDTOWN thin-clad stone veneer Introducing a sleek new thin-clad stone! Midtown features two slim face rises, in long lengths, that delivers a modern, linear look. Midtown stone can be laid separately (one size, continuously) or the two sizes can be combined. For added versatility, Midtown can be installed with or without mortar. Midtown comes in five gorgeous colours and features a split-face finish. www.arriscraft.com 1-800-265-8123

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Installing LED Lighting or on-site solar energy solutions can bring big savings from day one. And we help you look ahead to day 1,000 and beyond. Our cloud-based software platform Predix collects data on your workplace’s usage trends, so you can make more impactful energy decisions in the future.

Fire Resistance Redefined Keep your contents and people safe. With non-combustible structural mineral wool lamellas and a LockGuard® interlocking side joint, Metl-Span® ThermalSafe® fire resistant panels do all that and more. Ideal for buildings of all types, ThermalSafe® fire resistant panels achieve a one-, twoor three-hour fire resistance rating. To learn more, visit: www.metlspan.com/thermalsafe

FireLite Plus® From TGP Makes the Grade Building codes in North America require glazing in certain applications to be fire-rated in schools and other public buildings. Learn how FireLite Plus® fire-rated, safety-rated glass ceramic enhanced life safety and aesthetics in the Toronto area’s Brooklin High School. Read the case study at: www.fireglass.com/brooklin

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 06/17

PRODUCT SHOWCASE Need Durability? Get Ceramitex! The Ceramitex Façade System features a sintered ceramic panel that simply outperforms conventional surfaces in aesthetics, design and function. The system is North American code compliant and available in large format panels that are lightweight, yet durable enough to defy graffiti and the test of time.

BEHLEN is Canada’s Top steel building manufacturer. We are devoted to supply pre-engineered steel buildings solutions for industrial, commercial, recreational and institutional facilities. BEHLEN is also using a state-of-the-art technology to produce rigid frame and frameless steel structures in Canada.

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The PPG CERTIFIED APPLICATOR PROGRAMSM + DURANAR® Fluoropolymer Coatings

Flynn Group of Companies Total Building Envelope

Architects have trusted Duranar fluoropolymer coatings for fifty years, expertly applied by members of the PPG Certified Applicator Program (CAP). CAP members are trained and audited to deliver world-class service and technical expertise. To learn more, visit: www.ppgmetalcoatings.com or call 800-258-6398

We are renowned for the expertise and care we bring to each project. When the building envelope concept calls for size, complexity, or an uncompromised aesthetic, North America’s top architects count on Flynn. Flynn is North America’s leading building envelope contractor, with 29 offices across Canada and the United States. www.FlynnCompanies.com

EXTERIOR SUN CONTROL SYSTEMS Newman Architectural Products distributes, designs, manufactures and installs a wide range of exterior fixed and movable sun shades. Made from extruded aluminum, bronze and/or wood. Finish can be clear or coloured, anodized or painted. For brochures, email Bill Newman at:

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Mapeguard® UM is a lightweight, waterproofing and vapor pressure-equalizing underlayment membrane. It provides crack suppression for use under ceramic tile and stone installations, for both residential and commercial applications. Mapeguard® UM is designed to perform over challenging substrates, where its unique engineered tri-layered design absorbs lateral stress without transferring this force to the tile or stone, which maintains exceptional bonds.

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THE ELEGANCE OF NATURAL WOOD

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At Prodema, we specialize in creating natural wood products of the highest quality for the world of architecture and design. Following years of research and development, we are proud to offer a unique, innovative and high-tech product with no need for the regular maintenance usually required by other wood exteriors.

“New Guardian CrystalBlue™ is perfect for contemporary structures that are big on light, smart on energy. Our clients prefer its light blue color, and CrystalBlue pairs perfectly with the SunGuard® coatings we specify.” Paulo Perkins, GraceHebert Architects

www.GuardianGlass.com/commercial 1.866.GuardSG (866.482.7374)

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Yonge Street Architecture

ICAADE 2017

June 15, 2017

June 25-28, 2017

Led by Heritage Toronto, this walking tour explores 10 key sites along downtown Yonge Street, highlighting its development from a strategic military road in 1793 to its present-day commercial uses. www.heritagetoronto.org

The International Conference on Amphibious Architecture, Design and Engineering brings together academics and professionals in Waterloo, Ontario to focus on amphibious design as a practical approach to flood mitigation. www.icaade.org

Canadian and Indigenous Art: From Time Immemorial to 1967 Opening June 15, 2017

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

It’s All Happening So Fast: A Counter-History of the Modern Canadian Environment

June 17, 2017

Hosted by Montreal’s Maison de l’architecture du Québec, this public workshop explores the dynamics of city-building with architects-in-residence STGM Architectes. www.archifetemaq.org

September 28-October 8, 2017

Toronto stop of this exhibition questions our stereotypical views of nature through narratives by environmentalists, artists, photographers and architects.

Located in Toronto’s former Unilever Soap Detergent Factory, this expo-meets-festival presents interactive experiences and immersive exhibits, as well as keynote speakers and programs with globally celebrated thinkers.

