Canadian Architect October 2019

oct/19 v.64 n.10

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22 T he Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation Kenneth Borton

20 B orden Park Natural Swimming Pool

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2019 RAIC Awards

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38 Kathryn Walter

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The CCA changes directors.

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Letters to the editor on the embodied carbon crisis.

45 Books oyal Manitoba Theatre 42 R Centre

AnnaLisa Meyboom’s new book on the driverless future.

49 Calendar

Launch events for our first book, Canadian Modern Architecture, 1967 to the present .

50 backpage

Richard Johnson zooms in on skyscrapers in his Allegro series.

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Verticalité at Printemps Hausmann in Paris, France, by UUfie.

Photo by Michel Denancé.

COVER

v.64 n.10 The National Review of Design and Practice / The Official Magazine of the RAIC

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Viewpoint Giovanna Borasi, left, is taking over the directorship of the CCA from Mirko Zardini, right.

richmond lam

left

CCA Changeover On September 11, the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) announced a major change in its leadership. Director Mirko Zardini will be stepping down at the end of the year, to be replaced by the CCA’s current chief curator, Giovanna Borasi.

Zardini has led the CCA for nearly 15 years, through a period when the scope of the discipline has shifted. Politics, global economics, urbanism and social activism have actively entered into architectural discourse. Under Zardini, the CCA’s exhibitions tracked—and in some cases, anticipated—this expanded field. Sense of the City, his first exhibition at the institution, explored non-visual aspects of urban environments, while the current exhibition, Our Happy Life, looks at the spatial effects of the global happiness industry. Other exhibitions have looked at environmental concerns, health and migration.

While many of Zardini’s exhibitions were more concerned with architecture as a discipline, rather than as a profession, others were relatively straightforward in putting architecture front and centre. The Archaeology of the Digital series, started in 2011, looked at the early entry of digital technologies in architecture. The sequence of three exhibitions, accompanied by digital and physical publications (as well as behind-the-scenes research into best practices for archiving digital materials) led to donations of important works by architects including Foreign Office, Brian Boigon, Zaha Hadid, Greg Lynn, UnStudio and Shoei Yoh. In an era when many architectural institutions found it difficult to continue purchasing architectural drawings and models as art objects, the CCA attracted

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donations through the quality of its curatorial and archival resources.

A question that has come up often during Zardini’s tenure is: Where is the Canadian in the Canadian Centre for Architecture?

The one major research-based exhibition focused on Canada, It’s All Happening So Fast, had an oblique view of architecture, delving more into environmental history than buildings in exploring Canadians’ often conf licted and conf licting views of nature.

Zardini is unapologetic. He feels that pleasing local architects was less important than developing the CCA as an independent, critical and global voice. “Educating everyone, making everyone happy, promoting the local—this is not what I wanted to do,” he says. “I think that does not serve efforts to improve the condition of society.” As a private rather than a public institution funded largely by endowment, the CCA is in the enviable position of being a free agent in advancing a critical discourse on contemporary architecture.

What might one expect of Giovanna Borasi’s leadership? Borasi and Zardini have long been close collaborators, and Borasi says that she intends to continue building on Zardini’s approach. She plans to push forward with types of content that go beyond the museum’s walls. The CCA is presently producing a series of short video documentaries about urban issues, including homelessness and aging populations. Addressing the imbalances inherent in architectural history—which largely focuses on the western world—is also on the agenda. The CCA is starting a major research project called Centring Africa, which includes many scholars coming from Africa to use the CCA as a research hub.

The CCA is also actively fostering a global network of collaborators, including in Tokyo, Lisbon and Buenos Aires. “In Tokyo, we’ve done research in the archives of architects’ offices that will become a book,” says Borasi, but she also notes that the partnership has yielded Japanese-language events that retain a connection with the CCA, even though no Montreal staff are in attendance. “More and more, we’ll be able to create content and stimulate research” through similar initiatives, says Borasi.

Would the CCA ever take this to the extreme and go completely digital? Says Borasi, “The CCA will still have a main door.”

Elsa Lam

Editor Editor elsa elsa lam, lam, fRAIC fRAIC Art Art Director Director Roy Roy Gaiot Gaiot Contributing Contributing Editors Editors Annmarie Annmarie Adams, Adams, FRAIC FRAIC Odile Odile Hénault Hénault Douglas Douglas MacLeod, MacLeod, ncarb ncarb,, MRAIC MRAIC online online Editor Editor Christiane Christiane Beya Beya Regional Regional Correspondents Correspondents Montreal David Theodore Theodore Montreal David Calgary Calgary Graham Graham Livesey, Livesey, MRAIC MRAIC Winnipeg Winnipeg Lisa Lisa Landrum, Landrum, MAA, MAA, AIA, AIA, MRAIC MRAIC vancouver vancouver adele adele weder, weder, Hon. Hon. MRAIC MRAIC Sustainability Sustainability Advisor Advisor Anne Anne Lissett, Lissett, Architect Architect AIBC, AIBC, LEED LEED BD+C BD+C Vice Vice president president & & Senior Senior Publisher Publisher Steve Steve Wilson Wilson 416-441-2085 416-441-2085 x105 x105 sales sales MANAGER MANAGER Faria 416-441-2085 x106 x106 Faria Ahmed Ahmed 416-441-2085 Customer production Customer Service Service // production laura laura moffatt moffatt 416-441-2085 416-441-2085 x104 x104 Circulation Circulation circulation@canadianarchitect.com circulation@canadianarchitect.com President President of of iq iq business business media media inc. inc.

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Awards OLA Awards announced

The Ontario Library Association has announced four recipients of the 2019 New Library Building Award. The awards go to: Brampton Library, Springdale Branch (RHDA); Hamilton Public Library, Binbrook Branch (Invizij Architects); Toronto Public Library, Albion Branch (Perkins and Will Canada); and Vaughan Public Libraries, Civic Centre Resource Library (ZAS Architects + Interiors).

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www.accessola.org

Designed by DIALOG, The Shipyards is a mixed-use development centred on a steelstructure machine shop that has been transformed into a covered plaza.

ABOVE

Projects The Shipyards opens in North Vancouver

In late July, the City of North Vancouver unveiled The Shipyards, completing its vision for a world-class waterfront destination.

Designed by DIALOG, the mixed-use development centres on a restored steel-structure machine shop, with a retractable roof that shelters an outdoor plaza called Shipyards Common.

In the summer, the plaza features a water play zone; in the winter, it hosts an ice rink larger than Robson Square. It also accommodates year-round markets, exhibitions, performances and festivals.

Additional programs on the site—including a hotel, restaurants and Capilano University’s Lonsdale campus—inhabit structures with a contemporary form that act as a foil to the heritage machine shop.

“The Shipyards is the centre of a revitalized civic heart of Lonsdale. Inspired by the history of the site, it’s the final puzzle piece connecting a string of waterfront spaces along Spirit Trail. It offers a public amenity that is distinctly North Vancouver, and promises to be a regional attraction for a new generation in this historic precinct,” says project architect Shane Oleksiuk. www.dialogdesign.ca

Green Gables Visitor Centre opens

On August 29, the Green Gables Visitor Centre in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island,

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celebrated its grand opening. The centre was designed by Root Architecture, for a property that is become one of the most visited federal parks in Canada.

The centre includes an exhibit hall, gift shop, ticket and information areas, offices and a new lobby. The design is inspired by local farm buildings. It frames a “farm yard”— a courtyard that will host outdoor dining, performances and events such as weddings.

Phase one of the addition uses traditional timber framing, while phase two uses mass timber framing, combined with nail-laminated timber (NLT) decking. The building is pursuing LEED Gold certification, with a particular emphasis on the use of local materials. The building will be completely powered by renewable energy, and targets an overall heating and cooling reduction of 41 percent. www.rootarchitecture.ca

B+H Architects and Parkin to design Corner Brook Acute Care Hospital

B+H Architects and Parkin are part of a consortium that has been selected to design the Corner Brook Acute Care Hospital in western Newfoundland.

The seven-storey, 55,740-square-metre hospital will be connected to the 145-bed longterm care home that is currently being built on the site. It will include 164 beds and an expanded cancer care program, as well as the services currently provided at Western Memorial Regional Hospital.

Canada Council announces Prix de Rome prize winners

The Canada Council for the Arts has announced the winners of its Prix de Rome and J.B.C. Watkins Awards.

Neeraj Bhatia, founder of The Open Workshop, received the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture, awarded to a young practitioner or architectural firm. The prize proposal, entitled “Learning How to Live Together,” is a study of communal housing typologies. Bhatia will travel to visit various kibbutzim in Israel, to the Baugruppen experiments in Germany, and to see the ShareHouses in Japan, China and Korea.

Kinan Hewitt is the recipient of the Emerging Practitioners Prix de Rome in Architecture, given to a recent graduate from a Canadian architectural school. Hewitt, a graduate from the University of Toronto’s M.Arch program at the John H. Daniels Faculty, will research co-housing and design strategies that have served successful co-living arrangements. His investigation aims at developing an alternative response to the rising housing costs and sentiments of isolation across many Canadian cities.

The J.B.C. Watkins Award in Architecture was given to Desiree Valadares, a landscape architect who is pursuing postgraduate studies in the Architectural History program at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design. She studies how historic preservation and heritage conservation laws are applied to geographically remote Second World War ruins and landscapes in two former U.S. territories, and in the unceded lands of British Columbia. www.canadacouncil.ca

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Canadian Centre for Architecture Collection

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ABOVE Erickson + Massey’s rendering of the Madge Hogarth House at Simon Fraser University.

The building is currently slated for demolition.

What’s New Annual Québec Architects Golf Tournament raises $50K

The 35th edition of the Québec Architects Golf Tournament at Golf Le Versant at Terrebonne has raised a record $50,000 for Héritage Montréal and Architecture sans frontières Québec. Since 2010, Québec’s architectural community has raised more than $250,000 through the annual event.

The tournament was presented by Kollectif in partnership with Walltite Eco/ BASF and in collaboration with ARD, IKO, Jura, Lumenpulse and Masonite Architectural. www.kollectif.net

Phyllis Lambert urges SFU to reconsider demolition of Erickson/Massey women’s residence

As part of its plans to expand student housing on campus, Simon Fraser University (SFU) is planning to demolish Madge Hogarth House, one of the original buildings on the Burnaby Mountain campus masterplanned by Arthur Erickson and Geoffrey Massey.

Madge Hogarth House opened as a women’s residence in 1965, and later became a campus resource space. The university has said that renovating the building to meet current seismic, fire and life safety requirements is unfeasible. The planned demolition would make way for a new residence for 369 students.

The chair of the Arthur Erickson Foundation council, Phyllis Lambert, has written to SFU

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president Andrew Petter and campus planning and development director Ian Abercrombie, demanding the school halt demolition and assess Madge Hogarth House for heritage value.

“Along with the other extraordinary architecture of Erickson/Massey, the unheralded Madge Hogarth Building has suffered neglect along with deferred maintenance,” writes Lambert. “However, as one of the great buildings of the campus, or anywhere, the Madge Hogarth Building, the Women’s Residence, MUST bear witness as one of the high points of Canadian civilization. This building is a rare example of the architects’ thought about—and execution of—communal residential structures, both within the structure itself and in its relationship to the wider campus.”

“In the name of the Arthur Erickson Foundation, I urge you […] to honor the extraordinary donor Madge Hogarth, and your university, its magnificent site and original vision,” she continues. “By doing so, you will simultaneously take a major step in perpetuation of the internationally renowned design of SFU and show appropriate respect for Canadian creativity, integrity, and culture. I urge you to rethink the symbolic and architectural significance of the Women’s Residence, and to undertake with the appropriate architect its renovation and expansion. I urge you to change course.”

Letters to the Editor A deeper look at our industry’s blind spot

Thank you for shining a light on the enor-

mous blind spot of our industry—embodied energy—in July’s issue of Canadian Architect.

Anthony Pak’s observation that “reducing operational energy use has been the primary focus of green building efforts for decades” politely points towards the enormous hole we’ve dug for ourselves via a prolonged obsession with energy efficiency.

Unfortunately, it’s much worse than just a blind spot. Our undivided attention over the past 30+ years on the operational footprint of our buildings has had two dramatic unintended consequences: (1) our buildings have become increasingly complex, often composed of multiple layers of materials few of us really understand, and (2) this complexity has led to a consistent increase in the embodied footprint per m 2 over that period of time.

