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DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
MEHRDAD AMJADI, UNVIERSITY OF CALGARY
ArcHItectUre scHooLs 11 News
Fort York Visitor Centre welcomed as an interpretive hub for a national historic site in Toronto; Canadian Museum for Human Rights opens in Winnipeg.
29 rePort
Douglas MacLeod brings us up to date on the recently opened RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca University.
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14 stAte oF tHe scHooLs The leaders of Canada’s 12 schools of architecture provide a survey of their respective programs, reflecting the profound transformations that research and technological advancements of the past decade have brought about.
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Architecture and National Identity: The Centennial Projects 50 Years On at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery; Doug Saunders headlines the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture’s Urban Design Forum.
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Grant Wanzel describes Dalhousie University’s involvement in establishing a design school in The Gambia catering to West Africans.
Expansion projects and new facilities are in the works for several of the nation’s architecture schools, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to Laurentian University in Sudbury. teXt Tammy Gaber
25 wIreD eDUcAtIoN
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Digital design and fabrication tools are commonplace in most Canadian architecture schools, offering students a valuable opportunity to further their education through workshops, forums and collaborative research. teXt Tom Bessai
coVer Mobile Urban Stage by McGill’s Facility for Architectural Research in Media and Mediation (FARMM). Photograph courtesy of McGill University.
V.59 N.10 THE NATIONAL REVIEW OF DESIGN AND PRACTICE/THE JOURNAL OF RECORD OF ARCHITECTURE CANADA | RAIC
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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 10/14
OCTOBER 2014
VIEWPOINT
EDITOR ELSA LAM, MRAIC ASSOCIATE EDITOR LESLIE JEN, MRAIC EDITORIAL ADVISOR IAN CHODIKOFF, OAA, FRAIC CONTRIBUTING EDITORS ANNMARIE ADAMS, MRAIC DOUGLAS MACLEOD, NCARB, MRAIC REGIONAL CORRESPONDENTS HALIFAX CHRISTINE MACY, OAA REGINA BERNARD FLAMAN, SAA MONTREAL DAVID THEODORE CALGARY GRAHAM LIVESEY, MRAIC WINNIPEG LISA LANDRUM, MAA, AIA, MRAIC VANCOUVER ADELE WEDER
COURTESY OF PETER WILLIAMSON
CANADIAN ARCHITECT 10/14
08
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Our magazine’s longtime graphic designer Sue Williamson; Sue surrounded by colleagues in the Creative department at Business Information Group; a lover of all things furred and feathered, Sue holds a duckling visiting the office from a friend’s farm. ABoVe, cLocKwIse FroM LeFt
I am deeply saddened to mark the loss of colleague Sue Williamson. Sue had been the graphic designer for Canadian Architect for over 20 years. She passed away on September 8, 2014, from complications related to lung cancer. Sue began working with Southam in 1975, when she was hired from a temp agency as a typist. When she signed the two-week contract, little did she know that her entire career would be spent with the company. By September, she landed a full-time position in the publisher’s typesetting department. Southam owned Canadian Architect at the time, and Sue began working on our magazine in April 1994. At the time, graphic material still arrived by postal mail, as photographs and slide transparencies that needed to be mechanically reduced. The all-digital era was still well in the future. Sue adapted to the rapid changes in technology in the years to follow, sometimes goaded on by upgrades to her work environment: a window, a desk closer to the coffee machine. In time, her adeptness with Quark, and later InDesign, came to rival that of her younger colleagues. When obstacles arose, she tackled them with her characteristic stubbornness and good nature. I remember her elation after discovering an Illustrator shortcut that allowed all lines of the same weight to be selected at once. “It’s much faster now,” she declared: in the past she had painstakingly selected each line individually to adjust its width and tone. While few in the architectural community will have met Sue, she was familiar with the work of many among us, from laying out hun-
PRODUCTION JESSICA JUBB ART DIRECTOR LISA ZAMBRI VICE PRESIDENT OF CANADIAN PUBLISHING ALEX PAPANOU PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS INFORMATION GROUP
BRUCE CREIGHTON dreds of articles over the years. She took particuHEAD OFFICE lar pride in her keen eye and deft hand with line 80 VALLEYBROOK DRIVE, drawings: editing out superfluous information, TORONTO, ON M3B 2S9 TELEPHONE 416-510-6845 adjusting lines, and resetting text so that drawFACSIMILE 416-510-5140 E-MAIL editors@canadianarchitect.com ings would read crisply on the printed page. WEBSITE www.canadianarchitect.com Her meticulous attention to each story that fell Canadian Architect is published monthly by BIG Magazines LP, a div. of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd., a leading Canadian information under her watch was integral to every issue of company with interests in daily and community newspapers and businessto-business information services. Canadian Architect that has been published over The editors have made every reasonable effort to provide accurate and authoritative information, but they assume no liability for the accuracy the past two decades. or completeness of the text, or its fitness for any particular purpose. Although Sue would often say that “I’m not Subscription Rates Canada: $54.95 plus applicable taxes for one year; $87.95 plus applicable taxes for two years (HST – #809751274RT0001). a designer, but I’m good with the details,” her Price per single copy: $6.95. Students (prepaid with student ID, includes taxes): $34.97 for one year. USA: $105.95 US for one year. All other fordesk was lined with design award certificates. eign: $125.95 US per year. Single copy US and foreign: $10.00 US. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Her art direction garnered multiple prizes and Circulation Dept., Canadian Architect, 80 Valleybrook Dr, Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9. nominations in the Canadian Business Press’s Postmaster: please forward forms 29B and 67B to 80 Valleybrook annual Kenneth R. Wilson Awards. Dr, Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9. Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced Sue grew up in England, and carried her either in part or in full without the consent of the copyright owner. From time to time we make our subscription list available to select British feistiness, stoicism and wicked sense of companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made humour with her until the end. She was full of available, please contact us via one of the following methods: pat phrases: “she’s fixed” for correcting an Telephone 1-800-668-2374 Facsimile 416-442-2191 error, “onwards and upwards” for starting a E-mail privacyofficer@businessinformationgroup.ca Mail Privacy Officer, Business Information Group, 80 Valleybrook Dr, new piece. Associate Editor Leslie Jen and I Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9 were addressed as the “ladies.” When a story MEMBER OF THE CANADIAN BUSINESS PRESS MEMBER OF THE ALLIANCE FOR AUDITED MEDIA was wrapped, she’d declare it (with a satisfied PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT #40069240 ISSN 1923-3353 (ONLINE) glance skyward) “a thing of beauty and a joy ISSN 0008-2872 (PRINT) forever.” In the hundreds of e-mails and conMember of versations we exchanged over the past two years, she unfailingly radiated positive energy and a desire to strive towards solutions rather than dwell on problems. Sue’s cackling laugh, unmatchable energy, and unique personality will be very much missed by all of us at Canadian Architect who have had the pleasure and privilege to work WE ACKNOWLEDGE THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA THROUGH THE CANADA PERIODICAL with her. FUND (CPF) FOR OUR PUBLISHING ACTIVITIES. Inc.
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Jasper Place Library Edmonton, Alberta
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Projects
Designed by Patkau Architects Inc. of Vancouver and Kearns Mancini Architects Inc. of Toronto, the new Fort York Visitor Centre is a key component in the restoration, redevelopment and revitalization of the entire 43-acre Fort York National Historic Site. The Visitor Centre establishes a prominent front door to the Fort where none previously existed, and will act as a interpretive hub for the entire historic area, including visitor and information services, galleries for permanent and temporary exhibitions, spaces for meetings, events and educational programming, a café and administration offices. The architects embedded the Visitor Centre into the landscape while echoing the natural escarpment that contributed to the Fort’s defenses, and the façade asserts a strong physical presence from Fort York Boulevard, anticipating future use of the space beneath the Gardiner Expressway as a wonderful “city room.” Behind, the building emerges from Garrison Common as an illuminated wedge clad in backlit cast glass channels, allowing the low-slung buildings of the Fort to remain the architectural focus. The Visitor Centre’s striking weathering steel panel façade speaks to the industrial surroundings while recalling the site’s defensive landscape—both its lost escarpment and its artillery. The building provides a narrative of the site’s history, allowing visitors to move through the gentle switchback slope of the immersive multi-media “time tunnel” portraying the dramatic events of the War of 1812, journeying through the founding of the city and ending on the roof with views of the entire Fort and the Toronto skyline beyond. www.fortyorkfoundation.ca/the-visitor-centre/
Canadian Museum for Human Rights officially opens. In 2003, one of Canada’s largest international architectural competitions was launched, and after 18 months of deliberation, the contemporary design for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg by American architect Antoine Predock was selected over those of 61 other firms from 12 countries. Predock worked with the Winnipeg office of Architecture49 (formerly Smith Carter Architects) on the design of the massive building, which officially opened in late September. A towering structure of glass, stone, concrete and steel, the Museum is built on a historic meeting place on Treaty One territory
PATKAU ARCHITECTS AND KEARNS MANCINI ARCHITECTS
Fort York Visitor Centre opens in Toronto.
ABOVE Clad in weathering steel panels that reference its industrial surroundings, the Fort York Visitor Centre is a handsome low-slung structure adjacent to Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway.
near the site of the Métis rebellion under Louis Riel. Visitors will enter through the “tree roots,” travelling through nearly 47,000 square feet of exhibit space and 2,300 feet of ramps. The average floor-to-ceiling height of each level is 17 feet, mirroring the sense of vastness and openness in the Canadian landscape. Central to the experience is the Garden of Contemplation with its still water pools, and the Tower of Hope, a 328-foot-high glass structure overlooking the Winnipeg prairie horizon. The CMHR is the first museum in the world solely dedicated to the evolution, celebration and future of human rights. Using multimedia technology and other innovative approaches, it will create inspiring encounters with human rights for all ages in a unique visitor experience. http://museumforhumanrights.ca
DIALOG and Snøhetta’s design for Calgary’s new Central Library revealed.
