Canadian Architect April 2015 by IQ Business Media

L'OEUF S.E.N.C.

Raymond Chow

Residential Approaches 7 News

5468796 Architecture to debut a project in Toronto; Monica Adair receives 2015 RAIC Young Architect Award.

29 Technical

The rigorous Passivhaus standard for energy conservation has firmly taken root in Canada, according to Stephanie Calvet.

33 Calendar

Material Future: The Architecture of Herzog & de Meuron and the Vancouver Art Gallery at the Vancouver Art Gallery; Architecture+Design Film Festival at the Cinemathèque in Winnipeg.

34 Looking Back

12 House in Four Fields L’OEUF Architects take a broad approach to sustainability in their design of a rural villa in Quebec’s Rouge River Valley. TEXT David Theodore

Ingrid Leman Stefanovic details the history of the “White House of the Annex,” the former home of Canadian Architect founding editor Jim Murray.

19 Street House A renovation to a stately Edwardian home in Toronto’s Rosedale neighbourhood presents a restrained but beautifully stark contrast to the original structure. TEXT Gabriel Fain

24 Gambier Island House

Jean-Philippe Delage

A definitively Modernist vacation home on the largest of BC’s Gulf Islands maximizes engagement with the spectacular West Coast landscape. TEXT Courtney Healey

COVER The House in Four Fields in rural La Conception, Quebec by L’OEUF s.e.n.c. Photograph by L’OEUF s.e.n.c.

v.60 n.04 The National Review of Design and Practice/The Journal of Record of Architecture Canada | RAIC

canadian architect

april 2015

B.C. Binning FOnDS, CanaDian CenTRe FOR aRChiTeCTURe, mOnTReal, giFT OF JeSSie Binning

canadian architect 04/15

viEwPOiNT

aBOVE artist B.C. Binning and his wife Jessie at their home in west vancouver.

PLOTS OF GOLD In 1939, artist Bertram Charles (B.C.) Binning began building himself an odd house in West Vancouver. Located along a quiet residential street, the one-storey bungalow is nestled into the hillside, down a garden lane. Adjacent to the entry, a colourful mural by Binning—who was known for his abstract paintings—covers an entire wall. Binning changed up the mural several times; its last incarnation is a supergraphic of yellow chevrons that wrap around a corner. Inside, things get really interesting. There’s a curved hallway that bisects the house and doubles as a gallery space. It’s capped by another floor-to-ceiling mural, filled with exuberant geometric shapes. There’s a living room with patio doors that slide open to an ocean view, where Binning and his wife Jessie entertained leading artists and architects: Lawren Harris, Gordon Smith, Jack Shadbolt, Richard Neutra. The young Ron Thom took painting classes from Binning. There are builtin drawers and nooks everywhere for displaying sculptures, books and found objects. Most strikingly, there are few square corners to the house. Like in Binning’s paintings, every room has a subtly irregular geometry, by design. Walls taper in, ceilings and windows are cut on a slant. As critic Adele Weder notes, this creates a series of forced perspectives as you move through the house—and an uncanny sense that the house is a living, moving entity. Since Jessie Binning died in 2007 at age 101, the Binning House has been embroiled in a legal battle, tossed between being preserved for public use or sold on the private market, with the proceeds going to a memorial fellowship fund. If not taken up by the District of West Vancouver or another prospective guardian, the Binning House will be sold to the highest bidder. While the house is a designated National Historic Site and is listed on the West Vancouver Community Heritage Register, this pro-

vides slim legal protection for the property in the long run. If sold privately, the eventual owner of the house may be a Binning aficionado, who would lovingly restore the house as a collector’s piece and allow public and scholarly access as per Jessie Binning’s wishes. Or it might as easily be an investor who initially respects the District’s edict against alteration or demolition, but allows “demolition by neglect” and who eventually pressures a future district council to rescind its current restrictive bylaws on this particular house to allow replacement by a larger residence. Buyers from abroad have been known to scorn heritage homes—even restored ones, dismissed with the catchphrase “old lady, new clothes.” It’s a tenuous twin prospect faced by dozens of Modernist residences around Vancouver. After the Second World War, land was still affordable in West Vancouver. Artists, architects, and their middle-class clients bought up property. The mild climate and stunning views invited experimentation. The resulting homes boast unique geometries, stylistic daring, and intense relationships between indoors and out. Arthur Erickson, Ron Thom, Dan White and a host of other designers built their careers from residential commissions along the area’s ocean-view streets. Now, those same sites are what Leslie Van Duzer, Director of the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, calls “plots of gold.” She’s spearheaded a series of monographs on disappearing West Coast Modern gems, including the Binning House and several other endangered houses. The first looks at a hexagon-based design crafted by architect Judah Shumiatcher—a design reminiscent of Ron Thom’s Carmichael House. It was demolished in 2013. Legislation may help preserve the West Coast Modern legacy. Under its Heritage Revitalization Agreement policy, the City of Vancouver and its surrounding districts can allocate additional density to a site, in exchange for the owner’s agreement to restore a heritage structure. What’s more, in an as-yet-untested variation, Member a of residential owner can sever his lot in two, and sell off the second parcel. In the case of the Binning House, might the garage at the top of the property be redeveloped as a small residence with stunning views—and the proceeds of the sale used to restore the historic house? It’s a possibility worth exploring—and a legal tool worth testing—as many more West Coast Modern homes face similarly fraught times, where their very survival will be on the line.