To illustrate the f irst point, in July, the OAA’s Sustainable Built Environments Committee released High Performance Wall Assembly guidelines intended to empower its membership “to achieve the OAA +2030 targets for increased energy efficiency and reduced operational carbon in buildings.” This document illustrates wall assemblies composed of extruded polystyrenes, self-adhering air control barriers and other insulating materials— in one case stacking up to 10 layers of materials that reads as an advertisement for Big Insulation clad in something “lightweight.”

As an architect with only 15 years in the industry, I ask myself: At what point did we start training ourselves to wrap our buildings in layer upon layer of petrochemicals?

In a world where other industries have moved away from these materials, why are we actively working to expand their use?

The second point becomes obvious when you compare a building built today with one built 50 to 100 years prior. A century ago, the materials and labour that built our homes and our cities were sourced almost entirely regionally, from sources that were abundant, accessible and easily transformed. Now, more often than not, we’ve lost any sense of where our building materials come from, what they’re made of, who makes them and what embodied energy they carry. As a result, the provenance of today’s buildings—understood as a stacking of multiple (and increasingly global) supply chains—is nearly impossible to untangle. The knock-on effect of this is that Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), which are only as accurate as the data points in hand, have difficulty measuring all aspects of a building’s embodied environmental impact with a great degree of accuracy. Moreover, the socio-economic impacts of building materials, which come from all parts of the world, are seldom considered.

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Pak’s article also serves to shine a light on the United Nations’ Integrated Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report. In its Summary for Policy Makers, it outlines the immediate measures required to limit global warming to 1.5ºC during the current century. (Beyond this threshold, sea level rise dramatically increases, 1.7 billion more people will be exposed to severe heatwaves, and hundreds of millions of additional people become exposed to climate-related risks and poverty.) To achieve this target, global action will require “rapid and farreaching transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities” to reduce net emissions of CO2 to half of current levels by 2030, and reach net zero by 2050.

The challenge is overwhelming—more so when you consider the hole we’re starting from.

Meeting the 2030 challenge requires a radical refocusing towards embodied energy. We need to face new questions: How do we choose between two different wall assemblies, two window suppliers, two doors, two walls, two structural systems? Assuming both options perform and cost the same, does one contain minerals and materials that were sustainably sourced, processed and transported? Was one sourced and processed with fair labour? Does either option have half the carbon footprint of the industry norm? What is the norm?

How do we answer these questions? The OAA’s Sustainable Built Environments Committee, and other groups like it, could pivot to address the total lack of benchmarks immediately. City planning departments could begin installing maximum CO2/m 2 thresholds for new construction, and telegraphing to the industry timetables for implementation.

Architects and engineers could use con-ed hours to better understand their material choices—from their molecular to their planetary aspects—and work to find incentives for suppliers to make their processes more transparent. Similar to the radical shift required of our diets, we’re required to build our cities from materials we understand the provenance of; materials that are good, clean and fair.

We have one decade to cut our emissions by one half, while still building the houses, schools, hospitals and infrastructure required of continued population growth. We have one decade to halve the emissions of the operations and maintenance of the building stock, infrastructure and cities we’ve inherited—all without expending a greater amount of embodied energy in the process. We have much less than a decade to establish in Canada—regionally, provincially, nationally—benchmarks for everything that goes into our buildings, our infrastructure and our landscapes to enable us to

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make informed decisions, and against which to measure our progress. We have no time to hesitate in demanding, engaging and acting.

Kelly Alvarez Doran, OAA, FRSA; Senior Principal, MASS Design Group

No carbon now!

Thank you for running Anthony Pak’s article on embodied carbon (CA, July 2019). As an industry, we’re catching on to the idea that embodied carbon is significant, especially as we develop more and more energy-efficient buildings.

The timeline of the necessary change is breathtaking—and also inspirational. Four months. That’s all we have to transform as an industry. 15 months if we’re being generous. And transform we must! There is no option—or planet—B. The act of city building would not be possible without the literal city builders, i.e., the entire construction industry—building owners and managers, architects and engineers, general contractors and tradespeople, and material manufacturers and suppliers.

All of us as “city builders” have an important role to play. And when it comes to the climate crisis, that role must change. We must cut carbon out of construction—now!

Massive amounts of carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere during the construction of a building (embodied carbon) and during the lifetime operation of a building (operational carbon). These massive carbon emissions must stop, and we as an industry must change.

According to a 2017 report by the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), the global construction industry, which is responsible for 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (roughly equivalent to those of China) must operate at “net zero carbon” by 2050 if global warming is to remain under two degrees Celsius—the limit enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

Not only that, but “Every building on the planet must be ‘net zero carbon’ by 2050 to keep global warming below 2°C” (emphasis mine). This means every building… whether new or existing. Further, it is likely that, in 2017, WorldGBC was only considering operational carbon, and not embodied carbon.

How can we transform both the operation of existing buildings, and the construction of new buildings, to emit near-zero carbon?

There is nothing that we can do to reduce the embodied carbon in existing buildings, as it has already been emitted during construction. But we can respect that that carbon has been emitted, and maintain the

building’s existing structure by retaining it as-is or transforming it through adaptive reuse. The alternative is to demolish that structure and send its component parts to landfill, only to emit more carbon during the construction of a replacement building.

Further, we can retrof it an existing building so that it is optimally energy eff icient, thus reducing its operational carbon going forward.

To reduce operational carbon, in Ontario we could electrify everything—both new and existing buildings. We have one of the most carbon-clean electrical grids on the planet.

Sustainable. Architecture for a Healthy Planet has just completed an air-tight and well-insulated home that requires 87 percent less energy to heat, cool and operate than a conventional home. Our Six Points home is all-electric, including an all-electric car.

Embodied carbon is becoming signif icant for the way we think about sustainable buildings, too. Regarding the term “embodied carbon,” I appreciate Lloyd Alter’s blog post in Treehugger, where he says that the term hides the urgent need to deal with the carbon that is emitted as a result of the construction process. Instead, he suggests we all use the term “upfront carbon emissions”— ”because that’s what they are.”

Pak’s article reveals that: “The importance of embodied carbon becomes even more evident when you consider that, according to the IPCC, to limit global warming to 1.5°C, carbon emissions would need to peak next year in 2020 and then go to net zero globally by 2050. Given that embodied carbon will make up almost half of total new construction emissions between now and 2050, we cannot ignore embodied carbon if we want to have any chance of hitting our climate targets.”

2020 is three months from now—three months to peak our global carbon emissions!

(15 months if we’re being generous and giving ourselves to the end of next year.)

What we cannot ignore any longer is that the manufacturing processes for concrete, steel and asphalt—the assumed inevitable foundations of our construction industry—are huge emitters of carbon.

Writing in The Guardian, Jonathan Watts calls concrete, “the most destructive material on earth.” What to use instead? A forest— the “wood factory” if you will—is a carbonsink, drawing down carbon from the atmosphere, and moving us in the right direction with our carbon emissions. According to Project Drawdown, which cites a 2014 study, “Building with wood could reduce annual global emissions of carbon dioxide by 14 to 31 percent.”

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But getting the designers and builders in the construction industry to convince the concrete, steel and asphalt industries to give up their predominant position will be on par with getting the petroleum industry to give up theirs. They are all big, and powerful, and not terribly willing to change.

But there is hope. Skanska, the world’s largest construction firm, has committed to a net-zero carbon operation by 2045. A promotional piece on their initiative encourages us to: “Think of a world where fantastic buildings... are created... giving [people] great places to live and work in, and where the CO2 impact during construction is... well, there isn’t one. That would be a future we could really look forward to.”

Choosing to bring the embodied and operational carbon of buildings to near zero is hard, and it is also necessary for our survival.

We must embark on a program of city rebuilding.

It is time for all of us to do something. And to do it now.

Medium writer Marta Brzosko says it best: “We are all on this sinking ship together—and we are afraid. That’s only natural. But this is precisely why it’s the time to find courage. The courage for acting and speaking about the climate crisis, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. Because, as Greta Thunberg says, our house is on fire. And to ignore the fact that your own house is burning is just ridiculous.”

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Paul Dowsett, OAA, FRAIC, LEED AP; Principal Architect, Sustainable. Architecture for a Healthy Planet.

Specialization has its merits

I enjoyed the State of the Nation piece in the July issue. Your question regarding how recent trends affect architecture is a good one.

Although not identif ied specif ically, a trend that underlies most of the challenges identif ied is that clients are looking for value that far surpasses anything they have sought in the past. They have also determined the way to achieve greater value is by engaging experts and specialists. If that expertise is not available in their region they have no qualms about consulting Google and going global to find the specialists they need.

Yet we as a profession seem to lament this trend. Too many firms continue to offer generalist skills while the market is crying out for specialists. When firms position themselves based on unique expertise, they do not struggle as mightily with the challenges identified in your piece. My hope is that the broader profession will get focused and abandon the outdated notion of general practice.

Rick Linley, MAA (retired), FRAIC, LEED AP; Principal, Strong Practice Strategies

Memoranda 2020 National Urban Design Awards

Entries are due November 21, 2019 for the National Urban Design Awards. Winners in the 2019 municipal competitions are invited to submit, and architects with projects in other communities across Canada are also eligible to submit in categories including Urban Architecture and Urban Fragments.

"Hire an FCSI Foodservice consultant to assist in your planning process we will make a difference"

www.raic.org

2020 RIBA International Prize

The biennial RIBA International Prize program is adding 20 RIBA International Awards for Excellence. The program celebrates buildings that embrace sustainable technologies while delivering a meaningful social impact. Submissions are due October 31, 2019.

PHONE: 416-219-3555 EMAIL: CANADA@FCSI.ORG

www.architecture.com

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Bob Gundu

Bob Gundu

canadian architect 10/19

12 Architectural Firm Award

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canadian architect 10/19

13

LGA Architectural Partners Photos

Ben Rahn / A-Frame, unless otherwise noted

Founded in 1989 by Janna Levitt, FRAIC and Dean Goodman, MRAIC, LGA Architectural Partners (formerly known as Levitt Goodman Architects) is a 30-person firm based in Toronto. LGA’s other three partners, Brock James, Danny Bartman, and Alex Tedesco, have been with the firm since 2000 or earlier.

LGA aims to design buildings that strengthen community and wellbeing. As a result, it works primarily in the non-profit, public and educational sectors. The firm’s portfolio encompasses libraries, galleries and community centres, K-12 and postsecondary projects, and residential projects that include homeless shelters, multi-unit affordable housing and single-family homes.

The Laurentian School of Architecture is designed with exposed structure in each of its component parts; the Centre for Native Child and Family Well Being includes a meeting room modelled on a traditional longhouse; the Laurentian School of Architecture’s library wing is constructed from CLT. above and right A three-layered wood structure creates a generous, light-filled space for the Toronto Public Library’s Scarborough Civic Centre Branch.

Opposite, clockwise from top

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2019-10-23 8:11 AM

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14 Architectural Firm Award

LGA’s design excellence has been recognized with a Governor General’s Medal in Architecture, an RAIC Award of Excellence for Innovation, five Ontario Association of Architects Design Excellence Awards, seven Toronto Urban Design Awards, and nine provincial and national WoodWORKS! Awards.

Recent projects include the McEwen School of Architecture at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario (2017), which includes a crosslaminated timber library wing. The varied components of the school are designed as a didactic instrument to inform the design/build education of the school’s students. Eva’s Phoenix in Toronto, completed in 2016, is a residence and skills training centre for homeless and at-risk youth. The Scarborough Civic Centre Branch of the Toronto Public Library (2015), designed with Philip H. Carter as planning consultant, breaks free from the conventional box as a low-slung volume that features canted, large-scale glulam columns and beams.

The firm has a long history of working with Indigenous groups, including in constructing the Centre for Native Child and Family Well Being (2010), an Indigenous community services hub in downtown Toronto.

The 148-square-metre Euclid Avenue House (2006), which Levitt and Goodman designed for themselves, is a demonstration project for sustainable urban living in a modest footprint. It was Toronto’s first house to incorporate extensive and intensive green roofs, which are planted with drought-resistant native Ontario species.

LGA Architectural Partners contributes to architectural education through teaching, with over half of the studio serving as adjunct faculty, lecturers, or guest critics at post-secondary institutions. In 2015, the firm established an annual scholarship fund for an Indigenous student entering Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture. Partners and associates take active roles in both internal mentorship and the external provincial Intern Architect Program and RAIC Syllabus Program.