The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation recently unveiled DIALOG and Snøhetta’s competition-winning design for Calgary’s New Central Library. Following a two-year process of community engagement, the new design will realize the city’s vision for a technologically advanced public space for innovation, research and collaboration at the intersection of downtown Calgary and East Village. The design team embraced the city’s diverse urban culture and
unique climate, striving to create the right library for Calgary by establishing a vibrant, welcoming and accessible public space in the heart of this rapidly expanding metropolis. Inspired by the nearby foothills, the site is transformed into a terraced topography that rises up and over the existing Light Rail Transit Line crossing the site. The lifted library, ringing in at 236,000 square feet, features an open entry at the heart of the site, allowing for a visual and pedestrian connection between East Village and Calgary’s downtown. The entry, framed by the wood-clad arches that reference the “chinook” arch cloud formations common to Alberta, becomes a gateway to neighbouring communities and provides a new outdoor civic space within the city. Upon entering the library, visitors encounter a lobby awash with natural light. Eyes are drawn up through the skylit atrium where clear visibility of the library’s public program and circulation along the atrium’s perimeter serve as a wayfinding strategy from the main entrance and on each floor. The library program is organized along a spectrum, starting with more engaging public programs on the ground floors, and spiralling up to quieter study areas on the third and fourth floors. The façade utilizes a unique geometry and distribution of clear and fritted glass openings to control desired daylight levels for the interior spaces. Calgary’s new Central Library is expected to be completed in 2018.
www.calgarymlc.ca/explore-projects/new-central-library
canadian architect 10/14
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canadian architect 10/14
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Awards Vancouver Urban Design Awards announced.
The first-ever City of Vancouver Urban Design Awards recognize and celebrate great architecture and urban design in Vancouver, and will be presented every other year. Design awards are given out to projects that demonstrate visionary thinking and support design excellence in Vancouver. The Small Residential Buildings category was won by Measured Architecture Inc.’s Cloister House, while Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture took the Medium Residential Buildings category for Monad. The Large Residential Buildings category was claimed by Henriquez Partners Architects, landscape architects Durante Kreuk Ltd. and developer Westbank Projects Corp. for 6th & Fir—A Bridgehead Interface. Two projects by Acton Ostry Architects Inc. were recognized with awards: Cactus Club Café in English Bay in the Commercial Buildings category, and York House Senior School in the Government and Institutional Buildings category. The 1025 Robson Street Canopy by 8 inc. (design architect) and Francl Architecture Inc. (architect of record) won the Urban Elements category, while the Paris Annex by Gair Williamson Architects with Ankenman Marchand Architects won in the Innovation category. In the Outstanding Sustainable Design category, Shape Architecture Inc. and developers Karli Gillespie and Dick Hellofs were recognized for Union Street ECOheritage, and the Jericho Park Restoration by Sharp & Diamond Landscape Architects took the award in the Landscape, Public Space and Infrastructure category. Three special jury awards were also announced. The Architectural Design Excellence and Innovative Systems Integration category was won by Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture’s Monad; Shape Architecture Inc. and developers Karli Gillespie and Dick Hellofs were again recognized for Union Street ECOheritage in the Architectural Design Excellence and Innovative Community Densification category; and finally, 60 West Cordova by Henriquez Partners Architects and developer Westbank Projects and Vancity was the winner in the Reinforcing Community Through Collaboration and Social Innovation category. http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/urban-design-awards.aspx
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Call for presenters for the RAIC/AAA Festival of Architecture 2015.
In a province of big skies and big ideas, the 2015 AAA/RAIC Festival of Architecture theme of (Re)generation + Integration embraces the value of moving beyond singular perspectives to explore opportunities to collaborate, combine, include, participate and amplify traditional norms. The Alberta Association of Architects and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada invite submissions for Continuing Education presentations for the 2015 Festival of Architecture—being held from June 3-6, 2015 in Calgary. (Re)generation stretches beyond sustainability; it imagines architecture and design that restores environmental health, adapts existing buildings and energizes city life. Integration harmonizes building, interiors, landscape and street, and makes spaces that welcome all members of society, inclusive of the aging population and people with disabilities. Participate in the Festival, and help provide architects and interior designers with thematically relevant and inspiring continuing education sessions while enjoying extensive networking opportunities. The proposal deadline is October 30, 2014. http://festival.raic.org/2015-call-for-presenters_e.pdf
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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 10/14
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STATE OF THE SCHOOLS WE ASKED THE HEADS OF CANADA’S 12 SCHOOLS OF ARCHITECTURE ABOUT THE STRENGTHS, OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES THAT THEIR SCHOOLS FACE. THIS IS WHAT THEY TOLD US. University of British Columbia School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture Leslie Van Duzer, Director
The University of British Columbia School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) benefits from being located in the Vancouver region, with its spectacularly beautiful environment and strong urban design legacy. It is therefore fitting that SALA now integrates the disciplines of architecture and landscape architecture in all the School’s programs: the undergraduate Environmental Design, the new Master of Urban Design, and the newly proposed dual MArch and MLA degree program. Students and faculty from the two disciplines regularly study and teach together, creating an unusual degree of knowledge exchange. The faculty have long had a strong interest in cities and in ecology, and the School now has the programs to adequately reflect their expertise. This year, SALA will select an architect for a new building, which will consolidate all the School’s programs under one roof for the first time. There are precious few funding sources for architectural research except in the building sciences. So, architecture faculty are joining colleagues in other disciplines with longer traditions of funded research and greater access to large funding sources, often changing their re-
search focus in the process. The University’s drive to increase research revenue is changing the nature of design research. At SALA, faculty working in the building sciences and on large-scale urban design and planning projects have long been able to conduct research that subsidizes graduate students. As professional students have precious little time to work as research assistants, the faculty draws research students from SALA’s two post-professional programs. The School is currently developing strategies for making these programs more robust and discussing the possibility of a PhD program. Succession planning is on our mind, with nearly half of the faculty over 60 years old. With the next wave of retirements, the School will lose some of its most productive faculty, but will gain new hires and opportunities to focus on new areas of research. I had three priorities during my first term as Director: to exploit the latent synergies between the Architecture and Landscape Architecture programs, to reconnect the school to the community, and to fund and build a new facility for the School on campus and an outreach facility downtown. In the years ahead, the School, located in a beautiful but remote outpost, needs to take its place on the global stage by developing strong ties to international networks, disseminating faculty research, and creating more opportunities for students to work and study overseas.
MArch 3.5 years—168 students (50 in 2013 class) | MASA 2 years—14 students (2 in 2013 class) | Full-Time Faculty 16 | Part-Time Faculty 10 | Opportunities co-op/work placement, exchange, study abroad, travelling studios, student-led publication(s), cross-disciplinary collaborations | Areas of Focus building and environmental technologies, digital fabrication, ecological design, infrastructure, materials and construction, social justice and community design, urbanism, visualization and media | Affiliated Programs landscape architecture, environmental design, urban design | Alumni Peter Busby, Bing Thom, Bill Pechet
University of Calgary Faculty of Environmental Design David Monteyne, Associate Dean of Architecture
We’re a little unusual being situated within a Faculty of Environmental Design, a legacy of progressive 1960s thinking about interdisciplinarity and the complexity of design problems across scales. We still retain unique courses on interdisciplinary environmental design and sustainability, and we continue to work on studio touchpoints with the Faculty’s Master of Planning and research programs. Our senior year in the MArch program is driven by elective studios and theory courses, which are based on faculty research areas. While we have (somewhat controversially) eliminated the thesis year of our MArch, students interested in more in-depth research can stream into the Faculty’s research Master’s and complete it within a year. The University is pushing research hard, and has funded a lot of new faculty hires in recent years, including our new building science professor, who has an established research agenda in energy modelling. Calgary is the fastest-growing city in Canada; there are jobs and other kinds of opportunities for architecture students here. There are big firms, there are lots of small startups, and a burgeoning design cul-
ture among consumers as well as institutions like the City of Calgary. The city and region are filled with our alumni who are keen to contribute to the school and to help out our students in many different ways, so I’d say we are quite practice-oriented compared to many schools. When I talk to employers and others in professional practice, many of them tell me it’s all about attitude. We try to create a constructive atmosphere in the school where students are comfortable exploring ideas and interacting with mentors of all kinds. We hope it leads to a sense of boldness and entrepreneurship in tackling design problems. At the same time, we hope to make students comfortable with collaboration; that is, ready to work on interdisciplinary teams. Right now the program is in really good shape, as we have a supportive upper administration that has put the University, and our Faculty, in a solid financial position. We don’t have the kind of politics and budget issues that often plague schools. We have had new hires in each of the last two years. So we’re really in a positive space these days. We continue tweaking the program. Communications is a big focus— we feel we have a great program here, but we admit that hardly anyone outside the Prairie Provinces knows about us. We want both prospective employers and students to come and see what we have to offer.