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Winnipeg-based 5468796 Architecture has teamed up with Symmetry Developments, Engine Developments and Fortress Real Developments, as well as local architecture and interiors firm DK Studio to design the Tree House, a new low-rise townhome development in Toronto’s Birch Cliff neighbourhood. Instead of a large residential building, the Tree House will be comprised of three separate blocks, with 39 townhomes in total, staggered to follow the property lines and maximize green space. The project features well-considered indoor and outdoor areas, with exterior access in the form of private rooftop terraces, gardens and shared courtyards, providing open communal space for residents and encouraging social engagement. The two- and three-bedroom units will range in size from 935 square feet to 1,325 square feet. Their rhythmic, staggered geometry of stacked cells maximizes access to natural light, ventilation and views towards landscaped courtyards, while at the same time ensuring that residents have the desired level of shelter and privacy. The upper floors and rooftops of the buildings will feature sun-filled terraces and treetop views of their surroundings, while the lower floors have direct access to private patios and gardens at grade. The Tree House will be Winnipegbased 5468796’s first opportunity to bring their signature of practical, intelligent and progressive architecture to Toronto. Completion is slated for Spring 2016. Mosaic Centre opens in edmonton.

SYMMETRY DEVELOPMENTS

5468796 Architecture debut in Toronto with the Tree House development.

ABOVe The Tree House low-rise residential development by 5468796 Architecture in Toronto’s Birch Cliff neighbourhood promises maximum engagement with outdoor spaces in the form of courtyards, patios, gardens and rooftop terraces.

elevator and a series of bridges and stairs. A heavy timber framing system comprises the primary floor and roof framing. Exposed solid wood flooring is supported on a series of glulam beams and columns on the second and third floors, and is topped with concrete. At the north, south and east perimeter of the third storey, an exposed heavy timber truss supports the cantilevered floor on the east side. Photovoltaic panels cover the majority of the roof, reinforced by a secondary steel frame. In December 2014, the Mosaic Centre won a sustainability award from Alberta Construction magazine. http://themosaiccentre.ca

Designed by Manasc Isaac Architects, the Mosaic Centre for Conscious Community and Commerce in the emerging Edmonton community of Summerside houses the Mosaic Family of Companies, a unique and progressive organization with a strong commitment to doing business better. Staff are provided with important amenities including a child-care facility, wellness centre, lounges, a games room and even a restaurant. Raising the bar on the sustainability front by targeting LEED® Platinum, the project strives to become the very first Living Building Challenge Petal-certified building in Alberta, and is also hoping to become the first net-zero commercial building in the province. Providing a more integrated life between commerce and community, the building is partly a two-storey structure and partly a three-storey structure, interconnected by an

AWARDs KAnVA receives 2015 RAIC emerging Architectural practice Award.

A Montreal-based multidisciplinary and award-winning firm that experiments with materials and building methods is the recipient of the 2015 Emerging Architectural Practice Award given by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Founded in 2003, KANVA is a 10-person collective and an experimental laboratory for the advancement of building practices and material innovation. At the Edison Residence, a student residence in a heritage district, KANVA experimented with photo engraving on concrete to create an unusual façade. It features stills from Thomas Edison’s

1901 film Montreal Fire Department on Runners, alluding to the 19th-century building that formerly occupied the site before it burnt down in a fire. Entre les Rangs, the firm’s winning entry for the 2013 Luminothérapie international competition in Montreal, referenced Quebec’s wheat fields in an installation comprised of thousands of flexible stems topped with white reflectors. Recently, KANVA won the 2015 Warming Huts competition in Winnipeg with an installation called Recycling Words, and was also co-winner of the international Space for Life architecture competition to reimagine the Montreal Biodome, a museum of the environment. The Emerging Architectural Practice Award recognizes the principals of an emerging architectural practice that has consistently produced distinguished architecture. The award recognizes the quality of built work, service to clients, innovations in practice and public recognition. Monica Adair named recipient of 2015 RAIC Young Architect Award.

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada has named Monica Adair the recipient of its 2015 Young Architect Award. Adair, 37, cofounder of Acre Architects in Saint John, New Brunswick, is a leader in her province in design, education and community service. Her teaching posts include a Gerald Sheff Visiting Professorship in Architecture at McGill University in Montreal, where she received the

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News

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News Gerald Sheff Award for part-time teaching. She has also served on the New Brunswick Arts Board and currently sits on the Saint John Waterfront Development Board. In choosing Adair, the five-member jury cited the consistent quality of her project work, commitment to her hometown and her work in the arts community. They also recognized her teaching, advocacy, and contribution to regional collaboration in Atlantic Canada. The RAIC Young Architect Award recognizes an architect 40 years or younger for excellence in design, leadership, and service to the profession. The award is intended to inspire other young architects to become licensed and to strive for excellence in their work. Adair holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Toronto. Prior to starting Acre Architects in 2010, she worked at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York City and Plant Architect Inc. in Toronto. Most recently, she was at Murdock and Boyd Architects in Saint John where she was project architect for a hockey arena that won the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence in Architecture in New Brunswick. Acre Architects, which has seven full-time employees, took part in Migrating Landscapes, Canada’s entry to the 2012 Venice Biennale in Architecture. The firm’s projects range from houses to public installations, and larger projects like Picaroon’s Brewery in Fredericton. They are expanding beyond Canada with the Hekla Hotel in Brooklyn, New York. Omer Arbel receives 2015 RAIC Allied Arts Medal.