Within the off ice, LGA seeks to ensure that the women-to-men

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For the revamping of the Kiln Building at Evergreen Brick Works, LGA took an adaptive reuse approach that sought to maintain as much of the original brick and steel as possible.

ABOVE

hiring ratio corresponds to current gender ratios in architectural school cohorts. This has resulted in a staff composition of 60 percent female, 40 percent male.

Levitt has shared her professional expertise on various panels, including the Venice Biennale Advisory Committee, Metrolinx Design Excellence Review Panel and Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel, while Goodman is an affordable housing advocate. :: Jury :: David Pontarini (FRAIC), Gilles Saucier (FIRAC), Luc Bouliane (MRAIC), Samuel Oboh (PP/FRAIC), Rayleen Hill (MRAIC)

LGA’s diverse portfolio represents a wide range of building types that are unified in their commitment to strengthening social objectives.

Their community-minded approach, combined with innovative design strategies and a sensitivity to sustainability, makes their architecture both aspirational and impressive.

Dedication to social architecture is clear throughout their work.

We appreciate the continuous effort and rigour to make our public institutions better, and more livable.

LGA is a firm whose ethos is deeply rooted in enacting social change and a spirit of excellence in design, in practice and in leadership. From projects like Eva’s Phoenix and the Centre for Native Child and Family Well Being, to teaching, to the establishment of a significant scholarship fund, and a progressive off ice gender mix of 60/40 female/male in an often male-dominated profession, LGA is a leading Canadian model for architectural practice.

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Shengliang Su

canadian architect 10/19

16 Emerging Architectural Practice

UUfie UUfie is an interdisciplinary research-based architecture studio founded in 2009 in Tokyo, Japan, by partners Irene Gardpoit, MRAIC and Eiri Ota. In 2013, they moved to Toronto. UUf ie’s work spans art,

architecture, landscape, furniture and product design. The practice celebrates experimentation, diversity and site specif icity, and is often inspired by the natural world. It aims to create experiences of transition in all of its work.

For the Printemps Haussmann department store in Paris, the studio designed a three-dimensional veil-like form that fronts a new 10-storey vertical circulation space. Named Verticalité and completed in 2017, it is punctured with 17,200 petal-like openings, giving an effect reminiscent of falling blossoms. The patterns reference the store’s Art Nouveau aesthetic and iconic stained glass domes from 1894.

While it weighs 24 tons, glass and mirrored surfaces are strategically deployed to allow the structure to appear to f loat in front of the circulation space.

The form of an iceberg inspired a new f lagship store in Shanghai, China, for the Canadian fashion house Ports 1961. The design of the façade, completed in 2015, is a futuristic composition of glass blocks

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ABOVE A three-dimensional glass block façade gives a futuristic look to the Ports 1961 flagship in Shanghai. Opposite top The two-storey Lake Cottage brings a playful inventiveness to traditional house forms.

Opposite bottom, left to right The Echo tables are made from a wood composite that blends into metal at the edges; the acrylic Peacock chair has a lace-like appearance inspired by paper-cutting crafts.

that seems to undulate, expand and contract. Two types of glass blocks are combined using a new joining system in the block itself to create an elaborately ornamented stepping canopy, including cantilevered elements.

Lake Cottage, a two-storey home in the Kawartha Lakes district of Ontario (2013), uses a Japanese wood preservation technique— charred cedar—and gives the sensation of being in a tree house.

The structure includes a seven-metre-high A-frame pitched roof, and a deep cut in the building creates a cantilevered overhang that protects an outdoor terrace. Fourteen openings in the main living space reveal both inhabited spaces, skies and trees.

UUfie’s projects have involved collaborators from Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan. For example, in 2016, they stayed in Italy for over a month to produce their Echo table with a local metalworker who had fabricated pieces for Italian architect Carlo Scarpa.

A graduate of the University of Toronto, Gardpoit trained at the Arata Isozaki Atelier in Tokyo. She is an Ontario-licensed architect. Ota graduated from Musashino Art University in Tokyo and trained under Jun Aoki & Associates in Tokyo. His architecture license is from Japan.

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CA Oct 19.indd 17 Naho Kubato

Naho Kubato

Courtesy Uufie

Andrew Wilcox

canadian architect 10/19

17

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Nanne Springer

canadian architect 10/19

18 Emerging Architectural Practice

ABOVE The Wa-Wa installation added 130 convex mirrors to a quad at the University of Toronto’s downtown campus in 2017. Left UUfie designed a 25.5-metre-tall screen at the Printemps Haussmann department store in Paris, France. It consists of white-painted aluminium sheets cut to create a floral relief pattern, with dichroic glass filling the openings.

The studio has received numerous awards, including the Architectural Record Design Vanguard Award, a nomination for the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize and Project of the Year from Canadian Interiors magazine. UUfie’s work has appeared in over 100 major publications as well as in galleries, museums and exhibitions. :: Jury :: David Pontarini (FRAIC), Gilles Saucier (FIRAC), Luc Bouliane (MRAIC), Samuel Oboh (PP/FRAIC), Rayleen Hill (MRAIC)

Michel Denancé

UUfie is pushing the boundaries beyond Canada’s borders and increas-

CA Oct 19.indd 18

ing the global profile of Canadian architecture. Their mix of international inspiration and style creates innovative designs that surprise and delight. UUfie is an example of a new generation of architects which addresses with confidence the international scene, on all scales, including object design. The firm’s innovation in practice is exemplary, and its rigorous pursuit of invention has created a practice that transcends borders and typologies and broadens the definition of Canadian practice.

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20 Innovation in Architecture _ Medal

Borden Park Natural Swimming Pool Borden Park, Edmonton, Alberta gh3* Photos gh3* location

Architect

The Borden Park Natural Swimming Pool is the first chemical-free public outdoor pool to be built in Canada. The project replaces an existing pool and includes a seasonal pavilion and landscaped pool precinct for 400 swimmers.

The challenge was to create a large-scale pool with high-quality water control while also achieving an environmentally healthy and natural filtration process. The design process began with developing a pool technology that cleanses the water through stone, gravel, sand and botanic filtering processes. These processes inspired a materials-oriented concept for the change room facility, in which the gabion basket stone walls visually evoke the idea of filtration.

Canada’s guidelines for public pools are some of the strictest in the world. To realize the project, the architects needed to take a f irstprinciples, science-based approach to the design challenge. By classifying the project as “recreational waters,” the building permit was issued as a “constructed beach with variances,” and the variances were the pools.

The pool involves a balanced ecosystem where plant materials, microorganisms and nutrients come together within a gravel and sand filtering process. Filtration is achieved in two ways: through a biological-mechanical system with a constructed wetland and gravel fil-

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ter, and in situ, with zooplankton. It is an unsterilized system, free of chemicals and disinfectants. Isolating membranes contain water as it circulates and is cleansed through a natural process.

The cleansing takes place at the north end of the pool precinct.

On the pool deck, water passes through a sand and stone pond and a planted hydrobotanic pond. Adjacent to these ponds, a granular filter PO4 adsorption unit is enclosed by gabion walls continuous with the change room facility.

In addition to universal change rooms and water filtration infrastructure, the seasonal building houses showers, washrooms and staff areas.

The swimming facilities include a children’s pool, a deep pool, on-deck outdoor showers, a sandy beach, picnic areas and spaces for other poolrelated recreational activities.

The project’s materiality creates a strong conceptual connection between the technical demands of the pool and the design of the built enclosure and landscape elements. The gabion walls’ dark, locally sourced limestone and steel elements def ine the enclosure’s vertical dimension as filter-like, breathable, granular and porous. The gabion walls of the low rectilinear building terminate with a lid-like f lat roof that frames the tree canopy of the park beyond, and enhances the sensation of open-sky spaciousness within the pool precinct.

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Opposite The pavilion for Canada’s first chemical-free outdoor pool features gabion basket stone walls. ABOVE On-deck showers are integrated into the flush-surface pool design. Top right Hydrobotanic ponds are part of the natural water cleansing process. bottom right The pavilion interiors are fitted with marine-grade plywood surfaces rubbed with black and white paints to expose the wood grain in high contrast.

The pool precinct is defined by a planar landscape where f lush-tosurface detailing creates seamless interfaces between the sandy beach, concrete pool perimeter and wood decking.

The elemental form and reductive materials enrich the narrative of bathing in the landscape. The juxtaposition of the constructed elements evokes comparisons with the geology of the North Saskatchewan River and the f lat topography of the Prairie lands’ edge. :: Jury :: Richard Henriquez (CM, FRAIC), Sergio Morales (MIRAC), Johanna Hurme (FRAIC)

We have here a clear example in which technical innovation is serving the fabrication of an architecture that ultimately transcends it.

As Canada’s f irst non-chemical pool with a natural water f iltration system, the Borden Park Pool embodies the idea of innovation and results in an effortless and subtle architectural outcome. The strength of the simple, yet powerful architecture is beautifully integrated with the biological systems that provide healthy user experiences, both physically and psychologically.

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CLIENT City of Edmonton, Robb Heit (Project Manager) | ARCHITECT TEAM Pat Hanson (FRAIC), Raymond Chow (MRAIC), John Mckenna, DaeHee Kim, Joel Di Giacomo, Bernard Jin (MRAIC), Nicholas Callies | STRUCTURAL/MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL/CIVIL Morrison Hershfield | LANDSCAPE gh3* | INTERIORS gh3* | CONTRACTOR EllisDon | NATURAL POOL CONSULTANT Polyplan | AREA 770 m2 | BUDGET $14.4 M | COMPLETION July 2018

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22 Innovation in Architecture _ Medal

The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation Mohawk College, Fennel Campus, Hamilton, Ontario McCallumSather and B+H Architects, architects in joint venture Ema Peter

location

Architect Photos

The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation is one of Ontario’s first and largest net-zero institutional buildings. Located in Hamilton, the 8,981-square-metre facility is a catalyst for change in a region traditionally known for its steel production, positioning Mohawk College as a knowledge centre for carbon-neutral technologies and operations.

The building is helping determine the requirements and standards for the Canadian Green Building Council’s Zero Carbon Buildings Framework. It is also contributing to the World Green Building Council’s Advancing Net Zero initiative, a global project that aims to ensure that all buildings are net zero in operational carbon by 2050, with all new buildings being net-zero carbon by 2030.

The team paid attention to two budgets: the cost of construction and the energy costs of the building in use. The all-electric building is designed to meet rigorous net-zero energy and carbon performance targets, and incorporates the latest in energy-efficient materials and processes.

The Joyce Centre features solar-powered, state-of-the-art labs, workshops, open study spaces and f lexible lecture theatres. The mechanical and electrical areas, as well as the green roofs, are accessible to all and are intended to be part of the learning environment.

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Leading-edge environmental technologies and systems include a highperformance building envelope to maximize heating and cooling eff iciency, as well as natural light penetration. An innovative curtain wall system specifically adapted for the project incorporates thermal isolation gaskets to achieve an effective R20 thermal performance.

The roof includes extensive planted areas and a 545kW solar panel array, while below ground, 28 geothermal wells are tied to a variable refrigerant f low heat pump system. The building also includes a Dedicated Outdoor Air Ventilation System (DOAS) which is CO2demand operated. Stormwater can be harvested up to 228,000 litres.

The building is equipped with illumination and occupancy sensorcontrolled LED lighting, and high-efficiency plumbing f ixtures.

Extensive measurement and verification protocols and infrastructure are in place to make the building itself a teaching tool. Through data and analysis, students can observe, in real-time, the temperature, humidity, ventilation rates, thermal distribution and lighting performance, in addition to other key building metrics. Through capstone and research projects, students are given the opportunity to manage the operations of the building.

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Top, left to right Photovoltaic panels are housed in a set of wings that soar above the four- storey complex; a light-filled atrium functions as a social space that encourages formal and informal gatherings; the building prioritizes locally sourced materials including wood; sheltered rooftop terraces are used to host events. Bottom right The centre is equipped with state-of-the-art labs, workshops, lecture theatres and industry training centres.

The sustainability achievements of The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation align with a new vision for the re-emerging city of Hamilton as a hub for health care and education. :: Jury :: Richard Henriquez (CM, FRAIC), Sergio Morales (MIRAC), Johanna Hurme (FRAIC)

This is an exemplary building in terms of technical innovation, and a powerful learning tool not only for the students, but for the whole campus community.