MArch 2-3 years—130 students (50 in 2013 class) | Full-Time Faculty 13 | Part-Time Faculty 10 | Opportunities solar decathlon, study abroad, travelling studios, cross-disciplinary collaborations, distinguished guest instructors for one-week courses | Areas of Focus art and design, building and environmental technologies, digital design, digital fabrication, ecological design, energy modelling, history/theory/criticism, urbanism | Affiliated Programs environmental design, planning | Alumni Urs Kick, Trevor Boddy, Lynn Webster, Joanne McCallum, Chris Roberts
University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture Terri Fuglem, Acting Head, Department of Architecture
The architecture program at the University of Manitoba offers an intimate and warm atmosphere—in spite of (or perhaps because of) our notoriously cold climate. The region fosters a vibrant fine arts and music culture, as well as a burgeoning design culture. Many students who come to the University of Manitoba opt to remain here after graduation, as the regional economy is strong and opportunities for various types of practice are possible. Several alumni have opened offices here. Other graduates seek opportunities elsewhere in Canada and around the world with great success. Our professoriate is highly energetic and caring. Their expertise ranges from self-forming structures, robotics and flood architecture to the relationship between the psyche and space. Faculty research is critical to all pedagogy in the Department. The ambition is that research will be understood by our graduates to be a critical component of a good architectural practice. In many cases, studios are directly related to sponsored research, emergent practices or a faculty member’s theoretical position. A two-term system for themed studios allows for the deeper development of these research and creation agendas. The flexibility of the studio selection process has allowed some students to remain with a faculty member for more than one year. In these cases, students gain expertise in the faculty member’s research field, contributing substantially to the faculty’s research work and often
mentoring younger students. The location of the program in the heart of the Prairies puts us at the centre of the continent. However, we are relatively distant from other cities with architecture programs—Minneapolis, the closest, is an eighthour drive away—and therefore must be self-reliant and resourceful. Field trips abroad are critical to pedagogy; as well, field trips to local sites are treated with the same importance. Winnipeg and its region offer an array of unique conditions: cold climate, flooding in a low-lying agricultural plain, heritage architecture, and social and economic challenges at the urban and rural levels. Cultural influences from aboriginal populations, Winnipeg’s relationship with the North, the region’s historic French and Métis settlements, and successive waves of immigration afford a rich cultural complexity that informs our course offerings. Recent studios have partnered with local community groups such as the Neeginan Centre, Crossing Communities and the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. One studio this term is investigating the effects of housing on the health of Northern aboriginal communities. Manitoba is small enough that graduates who remain here have a strong impact on government, institutions, industry and enterprise. Even beyond the immediacy of traditional practice, our teaching and our values as a Department can have an effect within the community. There is a special opportunity for the development of small firms and practices that would have difficulty surviving in Canada’s larger cities. As a laboratory for exploration, Manitoba’s inventiveness is starting to be noticed in the country at large and abroad.
MArch 2 years—50 students (20 in 2013 class) | BEnvD Arch 2-4 years—300 students (110 in 2013 class) | Full-Time Faculty 10 | Part-Time Faculty 17 | Opportunities exchange, travelling studios, student-led publication, cross-disciplinary collaborations | Areas of Focus art and design, design/build, digital fabrication, freehand drawing and analog arts, history/theory/criticism, materials and construction, social justice and community design, urbanism | Affiliated Programs city planning, interior architecture, landscape architecture, planning and design | Alumni Harry Seidler, Richard Henriquez, John Patkau, Johanna Hurme, Sasa Radulovic
Laurentian University School of Architecture Terrance Galvin, Founding Director
Our program takes a tri-cultural perspective, including Native studies and francophone voyageur culture. The curriculum includes elders-inresidence working with us. This coming year, we’re going to build birchbark canoes, and then contrast that by building carbon-fibre canoes. Our program also foregrounds Northern studies and Northern Ontario wood. I see the chance to develop linkages with the timber industry— through curriculum, co-op, and eventually research projects together. Research arises out of our mandate to look at indigenous and traditional ways of building things, whether that thing is a wall, a canoe or a fence. Research starts with materials and fabrication processes, and leads to furniture and eventually to buildings. It’s an old Bauhaus idea: first they studied painting, materials and composition, and then ramped up to architecture. The things that we’re teaching—the studio work, the installation work—all of that is research that will become increasingly more complex, moving towards architecture, landscape and ecology. The main value we hope to instill in our students is respect. Respect for diversity and other cultures. Respect for nature—not seeing ourselves as separate from it. Although architecture is an artifact and we make it, there are many good examples of architects who create a kind of symbiosis between the site and building. To nurture that sense of respect, a major part of our program involves design-build. We want students to understand that your body has an intuitive kind of knowledge.
There’s an integral mores in First Nations culture from which all of us can learn. When the University bought the building, they had a fire ceremony and the Whitefish people welcomed us. That’s about respect as well. We’re on somebody else’s land, and we acknowledge that. There’s a clear community vision about the Laurentian School of Architecture as a school for the North, that investigates and celebrates wood, that embraces the mining industry and tries to work with it, that makes a better design culture for Sudbury down the road. The challenge is to actually do those things. For instance, to say we’re going to teach in both English and French, operationally, is not easy. Another big challenge is to present architecture as a real possibility for First Nations communities. Architecture’s not even on the horizon for many of them. They know about social work, health issues, law and justice for land rights. But to actually draw First Nations students here, year after year, that’s a huge challenge. We’re doing a lot of outreach beyond the curriculum to build that up over time. We want to open the doors of architecture: it’s not just the star system and it’s not just thinking about urban centres. Canadian architecture needs at least one school where there’s another way of thinking about it. Sudbury, being in the margins, gives us huge leverage to truly experiment. What I bring to the table is an unpretentious, different way of working that values a complex, interrelated network of things. The star system, the ego, the individual architect—primarily male, white, not First Nations, not integrated with other cultures—that really has to be taken apart. This School is a chance to do it another way.
BAS 4 years—132 students of 280 expected (70 in 2013 class) | MArch 2 years—120 expected (note: programs pending CACB accreditation) | Full-Time Faculty 8 of 21 expected | Part-Time Faculty 2 | Opportunities co-op/work placement, exchange, cross-disciplinary collaborations, pre-architecture summer workshop, elders in residence | Areas of Focus building and environmental technologies, cross-cultural/international contexts, design/build, ecological design, history/theory/criticism, industry collaborations, social justice and community design | Affiliated Programs science, engineering, school of the environment
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16 University of Waterloo School of Architecture Ila Berman, O’Donovan Director
Waterloo is 100% co-op and is fully committed to the integration of architectural education with professional practice. Students alternate between academic semesters and those spent working in private design practices. Our students have gained invaluable experience at firms around the world, from OMA and Atelier Jean Nouvel, to Coop Himmelblau. Our global network is substantial and during any given year, our students are working in 40 to 50 different cities on five continents. The co-op program reflects the School’s commitment to integrating research and practice, as well as to enhancing architectural education through global opportunities. For over three decades, the School has run a satellite program on its Rome campus that exposes students first-hand to architectural history and contemporary Europe. Building upon this legacy, the School is expanding its global study initiatives through study-abroad electives in Europe, Asia and South America. At Waterloo, research supplements and augments the design studio. Conversely, design itself acts as a synthetic form of research. The Master’s thesis, a core academic component of the program, simultaneously develops research, analytical and design skills, preparing students to make an active contribution to the field. The Waterloo School of Architecture was founded in 1967, Canada’s centennial year, reflecting the spirit of ambition and optimism of this era. The School was part of a new university committed to educational and
technological innovation in a community that prides itself on entrepreneurship and industry leadership. Waterloo has ranked for many years as Canada’s most innovative university. The surrounding region—known as the technology triangle—is home to more than 1,000 high-tech startups. The School of Architecture has always been an incubator for innovation, and is embarking on plans for a new Integrated Design program that will operate at the nexus of industrial design, communication design, interaction design, and emerging digital design technologies. This program will directly address the need for creative designers in these fields and enable the school to more fully partner with the burgeoning high-tech sector in the region. Most professional schools of architecture in Canada are relatively small in comparison to the larger faculties, such as engineering, of which they are often a part. It is costly to teach architecture, and this constitutes a challenge for many schools in a climate of diminishing resources, including Waterloo. It is incumbent upon us to apply our capacity for design innovation and critical thinking to the institutional models within which we operate, to transform them in creative ways: whether this means developing more robust institutional networks between and across schools, or industry partnerships that might enable new opportunities to emerge. The School hopes to produce graduates that have a deep understanding of the larger culture within which architecture is situated, a passion for creativity and design, and the drive and curiosity to continuously expand the intellectual and technological boundaries of the discipline.