A Vancouver industrial designer whose artistic lighting designs illuminate buildings worldwide will receive the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Allied Arts Medal for 2015. Omer Arbel is the principal of Omer Arbel Office, which produces designs for buildings, objects, furniture, lighting and electrical accessories. He is also cofounder and creative director of Bocci, a design and manufacturing firm whose portfolio ranges from light installations to furniture and electrical sockets. The RAIC bestows the Allied Arts Medal every two years, honouring a Canadian artist or designer for outstanding achievement for artwork created to be integrated with architecture. Any medium allied to architecture is eligible, including murals, sculpture, glass, fabric, lighting, furniture, water, sound, site-specific installation, video, digital, and industrial and landscape design. Arbel’s submission focused on lighting installations, including those at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. In 2013, an installation, known as 28.280 filled the 30-metre vertical space of the mu-

seum’s grand entrance with a cascade of 280 glass 28-series pendants. Arbel graduated from the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in 2000. After apprenticeships with Miralles Tagliabue in Spain, and Patkau Architects and Busby + Associates Architects in Vancouver, he founded his practice in 2005, the same year he launched Bocci. Winners of the 2015 OAA Awards announced.

Thirty-one winners were selected in 10 categories in the 2015 Ontario Association of Architects Awards. Ten projects were honoured in the Design Excellence category: Echo House in Toronto by Paul Raff Studio Incorporated Architect; Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy in Toronto by Kohn Shnier Architects; Goldring Centre for High-Performance Sport in Toronto by Patkau Architects Inc. and MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects Ltd.; Grotto Sauna in Georgian Bay by PARTISANS Architects; Isabel Bader Centre for Performing Arts in Kingston by N45 Architecture Inc. in association with Snøhetta Architecture Design Planning PC; Ismaili Centre in Toronto by Moriyama & Teshima Architects in association with Charles Correa Associates; Lake Cottage in Bolsover by UUfie Inc.; Mariinsky II in St. Petersburg, Russia by Diamond and Schmitt Architects Incorporated; Surrey Civic Centre in Surrey, BC by Moriyama & Teshima Architects in joint venture with Kasian Architecture Ontario Incorporated; and Vale Living with Lakes Centre in Sudbury by J.L. Richards & Associates Limited, Consulting Engineers & Architects in association with Perkins+Will Canada Inc. Ten projects received Honourable Mentions for Design Excellence: 14 Division in Toronto by Stantec Architecture Ltd.; Annex Residence in Toronto by Audax Architecture Inc.; Deer Clan Longhouse in Crawford Lake by Brook McIlroy Inc.; Fort York Branch Library in Toronto by KPMB Architects; Fort York National Historic Site Visitor Centre in Toronto by Patkau Architects Inc. and Kearns Mancini Architects Inc.; Gold Corp Innovation Suite, Lassonde Mining Building in Toronto by Baird Sampson Neuert Architects Inc.; Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery in Sarnia by Kongats Architects; Maison Glissade in the Blue Mountains by Atelier Kastelic Buffey Inc.; Pit Stop Transit Facility in Oakville by Bortolotto Design Architect Inc.; and the Port Hope House in Port Hope by Teeple Architects Inc. In the Concepts category, PRISMATICA by RAW design inc. and The Hole Idea—Now in Technicolour by Weiss Architecture & Urbanism Limited took the top spots, while Dancing Cubbies by Denegri Bessai

Studio won an Honourable Mention. The Sustainable Design Excellence Award was captured by the Vale Living with Lakes Centre in Sudbury by J.L. Richards & Associates Limited Consulting Engineers & Architects in association with Perkins+Will Canada Inc., while Belleville City Hall by William R. White Architect Limited won the Landmark Designation. PARTISANS Architects was named the Best Emerging Practice, and Istvan Lendvay won the G. Randy Roberts Service Award, which recognizes members of the OAA for extraordinary service to its members. Bruce Kuwabara received the Lifetime Design Achievement Award, which honours members for a career-long contribution to Architectural Design Excellence, and Leslie M. Klein won the Order of da Vinci, which is presented to persons who have made a significant and meaningful contribution to the profession of architecture. Additional awards to be announced at the OAA Awards ceremony in May include the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Design Excellence in Architecture, the Michael V. and Wanda Plachta Award, and the People’s Choice Award. www.oaa.on.ca

Heritage Toronto Awards issues call for nominations.

Nominations for the Heritage Toronto Awards are eligible in five categories: William Greer Architectural Conservation and Craftsmanship—honouring building owners for excellence in the restoration or adaptive reuse of a heritage building; Book—salutes non-fiction books about Toronto’s archaeological, built, cultural or natural heritage published in 2014; Community Heritage—a cash prize award recognizes volunteer-based organizations which promote, protect or preserve Toronto’s archaeological, built, cultural or natural heritage; Short Publication—celebrates print and online articles and booklets about Toronto’s archaeological, built, cultural or natural heritage published in 2014; and Media—recognizing production projects such as films, videos, websites and apps about Toronto’s archaeological, built, cultural or natural heritage. The deadline for nominations is May 15, 2015 at 4:59pm. http://heritagetoronto.org

Competitions Middle City Passages Toronto.