CLIENT Mohawk College | STRUCTURAL Vanderwesten Rutherford Mantecon | ELECTRIC-

AL Mulvey & Banani International | energy, SUSTAINABILITY AND BUILDING ENVELOPE rdh LANDSCAPE/interiors B+H Architects and McCallum Sather | CONsrtuction manager EllisDon | AREA 8,920 m2 | COMPLETION september 2018

|

Energy Use PROJECTED ENERGY USE INTENSITY 73 kWh/m2/year | BENCHMARK (Non-medical institutions/ commercial buildings in Canada after 2010, Statistics Canada) 305 kWh/m2 /year

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24 Innovation in Architecture _ Merit

West Block Rehabilitation Project Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario Architecture49 and EVOQ Architecture, architects in joint venture Tom Arban, unless otherwise noted

location

Architect PHOTOS

The restoration of the West Block, the oldest of the three Parliament buildings, was one of the most significant rehabilitation projects to take place in North America. The project modernized the 19th-century building with state-of-the-art facilities and preserved its heritage and character-defining elements. It also designed a contemporary addition for an interim House of Commons under a glass canopy roof within the courtyard of West Block.

It was the first time in 100 years that a new House of Commons was built and the government relocated from Centre Block. The Parliament buildings are classified federal heritage buildings and the finest examples of Neo-Gothic architecture in North America.

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The project demanded significant research and knowledge of the architecture and construction systems of the era. Built in three successive construction campaigns between 1865 and 1910, the West Block was a cultural artifact badly in need of attention. Parliamentary office requirements had evolved to such an extent that nothing short of a major overhaul was required.

The architects formed an integrated team and led all technical design consultants to meet the complex performance requirements for the legislature to be housed in the renovated West Block for the coming decade, while Centre Block is upgraded. The designers worked in partnership with clients and building users in a collaborative

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Jayant gupta

canadian architect 10/19

26 Innovation in Architecture _ Merit

A temporary House of Commons has been installed in the restored courtyard of Parliament Hill’s West Block. Left Tree-like structural columns support the new glass roof. Their design was inspired by the Gothic Revival architecture of the original building.

Above The skylight is engineered to meet the technical challenges of achieving a large span, as well as controlling acoustics and sunlight for a broadcast-ready space. previous page

environment that enhanced the expertise of each team member, in order to produce the highest quality building possible. They worked with manufacturers to develop and ref ine unique products toward achieving the dual goals of modernizing the building for the 21st century, and also meeting the highest standards of heritage conservation.

Through rigorous study, the heritage character–defining elements of the retained interiors were rehabilitated, including stairs, corridors and the Mackenzie off ice. Other spaces were designed to meet new operational and functional requirements, while capturing the design intent of the original building. The stone walls were upgraded to correct f laws that had led to their rapid deterioration, and reinforced for seismic integrity. Windows were replaced to ref lect the original design profiles, and updated to meet environmental performance standards and security requirements.

The glass roof designed to span the courtyard demonstrates how contemporary and traditional architecture can co-exist. The surrounding Gothic Revival architecture inspired the design of tree-like structural columns. The enclosed courtyard is a broadcast-ready space that meets the technical challenges of acoustics, sunlight, comfort and energy efficiency.

This is a precedent-setting project for Parliament Hill, allowing cutting-edge technology to blend with cultural and architectural icons, while preserving Canada’s architectural heritage.

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:: Jury :: Richard Henriquez (CM, FRAIC) , Sergio Morales (MIRAC) , Johanna Hurme (FRAIC)

Pulling off a successful project of this size with so many different levels of complexity required imaginative and innovative management practices from its leaders. The very stringent program requirements from the heritage point of view meant that this was not a run-of-the-mill project.

CLIENT Public Services and Procurement Canada | STRUCTURAL Ojdrovic Engineering

and John G. Cooke and Associates | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL Crossey Engineering |

LANDSCAPE Groupe BC2 | CIVIL Golder Associates | GEOTECHNICAL Golder Associates

(design) and Paterson Group (site supervision) | FAÇADE FRONT | ACOUSTICS State of the Art Acoustik and Acoustic Distinctions | CLIMATE ENGINEERING Transsolar KlimatEngineering | SUSTAINABILITY WSP Canada | LIGHTING OVI and Gabriel Mackinnon Lighting Designers | COMMISSIONING VSC Group | ELEVATORS EXIM | FOOD SERVICES WSP Canada | FIRE AND LIFE SAFETY Morrison Hershfield | COSTING Hanscomb | SCHEDULING Delsaer Management | ENVIRONMENTAL T. Harris Environmental Management | SECURITY Groupe SM | BLAST ENGINEERING Hinman Consulting Engineers | WIND RWDI | HARDWARE JKT Consulting | SIGNAGE JaanKrusbergDesign | MASONRY Consultant in the Conservation of Historic Buildings and Capital Conservation Services | IRONWORK Craig Sims Heritage Building Consultant | PLASTER RESTORATION Historic Plaster Conservation Services | ENVELOPE WSP and Quirouette Building Specialists | STRUCTURAL CODE ANALYSIS Robert Tremblay | SPECIFICATIONS Circumspect | CONTRACTOR PCL Constructors Canada | AREA 30,598 m2 | BUDGET $863 M | COMPLETION September 2018 Energy Use

ENERGY USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 458 kWh/m2/year | WATER USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) Less than 1.5 m3/m2/year | Water Use Intensity bENCHMARK 1.59 m3/m2/year for office buildings constructed before 1970 [real pac]

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CA Oct 19.indd 27 GIC-BostonUniversity-CanArchitect_2019Aug29.indd 1

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28 green building

University of British Columbia Campus Energy Centre Vancouver, British Columbia DIALOG Ema Peter

location

Architect Photos

The Campus Energy Centre (CEC) is a state-of-the-art hot water facility that supports the University of British Columbia’s target of eliminating the use of fossil fuels on campus by 2050. At the same time, it redefines public interaction with district energy infrastructure.

Through its optimized spatial configuration and the predominant use of timber, the $24-million, LEED Gold facility uses almost 63 percent less energy and 31 percent less water than a baseline building of its type.

The 1,858-square-metre building houses all process equipment including three 15-megawatt natural-gas-fired high-efficiency boilers, with capacity for expansion to a total output of 80 megawatts. It serves 130 buildings through 14 kilometres of underground insulated pipe.

Sited on an active corner of campus, the building also serves to educate the university community about daily energy production.

It incorporates glazed boiler bays on the ground f loor that allow pedestrians to see the inner workings of the plant, and features interactive signage and displays.

The orientation and massing of the building worked with the rigid arrangement of the equipment to enable natural ventilation and cooling of the facility. Locating the boiler bay at the northwest corner takes

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advantage of the necessary height clearances to provide daylight to the main plant space, while dramatically displaying the three boilers.

To reduce the embodied energy of the building, the team advocated for a primarily wooden structure as a replacement to the concrete and steel usually used for infrastructure buildings. The primary structure is constructed of renewable, locally sourced cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels supported by glulam columns and 20-metre clear span beams. A lifecycle analysis indicated an 18 percent reduction in global warming potential by using engineered wood.

A zinc shroud wraps the building perimeter to unify the distinct elements and reconcile the need for intake and exhaust louvres, vents and other service penetrations. The zinc materially connects the CEC with both the Life Sciences Centre and Pharmaceutical Sciences Building. :: Jury :: Daniel Pearl (MRAIC), Lisa Bate (FRAIC), Michael Green (FRAIC)

This building redefines public interaction with utilities, exposes and educates about function, and is a both an operational and design contributor to the campus community. Beyond directly replacing carbon

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Opposite Large windows make the centre’s high-efficiency equipment visible to the campus community. Above The centre houses three boilers that serve 130 buildings. Top right Enhancing its sense of accessibility, the building includes a daylit atrium and interactive displays. lower right The primary structure is made of locally sourced CLT panels with glulam columns and beams, reducing the building’s embodied energy.

emissions at the campus scale, the inclusion of design elements that promote capturing carbon, such as the predominant use of mass timber and cross-laminated timber in lieu of more typically carbon-intensive structural components, reinforces how a project can be exemplary in responding to local challenges. The building section enables natural ventilation even within a mechanized infrastructural program, and its external facades skillfully integrate the rigorous requirements of low air inlets and high outlets that promote natural ventilation, while remaining compositionally lyrical. The site ecology massively limits stormwater runoff via the use of rain gardens and a detention facility.

Today, the most critical challenges and most dynamic responses are when a building design can demonstrate sustainable-thinking leadership at multiple scales and beyond just its pressing issues.

CLIENT University of British Columbia Project Services | STRUCTURAL Fast + Epp

|

MECHANICAL FVB Energy | ELECTRICAL Applied Engineering Solutions | LANDSCAPE Perry +

Associates | CONTRACTOR Ledcor Construction | civil / GEOTECHNICAL Kerr Wood Leidal Associates | code lmdg | ACOUSTICS bkl | area 1,974 m2 | budget $26 M | COMPLETION October 2016 (occupancy)

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SPECTACLE

canadian architect 10/19

30 Young Architect Award

Jessie Andjelic Jessie Andjelic, MRAIC is an architect, urbanist and educator based in Calgary. She runs a practice, teaches, mentors intern architects and regularly lectures on architecture and urbanism.

In 2013, Andjelic co-founded SPECTACLE Bureau for Architecture and Urbanism in Calgary with Philip Vandermey. SPECTACLE’s projects include operations spaces within an arena for the Medicine Hat Tigers, a WHL hockey team in Medicine Hat, Alberta; an orthopedic and physiotherapy addition to the Banff Mineral Springs Hospital in Banff, Alberta; and the masterplan for Badlands Motorsports Resort in Kneehill County, Alberta. As a research-driven practice, they are equally committed to theory and execution, high and low culture, and the discipline of architecture along with its professional practice.

“Andjelic’s young firm is committed to the investigation of changes in society and how these evolutionary shifts are participants in our design culture,” says Robert Claiborne, MRAIC. “Within the Calgary community, she has become a consistent voice for the importance of design in our cities.”

Born in 1985, Andjelic graduated from the University of Calgary in 2009, where she received the Faculty of Environmental Design Gold Medal and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Student Gold Medal. After graduation, she worked at Sturgess Architecture in Calgary,

ABOVE

serving as project architect for the Nimmons House redevelopment. She also worked at the Powerhouse Company in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Andjelic has exhibited work in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Bulgaria and Estonia. Her range of projects includes housing, civic centres, university buildings and master plans. Among her distinctions is winning first place in four architectural competitions.

Andjelic works as a design studio sessional instructor at the University of Calgary and has volunteered with various organizations, including the Calgary Downtown Association Urban Development Committee. :: Jury :: David Pontarini (FRAIC), Gilles Saucier (FIRAC), Luc Bouliane (MRAIC), Samuel Oboh (PP/FRAIC), Rayleen Hill (MRAIC)

This award recognizes Andjelic’s strong architectural research practice.

Despite few built projects, her work announces a promising future. Her portfolio encompasses an innovative and provocative conceptual body of work, exploring design across a variety of disciplines and mediums.

Her clear approach to the design process is scaleable and will be the kernel of excellence in larger projects to come, and throughout her academic teaching career.

SPECTACLE is at work on a masterplan for transitioning an industrial area in Calgary toward a highly sustainable mixed-use community.

Designed when Andjelic was at Sturgess Architecture, Nimmons Court is a multi-family development on a site with an existing heritage house; a selection of SPECTACLE’s paper architecture projects are featured at the UE_EU E xhibition in Cambridge, U.K.; this dressing room is part of a series of operational spaces designed for the Medicine Hat Tigers WHL hockey team; a schematic model of the Badlands Motorsports Resort explores how a race course could weave between buildings and landscapes; as an intern architect with Powerhouse Company, Andjelic worked on a competition-winning design for the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

Opposite, clockwise from top left

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SPECTACLE

Adam Scales

Jamie Hyatt

Sturgess Architecture

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James Brittain Photography

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32 Young Architect Award

Kenneth Borton

ABOVE Borton has contributed to numerous projects at 5468796, including the 62M condominiums, whose UFO-like design responds to the peculiarities of a site adjacent an elevated roadway. Below A section of Guertin Cottage, a building conceived as a wooden tent, with a tall volume bringing warmth up to a pair of sleeping lofts.

The success of Kenneth Borton, MRAIC shows that Canadian architects need not work abroad to produce exciting work, and that a commitment to Winnipeg can lead to a rewarding architectural career.