BAS 4 years/5 years including co-op terms—353 students (76 in 2013 class) | MArch 2 years—110 students (54 in 2013 class) | Full-Time Faculty 22 | Part-Time Faculty 55 | Opportunities solar decathlon, co-op/work placement, exchange, study abroad, travelling studios, student-led publication, cross-disiplinary collaborations, distance education, preparation for ExAC, student-run exhibition space | Areas of Focus art and design, building and environmental technologies, digital design, ecological design, history/theory/criticism, LEED, urbanism, visualization and media | Alumni Alison Brook, Brigitte Shim, Siamak Hariri, John Shnier, Stephen Teeple
University of Toronto, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design Richard M. Sommer, Dean
We are one of the few schools with a large stand-alone graduate program in architecture, where students with high academic standing from a variety of backgrounds may pursue a professional degree. The Daniels Faculty is an independent division within the University of Toronto, which is consistently ranked among the top research universities in the world. We have architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and now, visual studies under the same roof, which allows for rich collaborations and crossover between like-minded disciplines. While our professional graduate programs remain at the core of our mission, we are in the process of building a unique foundation in undergraduate teaching, using architecture, cities and the environment as a lens through which to pursue a broad liberal arts-based education. We are also establishing an intradisciplinary PhD program focusing on architecture, landscape, urban design and curatorial studies. The reintegration of undergraduate teaching through the Honours BA in Architectural Studies and the transfer of Visual Studies to our Faculty has recently more than doubled our student population. This has led to the addition of several new faculty members as well as a renewal of variouis aspects of our curricula. The expansion of our programs has also occasioned the building of a new physical platform at One Spadina Crescent. The transformation now underway will create
an unprecedented district at U of T for education, research and public outreach on architecture, urbanism and the visual arts. Advancing architecture as both a discipline and professional art requires a heuristic model of research. We believe that the design of buildings provides an essential framework for educating architects. However, urbanization on a global scale also requires the architect to engage a diverse set of phenomena, such as those revealed by material and cultural history, environmental and programmatic analysis, building science, behavioural economics, urban/landscape morphology, parametric modelling, automated fabrication, and responsive digital media. To that end, we have established a series of research platforms that build on the unique disciplinary methods associated with architecture, landscape architecture and urban design while also creating the circumstances for partnerships with cognate disciplines, industry, government, and various forms of community. These include the Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory, Responsive Architecture at Daniels, and the Global Cities Institute. In 2015, we will celebrate the 125th anniversary of our architecture program. The history of the school—the oldest in Canada and one of the oldest in North America—is bound to the life and character of Toronto, a city that has recently witnessed a period of unprecedented growth. Our hope is that after they leave the Faculty, our students will feel empowered to be entrepreneurial, take risks, and balance their chosen path as design professionals with a consciousness of their responsibility as citizens.
MArch 3.5 years—250 students (45 in 2013 class) | BArts (Arch Studies) 4 years—650 students (200 in 2013 class) | Full-Time Faculty 33 | Part-Time Faculty 63 | Opportunities co-op/work placement, study abroad, exchange programs, travelling studios, student-led publication, cross-disciplinary collaborations, pre-architecture summer workshop | Areas of Focus digital fabrication, ecological design, history/theory/criticism, industry collaborations,infrastructure, public health, urban design, visualization and media | Affiliated Programs landscape architecture, urban design, visual studies | Alumni Raymond Moriyama, Ken Greenberg, Donald Schmitt, Margaret Zeidler, Bruce Kuwabara
Ryerson University, Department of Architectural Science Colin Ripley, Department Chair
We have a number of distinguishing characteristics. First, we are the only professional program in Canada that includes specializations in building science and project management. Our location could not be more intense. Ryerson is located close to Dundas Square in the heart of Toronto, which is rapidly emerging as a major world city. What better place for architecture students? We are also the newest professional program, which means that we are evolving rapidly in tune with the challenges facing our communities and the world today, just as our institution, Ryerson, is doing as a whole. We have all the opportunities that come with being an important part of one of Canada’s most rapidly developing and growing universities. Ryerson was founded after the Second World War as a training college for returning veterans and spent the first 45 years of its existence as a technical college. We still have a very strong mandate to understand the technological grounds of architecture—and I think that in a world in which those grounds are rapidly shifting, that gives us a big advantage. Our graduates are still very highly skilled in the technical issues around architectural production. In terms of the values we hope our students get from their education, the first point has to be that they are responsible for the future of the world—in a really real sense. We want them to be strong, motivated, responsible thinkers and doers, critical and productive citizens.
We think that research is really important, not just from an academic point of view, but as part of a robust practice. We are working to understand, as I think most schools are, the relationship between research and design. What are the forms of research that are particular to design practice? How are they best mobilized? How are students engaged in research? I think that this is an amazing moment for Toronto, for Ryerson, and as a result, for the Department of Architectural Science. My vision is to open the Department up, to make it a major player in the transformation of the city that is taking place before our eyes. This is a place of immense excitement and constant activity. I want to expand that even further, connecting more strongly to our local and also international communities.
BArch Sci 4 years—400 students (124 in 2013 class) | MArch 2 years—55 students (30 in 2013 class) | Full-Time Faculty 28 | Part-Time Faculty 24 | Opportunities co-op/work placement, exchange, study abroad, travelling studios, student-led publication, cross-disciplinary collaborations | Areas of Focus building and environmental technologies, cross-cultural/ international contexts, digital design, digital fabrication, energy modelling, industry collaborations, LEED, materials and construction | Affiliated Programs landscape architecture, urban design, visual studies | Alumni Harry Pellow, Greg Woods, Tania Bortolotto
Carleton University, Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism Sheryl Boyle, Interim Director
The School’s culture of critical thinking through making, drawing and writing using both analog and digital tools gives Carleton its uniqueness. Our PhD students excel in these areas and provide invaluable feedback loops through teaching, research and mentorship to undergraduate and graduate students. At the undergraduate level, our choice of three majors—design, urbanism, or conservation and sustainability— is also unique in Canadian schools. Our one-year Graduate Diploma in Architectural Conservation provides an option for Master’s students and professionals to specialize. Research must be a part of all three phases of architectural learning: university, internship and the profession. Carleton requires architecture students to ask critical questions and capture this in drawings, models, text and dialogue. Our graduate thesis includes access for students to research pods led by faculty, creating new publication and conference opportunities. Our research-based degrees, the MAS and PhD, specialize in the culture of practice—addressing areas of the profession including representation, digital craftsmanship, BIM, fabrication techniques, contract documents, urban design and conservation techniques. Situated in Ottawa, Carleton has access to Canada’s national institutions and research facilities as well as the convergence of English and French cultures. Our Forum Lecture Series is held at the National Gal-
lery of Canada, creating dialogue between school and community. Our main campus building, designed by Carmen Corneil with Schoeler Heaton Harvo Menendez, continues to remain inspirational for faculty, students, staff and visitors. It is complemented by our Azrieli Pavilion, designed by alumnus Barry Hobin. In the near future, architectural education may have to find a way to sustain its small student-to-teacher ratios and large studio spaces. Opportunities such as research-sponsored facilities and programs, professional linkages and building endowments are a large part of the solution. At Carleton, we are fortunate to have begun this process with significant endowments from alumnus David Azrieli and five founding Forum sponsors (IBI Group, Barry J.Hobin & Associates Architects, Merkley Supply Ltd., Trinity Developments, GRC Architects and Charlesfort Developments) as well as support from alumni Philippe Doyle and Louise Lalande for major renovations to studio spaces. Over the past five years, we have focused on six distinct areas: excellence in pedagogy contributing to professional accreditation, digital media and fabrication, human resources, financial stability, national and international recognition, and enhancing research support for faculty. The goal of these improvements is to continue to provide our students with the best possible environment, resources, faculty and staff to best support them in contributing back to the community upon graduation.
BAS 4 years—370 students (90 in 2013 class) | MArch 2-3.5 years—105 students (45 in 2013 class) | MAS 2 years—3 students (3 in 2013 class) | PhD 4 years—11 students (3 in 2013 class) | Full-Time Faculty 17 | Part-Time Faculty 28 | Opportunities solar decathlon, co-op/work placement, exchange, study abroad, travelling studios, student-led publication, cross-disciplinary collaborations, distance education | Areas of Focus building and environmental technologies, design/build, digital fabrication, freehand drawing and analog arts, historic preservation, history/theory/criticism, materials and construction, urbanism | Alumni David Azrieli, Barry Hobin, Jennifer Luce, Gregory Henriquez, Andre D’Elia
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18 Université de Montréal École d’architecture Anne Cormier, Director
Our School is profoundly marked by the legacy of people like Melvin Charney. Although our teaching has considerably transformed itself over the past 20 years, there is still a strong interest in the relationship between architecture and the city. Part of our specificity is a long tradition of interest in heritage. We have a faculty program that deals specifically with heritage conservation, but much of the expertise comes from the School of Architecture. We have two research chairs that are attached to School: the Research Chair on Built Heritage and the Research Chair on Competitions and Contemporary Practices in Architecture. Some of our professors are very active in both fields, which generates an interesting way of looking at what you can do with heritage buildings. Research has gained a lot of importance in the School—it’s been a huge transformation in the last while. The place of research in design education is changing tremendously, affecting the way we teach and think about architecture. Students are often hired as research assistants; that gives them fresh insight. Also, a clearer distinction is emerging between the profession of architecture and the discipline of architecture. One doesn’t necessarily equal the other. An ongoing challenge is the development of research—as an architecture school, we will never have access to the kind of grants that, say, a pharmacy school might enjoy. At the same time, the importance of re-
search presents an opportunity. How do you best take advantage of the research that’s being done? It’s been changing our way of teaching in a positive way, and we’ve been working hard to strengthen the links between research, teaching and practice. We are in the process of reforming our Master of Architecture program, and connecting research, teaching and practice is at the heart of this reform. The fact that we are in a city where there is another school of architecture, as well as a school of design at the Université du Québec à Montréal—and that we’re in the same city as the Canadian Centre for Architecture and the Maison de l’architecture du Québec—makes quite an impact. It’s an amazingly rich context. You can easily go to three lectures a week, and there’s an abundance of very good exhibitions. There are a lot of good architecture firms located in Montreal, and professionals are very present in the School. In terms of the values we hope to give our students, for me, it’s the pleasure of the work itself—you have to have pleasure contributing to architectural projects. There’s also a sense of ethics and responsibility: you are intervening in the public realm and people are going to work with what you produce on an everyday basis. It has to be pretty good. Our School is on solid ground. I see an interest in the exploration of contemporary architecture with a very strong notion of materiality. We’re not a school where the digital will take over, although it will always be there. I think we’re moving towards gutsy realism. The younger generation of professors is interesting, diverse and ambitious, echoing the ambition of our students.