Middle City Passages Toronto is a dual-phased international competition that is part of the (continued on page 32)

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Rural Retreat Stringent sustainability standards are achieved in this 21st-century idyll in Quebec’s Rouge River Valley. House in Four Fields, La Conception, Quebec L’OEUF s.e.n.c. Text David Theodore Photos L’OEUF s.e.n.c. unless otherwise noted Project

Architect

Architect Danny Pearl of L’OEUF Architects took me to see the House in Four Fields in the winter. With project manager Simon Jones at the wheel, we turned off the highway about two hours north of Montreal near the resort town of Mont Tremblant. The famous ski hills were veiled behind clouds; the namesake fields were deep in snow that also burdened the trees lining the lazy oxbows of the Rivière Rouge. The house came slowly into view as a scrim of colours suspended in the landscape: the grey of recuperated cedar boards used as vertical cladding, recalling the weath-

structural diagram

ered planks of an old barn; the variegated blues and browns of a low wall made from mer de Champlain stone; the Payne’s grey of the sky; the blues and greens shaping stands of conifers. Out front near the visitors’ parking, a young orchard hid under scratchy burlap protection, as if a final burst of colour sat coiled waiting for spring. Isn’t this exactly what a modern house in the country is supposed to look like? Pearl designed this 3,720-square-foot house for Stephen and Claudine Bronfman. It is a holiday home, but it is also a rural villa. Stephen Bron-

Above left

Reclaimed timbers and local stone clad the elegant house, located in the Quebec countryside within sight of Mont Tremblant. An existing north-south fence served as a primary axis for situating the house, which is oriented to maximize passive solar gain.

Above right

fman is a foodie and an environmental activist, so the house surveys a small domain dedicated to organic agriculture. The land forms an unusual scale of rural living, bigger than a garden plot but not quite a full-fledged farm. The same emphasis on local products that defines contemporary approaches to food characterizes the architecture of the house. The house is thus not rustic, nor perhaps, in the end, Modernist, for it neither frames views—the cinematic picture box—nor does it offer a promenade architecturale. All the same, the design aspires to the merging of inside and out we admire in classic houses such as Fallingwater, the Gropius House in Massachusetts, and the Farnsworth House, a juxtaposition continued in recent Canadian examples from the likes of Pierre Thibault, FIRAC and Brian MacKay-Lyons, FRAIC. It is a stunning reminder that Modernist design can work better in the countryside than in the city. The house showcases ecological design. Low-tech passive strategies combine with high-tech engineering and products in a “complex” mix—

Pearl’s term—mastered by a calm, light-filled interior. The design features reclaimed building materials and is built targeting the Passivhaus standard, which focuses on energy efficiency. The idea is to make the house so airtight (0.6 ACH at 50 pa) that very little air gets in or out except through the air exchange system. The prefabricated walls and roof are superinsulated, and careful construction details eliminate all thermal bridges. The architects also incorporated triple-glazed windows manufactured in Germany and programmable blinds. The extra capital cost of components and systems should be offset by energy savings. The principal exception to the Passivhaus standard occurs because of the kitchen fan, which Pearl decided to vent to the exterior. “Stephen and Claudine entertain and cook a lot,” says Pearl, “So we preferred to skip the certification and give the clients a house that suits them.” On the outside, the house has the simplicity of a child’s drawing, featuring a gable, pitched zinc roof, and square windows. Architects from

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Marie-France coallier/Montreal Gazette

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L’OEUF, including Pearl, Jones, Matthieu Schleiss and Morgan Carter worked with engineer Frédéric Génest to conceive minimal, near-invisible construction details such as a concealed gutter and thin metal window surrounds. One reason for this simplicity is that the Passivhaus program asks designers to use software to achieve a low surface-area-to-volume configuration and to assure optimal passive ventilation and solar gain throughout the four seasons. The house’s shape also derives, however,

200΄

from careful observation of the nearby rural vernacular of barns and sheds. The architects designed two minimal sheds as well, one for gardening and one for a photogenic herd of longhaired Highland cattle. The animals are kept from the house by a stone ha-ha designed by landscape architects NIP paysage. Due to budget cuts, there is no swimming pool— although the scheme that won a 2012 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence featured one. In its place, there is a hot tub that holds twelve.

Marie-France Coallier/Montreal Gazette

The house includes a carport to the west and a greenhouse to the east. Above, clockwise from top The interior features a post-and-beam structure made from reclaimed timbers; a view of the greenhouse and stone wall; a sheltered courtyard faces out towards the fields.