Borton, 39, graduated in 2007 from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture, where he received numerous recognitions for his academic achievements.

After an internship at Atelier in situ in Montreal, Borton became the first employee of 5468796 Architecture in June 2007—one month after the Winnipeg practice began. He now holds the position of associate.

In just 11 years at 5468796, he has been a design and project architect on a number of award-winning projects, including Bloc_10, James Avenue Pumping Station, Guertin Boat Port and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria design competition. He has contributed to nearly all of the office’s projects.

For Bloc_10, Borton pushed to design the building from the inside out, resulting in the project’s key innovation. Criss-crossing the units across an internal circulation and service core gave each suite north- and south-facing views and transformed eight of the 10 into corner units.

This reinvention of the market-driven condominium typology earned the office its first Governor General’s Medal in Architecture.

“Through his extraordinary design talent and unyielding pursuit of innovation in architecture, he has become an irreplaceable part of what

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34 Young Architect Award

ABOVE Borton is the design and project architect for the James Avenue Pumping Station, a development that bookends a restored industrial facility on the Winnipeg waterfront. right The 11-storey Bond Tower rises as a thin, black bar from an extremely narrow lot. Diagonal courtyards increase access to light, views and fresh air.

defines 5468796 and will play a key role in defining our future,” says 5468796 cofounder Johanna Hurme, FRAIC. In addition to practice, Borton has taught, completed graphic design tasks for the Manitoba Association of Architects, and designed and curated several architectural exhibits. :: Jury :: David Pontarini (FRAIC), Gilles Saucier (FIRAC), Luc Bouliane (MRAIC), Samuel Oboh (PP/FRAIC), Rayleen Hill (MRAIC)

Borton has played an instrumental role in many of 5468796 Architecture’s projects that have garnered awards and recognition across the industry, and are developing the architectural landscape of Winnipeg.

Within 5468796, Borton has been a design force in the evolution and the recognition of the f irm, by addressing the link between technical necessity and design.

Some young architects branch out on their own, while others contribute to the success of larger architectural firms, and should be recognized. Borton sits in a unique position as a young architect who has helped build the portfolio of one of Canada’s most inf luential design firms since its earliest days. He illustrates how a young architect can have a strong and inf luential career under the umbrella of a larger firm.

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Great Lakes Center | Petoskey, Michigan

Great Lakes Center for the Arts In Harmony with the Local Environment When the Great Lakes Center for the Arts opened last year in Michigan, the $25 million facility featured state-of-the-art equipment, including digital sound technology that is found in only a few theaters across the country.

Further enhancing the sound quality are acoustical smoke vents manufactured by The BILCO Company. The facility, which is located in Petoskey, includes five smoke vents with both an STC and OITC sound rating that block outside noise to maintain the quality of the sophisticated sound system.

The acoustical vents are commonly used at concert halls, theaters and other venues that require limited noise from the outside. The vents also protect property and aid firefighters in bringing a fire under control by removing smoke, heat and gases from a burning building. The vents allow air quality and visibility to be maintained so that guests can safely exit the building and firefighters can enter.

“With the potential for more than 500 visitors for larger events, our team knew we would have a need for a dependable smoke ventilation system,’’ said Jason Novotny, the lead architect for TowerPinkster, the firm that designed the building. “With this being a high-performing acoustical environment, we designed a separate structure for the performance hall from the remainder of the building. This was solely for acoustical isolation of building elements. The BILCO acoustical smoke vents became a part of this ‘shell within a shell’ with their acoustical sound reducing characteristics.”

Photo: Brooksie Productions

stone, natural sedimentary rock, and of course, the beautiful blue waters of Lake Michigan,’’ Novotny said. There is also a curvilinear wood ceiling which resembles waves and echoes the flow of the lake. There is also a large rooftop terrace with stunning views of Lake Michigan.

“The color palette and design features intentionally reflect the beauty of Northern Michigan, with blues, sands, grays, copper and patterns and textures that evoke the water of Lake Michigan,” said Jill O’Neill, Executive Director of the Center.

Besides the architectural splendor, technical components also distinguish the center. The theater designers, Fisher Dachs Associates and TowerPinkster, identified solutions that make the venue enticing for performers and patrons.

The Great Lakes Center for the arts is a 525-seat, 40,000-squarefoot facility that is steps away from Little Traverse Bay, an offshoot of Lake Michigan. The Center will host audiences attending performances for classical music, ballet, intellectual dialogue, comedy, country music, jazz, cinema, and more.

The multi-channel sound reinforcement system includes loudspeakers that meet the requirements of celebrity performers’ technical requirements, and electronic architecture that allows acoustics of the venue to be optimized to meet the varied requirements of the wide range of programming.

Novotny said the architectural team went to great lengths to develop a theme for the space that was highly influenced by local colors and textures. “We included aged copper, Petoskey

This building adds a space for world-class performers to stop that did not exist in Northern Michigan,’’ Novotny said.

“It adds to the valuation of the performing arts community that was intended by the clients.”

Keep up with the latest news from The BILCO Company by following us on Facebook and LinkedIn. For over 90 years, The BILCO Company has been a building industry pioneer in the design and development of specialty access products. Over these years, the company has built a reputation among architects, and engineers for products that are unequaled in design and workmanship. BILCO – an ISO 9001 certified company – offers commercial and residential specialty access products.

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36 President’s Award for Media in Architecture R6

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G T H E G LOBE A N D M A I L

ARTS

Bozikovic: Research has THE GLOBE stressed the AND MAIL effects of physical environments on healing for decades

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S ATU R DAY , M A RC H 1 7 , 2 0 1 8

CAN ADIAN A REM IX ED

THE EM P ERO R’S O L D CLO THES

The country’s oft-overlooked hip-hop culture gets its due at Ontario’s McMichael gallery R4

Revel in the riches of France’s splashiest leader at Montreal’s new Napoleon exhibit R7

Arts

FROM R1

SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 2018

END OF THE LIBERAL ORDER Condoleezza

G

Rice, Edward Luce and Bill Emmott predict the West’s demise BOOKS, PAGE 12

S AT U R D AY , J U N E 2 4 , 2 0 1 7

SECTION R

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Globe Arts THE BRUTALIST TRUTH ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE The Ottawa complex’s $110.5-million renovation aims to draw a broader community with open, hospitable architecture. But, Alex Bozikovic asks, will this approach undercut the very qualities that defined the country’s flagship performing-arts hub? ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

A snapshot of three GovernorGeneral’s Award laureates ................................................................

BRAD WHEELER ................................................................

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t the National Arts Centre gala celebrating this year’s Governor-General’s Award laureates, the Hollywood actor Michael J. Fox and the zany comedic performer Martin Short will no doubt add red-carpet pizzazz to the June 29 proceedings. But what about the other three esteemed honorees? Here’s a snapshot look at Yves Sioui Durand, Brigitte Haentjens and Jean Beaudin.

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While you walk around the halls, you will rarely see linen carts or patients on gurneys. They move through a separate set of staff-only corridors; in yet a third set of spaces, robots pick up and deliver supplies. (They beep politely, and announce their presence en français and, for good measure, in English.)

The hospital’s main building is divided – to excellent effect – into three smaller wings. The front door, when the project is complete, will face onto a large courtyard.

One wing to the north houses mostly outpatient clinics; two more wings to the west, patient care rooms. “Eventually, when you arrive at the front door and ask for directions,” Stroupe said, “the staff will be able to direct you with a gesture.”

When you get up to your destination, there are limited choices. In the ambulatory wing, where I was admiring the view, there was only one way to walk: around a corner to a waiting area, overlooking what will eventually be a courtyard. (An installation on the glass, by artists Doyon-Rivest, presents a whimsical scattering of words: Étoile. Capucin. Gants.)

In this space, four thick rectangles protruded across the ceiling, daubed with vivid colours: purple, orange, blue, green.

Each marked the way to a reception desk for a specific clinic, whose rooms extended down a hallway beyond. Simple enough.

“In general, the architecture does a lot of work in the intuitive wayfinding and priseen-charge,” designer Chichmanian said, “signalling where you need to go. By the time you arrive, there are objects that allow you to create a mental map.”

This is only possible because of the hospital’s division into wings. That harks back to Victorian and Edwardian buildings, built before mechanical ventilation and electric light, when hospitals had to have A crane places the spire on a steeple at one of the entrances of the University of Montreal’s hospital centre. windows and cross-breezes to keep people The University of Montreal’s new hospital centre, which has now completed its second of three construction phases, is comfortable and to prevent infection. a collaboration between architect Jocelyn Stroupe, and her team at the large U.S. firm CannonDesign, and Montreal’s By contrast, a typical hospital built after Neuf Architectes. The team strived to make the building serve its human users. PHOTOS BY ADRIEN WILLIAMS 1970 is a tall, fat slab and its floor plan is what architects call a “racetrack”: a corridor leads around the outside connecting sits in the city – the results are more the building opens up with a glassy atrium to patient rooms, while offices, clinics and balance, I think.”

But that was not the only balance that mixed. CHUM’s presence downtown rep- that provides a comfortable waiting space other space are placed at the interior.

That’s convenient, in organizing a hospi- had to be maintained in this project. resents a victory. The amalgamation of and connects with the adjacent cafeteria. tal’s complex mechanical systems. It’s also CHUM, as with most hospitals in Canada local hospitals into CHUM and its English- The glass of the atrium encloses two fragThe hospital centre at the University of Montreal faces many obstacles as its desginers attempt to soul-destroying. Such hospitals offer little today, was built through a highly convolut- language counterpart, the McGill Univer- ments, which Neuf architect Lilia Koleva build an tointegral part of theprocess: city’s adowntown. succeeds athas Mission No. putting patients first describes as “found objects”: greystone sityitHealth Centre, stretched on1:for ed bureaucratic public-privateBut to look at, and nowhere much linger – atnew best, from the eighties on, a central atri- partnership in which a consortium takes two decades – longer than the Taj Mahal façades of the 1890 Garth House, and the um, which is a poor substitute for views or responsibility for the design, construction, took to build, as The Globe’s André Picard bell tower of the 1865 Holy Trinity church, which housesand a sound-art piece. out –make and CHUM wound up CannonDesign financing and maintenance the facility fresh air.ALEX BOZIKOVIC American firm Montreal’s Neuf.The art is ease, makeof them happierpointed and then them almost andserve integrated into years. The number of in Outremont. Instead, it went And that matters. As Stroupe points for, in this case, 34 The downtown team strove thoughtfully to make thecurated building its healthier. the building. to the aging Saint-Luc hospital.

Thisworking aloneissuggests the next out, there is a body of medical research nouns in that sentence users, with architectural and med“CHUM a good example of making sure that it’s human Still, from outside, hospital decision some investment and“The design complexity of the deal, and the attendant going back could moresee than 30 That years ical research. is based on the evidence ofis a huge just the physical care that needsistobringing be provided the sky. wasthat remarkable because I not battleship-like mass, wrapped in a grey jobsofto long-depressed area of downbureaucracy. emphasizes the of the works,” Stroupe said. itsalead designers, what waseffect standing in aphysical hospitalenvihallway; rather than a in the building,” argued one glass curtain wall that is generic and withtown, which was gutted by the construcIn this sort of process, one set of conronment onwindowless, healing. Thefluorescent-lit environmental The patient rooms are a case in point. They are all labyrinth, this third- Azad Chichmanian of Neuf Architectes, “but the of place.them CHUM looks awfultion of the Ville-Marie expressway the out sultants deals the building’s usersastowell.” psychologistfloor Roger Ulrich identical in in layout, so any staffsense can navigate effortcomponent corridor letspublished me catch aabit of the grey win-withspiritual foreboding, andwaste not atbins all like develop Cartier the requirements, thenthe another study in Science in 1984streaming that compared the door includes and it a belongs Begin with daylightearly and seventies. views. These com- lessly. A zone nearly ter sunlight, past the the Jacques here in the city. please. The washIt was the rightfor decision to put it here, Cannon and Neuf) postsurgical healing patients who had team (here led by – wash your hands promptly, modities have been rare in hospital design the sink Bridge in theof distance. is or a horizontal problem here.

The most on ofthe Metro.shared A hospital spokesperson those back a building. views of greenery with those whoUniversity had translates to the left, hasBigness few seams surfacpastinto three generations. Most us have the room, I was in Montreal, at the of Montreal’s currentThethinking hospital suggested that one, a meaningful of germs.