BSc Arch 3 years—258 students (101 in 2013 class) | MArch 1.5 years—131 students (72 in 2013 class) | Full-Time Faculty 18 | Part-Time Faculty 4 (plus over 60 adjuncts) | Opportunities exchange, study abroad, travelling studios, cross-disciplinary collaborations, disciplinary and cross-disciplinary charrettes | Areas of Focus ecological design, graphic communication, historic preservation, history/theory/criticism, materials and construction, resiliency/crisis, visualization and media | Affiliated Programs design, landscape, urbanism | Alumni Mario Saia, Claude Provencher, Anik Shooner, Annie Lebel, Maxime Frappier
McGill University School of Architecture Annmarie Adams, Director
Ours is Canada’s second-oldest school, founded in 1896, and has witnessed revolutionary changes in architectural education. It began as a Beaux-Arts school with Arts and Crafts leanings, then transformed into a Bauhaus-based institution after WWII. Since the 1980s the School has become a powerhouse of architectural research, thanks to the growth of our post-professional programs. Our School was among the first in North America to offer post-professional specialization in housing research, and our PhD program was the first in Canada. Today we offer three Master’s specializations that continue to attract students from around the world. The PhD program is extremely robust and larger than we ever imagined. Design research and traditional academic research are at the core of our programs. Design instructors are carefully chosen for their ability to push the profession forward with new knowledge. Fortunately, we have a roster of adjunct professors who take a break from innovative practices to teach with us. It used to be enough for a professor to have an awardwinning practice beyond his or her teaching position. Now, professors are expected to bring in external research funding. We have two research labs in the School—FARMM and LIPHE—both funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Our School sees Montreal as a classroom. We immerse students in
Montreal architecture from the first day they arrive, whether they grew up nearby or come from halfway around the world. Architectural education makes students see the world differently, so being in a beautiful and functional city means seeing the city as a model of how to do things right. Montreal has been a mecca for architects, in particular since Expo 67. Architects want to work and live here because it’s a city that values design. For McGill, this means a rich and inspiring context of architectural firms and events. The School gives back to the city too, for example, in projects that involve students, professionals and decision-makers in real-world design exercises. Our relatively small size gives the School an extraordinary atmosphere of familiarity and collegiality. Everyone knows everyone and students get lots of personal advising and attention as a result. Given a chance to dream a little, my vision is to more fully integrate our post-professional and professional programs. A second area of importance to me is the role of women in the School and in the profession. Finally, I think we need to break out of the old-fashioned notion that a successful architecture graduate is one who registers and goes on to private practice. Architectural education prepares young people for dozens of careers: politics, health care, education, disaster relief, community work, planning and engineering could all be enriched by contributions of architects. The schools need to take a leadership position, and hopefully the processes of accreditation and professional registration will recognize a larger potential in every graduate.
BSc Arch 3 years, 170 students (50 in 2013 class) | MArch (professional) 1-2 years, 45 students (35 in 2013 class) | MArch (post-professional) 1 year, 20 students (15 in 2013 class) PhD 7 years, 40 students (10 in 2013 class) | Full-Time Faculty 14 | Part-Time Faculty 24 | Opportunities exchange, study abroad, travelling studios, student-led publication | Areas of Focus art and design, cross-cultural/international contexts, digital design, digital fabrication, ecological design, freehand drawing/analog arts, history/theory/criticism, urbanism | Alumni Arthur Erickson, Raymond Moriyama, John Bland, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, Moshe Safdie
Université Laval École d’architecture Gianpiero Moretti, Director
The Laval School of Architecture includes programs in a variety of concentrations, from virtual architecture and digital fabrication to heritage and urban design. And the breadth of our programs outside of Quebec also distinguishes us. Seventy percent of students participate in exchanges with architecture schools abroad, either for a semester or a complete year. Over the past decade, the School has developed exchanges with universities in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Senegal, Spain and Vietnam. These programs allow students to approach architecture with diversified perspectives and refreshed know-how. A majority of professors possess a doctorate, and are very active in research. Through their involvement in national and international research networks, they contribute to opening new horizons for architecture. The results of these research activities constantly percolate through their teaching. Early on, students come to understand the importance of research—both in practice and in the advancement of the discipline. The School’s programs offer the possibility of pairing a professional and research focus through a double Master’s degree (MArch + MSc). The location of Laval’s School of Architecture in the heart of a World Heritage city makes for a compelling milieu. Its 350-year-old building, the Vieux-Séminaire de Québec, was the location of North America’s first francophone university. In this historical context, the School offers
an environment that is almost entirely naturally ventilated and daylit. Experiencing daily life in this rich environment gives students a broader perspective on the numerous challenges that the contemporary condition poses to architecture. From the 1980s on, the School has developed a particular focus on heritage issues. This expertise grounds an enriched knowledge of the environment and the particularities of intervening in complex sites. This perspective is extremely relevant today, with the environmental challenges that architects face. We aim to ready our students to become actors attuned to the dynamics of the profession and the aspirations of society. We prepare future architects to exercise their profession in a responsible manner, to bring forward pertinent and innovative responses to complex architectural problems, to judge ethically, to cultivate knowledge throughout their professional careers, and to respond in a creative way to the evolving needs of society. I envisage continuing to open the School towards the global scene through exchanges. The strong link between our School and the professional milieu must also be maintained and reinforced. In a rapidly changing world, the School can actively and positively contribute to the evolution of the profession: as a privileged space for reflection and experimentation that integrates new ideas, the insights of research, and the potential of emerging technology. Architecture school should not only be present at the beginning of architects’ training, but may constitute an environment of cross-pollinating ideas and knowledge development that may nourish and enrich students throughout their professional lives.
BArch 3 years—256 students (102 in 2013 class) | MArch 2 years—140 students (67 in 2013 class) | Full-Time Faculty 16 | Part-Time Faculty 3 | Opportunities solar decathlon, co-op/work placement, exchange, study abroad, travelling studios, student-led publication, cross-disciplinary collaborations, distance education | Areas of Focus building and environmental technologies, cross-cultural/international contexts, design/build, digital fabrication, ecological design, historic preservation, materials and construction, urban design | Affiliated Programs design, visual arts, regional planning | Alumni Pierre Thibault, Gilles Saucier, Éric Gauthier, Marie-Chantal Croft, Éric Pelletier
Dalhousie University School of Architecture Diogo Burnay, Director
Dalhousie University School of Architecture has a distinct set of pursuits promoting a holistic approach to architectural education. We integrate architectural design studios with other courses, maintain close relationships with local and global communities, and emphasize the social and cultural dimensions of architecture. Co-op terms have been integral to the School’s professional program since 1970. With the program’s longstanding 2+2+2 sequence (undergraduate + BEDS + MArch), incoming students bring diverse academic backgrounds from across Canada and abroad. Design-build free labs have also been part of the program for more than 20 years. Our location in downtown Halifax offers rich historical, urban and geographical settings for design studios and other courses. Our proximity to Europe also facilitates exchanges with partners and schools on other continents. Architectural research plays a central role in how students pursue design in conjunction with other courses. Each term, they document their design process in a comprehensive portfolio. The School also encourages faculty members to bring their research work into graduate studios and courses. During their final year, MArch students carry out a self-initiated, well-rounded thesis that spans from conception and research to design development, technical studies, presentation and publication.
Changing cultures and economies, both local and global, are presenting challenges to teaching, learning, research and practice. We encourage students to understand the role of research and the need for fluency in various media and modes of production so that they can be prepared for unforeseeable futures. With the growing emphasis on funded research, the School’s integrated approach to design and research is well placed for collaborations with other disciplines. The Faculty of Architecture and Planning, in conjunction with the university’s Faculty of Agriculture, is also developing a new Master of Landscape Architecture program that will encourage cross-disciplinary opportunities for both students and faculty. As current Director, one of my aims is to advance the School’s longstanding ethos of “thinking with your hands” and “thinking while making.” We are more tightly integrating courses and design studios, developing students’ fluency in manual and digital media, and exploring how design and research are profoundly connected. Another aim is to support the diversity of faculty research and to devise innovative ways for students and faculty to work together. Above all, my aim is to promote the design process and elevate the quality of design work, so that it is relevant to society, the architectural profession, and the particular communities for which the work and the research are being done. Interviews have been translated where needed, edited and compressed.