Opposite

A stone wall anchors the house’s efficient and open interior floor plan. The northern edge of the house aligns with an existing post-and-wire fence. A new wooden breezeway marks the southern edge. The wall cuts across them both, designating a public entrance on one side, and on the other providing an edge for a series of activities inside and out. There’s a carport (the client agreed to dispense with a garage), the family entrance and a mudroom, and a chef ’s kitchen. A series of sliding doors leads

across the breezeway to a screened porch and a greenhouse. The ground floor also contains a living room and a double-height dining area. The basement hides laundry machines and extra refrigerators (they do like to entertain!) as well as the mechanical room. Upstairs, reached by a glass, steel and wood stair, the pitched roof shelters a family room, a master bedroom and bath, and the children’s bedroom and bath. The family enjoys wood fires, so a chimney stack joins a high-efficiency

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4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

ABOVE, left to right An exterior walkway separates the main house from the greenhouse and leads out towards the pasture; a cowshed on the property was also designed by L’OEUF, in an economical vernacular style.

living-room fireplace with a second one in the master bedroom. Carter worked with the Bronfman’s interior designer Cynthia Adelson of Adelson Design to create furniture and built-in millwork made from reclaimed red oak throughout. A post-and-beam structure designed with consultants Jan Vrana and Jean-Marc Weill holds up the house. The timber pieces share the same profile: about six inches square. The profiles are nominal, however, because the structure is made from pitted and cracked reclaimed wood full of holes, cuts, dents, dowels, notches, hatchet marks and nails. The posts are kept inches away from the thick walls, which means that—unusually for Quebec—it is a domestic environment filled with columns. Many people in Quebec live in post-and-beam loft buildings; however, the posts are usually embedded in structural walls. The reclaimed wood eloquently speaks of the fragility of age, letting the architecture tell a story. The effect is most pronounced on the east façade, where a sleek glass corner reveals a pitted and cracked red oak post. It is difficult to understand exactly how the Bronfmans will live here

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over long periods of time. This is definitely not a suburban house. For instance, they have four children who here must share one bedroom filled with bunk beds and ladders. In addition, the family will have to learn small but important new routines, as the building’s “complex” environmental systems, while robust, are affected by the casual actions of everyday life: opening windows, closing blinds, or using a fireplace. Pearl’s team has installed a set of sensors that will collect data on the house’s operation over the next year or so, allowing them to fine-tune the equipment. So far, it seems to work well. As Jones explains, the problem this winter has been how to cool down the house, not how to heat it. Pearl, however, has his eye on a bigger prize. He argues that low energy consumption can be a goal for all kinds of housing. A project like this gives his firm tools that can be used in broader environmental and social movements. To that end, L’OEUF has several projects that move towards Passivhaus standards, including subsidized urban community housing. Overall, the House in Four Fields presents a new kind of commission, neither vacation home nor second house. The house is an unusual, 21st-

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ABOVE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT The house and landscape were designed in tandem; window frames and the roof gutter are carefully recessed; a detail of the roof trusses; an upper mezzanine accesses the bedrooms; a detail of the steel, glass and wood stair.

century hybrid retreat for entertaining and farming. I wonder if the Bronfmans could be persuaded to rent out the home to the combination of foodie and design addict that the house is meant to inspire? Or another thought: since Stephen Bronfman is a serious collector of contemporary art, could the house be deployed as a stunning venue for themed exhibitions? Idle speculation, perhaps, but the closest parallels to the project are the rental retreats commissioned by Alain de Botton in Britain under the Living Architecture program. The aim in both cases is the same. This is good architecture built with good intentions. David Theodore, MRAIC, is Assistant Professor at the McGill University School of Architecture.

CLIENT STEPHEN AND CLAUDINE BRONFMAN | ARCHITECT TEAM DANNY PEARL, SIMON JONES, MORGAN CARTER, MATTHIEU SCHLEISS, DIETER TOEWS, BERNARD OLIVIER, JESSICA DAN, NATHALIE HEROUX, HUGUES DALY, SUDHIR SURI, ARADHANA GUPTA, RENÉ CHEVALIER, JEAN-FRANÇOIS ST. ONGE, CECILIA CHEN, IVAN SYLVA, CHANTAL CORNU | LANDSCAPE NIP PAYSAGE | STRUCTURAL JAN VRANA AND JEAN-MARC WEILL | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL PAGEAU MOREL ET ASSOCIÉS INC. | INTERIORS ADELSON DESIGN | ORGANIC FARMING RUNAWAY CREEK FARM | PROJECT MANAGER/CONTRACTOR OMNIA TECHNOLOGIES INC. | PASSIVHAUS MALCOLM ISAACS | POST-AND-BEAM STRUCTURE JIM IREDALE | ROOFING AND METALWORK VERDUN ROOFING | LIGHTING LIGHTEMOTION | CIVIL MARCHAND HOULE ET ASSOCIÉS | AREA 3,720 FT 2 | BUDGET WITHHELD | COMPLETION JULY 2014

A Slice of History A Toronto heritage home is remade into a contemporary classic. Street House, Toronto, Ontario gh3 Text Gabriel Fain Photos Raymond Chow Project

Architect

The Street House is located in South Rosedale, one of Toronto’s oldest and most picturesque neighbourhoods. Here, the rich diversity of the city’s architectural history has largely remained intact, making visible incremental development dating back to the early 1800s. Meandering streets are lined with some of the city’s finest examples of Victorian, Georgian and English Cottage architecture. Built around 1908 by William Alexander Langton, the Street House on McKenzie Avenue is a stately Edwardian-style house. Although Langton was more of an academic architect than some of his better-known contemporaries such as Edmund Burke and E.J. Lennox, the original house design is noteworthy for its simple massing and restrained detailing. The exterior is quiet and unassuming, while the original interior plan speaks of the various social hierarchies in place in the early 20th century. A 2013 renovation led by Pat Hanson of the firm gh3 is about editing this history as much as it is about creating new domestic experiences geared towards contemporary life. The recalibration of the residence for a couple with three children and an impressive collection of Canadian art was not an easy task. Listed as a Class B Heritage Building, the city severely restricts any