The Shape of Things to Come

Toronto Architecture Tours

To August 13, 2017

To October 1, 2017

To July 15, 2017 Curated by CCA Montreal, the

artmuseum.utoronto.ca

www.editdx.org

ICCAE 2017 June 28-29, 2017

Held in Toronto, the International Conference on Civil and Architectural Engineering provides a forum for experts in the two disciplines to present their research. www.iastem.org

NAC Grand Re-Opening

This exhibition at UQAM’s Centre de design examines Habitat 67, its manifestation over the course of Moshe Safdie’s career, and its lasting influence on the architectural field at large. www.uqam.ca

July 1, 2017

Particité

EDIT: Expo for Design, Innovation and Technology

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CALENDAR 49

The opening celebrations for the National Arts Centre’s new entrance and atrium in downtown Ottawa, designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, includes two free concerts in the renovated Southam Hall, along with family activites throughout the weekend. www.nac-cna.ca

AIBC Architectural Walking Tours To August 31, 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

The Toronto Society of Architects’ guided walking tours lead visitors on a two-hour journey to view some of Toronto’s most iconic buildings. The tours include a choice of themes: art and performance spaces, the towers tour, and the culture and campus tour. www.torontosocietyofarchitects.ca

Green Building Festival October 5, 2017

This festival in Toronto explores the processes, problems and solutions that result in projects that do more good than harm. www.sbcanada.org

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Somfy is the leading global manufacturer of strong, quiet motors with electronic and app controls for interior and exterior window coverings.

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During the past 40+ years, Somfy has designed products for both the commercial and residential markets. www.somfysystems.com/commercial

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TOM ARBAN

CANADIAN ARCHITECT 06/17

TWO CIRCLES TEXT

Andrea Carson Barker

A SIMPLE BUT SUBLIME ARTWORK MARKS THE LOBBIES OF TORONTO’S RECENTLY COMPLETED BAY ADELAIDE CENTRE EAST. A nearly seven-metre-wide black dot has recently made an appearance at the base of Brookfield Properties’ gleaming new 44-storey Bay Adelaide Centre East in downtown Toronto. Taking up much of the eastern wall on the south side of the building’s glassed-in lobby, the disc hovers just above floor level, drawing the eye of passers-by and punctuating the refined building like a giant period. Stunning in its simplicity, the dot is one half of Two Circles, a public artwork by Governor General’s Award-winning artist Micah Lexier. The other, on the lobby’s north side, is a black 1.5-inch-wide outline of an identically sized circle, set against a white background. In addition to providing an effective counterbalance to KPMB’s sleek architectural lines, both walls are made of mosaic and fully integrate into their setting. They reference Straight Flush (2009), a similarly integrated lightbox installation by American artist James Turrell at the property’s west tower. Both pieces were part of the city’s Percent for Public Art Program, a juried process overseen by art consultants. “The idea was to build off the Turrell with something that had some of its characteristics, but wasn’t a duplication,” says Rina Greer, the consultant

on Lexier’s piece.Of particular issue for Lexier was how to find balance between the lobby’s two unequal spaces: the south wall bookends the lobby, while the north wall is double-height, with an escalator. After experimenting with other shapes, he found the solution in two equally sized circles, centred left-to-right on each wall and hung exactly the same distance from the ceiling. Each circle responds differently within its space. While the black disc appears to be receding, the white one rises to the wall’s surface. As Lexier points out, many employees will repeat a daily route, perhaps only ever experiencing one of the circles, while for others the artwork will simply distinguish the building from its neighbours. This fits well with the often deadpan words, shapes, numbers, diagrams and punctuation that define his artistic practice. “It was definitely about marking the building, in a communicative way,” he says. In Two Circles, much is revealed in the details. Fabricated in collaboration with Montreal-based manufacturer Mosaika, over 830,000 increments of black and white ceramic mosaic sticks were cut for the piece. Each slender stick was then broken and pieced together by hand into over 400 rows—each a subtle, fragile, occasionally

ABOVE A two-part artwork by MIcah Lexier is integrated into the north and south lobbies of a downtown office building designed by KPMB Architects.

broken line, approximately 55 millimetres tall. Every line alludes to something akin to a heartbeat: Lexier wanted the viewer to be rewarded for looking, to create something both incredibly complex and incredibly human. “I really wanted this piece to be about a lot of individuals making a similar mark,” he says. “You get up close and the uniqueness comes forward.” Lexier credits the team of architects, lighting designers, developer representatives and Greer with working together to prioritize the seamless integration of the mosaic with the building— from elegantly smoothing over an unsightly expansion joint with a false wall, to the elaborate lighting system that maintains consistent levels of illumination while the sun sets. The ability of Two Circles to function so well—and read so differently—from far away and up close allows for multiple relationships to the architecture. Not only is the piece a highly graphic contrast to the linearity so pervasive throughout the city’s financial district, but it is also a testament to labour—including the labour embedded in the construction of the building itself. Andrea Carson Barker is an art and architecture critic, and a member of the City of Toronto Public Art Commission.

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