Much can get experience lost in translation. views of new a brick wall. centre The dose of nature accumulate bed, to thein right, is posi- design of being The a patient, or visiting and es tonumber hospital (CHUM).

The 772-bed complex emphasizes withand landscape, arrive by transit, and I saw and construction of CHUM lasted outpatients helped the latter healdowntown more quickly, with to design tioned to give the patient viewsconnections out the window; getting lost in a windowless maze of low-ceilinged in the city’s opened patients a few andfarplacing hospital in conversation someperplexing of them. Ifsignage governments carearea, at allin the for seven years. processendless was long and doors, fewer complications. sort of insight a family corner, aincludes a reclining corridors, heavy months ago. ItThis is one of the most important works of “The with its surroundings – something that about building sustainable cities, they will fraught with peril,” Chichmanian said. has informed “patient-centred design.” chair and storage cabinet. The materials are utilitararchitecture in the country: The hospital is designed and relentless fluorescent lights. only out: triesMost to do with some green put new13hospitals suchian, locations Stroupe put it somewhat diplo- integrates “A lot of ideas seem but the and detailsCHUM are thought importantNot here. more The building works of in pubforthese 800,000 visits a obvious: year, andWhy Montréalers will have and odd terrace.

If bed, our governas Ontario is doing oncanroofs matically: “We had onto gathering a very not, wouldn’tsome you do that?”

Stroupe acknowlly, Windsor, the patient control thethe lighting from the lic to art,hold generous spaces and design that in of the most intense experiences of their lives mentswhen are now how better unwalkable campuses. we felt the design edged. “But if you look at older facilities, clear vision of what the fluorescents theylearning want to relax.

And to heal attempts – though does nottotally entirely succeed – tosuburban link killing here. our bodies, they should continue The problem: huge, and equipment needed to express,” said, “and continthey’re like Happily, factories.CHUM It didn’t matter theismonitoring is designed to beep as lit- working institution with the surrounding city. The hospital reflects anwhat increased emphasis, in theshe on how to heal our cities. a behemoth on the streetscape.

The archiually work on making sure that that hapthe patient thought; it was all about makThe complex, which has now completed its sec- tle as possible. These rooms “give patients control contemporary hospitals, on what’s called “patientare aware of this and have theenvironments,” Stroupe said. pened.” ing the clinical more The efficient.

Now, overaltered their own collaboration between centredcare design.” central insight is obvious ond of three phases, is atects urban ofthe the large hospital to break it upR6 On people the small they Jocelyn have succeedthere’s a enough: much stronger the can put Follow me on Twitter BOZIKOVIC, architect Stroupe and herdesign team at That theemphasis design ofon a place at scale, patient and their family. It’s a better ed. On the larger scale – how the hospital as much as possible. Along St. Denis Street, @alexbozikovic

CROWNING GLORY

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YVES SIOUI DURAND ................................................................

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fortress for culture: This is how the National Arts Centre has seemed to many since it opened half a century ago in the heart of Ottawa. And now, the fortress has been breached.

On Canada Day, the country’s flagship arts complex officially opens the first phase in a $110.5million renovation. Its ribbedconcrete walls, speckled with grains of Laurentian granite, are joined by new wings of goldtoned aluminum, pale wood and lots of glass.

It’s a new era. The style of expressive concrete architecture known as brutalism was the height of architectural good taste in the 1960s, when a Montreal firm designed the centre; now, it’ll be joined by a sleek addition

by Diamond Schmitt Architects –

very tasteful for 2017, tightly detailed and hospitable.

The danger is that this new attitude will undercut the very qualities that defined this place: that when the centre lets down its defences, this forceful piece of design will lose some of its magic.

For the centre, says its chief executive officer Peter Herrndorf, the $110-million project is an emblem of a new attitude toward the public. “This was a dark, forbidding, inaccessible place,” Herrndorf says of the complex.

“We thought that by making some architectural changes you could make it inviting, transparent, full of natural light – and not-so-subtly shift this organization from exclusive to inclusive.”

“Dark” or “exclusive” is one

way to put it. But the architecture was meant to be aloof. The centre was designed as a temple for art, a place apart from the city. The new architecture clearly articulates another goal: “How do you speak to a broader community?” says Donald Schmitt, the partner-in-charge for Diamond Schmitt. The new additions, about 78,000 square feet, “will give people passing on Confederation Boulevard a sense of luminosity, a sense of engagement.”

They’re replacing some of the complex’s outdoor terraces with three wings of heavy timber, wrapped in a glass and perforated aluminum curtain wall. These enclose a new entrance, new lobby space and a rebuilt performance space, while a tower – which

borrows the hexagonal geometry – provides a new focus for the complex on Elgin Street. It will be glass, and its façades are embedded with LEDs that allow for signs and video presentations.

Instead of ramparts, these walls will be flickering screens.

There will, of course, be free WiFi. But in 1969, the NAC was the product of wilder ambitions. It was the jewel of more than 800 public building projects to come out of the centennial. It was designed by the Montreal modernists Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Sise, who also designed Montreal’s Place des Arts and the sublime 1964 Confederation Centre for the Arts in Charlottetown.

Who he is: Writer, director, filmmaker, actor and a pioneering figure in contemporary Indigenous theatre. Born in 1951, he’s a member of the Wendake Huron-Wendat Nation.

What he’s done: Co-founder of Ondinnok, Quebec’s first Frenchlanguage Indigenous theatre company. Written close to 20 stage plays and directed 28 productions, including his large-scale outdoor performance, Le porteur des peines du monde (The Sun Raiser). Awards and distinctions include the Festival TransAmériques Américanité Award.

What he’s said: “My theatre seeks to provide access to the imaginary land of my people, which was obscured but persists in us. It is for white and for aboriginal audiences, who often have lost touch with their past.”

The Cree-Saulteaux interdisciplinary artist Margo Kane on Yves Sioui Durand: “Yves has worked long and hard, with little resources and without much recognition from his own francophone artistic community. He has done pioneering work in developing Indigenous theatrical works and working with allies across many cultural lines.

“He and his wife, Catherine Joncas, travelled to very small, remote communities who have asked for their guidance and help.

Their Theatre of Healing project provided a really needed outlet of expression for oppressed people.

It mobilized communities. Yves has set the standard for connecting with people in a real way, not just theatre for entertainment, but for community development and laughter and healing.

“Yves and his wife have sacrificed a lot for their art and their community. But a lot of young, Indigenous francophones have been inspired to have their own careers, and their own companies, because of Yves.”

Bozikovic’s columns for the Globe and Mail include critical, but respectful looks at the expanded National Arts Centre in Ottawa and the CHUM in Montreal; Bozikovic recently co-edited a book on the need for increased “missing middle” housing in Toronto.

left to right Diagnostics, surgery, imaging Bed towers Ambulatory clinics

Logistics

Phase I

Phase II

OPERA, R9

Offices

TRISH McALASTER / THE GLOBE AND MAIL SOURCE: CANNONDESIGN + NEUF

The hospital’s division into wings harks back to Victorian and Edwardian buildings, built before mechanical ventilation and electric light, when hospitals had to have windows and cross-breezes to keep people comfortable and to prevent infection.

Alex Bozikovic Bozikovic, Page 6

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A renovation at Ottawa‘s National Arts Centre will replace some of the complex’s outdoor terraces with three wings of heavy timber, wrapped in a glass and perforated aluminum curtain wall. DIAMOND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS

OPINION

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BRIGITTE HAENTJENS

When art criticism leaves the art behind

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Here’s a contemporary example: If you read a lot of culture blogs, you may be puzzled and confused by the angry essays on a children’s movie that have been surfacing for the past weeks. Who would have thought that a superhero movie with lots of CGI battle scenes would inspire such passion – either inspiring or oppressive, depending on your stripe?

There have been feverish attacks on and defences of Wonder Woman this week, all among socially progressive analysts.

Who she is: Theatre veteran and, since 2012, the artistic director of the National Arts Centre’s French Theatre. Born in Versailles, France, in 1951; studied theatre in Paris with the renowned Jacques Lecoq. Immigrated to Canada in 1977. Particularly interested in issues of identity, sexuality and power, and known for her original, avant-garde productions.

What she’s done: Directed some 60 productions and played a pivotal role in the development of franco-Ontarian theatre, particularly as artistic director (19821990) of Sudbury’s Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario.

Smith, Page 8

Awards, Page 8

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B RUSSELL SMITH rsmith@globeandmail.com ................................................................

efore South African novelist and activist Nadine Gordimer won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1991, she was not always widely admired by anti-apartheid militants in her native country. She wrote about the troubles of that racist country, but from a white perspective. For many dissidents, her race in itself disqualified her from commentary. Beyond that, even though she was a member of the revolutionary African National Congress, a banned organization, she was not sufficiently propagandistic for many

militants. Criticism of her work from the 1970s frequently called it ideologically flawed and “tactically incorrect.”

It’s a bit odd to think now of her work being disparaged with such brutally black-and-white criteria, but this happens in times when artists are told their primary role is to effect social change.

Art’s perceived ideological component becomes only value. If people are in the grip of a cause, all they can see around them are expressions of or obstacles to that cause.

Alex Bozikovic is the architecture critic for The Globe and Mail.

In THE his MADNESS columns,OFheGEORGE mixesIIIreporting and critical analysis to reveal what is happening in the built environment, and to advocate for better “ “ buildings and better cities. He aims to explain the state of Canadian “Missing it would mad” audience, and to show how architecture architecture to a be general 1.800.511.7429 SHAWFEST.COM shapes all of |our daily lives.

His work in 2017 and 2018 spans six provinces and a range of architectural projects, from houses to public buildings and urban design.

As a writer, he pays attention to the forces that shape architecture including aesthetic and technical dimensions, as well as political and social contexts.

In a column on the National Arts Centre’s renovation and expansion, Bozikovic took a respectful but critical look at the new work by Diamond Schmitt Architects. The challenge of updating a Brutalist cultural building is complex; and, as he argues, the “breathtakingly radical” original building by Aff leck Desbarats deserves careful consideration in its own right. In another column on Montreal’s new CHUM, he explored some of the specific design issues in hospitals today, as well as the challenges of the P3 procurement system.

Bozikovic has also tackled the advent of tall wood, through discussing some of the issues regarding sustainability and constructability, and through a critical assessment of work by Michael Green Architect. .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Bus from Toronto

A 2018 profile of Brian MacKay-Lyons introduced the architect’s work to a cross-Canada audience, and also described the cultural and intellectual context that shapes the work of Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple.

That same year, Bozikovic introduced a speculative project by the emerging office Batay-Csorba Architects. At his invitation, they developed a scheme for intensifying a century-old residential neighbourhood in Toronto through gentle density that is low in scale and familiar in its materials and massing. Projects of this scale and type— which challenge single-family zoning—will be critical tools in building denser, lower-carbon cities. :: Jury :: Ewa Bieniecka (AP/FIRAC), Allan Teramura (PP/FRAIC), Annmarie Adams (FRAIC)

Bozikovic’s work consistently situates architectural projects in a social context, giving readers an understanding of why design matters. He examines a wide variety of building types, including some that typically escape critical examination, and always from the perspective of how the architecture affects the experience of the inhabitants. Every column has, at its heart, the complexity of architecture as a profession and as a discipline. He advocates for good architecture and doesn’t shy away from controversy. His writing is clear, free of jargon and unfailingly perceptive.

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Advocate for Architecture 37

Left and above Bellamy’s advocacy includes writing—and being written about—in local newspapers including the Winnipeg Free Press. His sustained advocacy work sees him regularly participating in public forums and as an interview subject on radio, television and in print.

brent bellamy

Brent Bellamy is an architect and creative director at Number TEN Architectural Group in Winnipeg. He has become a leading advocate for sustainable city-building and human-focused design through public speaking, teaching, mentoring, writing, and engaging with conventional and social media.

Since 2010, Bellamy has contributed a regular column called “On Architecture” to the Winnipeg Free Press, in which he explores the connections between design and economic growth, environmental sustainability, civic competitiveness and quality of life.

Its popularity led the newspaper to produce a multimedia series and book, City Beautiful: How Architecture Shaped Winnipeg’s DNA, with Bellamy as architectural advisor, narrator and content provider.

Bellamy also uses social media to amplify his advocacy, and his opinion is often sought on radio, television and in print.