ABOVE The gh3 architectural team opened up the back of a century-old Toronto house to face a new courtyard.

intervention to the front of the house, while any addition to the back must not be visible from the street. Working almost entirely within the existing footprint was also a requirement set out in local zoning by-laws; several minor variances were obtained to gain additional ground-level space and connect the house to a detached rear garage. Within these constraints, gh3’s work might have been a straightforward renovation project. Instead, they delivered a subtle yet complex, conceptually driven work: a project that’s minimalist rather than minimal. If the Edwardian plan is about the strict division of spaces between servants and served, then the new scheme is about carving out open spaces and stitching them together into a coherent whole. This is made possible through a reformulated plan that provides longer, wider paths through the house. The interior spaces are now experienced as a kind of promenade both in plan and section, through newly created vertical openings. The choreography of one’s movement begins at the street, with a generous path leading to the house. Once inside, a gallery-like foyer serves to reorient the house on a central axis. What was previously a modest corridor entry sequence has now become a double-height space filled with light and air. This foyer sets up an in-

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Openings throughout the house are treated like framed artwork; a sculptural staircase curves up to the second-floor bedrooms; the stair is a stunning focal point in the enlarged foyer. ABOVE The generous kitchen replaces a formerly cramped service area.

Opposite, clockwise from top

tuitive flow between all the public rooms of the ground floor. At the far end of the foyer, a well-proportioned spiral staircase serves to anchor the composition of the space, while creating a dynamic connection to the more private upper levels. The L-shaped plan of the house functions as a found condition from which the project’s primary intervention is made. The big move: giving the house a new relationship to its own backyard. This involved slicing the existing back wall and lowering the floor level of the house to allow for a combined glass-enclosed gallery and kitchen space. What was originally the segregated servants’ quarters of the house is now an open space dedicated to the rituals of family life. The long marble kitchen island, for example, serves as a gathering space with views towards the old brick back wall of the house and

a newly formed courtyard. This allows both the gallery and the kitchen to feel part of this courtyard space. The visual effect is enhanced by an uncompromising bare concrete floor which extends outside, blurring the line between interior and exterior. This conceptual clarity is a unique aspect of gh3’s design vocabulary. The practice is committed to an ideal of contemporary life free of visual noise. In keeping with this approach, the tectonics of construction is rendered almost invisible in the Street House. A huge steel beam inserted between the ground and second floor at the kitchen is virtually undetectable, but allows for a column-free interior—and visually unobstructed corner at the floor-toceiling glazing. Absent are many of the tropes common in renovation projects around To-

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A minimal soffit detail connects the old and new portions of the house; the renovation retains the patina of the existing brick walls. A view from the kitchen towards the new courtyard and interior gallery; mouldings and other details were carefullly restored in the front living area.

Above, left to right

Opposite, top to bottom

ronto. There’s no articulated millwork, superfluous framing of windows and views, or collagist approach to the application of materials. Rather, space is defined by plain surfaces with seamless interfaces between different materials. The sharp aluminum fins at certain thresholds and the minimal reveals between stairs and walls are clear examples of this strategy. A monochromatic palette of concrete, glass, Corian and marble is a recurring motif in gh3’s work—here used to provide a neutral backdrop for some of the more textured heritage elements. This allows the history of the house to be both respected and preserved.

For instance, take the existing bare brick wall that defines the gallery space. It’s made to look like an archaeological find, with traces of previous floor levels, door openings and joist pockets. Heritage details such as the crown moulding and wainscoting are strategically reapplied in the more formal rooms—not just for nostalgic purposes, but to lend a sense of character and finer scale to those spaces. Another exemplary detail is on the exterior, where brick was removed from the existing wall to accommodate the new glass incision. The same brick is reused as a thin soffit veneer to fill the cut where a servants’ stair was once located.

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The Street House renovation is consistent with much of gh3’s recent work. Although many of their designs may appear materially reductive, here it is not done simply for stylistic reasons, but rather to bring attention to a rich historical narrative. While Toronto has seen every response to heritage preservation—from the jarring to the tasteful—this project demonstrates both a confident and skilled approach to an extensive renovation. It is exemplary among projects of this scale since it proves that a sleek contemporary intervention can work in harmony with an Edwardian house designed over 100 years ago. For these reasons, the Street House is a pro-

ject that continues to build on Rosedale’s history of showcasing Toronto’s finest residential architecture. Gabriel Fain, MRAIC, is an intern architect working in Toronto.