BEDS 2 years—130 students (65 in 2013 class) | MArch 2 years—80 students (40 in 2013 class) | MSc Arch 2 years—24 students (12 in 2013 class) | MSc Arch (Urban Design) 2 years— 11 students (5 in 2013 class) | Full-Time Faculty 9 | Part-Time Faculty 8 | Opportunities co-op/work placement, exchange, travelling studios, student-led publication, cross-disciplinary collaborations in studio and in non-studio courses, undergraduate orientation workshops, pre-architecture summer workshop | Areas of Focus art and design, building and environmental technologies, cross-cultural/international contexts, design/build, ecological design, history/theory/criticism, social justice and community design, visualization and media | Affiliated Programs planning | Alumni Brian MacKay-Lyons, Barry Johns, Talbot Sweetapple, Susan Fitzgerald, Omar Gandhi
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The flat side of design
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BRIGHT FUTURES Expansion projects and new facilities are in the works for several of Canada’s architecture schools, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to Laurentian University in Sudbury. Text
Tammy Gaber
Canada’s architecture schools are in an unprecedented phase of growth and change. Enrollment in architecture programs is strong and new interdisciplinary programs are set to boost numbers further—in some cases doubling or tripling the size of the current architecture student bodies. Of the dozen universities that offer professional degrees, a third are planning or implementing major expansions. Another university hopes to start a new architecture program. All of these institutions share the aspiration to create new facilities in the downtown cores of their respective cities that reflect curriculum changes. At the University of Toronto, a new complex underway at 1 Spadina Crescent is set to transform the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. By the planned move in 2016, the faculty’s population will have tripled with the recent addition of undergraduate studies, the absorption of U of T’s programs in Visual Studies, and plans to initiate PhD and post-professional programs. The building project, which will vastly increase the size of current facilities, was enabled in part by donations from John and Myrna Daniels. The University has owned the former Presbyterian Knox College, locat-
ed on a visually prominent site surrounded by a circular road, since the early 1970s. Over the past decades, it has suffered from benign neglect while housing a variety of programs. Boston- and New York City-based design firm NADAAA is charged with the renovation of the 19th-century Gothic Revival landmark, as well as creating a bold contemporary addition at the north end of the site and remaking the surrounding landscape and public realm. The complex will revolve around a highly porous principal hall, set between the existing and new buildings and intended to host public events, critiques, exhibitions and lectures. An internal street along the east-west axis will link the U of T campus to the surrounding community, and connect all of the school’s major spaces: library, public gallery, fabrication labs, café, and stairs to the studios. The design also envisages a series of pavilions embedded in the landscape at the edge of the circle, which will house research groups including the Global Cities Institute and a new Institute for Architecture and Human Health. Together, these projects constitute a new presence that, explains Dean Richard Sommer, is all part of a plan to “elevate design-based research
Nadaaa Opposite The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design’s new home at One Spadina Crescent, currently under construction, will more than double its existing space. Above The east façade of the new facility overlooks a plaza facing the University of Toronto campus. Bottom A dynamically shaped roof directs rainwater into bioswales and cisterns, while sheltering skylit open-span studios below.
graph and a heavy timber farmers’ market (previously a train shed). Together, these marked a historic crossroads in Sudbury. The Telegraph building has been retrofitted with faculty offices and a boardroom, while its ground floor is rented to a restaurant and local internet service company. The former market currently contains studios and workshops, and during the summer, the community uses the large open space for local gatherings. Further ties between the community and school are being fostered by initiatives such as including First Nations elders in design studio and theory courses, and auctioning off student-constructed ice-fishing huts to support a design-build fund. The arrival of students and faculty has begun to spur the creation of new shops, cafés, restaurants and student apartments in the downtown area. Two new buildings, also designed by LGA, will provide additional studio spaces, offices, a library and a student lounge. When this next con-
Nadaaa
and visual literacy at a great, but, in the past, primarily science and humanities-focused research university.” In Sudbury, a community initiative spurred the creation of a downtown design school that seeks to bring together disparate elements of the city and environs. Director Terrance Galvin was appointed by Laurentian University in 2011 to transform this vision into a concrete curriculum and space. In terms of curriculum, he looked to stitch together the potential construction applications of natural resources in the area with Francophone and First Nations cultures and a design-build education model. He imagined these manifested through a building that weaves historic structures with new spaces, and demonstrates the latest in sustainable construction. To create the new school, LGA Architectural Partners repurposed the masonry building that formerly housed the Canada Pacific Tele-
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lga architectural partners
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1 Phase 2 Building 2 New COurtyard 3 ceremonial fire pit 4 historic railway shed 5 new greenway 6 historic telegraph building
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Laurentian university
The new Laurentian School of Architecture includes a variety of fabrication workshops and research spaces; a diagram of the site in downtown Sudbury; a former market building currently houses design studios; construction is underway on Phase 2. Above First-year Laurentian architecture students make their mark with outdoor murals adjacent to the school. Opposite, clockwise from top
struction phase is complete, the former market building will be converted to house digital fabrication areas, a metal shop, woodshop and wet labs for experimentation with traditional building methods such as rammed earth, adobe, and cobb construction. Next fall, students will design and build the round room that hinges between the historic and new constructions—a permanent link that embodies the school’s educational goals. At the University of British Columbia, the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) is also expanding its programs, with this fall’s launch of a new Master of Urban Design degree. The school also has plans to offer a dual Master of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and to expand its undergraduate environmental design stream to a fouryear program. To accommodate this growth, SALA plans to create two new facilities: a new building on campus and a smaller facility in downtown Vancouver. The new campus building will bring together Environmental Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design—currently spread out over five different buildings—in a unified space for the first time. Says Director Leslie Van Duzer, it will underscore the “new curricular proposals that leverage exchange between these programs.” In the past, SALA had a downtown storefront studio, but it was shut down several years ago due to budgetary issues. The revived downtown outpost will be part of a new mixed-use development. And the search for a design team for the new facilities is imminent, with plans to announce the selection by the end of the academic year. The University of Waterloo School of Architecture is in the initial phase of developing new undergraduate and graduate programs in Integrated Design. These would build upon existing relationships with the burgeoning high-tech sector in the region, and boost technological innovation at the university and in the school. To accommodate the expanded student body—projected to double with the new programs—the school plans to erect a new building south of its existing premises, a Cambridge silk mill revitalized by LGA in 2004. The new facility would house teaching, research and workshop spaces, including expanded studios, seminar and lecture rooms, digital fabrication labs and prototyping facilities, and public exhibition areas. While specifics are still to be determined, the target start date for the new programs is fall 2016, and the school hopes to jointly raise funding through the provincial government, the City of Cambridge and the University of Waterloo. The design of the expansion would be awarded through an architectural competition, says O’Donovan Director Ila Ber-
man. The new facilities, she continues, “should be an architectural statement that respects the existing building’s relationship to the historic fabric of Cambridge. Yet the new building should also be truly contemporary and innovative in its design as a reflection of the cultural and technological aspirations of the new program.” Discussions about creating a new school of architecture at the University of Saskatchewan started four years ago, and the City of Saskatoon gifted a former John Deere Plow Co. warehouse to the University to house the proposed school. A critical aspect of the establishment of a Saskatoon-based architecture program is the recognition of the need for locally trained designers attuned to the community’s history and specific requirements. University Provost Ernie Barber also says the program would create synergies with existing undergraduate programs, such as engineering, that share interests in “creativity, design thinking and visual intelligence.” Last year, a three-part symposium was held to discuss how a professional architecture program might be structured. Barber notes the difficulty of creating a new program and locating the necessary funding—especially at a time when his university is dealing with financial constraints. Despite the slow progress, optimism remains high. He is partial to the proposed downtown location, which would help revitalize an industrial zone. Should this project be realized, the school could very well form an important link between community regeneration and campus development. Architectural education is a dynamic entity that is constantly expanding beyond set curriculums, fixed locations and traditional disciplinary boundaries. In Canada, individual schools are striving to develop visions of the future of architectural education—embodied by building forms with strong links to their context. For all of these new and proposed buildings, a downtown presence offers a certain degree of visibility. More importantly, it opens the door for community connections at different levels, potentially grounding and giving fresh relevance to new curricular developments. The designs already on the boards in Toronto and Sudbury—and the plans underway in Vancouver, Waterloo and Saskatoon—exhibit an impressive alignment of ambition with built form that spells a new era for architectural education in Canada. Tammy Gaber is an Assistant Professor at the Laurentian University School of Architecture in Sudbury.
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Wired Education Digital design and fabrication form a rich presence in Canada’s schools of architecture, with teaching and learning through workshops, forums and collaborative research. Text
Tom Bessai
In the fast-paced world of digital design and fabrication, architecture schools must sprint to keep pace. Canada’s schools have been up to the challenge. The majority of schools now offer students access to digital design and fabrication tools. Across the country, CAD and 3D modelling software is available in student computer labs, and students have access to laser cutting at most school facilities, increasingly within a self-serve framework. Three-axis CNC routers and current-generation institutional 3D printing equipment is typically present within a dedicated faculty research lab, with training and access partially available to students. Several schools are moving past this baseline with new facilities in the works. With the completion of their second phase, the Laurentian School of Architecture will open a state-of-the art fabrication lab with rapid prototyping, CNC milling and possibly a robotic work cell. The lab will focus on construction techniques in wood and wood composites suitable for northern regions. The new architecture building for the University of Toronto, scheduled to open in 2016, will feature a state-ofthe-art fab lab with the capacity to accommodate current and future equipment, such as specialized CNC cutting machines and a 7-axis robotic arm. Other schools are following suit, with plans for robotic work cells and 3D printers on every studio floor. But digital design and fabrication cannot be seen as merely an arms
ABOVE SINE is an installation developed by [R]ed[U]x Lab, a collective of Ryerson Architectural Science students interested in digital fabrication. The prototype was created with the Hobby Electronics Club from the Engineering department and presented at the Toronto Design Offsite festival.