In 2014, Bellamy became a key organizer of Winnipeg’s first mayoral candidates’ debate on architecture and design issues. In 2018, during Winnipeg’s public debate on reopening Portage and Main to pedestrians, he emerged as the leader of the Vote Open side, participating in media interviews, public forums and door-to-door campaigning.

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Bellamy’s political engagement has brought opportunities to inf luence public policy, including as chair of CentreVenture, the arm’slength downtown development agency of Winnipeg. He is also a jury member of the federal’s government’s Smart Cities Challenge competition, open to municipalities, regional governments and Indigenous communities. :: Jury :: Anne Carrier (FIRAC), The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson (PC CC, Hon. FRAIC), Toon Dreessen (FRAIC)

Bellamy illustrates the idea of the architect as a civic leader. His passionate advocacy for architecture is responsible for a strong public appreciation of architecture within his community and beyond. As a writer and columnist, he underscores the importance and impact of architecture in everyday life and promotes innovation in architecture and design.

Bellamy’s dedication to excellence extends beyond architecture.

He embraces the idea that design can inf luence all, and creates a foundation for equity in society. We can only hope that many other architects choose to follow his example.

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Donna Pallotta © Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Bob Gundu

canadian architect 10/19

38 Allied Arts Medal

Kathryn Walter For almost 20 years, Toronto artist and designer Kathryn Walter has created feature wall installations in Canada and the United States through collaborations with architects and interior designers. Since founding FELT Studio in 2000, she has worked almost exclusively with industrial, manufactured felt for its aesthetic, insulating, fire-resistant and sound-absorbent qualities.

Felt is made of pressed wool in a range of thicknesses, densities and tones. Walter came to felt through family history. Her great-grandfather emigrated to Canada from Germany and started a business in the 1890s importing felt from his homeland.

In 2002, Bruce Mau Design, which had the signage contract for Walt Disney Concert Hall designed by Gehry Partners in Los Angeles, hired Walter to research and develop prototypes for the donor wall that required names cut from felt. She has since consulted to a number of high-profile architecture firms regarding the use of felt as wallcovering, including Diller Scofidio + Renfro (Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, 2007); OMA (Milstein Hall at Cornell University, 2010) and Kohn Pedersen Fox (School of Law at City University of New York 2012).

These projects gave Walter the impetus to develop personal techniques of layering, folding, stitching and bolting to create a range of textured wallcoverings that have since been adapted and customized to various sites.

One series, FELT Striations, is based on forming a wall from layers of stacked felt. It was developed while working with B-Space Architecture + Design in New York on screening room doors for a Manhattan apartment, and with Toronto’s LGA Architectural Partners on a shop

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for Jamie Kennedy Kitchens in Toronto. Another series, FELT Ripple, is produced in a range of styles for SO-IL, of Brooklyn, Ten Arquitectos, of Mexico City and New York, Brininstool + Lynch, of Chicago and Toronto-based superkül.

Current work includes a wall for the lobby of Natural Resources Defence Council in Washington, D.C., with Studio Gang, of Chicago.

Furnishings are another aspect of her practice. Most notable is the FELT Spool Stool produced in multiples for hospitality and retail spaces.

From 2004 to 2010, she produced a lighting pendant shade for Eurolite.

Choosing to keep the studio small, Walter remains involved in the process from the architect’s initial call through construction.

Walter is in her second year of developing a felt studio course at the Ryerson School of Interior Design. :: Jury :: Shirley Blumberg (CM, FRAIC), John Brown (FRAIC), Philip Beesley (FRAIC)

Drawing from her deep background in contemporary visual arts and craft and her expertise in industrial textiles, Walter offers a leading example of how collaborators from parallel disciplines can contribute to architecture. Her work with cultural institutions, such as Toronto’s Textile Museum of Canada, has fostered specialized new craft technologies and a new aesthetic language. Walter has developed a deep material practice that she f lawlessly executes in her projects. The award recognizes her multi-layered practice, and the sheer generosity of the relationships she has fostered.

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Tom Arban

Ben Rahn / A-Frame

Camille Esquivel

Ben Rahn / A-Frame

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Opposite, left to right A felt fireplace surround graces a private residence designed by Dubbeldam Architecture + Design; felt and polycarbonate screens were designed with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and fabricated by FELT and E.F. Walter Inc. Above, clockwise from top left Gow Hastings Architects purchased a felt hanging for their boardroom; a felt wall features at Aesop’s Toronto flagship, designed by superkßl; FELT and Bev Koski of Seventh Generation Image-Makers collaborated on this mural in the Centre for Native Child and Family Well Being in Toronto, designed by LGA Architectural Partners; the Gladstone Hotel commissioned a felt feature wall, lights and furnishings for one of its guest suites.

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2019-09-18 3:36 PM

Leif Norman

canadian architect 10/19

40 Allied Arts Medal

Klaus Nienkämper For the past five decades, Klaus Nienkämper has been a champion of design in Canada. He has continuously collaborated with architects and furniture designers to realize a broad range of chairs, tables and sofas that contribute to holistic and integrated spaces.

Nienkämper arrived in Toronto from Germany in the 1960s, after working as a furniture apprentice for the design house Knoll International. His company, founded in 1968, developed its expertise and precision as the North American manufacturer under license for Knoll.

Nienkämper was also the licensed manufacturer for de Sede, a Swiss modern furniture company.

Nienkämper received his f irst government contract in 1964— to furnish the lounge at the Toronto International Airport. He went on to work on government-sponsored design centres in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. At Expo ’67 in Montreal, Nienkämper provided the modern furniture for the Governor General’s suite in Habitat, designed by architect and RAIC gold medallist Moshe Safdie, FRAIC. He also helped realize furnishing for the minimalist modern airport terminal in Gander, Newfoundland.

When Canadian furniture designer Thomas Lamb asked: “When are you going to do something for Canadian designers?” Nienkämper began working directly with several generations of Canadian furniture designers, including Thomas Lamb, Tom Deacon, George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg, Mark Müller, Scot Laughton, Karim Rashid and others. He also developed relationships with architects, including RAIC gold medallist Arthur Erickson, FRAIC. In 1976, the Canadian government, with Erickson, commissioned Nienkämper to build the furniture for Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

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In 1989, Erickson commissioned furniture from Nienkämper for the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C. The furniture was integrated into the architect’s vision for the reception spaces and ambassador’s offices that project Canada’s image to the world.

That same year, the Weston family hired Nienkämper to design a British Campaign chair as a gift to Prince Charles. It was a folding chair made of wood and leather.

In 1996, designers George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg approached Nienkämper to design a leather club chair with a swivel base. Together, they realized the Carlisle Chair, which sits in many prominent interior settings. Other Canadian designs realized by Nienkämper include the shaped plywood HAB chair (2004), designed by Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, the injection-moulded, leather-wrapped Kloud Chair (2006), designed by Karim Rashid, and the Royal Ontario Museum’s Spirit Chair (2007), designed by Daniel Libeskind.

Nienkämper believes that modern furniture is more vital now than it has ever been because it contributes to significant spaces designed by architects. :: Jury :: Shirley Blumberg (CM, FRAIC), John Brown (FRAIC), Philip Beesley (FRAIC)

Nienkämper has profoundly contributed to the culture of design in Canada, and enriched the quality of architecture that this country has produced through his support and collaboration with signif icant architects and designers. His work is supremely architectural. I think it is no exaggeration to say that his works have helped to def ine contemporary Canadian design.

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Top, left to right The Kloud chair was designed by Karim Rashid and manufactured

by Nienkämper; Nienkämper built the furniture for the Prime Minister’s office, designed by Arthur Erickson; Nienkämper furnished the Governor General’s suite in Habitat 67, designed by Moshe Safdie. Above and right Nienkämper manufactured the Chaise Hab, designed by Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe, as well as the Spirit Chair, designed by Daniel Libeskind for the Royal Ontario Museum.

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Nienkämper

Nienkämper

Milovan Knezevic

FIONA SPALDING-SMITH

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 10/19

42 PRIX DU XXE SIÈCLE

ROYAL MANITOBA THEATRE CENTRE Winnipeg, Manitoba Number TEN Architectural Group Henry Kalen, unless otherwise noted

LOCATION

ARCHITECT PHOTOS

Opened in 1970, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (RMTC) was designed by Winnipeg firm Number TEN A rchitectural Group (originally Waisman Ross Blankstein Coop Gillmor Hanna).

The Manitoba Theatre Centre was founded in 1958 by John Hirsch and Tom Hendry as the first regional theatre in Canada. Its Winnipeg home is recognized as a National Historic Site, both for the company’s inf luence on the development of Canadian theatre and for the building’s expression of small-scale Brutalist architecture in Canada.

The principal architect for the 785-seat theatre was Allan H. Waisman, FRAIC, and the design architect was Robert Kirby, who worked closely with the artistic director of the theatre company, Eddie Gilbert. The RMTC is one of only three National Historic Sites in Canada designated for the excellence of their Brutalist architecture.

(The other two are Charlottetown’s Confederation Centre for the Arts and Ottawa’s National Arts Centre.)

One of the theatre’s two foyers includes viewing windows to the backstage workshop area, where theatregoers can see all the aspects of work that go into a production. Architectural historian Andrew Waldron says, “A thrust stage, calm semi-private spaces and public viewing of behind-the-scenes are only a few elements of how the architects introduced a more intimate and informal experience within a Brutalist space. These qualities have remained intact. Indeed, in contrast to other Brutalist works, the RMTC has retained its integrity with few alterations since construction. Its architectural integrity is a testament to its functional and material success.”

The building also contributes to the two streets it faces, and includes a unique auditorium design, with an irregularly shaped balcony extending

over the orchestra, and a f lexible stage that can project and recess through the frame of the proscenium. Other notable features are continuous skylights on two sides of the auditorium and the high quality craftsmanship of the exposed concrete. :: Jury :: John Leroux (MRAIC), Patricia Patkau (FRAIC), Richard Moorhouse

This small project is as much about the local culture of Winnipeg as it is about Brutalism. It is as much about the social and political agendas of a local creative community as it is about form. It promotes an awareness and appreciation of the relationships between those behind the scenes, those on stage and the audience—a casualness of contact. It explores the social, the political, the material and the place as conditions for creativity and innovation. It is a gentle, lovely and lovable building.

While most Brutalist architecture embraced its fortress-like mass and solidity, in the case of the theatre, its generous glazing surfaces and careful board form details make it a pleasure to pass by. Of special note is the artistic motif of the sinewy curved lines of the light installation atop the exterior f ly gallery, matched by the formwork mural surface on the interior lobby.

The owners have been quite wonderful stewards over the years and this should be recognized. They have undertaken awardwinning renovations to accommodate contemporary needs while respecting the spirit of the building to ensure that it can be enjoyed for generations to come, just like it was when it was first conceived and built.

JAMES ASHBY

The Manitoba Theatre Centre is a leading example of small-scale Brutalist architecture in Canada; continuous skylights flank the atrium; the foyer includes textured concrete whose wave pattern has become a motif for the Centre. BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT A generous setback and finely texture concrete walls contribute to the surrounding streetscape; the 785-seat theatre includes a flexible stage.

TOP, LEFT TO RIGHT

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NY Presented by

Oct 16-20 Opening night film:

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World Premiere

Vancouver Presented by

Nov 7-10 Opening night film: City

Dreamers

Toronto Presented by

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Nov 14-17 Opening night film: City

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Dreamers

2019-09-18 3:25 PM

canadian architect 10/19

books 45

Driverless Urban Futures: A Speculative Atlas for Autonomous Vehicles

By AnnaLisa Meyboom with drawings by Lörinc Vass (Routledge, 2018) Review

Adele Weder

There was a time when “manual driving” denoted the heady thrill Flat Street: street space shared between different users. of sliding into fifth gear in a standard-transmission sports car. Not only is that definition growing anachronistic, our common concept of the automobile itself is on the way out—or soon will be. The driverless car Road Infrastructure 191 is coming soon to a roadway near you, and it will eventually transform Flat Street: street space shared between different users. the very act of being at the wheel to passive from active. As AnnaLisa Meyboom relays in Driverless Urban Futures: A Speculative Atlas for Autonomous Vehicles, this upcoming transformation will change the Road Infrastructure 191 nature of driving and the design of cars, to be sure, but also the format of our cities. Meyboom, an associate professor at the University Driverless-Urban-Futures_MASTER_1114.indd 191 2018-11-14 of British Columbia’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, has issued one of the most comprehensive texts of this impending development, raising questions and issues that few designers, politicians, planners and voters have even begun to think about.