Client withheld Architect Team Pat Hanson, Diana Gerrard, Louise Calvin, Raymond

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1 playroom 2 media room 3 mechanical 4 wine cellar 5 storage 6 washroom 7 entrance 8 foyer 9 living room 10 dining room 11 kitchen 12 gallery 13 powder room 14 garage 15 master bedroom 16 bedroom 17 laundry room

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Down by the water A weekend home on an island retreat exudes west coast modern style, blending Modernist forms with local materials. Gambier Island House, Gambier Island, British Columbia Project commenced by McFarlane Green Biggar Architecture + Design; completed by Office of McFarlane Biggar Architects + Designers Text Courtney Healey Photos Jean Philippe Delage Project

Architect

As long as there have been cities there has been the desire to escape them—to get away from it all. Nowhere does this escape beckon so insistently than Vancouver, where mountains and ocean form the backdrop to daily urban life. And perhaps no destination offers up remote seclusion in such close proximity to the city than Gambier Island, the largest of the Gulf Islands. On a clear day, it can be reached by boat in less than 45 minutes from downtown. Despite its immediacy, Gambier remains sparsely populated, wildly forested, and largely unserviced. To build on Gambier presents a unique set of challenges: materials must be brought in on a barge, construction takes place only in summer months. Building a house often happens over several seasons, which can make it difficult to achieve a consistently high level of craftsmanship. But surmounting these practical challenges offers the reward of inhabiting that rarefied space between cliff face and water’s edge. Gambier Island House, commenced by McFarlane Green Biggar and completed by successor firm Office of McFarlane Biggar (OMB), is located in Brigade Bay on the remote eastern edge of the island. After a short

Opposite Perched on a cliff edge, the house was constructed with minimal disturbance to the rock below. ABOVE, top to bottom A deck extends out from the bedroom area on the upper floor; the family enjoys an expansive view of ocean, forest and mountain from their island retreat.

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1 mudroom 2 flex room 3 patio 4 master bedroom 5 bathroom 6 kids’ bedroom 7 guest bedroom 8 kitchen 9 dining 10 living 11 rooftop patio

journey over the choppy waves of Howe Sound, the house reveals itself first from the water. Large rectangular panes of glass are held between thin bands of white steel and reflect the surrounding landscape. On first glance, the house bears an uncanny resemblance to the Farnsworth House, that seminal example of the International Style. The house might be more accurately described as a pair of Farnsworths stacked perpendicularly on top of one another. Rather than hovering above a flat open meadow, the assemblage cantilevers from the side of a boulder and steps down toward the water. In this moment, the Gambier Island House simultaneously evokes that other icon of early North American Modernism, Fallingwater. OMB overwrites these references with concerns for site specificity and regional context, placing the Gambier Island House squarely within a long tradition of West Coast Modern architecture. Approaching overland from the neighbourhood dock, the house presents a decidedly different face and sheds some of its High Modern associations. A slim grey bar of fibre-cement panel and ribbon window emerges downslope from the gravel access road. Wide wooden steps terrace down to a glazed front door that gives a glimpse through the house to the water. This narrow view is held between rough bevelled cedar on one side and stone tile on the other, perhaps a nod to the forest and the moss-covered hillside that bookend the elevation. The ubiquitous reg-

View of forest and ground are framed in the two-storey stairway, while white walls capture the flicker of sunlight through the foliage. The master bedroom catilevers out over the entryway, while floor-to-ceiling windows and glass guards allow for unobstructed views.

Opposite ABOVE

ional landscape of water, forest and mountains is symbolized in the interior and exterior materiality, where glass, wood and stone are employed throughout in long homogeneous planes. Full-height windows float between smooth cedar floors and ceilings; large-scale grey-green tile and flat white surfaces wrap the stair and walls. The 1,700-square-foot house is positioned as close to the water as possible, leaving the majority of the narrow 7.4-acre site densely forested. The house presses itself into an imaginary corner created by two intersecting setback lines: the 50-metre-high tide setback to the east and a 9-metre setback from a protected watershed to the north. Once the location was decided, OMB made short work of the simple domestic cabin program. Kitchen, living area and a small office comprise the first level with bedrooms, bathroom and a large terrace on the second. The plan is logical and efficient; it lays out a series of modestly sized spaces that balance outward views with internal family-focused living. The provision of open and enclosed spaces gives the clients, a professional couple with two small children, space for both the togetherness and alone time they need. Upper-level rooms are tucked along the back of the house, giving over

the view to a wide corridor that opens onto a large sunny terrace overlooking the water. The choice to use a mix of single and double glazing (given the mild climate and the cabin’s seasonal use) recalls the dematerializing effect found in many Mid-Century Modern houses, where large panes of glass promise an unmediated relationship to the outdoors. Full-height operable windows and sliding doors throughout allow for plenty of natural ventilation and intimate views into the surrounding landscape. The early decision to minimize blasting and concrete footings, mixed with a desire for water views, means that the house retains a tenuous relationship to the natural ground. Cantilevered floor plates project into the sky and tree canopy, while disembarking at the base of the exterior stair feels like taking that tentative first step off a jet bridge or gangway onto firm dry land. There is just time to regain one’s footing before alighting on the next flight of stairs, down to a private inlet beach strewn with log debris let loose from passing booms. The view on the ascent from the beach is of the house’s undercarriage, a rugged blasted rockscape intended for future kayak storage. OMB is not generally known for its residential work, but has been

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ABOVE A compact kitchen and dining area provides a comfortable hub in which family can gather. RIGHT The living area offers generous views of the breathtaking natural landscape.

widely recognized for award-winning civic and institutional projects, commercial interiors and airports. While an airport and a cabin may seem like strange bedfellows, it is possible to trace similarities through the officeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention to site, solar orientation, passive design strategies and the blend of modern forms and regional materials. The Gambier Island House fulfills the modern desire for escape, and by offering its own take on Modernist traditions, displays a timeless quality. What could be more modern, ultimately, than staking out a sliver of wilderness to establish a new ground for contemporary domestic bliss? Courtney Healey is the Director of Lodge Think Tank and an intern architect at PUBLIC in Vancouver.