race for new equipment. The following short survey highlights some important features and potentials within the Canadian schools, as various constituents—from leading faculty members, to research clusters, to the students themselves—move forward into this emerging area of architectural innovation. Leadership in Digital Design and Fabrication Philip Beesley at the University of Waterloo and Branko Kolarevic at the University of Calgary have produced fertile environments for advanced experimental research at their respective schools. In both 2004 and 2013, Beesley co-chaired the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) conference—the premier meeting for computation and fabrication research in North America. Kolarevic brought ACADIA to Calgary in 2011. In both cases, accompanying events, workshops, exhibitions and publications proved a valuable asset to the digital culture of each school. Beesley is well known for his own research and production of responsive architectural environments, particularly the Hylozoic Ground installation for the 2010 Venice Biennale. The direct and indirect effects on Waterloo students, many of whom have had opportunities to be involved with these installations, have been significant. Kolarevic has been re-
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Philip beasley Architect inc. Hansmeyer/dillenburger
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sponsible for several important publications in this emerging area of practice, including the recently published Manufacturing Material Effects: Rethinking Design and Making in Architecture with Kevin Klinger. The University of Toronto is the beneficiary of two excellent new faculty members that will move the discourse in computation and fabrication forward. Brady Peters was a member of the Foster + Partners Specialist Modelling Group, and is a co-founder of the Smartgeometry organization, the leading international forum on computation. Benjamin
ABOVE Created by Waterloo architecture professor Philip Beesley, Epiphyte Chamber is a responsive sculpture made of thousands of lightweight digitally fabricated components. The project was displayed at the Museum of Modern Contemporary Art in Seoul, Korea. Left Digital Grotesque is an intricately detailed 16-square-metre environment entirely 3D-printed out of sand. It was conceived by University of Toronto professor Benjamin Dillenburger with collaborator Michael Hansmeyer. Opposite, Top to bottom In a process pioneered by Carleton University’s CIMS, a damaged stone relief is 3D-scanned for restoration; a CNC-milled foam maquette is created and a sculptor adds clay to reconstruct the damaged portions; the refreshed version is reproduced by a robot; the milled stone is finished with traditional hand tools.
Dillenburger’s research into generative computation and ordered subdivision (in collaboration with Michael Hansmeyer of ETH Zurich) led to the acclaimed Digital Grotesque in 2013, the world’s first large-scale 3D printed room. Both Peters’ and Dillenburger’s research and teaching will have a broad impact. At the Université Laval, Sam Bernier Lavigne has just completed a PhD in computational form-finding, and is teaching digital design and fabrication with strong impact.
carleton University
Research Groups and Labs Many Canadian schools collaborate with specialized technology research groups within their institutions. Architecture faculty lead several of these research clusters. Often at arm’s length from the school and its teaching mandate, such groups are playing a vital role in technology development. Over the past decade, Carleton University’s Immersive Media Studio (CIMS), under the direction of Stephen Fai, has quietly developed extensive technical expertise through the documentation and restoration of important archaeological sites and historic buildings. The lab has pioneered measuring and input strategies calibrated to deliver integrated site and building documentation, up to highly detailed levels. This is accomplished with a range of technologies, including the deployment of terrestrial laser scanning to document spaces, and the use of robotic milling to recreate relief sculptures from digital files. Beyond fostering collaborations with restoration specialists and traditional masons, this research has led to the broad technology training of graduate-level researchers at the Azrieli School. These techniques are starting to trickle down into the studios and classrooms. McGill University’s School of Architecture benefits from two arm’slength technology research clusters established by faculty members. The Laboratory for Integrated Prototyping and Hybrid Environments (LIPHE), under the direction of Aaron Sprecher, aims to develop new approaches to architectural design and fabrication. A recent project, in partnership with engineers, worked with automated robots capable of producing large-scale architectural prototypes. The Facility for Architectural Research in Media and Mediation (FARMM), under the direction of Michael Jemtrud, is positioned slightly differently, taking a philosophical approach to technology. Symposia like the Working Models Forum, held last June, have been central to positioning FARMM’s research within a broad multidisciplinary framework. At the University of Manitoba, the Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology (CAST) was founded by Mark West, and is codirected by West with colleagues Lancelot Coar and Patrick Harrop, all professors at the school’s Faculty of Architecture. While not expressly engaged in questions of digital fabrication, the CAST lab has a strong history of material research and structural exploration. In particular, it’s known for developing soft formworks for casting concrete. These material investigations are increasingly governed by digital techniques: digital form-finding and simulation, parametric control, and digital fabrication of formwork elements. Similar in organization to CAST, Responsive Architecture at Daniels (RadLab) is an off-site facility for University of Toronto faculty members Christos Marcopoulos, Carol Moukheiber and Rodolphe el-Khoury to pursue their technology research through prototyping, simulation and experimentation. The University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture does not have a dedicated fabrication lab, partly due to its strong collaborations with several advanced engineering research centres on the UBC campus. UBC’s Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP) is engaged in research with architecture professors AnnaLisa Meyboom and Oliver Neumann, on topics from wood joinery to composite wood structural elements. Digital fabrication workshops facilitate hands-on experience for architecture students. Finally, at Ryerson University in downtown Toronto, a unique vehicle for technology innovation operates outside of the conventional facultybased teaching and research model. The Design Fabrication Zone (DFZ) was established last year on the heels of several other Ryerson “zone” projects. The zones are seen as start-up incubators that support the faculties and departments proper, while binding them to profession-
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al and entrepreneurial communities outside the university. The DFZ will supply technology infrastructure to the Department of Architecture, the School of Interior Design and other related departments, including an ongoing cycle of workshops, exhibitions and publications. Without a degree-granting teaching mandate or conventionally enrolled students, the DFZ is free to experiment in different ways of supporting independent projects by Ryerson students and recent graduates. Student-Centred Initiatives As digital technologies become ever more accessible outside of the schools, students are increasingly taking the initiative to diversify their skills. There is an extraordinarily fluid “digital tooling up” of undergraduate and graduate students underway. Research and learning in technology is no longer top-down, as every year, incoming cohorts are more adept than the last at managing data and digital tools. Many students have become almost as proficient with virtual constructs and routines as their TAs and professors, honing their knowledge by means of workshops and online learning. The culture around Grasshopper software is exemplary in this regard. Grasshopper is a parametric plug-in for Rhinoceros modelling software, which plays host to myriad sub-programs: including applications that enable specialized geometry creation, form-finding, lighting and structural simulation, and real-world device control, to name only a few. Grasshopper forums, tutorials, manuals and workshops have penetrated deeply into student design culture around the world, and continue to evolve exponentially in the hands of students and researchers connected over the internet. Another recent development is the advent of the maker space. These
informal hubs for technology experiments, code-writing and digital practices are typically created by bands of like-minded designers, engineers and hobbyists. Maker spaces usually contain inexpensive shared devices, from desktop 3D printers to laser cutters and digital scanners. Some maker spaces are connected to institutions like public libraries, while others are independent and charge nominal fees for membership and equipment use. These communities now exist in all major Canadian cities and form another source of knowledge, practical experience, and production capacity for architects and architecture students. Schools of architecture are beginning to find ways to both support and participate in this new distributed design culture. A strong example can be found at the School of Architecture at Waterloo. Under the guidance of Philip Beesley, Waterloo graduate students have created a design and research cluster of their own, F_RMlab. The collective provides valuable online resources for students, as well as taking on designbuild projects outside of the school setting. While F_RMlab is not mentioned in the UW curriculum, it is clearly a valuable resource for Waterloo students. As the digital landscape shifts towards a global distributed design culture, the established methods of teaching, working and creating must again evolve. It’s the next phase for Canada’s schools of architecture, as they continue to take on the challenges posed by new design and fabrication technologies. Tom Bessai is a principal at Denegri Bessai Studio—Architecture and Design with partner Maria Denegri. He has been a Professor with the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto since 2001.
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Left The homepage for a course offered by the newly opened RAIC Athabasca Centre for Architecture. Above A rendering of a community centre design by RAIC Syllabus student Tobias Slezak.