Driverless-Urban-Futures_MASTER_1114.indd 191 2018-11-14 The book is richly variegated with essays and analyses, technical summaries, historic context and even an insightful essay by Lörinc Vass on the act of drawing. (Vass’s line drawings of the future autonomous vehicle (AV) and street reallocations are an essential complement to Meyboom’s texts.)

Mayboom unpacks the essence of the AV itself—its basic engineering ABOVE Autonomous vehicles offer the possibility for “flat streets,” which and ergonomics; its industrial design and the temporary need for it to are curbless and allow for flexibility in how they are shared between pedestrians, cyclists and motorized vehicles. be skeumatic—that is, designed to look like what we expect a car to look

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books

PEDESTRIAN CROSSING

PRESS BUTTON

PEDESTRIAN CROSSING

PRESS BUTTON

Autonomous vehicles could lead to new typologies, including fast-charging stations that include fast-food service, and stacked parking garages with charging and repairs for a shared-AV fleet.

ABOVE The layered infrastructure of overhead traffic signals could be replaced with pared-down, multi-functional beacons.

Left

Fast-charging station combined with fast-food service.

Building Typology and Programme Fast-charging station combined with fast-food service.

Building Typology and Programme

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Adele Weder is an architectural curator and critic based in British Columbia.

Charging and service station for shared-AV fleet.

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like, for our own psychological reassurance and consumer acceptance.

Meyboom helpfully summarizes the general workings of the AV systems and individual vehicles. In case you’re wondering, intersections will be managed not by traffic lights but by computer sensors that engage with each approaching AV. When pedestrians enter the roadway or make 231 movements to do so, the AV automatically stops, often well before the 2018-11-14 12:02 PM line and usually more cautiously than it needs to. The vehicle can be programmed to drive aggressively or more cautiously—behaviour that is referred to, in a slightly creepy anthropomorphic term, as its “disposition.”

2018-11-14 12:02 PM Then she offers a series of case studies that compare hypothetical scenarios, comparing for-now imaginary users of conventional automobiles or mass transit with the driverless car, as well as the plethora of potential pedestrian-AV and AV-to-AV interactions.

Implicit in every scenario is just how much of our current thinking on urban design and transportation will be obsolete once the AV becomes widespread. Beyond the advantage of allowing drivers to work or read while commuting, AVs have the additional benefits of taxis and car-sharing services in that they can be summoned to one’s departure point and left at one’s destination. The inevitable future impacts on parking, infrastructure, traffic circulation patterns, mass transit systems, highway design, urban and exurban growth, consumer behaviour and pedestrian reclamation of the roadways could be massive.

Accordingly, Meyboom calls for architects to play a major role in this urban reformatting, given the multifaceted nature of this complex issue.

“The disciplinary skills of the architect—the ability to imagine the future in multiple forms and the potential of a design approach which incorporates a broad range of cultural and social concerns—are a powerful tool for designing the future,” she writes. The driverless car, though still a rarity, is about to proliferate across the western world, but it’s far from certain that the world is ready.

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Charging and service station shared-AV fleet.

BuildingforTypology and Programme

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Building Typology and Programme

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CANADIAN MODERN MODERN ARCHITECTURE ARCHITECTURE CANADIAN COMING THIS FALL!28 Coming THIS October COMING FALL! Preorder now now from from your your favourite favourite Preorder bookseller! bookseller!

Canada’s most distinguished architectural critics and Canada’s most distinguished architectural critics and scholars–including George Baird, Larry Wayne Richards, and scholars–including George Baird, Larry Wayne Richards, and Adele Weder–offer fresh insights into the country’s unique Adele Weder–offer fresh insights into the country’s unique modern and contemporary architecture. Beginning with the modern and contemporary architecture. Beginning with the nation’s centennial and Expo 67 in Montreal, this fifty-year nation’s centennial and Expo 67 in Montreal, this fifty-year retrospective covers the defining of national institutions and retrospective covers the defining of national institutions and movements, how Canadian architects interpreted major movements, how Canadian architects interpreted major external trends, regional and indigenous architectural external trends, regional and indigenous architectural tendencies, and the influence of architects in Canada’s three tendencies, and the influence of architects in Canada’s three largest cities–Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. largest cities–Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

“This fascinating and much-needed compendium will certainly be “This fascinating and much-needed compendium will certainly be welcome universally, and particularly in Canada, where it will welcome universally, and particularly in Canada, where it will raise the consciousness of a country that has respected, but not raise the consciousness of a country that has respected, but not celebrated, the wide origins of its populations and its culturally celebrated, the wide origins of its populations and its culturally as well as physically different regions.” as well as physically different regions.”

— PHYLLIS LAMBERT, FOUNDING DIRECTOR EMERITUS, — PHYLLIS LAMBERT, FOUNDING DIRECTOR EMERITUS, CANADIAN CENTRE FOR ARCHITECTURE CANADIAN CENTRE FOR ARCHITECTURE

1.

2.

1.

2.

3.

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3.

4.

CYAN YELLOW MAGENTA BLACK / OAA LOGO

CYAN YELLOW MAGENTA BLACK / OAA LOGO

With major support from 1. Residence for the Sisters of Saint Joseph, Toronto, Ontario. Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, 2013. Credit: James Dow, Courtesy Shim-Sutcliffe Architects 2. Residence Aanischaaukamikw Cree of Cultural Institute, Oujé-Bougoumou, Quebec. Rubin & Rotman Architects in collaboration with Douglas Cardinal, 2011. Credit: Mitch Lenet 1. for the Sisters Saint Joseph, Toronto, Ontario. Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, 2013.

Credit: James Dow, Courtesy Shim-Sutcliffe Architects Photography & Digital Arts, with the permission of Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute 2. Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute, Oujé-Bougoumou, Quebec. Rubin & Rotman Architects in collaboration with Douglas Cardinal, 2011. Credit: Mitch Lenet 3. Photography Coronation Pool, Edmonton, Alberta.

Hemingwayofand Laubenthal Architects, 1970. Credit: Courtesy James Dow & Digital Arts, with the permission Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute 4. Coronation Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario. Saucier + Perrotte 2006. James Credit: Dow Marc Cramer, Courtesy Saucier+Perrotte Architectes 3.

Pool, Edmonton, Alberta.

Hemingway and Laubenthal Architects, 1970.architectes, Credit: Courtesy 4. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario. Saucier + Perrotte architectes, 2006. Credit: Marc Cramer, Courtesy Saucier+Perrotte Architectes

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canadian architect 10/19

48 product showcase

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ACROSS CANADA

Montreal

Vancouver

11/13–04/05/20

Building a new New World Curated by Jean-Louis Cohen, this exhibition at the CCA examines the paradoxical bilateral relationship between Russia and the United States during the long 20th century.

11/07–10

Architecture and Design Film Festival Presented by Vancouver Special and All in Pictures, New York’s design-focused film festival makes its Canadian debut in Vancouver.

www.cca.qc.ca

Halifax

www.adfilmfest.com

11/27

Building with Nature A talk at the Vancouver Central Library examines design in British Columbia. Held in conjunction with the launch of the book Canadian Modern Architecture, 1967 to the present, with Adele Weder, Sherry McKay, John Patkau and James K.M. Cheng.

ABOVE Designed by Raymond Moriyama, the 1964 Japanese Cultural Centre is the subject of an exhibition in Toronto this fall.

ber and Carol Philips, held in conjunction with the launch of the book Canadian Modern Architecture, 1967 to the present.

exhibitions, installations and talks. Commissioned works include an installation by architectural designer Adrian Blackwell.

Toronto

12/04–06

www.canadianarchitect.com

www.canadianarchitect.com

Calgary 01/15/20

Just City This talk examines on topics including social responsibility, environmental sustainability, inclusivity and public space.

A discussion held in conjunction with the launch of the book Canadian Modern Architecture, 1967 to the present, moderated

by Graham Livesey. www.canadianarchitect.com

Lethbridge, Alberta 11/25

Canadian Modern Architecture As part of the university’s Architecture & Design NOW series, Graham Livesey presents an overview of the book Canadian Modern Architecture, 1967 to the present. www.canadianarchitect.com

Cambridge, Ontario

10/17–18

Emerging Technologies in Architectural Design Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science hosts an international conference for architects, engineers, designers and researchers. www.icetad2019.com

Sustainability Past, Present, Future A discussion with Elsa Lam, Lola Sheppard, Martin Lief heb-

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www.torontobiennial.org

The Buildings Show Held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, this tradeshow includes extensive con-ed programming. The Construct Canada portion of the show opens with an international architecture roundtable on mass timber with Alan Organschi, Andrew Waugh, Janne Vermeulen and Michael Green. www.thebuildingsshow.com

10/26–30

RAIC Festival of Architecture This year’s Festival of Architecture includes the presentation of the RAIC International Prize, the POP//CAN//CRIT symposium, con-ed opportunities, and awards for leading firms and architects. www.raic.org

11/6

Fireside Chat A discussion on megastructures and postmodernism in Canada with former architecture deans George Baird and Larry Wayne Richards, held in conjunction with the launch of the book Canadian Modern Architecture, 1967 to the present. www.canadianarchitect.com

11/14

canadian architect 10/19

calendar 49

–12/01

Toronto Biennial of Art This inaugural festival of contemporary art spans the city with

–01/31/20

A Place of Pride: Building the First Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre This exhibition examines Raymond Moriyama’s pioneering design of the Japanese Cultural Centre at 123 Wynford Drive.

Built in 1964, it referenced a Japanese temple—at a time when Toronto was a conservative city with a single Japanese restaurant. www.jccc.on.ca

Gatineau –03/22/2020

Unceded—Voices of the Land Created to represent Canada at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, this exhibition features the work of 18 Indigenous architects and designers from across Turtle Island. www.historymuseum.ca

11/21

Canadian Architecture and the Climate Crisis This talk at the Halifax Central Library examines Canada’s past, present and future in low-energy, low-carbon structures. A discussion in conjunction with the launch of the book Canadian Modern Architecture, 1967 to the present, with Elsa Lam and Steven Mannell. www.canadianarchitect.com

INTERNATIONAL Oslo –11/24

Oslo Architecture Triennale The Nordic region’s largest architecture festival challenges the supremecy of economic growth to investigate an alternative architecture of de-growth. www.oslotriennale.no

Lisbon –12/02

Lisbon Architecture Triennale Under the theme “The Poetics of Reason,” the Lisbon Triennale sheds a critical light on the subjective nature of architecture. www.trienaldelisboa.com

Chicago 09/19–05/01/2020

Chicago Architecture Biennial The third edition of the Biennial is titled “and other such stories,” and considers questions of land, memory, rights and civic participation. www.chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

2019-09-18 3:25 PM

backpage Left Allegro #4 by photographer Richard Johnson juxtaposes the TD Bank in Toronto with reflections from the Scotiabank tower.

Richard Johnson

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Allegro TEXT

Catherine Osborne

Richard Johnson began looking at his own city with a new set of eyes when he and his partner moved to a 47th f loor condo near Union Station. From there, he could see the temporariness of everything around him. Living up high, he also saw views disappearing, as new replaced old, and he discovered the unexpected effects of bouncing ref lections, which he observed as sharing a similar kind of energetic pace to an allegro composition— in particular, Mad Rush by Philip Glass. The 16-minute piano composition, originally scored in 1979, is famous for its alternates between delicate slow sections that are imbued

with nostalgia and jolts of shifting chords that get the adrenaline rushing.

To shoot Allegro, the photographer points his telephoto lens at a building located, one, two, maybe even three blocks away, and zeroes in on its structural grid. From this vast distance, he can see within the panes the surrounding environment, the odd glimpse inside an office or boardroom, and the unique swirling patterns that last only as long as it takes to frame and shoot. The moiré effect one sees is actually a trait of glass itself. Despite the solidity of buildings, they are engineered to sway, and that ongoing, incremental movement puts ten-

sion on the glazing, causing distortions that the eye can’t detect until there is actually a ref lection to capture the warping.

Allegro reveals an unexpected beauty in the buildings that surround us. Amidst the sameness, Johnson has isolated what makes them distinct. The structural mullions of each tower provide an armature for consistency, while the sun does its playful magic, transforming these seemly blank façades into wildly energetic fields of visual drama; and making ordinary f lat glass be anything but invisible.

Catherine Osborne is a writer and editor based in Toronto.

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