Logged On Text
Douglas MacLeod
The recently opened RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca University offers an invaluable virtual learning component for the renewed RAIC Syllabus Program. It also unlocks potential synergies with other Canadian architecture schools. On July 1, 2014, the RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca University officially opened its Bachelor of Science in Architecture (BSc Arch). This is one of the final pieces of the puzzle in the renewal of the RAIC Syllabus Program, but it also represents a new approach to the education of an architect in Canada. The RAIC Syllabus program consists of design studios, work experience and academic courses taken while working under the supervision and mentorship of a licensed Canadian architect. It has typically been a difficult and time-consuming process for its 200 students, who often take a decade or more to complete it. To manage, improve and expand the Syllabus, Athabasca University and the RAIC formed the RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca University. The RAIC Syllabus was founded in 1978, but by the turn of the century it was in need of renewal. As David Craddock, FRAIC, RAIC Syllabus Director, notes: “The academic portion had been conceived and developed in the 1980s and was basically delivering a correspondence course. There was also concern that the studio program and work experience were being delivered regionally and that they weren’t consistent. When some provincial regulators raised issues with the program, it was time to upgrade all of the components to a university level.” The academic components of this program are now being developed, delivered and maintained online by Athabasca University and, in addition to the BSc Arch, they include a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Architecture. The design studios have all been updated and will con-
tinue to be offered face to face by RAIC volunteers in major cities across Canada. The work experience component has been revised as well, and will be supervised by the RAIC. David Covo, FRAIC, former Director of McGill University’s School of Architecture, was one of the visionaries who initiated the renewal process over a decade ago. As he explains it, “We were trying to define a model that preserves the best of the traditional model that we find in every school, but at the same time acknowledges—and even embraces— the opportunities presented by transformations in technology.” Advances in telecommunications, in particular, are revolutionizing the way students learn. To keep pace with this new world of education, the Centre’s new courses incorporate a variety of innovative online tools, including quizzes, galleries, polls, blogs, ePortfolios, videos and models. Far from being mere novelties, these components work together to create an online mode of learning that holds numerous advantages. Dr. Lisa Carter, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Athabasca University, was instrumental in bringing the program to fruition. She notes that “The Athabasca University teaching model breaks down barriers to learning, whether they be geographical barriers or barriers for personal reasons, and allows the accessibility and flexibility of taking a program no matter where you are, no matter what you are doing.” Vivian Manasc, FRAIC, a former president of the RAIC, emphasizes this advantage when she says, “Athabasca University is everywhere— whether you live in Yellowknife, Thunder Bay or Iqaluit—and it is this geographic reach that makes the Syllabus program invaluable to Canadian architects.” On the other hand, online learning does have its own unique challenges. It is expensive and time-consuming to create and maintain an online course. New courses sometimes include mistakes. Cutting-edge technology doesn’t always work as advertised. The Centre’s ePortfolio, for example, is not as robust or as graphically rich as it could be. What sets the online world apart, however, is the speed and dedication with which these problems can be addressed. When a tutor or student identifies a mistake it is dealt with immediately—often within 24 hours. Online learning must also grapple with a wide range of misconceptions. While it is often said that online courses suffer from a high rate of attrition, a 2011 study by Athabasca University found that 85% of students who started undergraduate courses successfully completed them (although this figure excludes those who registered for a course but never started it). Many of the benefits of this program, however, have nothing to do with technology. Even before the renewal, the work/study and mentorship components of the program gave Syllabus students an edge. In 2013, the Canadian Architectural Licensing Authorities commissioned a practice survey of over 500 Canadian architecture firms. Syllabus stu-
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Ke dents were ranked third among all Canadian schools of architecture by employers, in terms of their satisfaction with the skills and knowledge of the graduates. To further enhance those skills and that knowledge, each course in the renewed program has been developed by a team of experts in architecture and instructional design, and has been designed to meet the standards of the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB). Moreover, the new Syllabus program is focused on the critical issue of environmental sustainability and each course considers its subject matter from this perspective. The Centre is also playing a leadership role in building a national strategy for green building research and is now working on an online Research and Development Institute. Already the Centre is proving its value to students in new ways—some of which were never anticipated. Students are taking courses from as far away as Dubai, Egypt and England. Close to 100 foreign-trained architects have been referred to the Centre’s course on Architectural Practice in Canada by the CACB, and recently the National Architectural Accrediting Board in the United States also began referring students to the Centre. In another instance, a Canadian student is taking online courses to improve his GPA, in order to gain admittance to a Master’s program in architecture. The power of online learning is such that the Centre can share—and scale—its curriculum around the globe. The Centre is also currently developing a program for those with a general interest in architecture based on, but separate from, the Syllabus program. This will involve the development of virtual design studios. Some professionals find this a controversial development, maintaining that studios can only be taught in a face-to-face environment. Yet today, architects regularly work and communicate with an array of online tools, and some 41% of Canadian architects work out of their homes. To
many, the internet and its associated services have become essential in running (and enhancing) a contemporary practice. As a new digital generation of students enters the workforce, this dependence on telecommunications will only increase. Given this trend, it would be irresponsible not to provide students with the skills, tools and experience to survive in the digital world. What is needed among all schools of architecture is a hybrid approach that combines the best of both the online and physical worlds. In this sense, the Centre was conceived as a complement, rather than a competitor, to traditional schools. The challenge—and the opportunity—for Canadian schools of architecture and architectural technology will be to share in the development of improved learning experiences of all types for their students. The online world has the potential to act as a vehicle for universities and colleges to work together, performing research and sharing resources that none can afford by themselves. In this sense, the Centre provides a model and testing ground for the future of architectural education. Barry Johns, FRAIC, who was instrumental in the creation of the Centre, explains that “its goals, operating agenda and currency, set us clearly apart and well ahead of the curve. What we are already doing is profoundly innovative in North America and just maybe, worldwide. Things such as structured online learning, sharing of resources and sharing knowledge, and finally our mentoring innovations, are clearly transformative—while others are still waist-deep arguing the merits.”
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Douglas Macleod, Mraic, is chair of the raic centre for architecture at athabasca university. he is the author of an e-book on the future of the design studio, which may be downloaded at www.cocolab.ca.
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1967 centennial celebration.
Mark Lewis exhibition September 11-November 1, 2014
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The Daniel Faria Gallery in Toronto features acclaimed artist Mark Lewis’s films of natural and urban landscapes that balance between stasis and movement.
Macdonald-Harrington Building at McGill University.
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RavinePortal September 26-November 21, 2014
This public exhibition of visionary proposals at the historic 50 Park Road studio in Toronto communicates the vital role that ravines play in the life of the city.
Architecture & Design Film Festival in New York
Toronto International Art Fair
P3: Delivering our Infrastructure Legacy
October 15-19, 2014
October 24-27, 2014
November 3-4, 2014
This event celebrates architecture and design, showcasing more than 30 films, panel discussions and Q&As with design leaders and filmmakers from around the world.
Taking place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, this annual fall event presents more than 100 select galleries, along with special projects, exhibits and lectures.
The Canadian Council for PublicPrivate Partnerships is hosting this annual national conference at the Sheraton Centre Toronto.
Gregory Henriquez lecture
Tom Woolley lecture
November 4, 2014
October 20, 2014
October 30, 2014
Gregory Henriquez of Henriquez Partners Architects in Vancouver lectures at 6:00pm at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.
Tom Woolley, former professor of architecture at Queen’s University Belfast, lectures at 6:30pm at Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science.
Doug Saunders, international affairs columnist at The Globe and Mail, speaks at 6:00pm at Surrey City Hall, part of UBC’s two-day SALA urban design forum.
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Doug Saunders lecture
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Architecture and National Identity: The Centennial Projects 50 Years On
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October 5, 2014-January 11, 2015
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An exhibition at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown revisits the building programs of the Centennial Commission leading up to Canada’s
October 20, 2014
Luke Leung lecture
November 5-6, 2014
Johanna Hurme and Sasa Radulovic of Winnipeg’s 5468796 Architecture deliver a presentation at 6:00pm in Room G10 of the
October 30, 2014
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Professional Directory
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BACKPAGE
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
CANADIAN ARCHITECT 10/14
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GAMBIA GAMBIT TEXT
Grant Wanzel
ABOVE
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY’S FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING IS A KEY PARTNER IN A VISIONARY DESIGN SCHOOL IN THE GAMBIA. Many Canadian architecture schools offer students the opportunity to study overseas—but Dalhousie University is unique in having helped establish an overseas program in West Africa, for West Africans. Inaugurated in 2007, the three-year Bachelor of Community Building and Design (BCBD) is offered jointly by the Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI) and the University of The Gambia. The program was founded through a multi-year grant from the Canadian government and in-kind contributions from Dalhousie faculty and the GTTI. The BCBD is not just any architecture school: it’s a school of urgent necessity. Here, design challenges don’t have to be invented. The Gambia serves as the subject of research and the site of action. At just twice the size of Prince Edward Island, the nation is Africa’s smallest independent state and one of its poorest and most densely populated countries. The Gambia River splits the country from end to end, structures daily life, and is a major life source. However, the river—along with rice fields, swamps and coastal areas—is also a major vector for insect-borne diseases such as malaria. The Atlantic is another immediate threat, as 78% of The Gambia is less than 20 metres above sea level. A one-metre rise will impact the majority of The Gambia’s mangrove forest, a third of its swampy areas, a fifth of its rice fields, and eliminate most coastal communities including the capital, Banjul. The Gambia also suffers from encroaching desertification and deforestation, the latter at a rate of 6% per year. Within this challenging context, graduates are expected to be imaginative and resourceful bearers of practical, sustainable and culturally appropriate knowledge and skills. Those values are reflected in the BCBD itself: a co-op program, its building a repurposed vocational school, its “virtual library” composed of loan agreements with friendly institutions. Inspired by the design-build studios at Dalhousie, three-quarters of the curriculum is delivered through hands-on studios, workshops and on-site investiga-
Gambian students in the Bachelor of Community
Building and Design program engage in a design-build studio. The program is taught in part by Dalhousie faculty and graduates.
tions throughout the Greater Banjul Area. The program’s core faculty—Director Bertha Johnson along with colleagues Rohey Jobe and Isidore Jatta—were recruited in The Gambia and completed their qualifications at Dalhousie’s Faculty of Architecture and Planning. Before leaving Nova Scotia, all three worked with Dalhousie professors to design the BCBD program. They spent the next year in The Gambia recruiting students, renovating an existing building, and preparing courses. The program graduated its first class in 2010, and has since seen four more classes and a total of 75 graduates. A few of the program’s participants enter straight from secondary school, but most are mature students on scholarship from a diversity of employers including local governments, federal ministries, and the private sector. This fits with the objective of the program: to build capacity for the planning, design and construction sectors across the Gambian economy, so that the country improves in its efforts to build environmentally sustainable, healthy and culturally responsible communities and buildings. Dalhousie continues an active involvement with the BCBD. Dean Christine Macy serves as an external examiner to the program, and visits each year to review student work and strategize with the Director and her staff. Recently, Canada’s International Youth Intern Program enabled nine graduates to spend five-month-long teaching and research stints with the BCBD. The BCBD’s successful establishment and its significant impact testify to the commitment of its faculty and the ambition of its students. Dalhousie is privileged to have helped found the program, and to play an ongoing role as witness to its remarkable development. Grant Wanzel, MRAIC, is a Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Architecture and Planning,
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