Towards a Passive Architecture TEXt

Stephanie Calvet

Residential designers across Canada are stretching to reach the low-energy metrics of the rigorous Passivhaus standard. Now, the standard is also stretching out to reach them.

wood roof framing wood fibreboard i-joist roof joists rockwool insulation cement-board finish vertical wood strapping wood fibreboard structural wood framing cellulose insulation osb air barrier service space wood framing i-joist wood flooring framing

rockwool insulation

triple-glazed windows

wood service space i-joist floor joists cellulose insulation wood deck

terrell wong

Wood fibreboard

structural concrete wall

The seeds of the modern passive-house industry were sown in Regina in 1977. Prompted by the oil crisis, a team of researchers constructed the visionary Saskatchewan Conservation House—a home three times more energy-efficient than the average contemporary home, with no furnace. Unfortunately, the burgeoning Canadian interest in advanced building was curtailed after an abrupt drop in energy prices. A decade later in Germany, the rigorous voluntary Passivhaus standard was born. In 1990, a group of designers built a row of townhouses as a proof of concept. The row homes encapsulated the standard’s core principles: super-insulation, extreme airtightness and use of passive solar techniques. Passivhaus mandates annual energy limits for heating and cooling (each 15 kWh per square metre of floor area), total energy consumption (120 kWh per square metre of floor area) and air leakage (0.6 air changes per hour). The resulting buildings use up to 90% less energy than conventional ones and require little or no additional heating, beyond that supplied by recycled air, occupants’ body heat, lighting and appliances. How specifically a building meets these performance requirements is up to its designers. There are now estimated to be some 30,000 certified Passivhaus buildings worldwide. North American designers are among those that have taken on the challenge. One such firm, Vancouver-based Marken Design, has over a dozen Passivhaus projects completed or on the go. The success of its Rainbow Passive House in Whistler helped educate local residents and policy makers on energy-efficient design. It was inspired by a prefabricated model shipped from Austria and assembled for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and was the first Canadian-built project to be certified by the Passivhaus Institute. Rainbow Passive House boasts a super-insulated, virtually airtight shell constructed with prefabricated panels by manufacturer BC Passive House. The 16”-thick section comprises a 2” x 4” service wall nested inside a 2” x 10” structural and insulating wall. The exterior wall is filled with blown-in cellulose, and sheathed on the inside with oriented strand board that acts as both air barrier and vapour retarder. To minimize penetrations to the airtight barrier, plumbing and electrical are routed through the interior The Rainbow Passive House by Marken Design; the firm’s South Surrey Passive House, completed in 2013, has not yet needed to turn on its heat; South Surrey Passive House’s heavy-duty windows.

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marken design + Consulting

rainbow duplex — Wall Section

marken design + Consulting

double-layer roof system

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estimated annual heat loss ceiling main walls windows doors basement air Leakage & Ventilation

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after

Above, top to bottom Solares Architecture co-founders Christine Lolley and Tom Knezic gutted a Toronto home and renovated it with Passivhaus principles; an open plan maximizes usable space in the compact home.

wall, built on site by the contractor. The Passivhaus-certified home also includes multi-lock triple-pane windows, a 95%-efficient HRV that provides a complete air change every 90 minutes, and a ductless mini-split heat pump. The owners enjoy smaller energy bills, decreased noise and reduced maintenance. They’ve commented on indoor comfort—the consistent temperature and fresh interior air. Principal Alex Maurer credits these gains to Passivhaus’s proprietary design software, which uses thermodynamic modelling calculations to predict heat flow. This enables designers to fine-tune components to meet project design goals and energy objectives. To keep costs reasonable, Maurer guides clients towards strategically investing in elements that cannot be easily updated in the future. His project budgets are weighted towards the building envelope. Flooring and countertop upgrades are deprioritized, and projects may include provisions for solar panels and greywater systems—to be added later on. But it is not always easy to sell a stringent European energy standard to the Canadian market. In Maurer’s experience, the average Canadian tends to be happy with a “good enough” home and to overlook future savings in on-

going operational costs, as well as the health and comfort benefits of a highly energy-efficient home. In other parts of the country, clients and architects may be keen on lowenergy homes, but find it challenging to achieve the rigorous Passivhaus standards. Nonetheless, practitioners across Canada are integrating similar design principles and are conceiving of buildings as complex systems that integrate both envelope and mechanical components. For Toronto-based eco-residence specialists Solares Architecture, the significantly colder climate has made it difficult to reach certification. Still, each of their renovation and new-build projects presents an opportunity for the firm, led by principals Christine Lolley and Tom Knezic, to up its game. To achieve a more airtight building, far greater levels of insulation are needed, as are higher levels of workmanship, which challenges budgets. However, the rating isn’t the whole story for energy-conscious clients who are looking for long-term solutions that do right by the environment while balancing efficiencies with cost. Lolley and Knezic’s own two-storey home exemplifies their commitment. After an extensive renovation, which they referred to as a “deep energy retro-

sonny shem sonny shem sonny shem

fit,” the detached home now consumes 84% less energy than before. To create a much tighter envelope, they gutted the 450-square-foot enclosure back to the brick, then packed it with insulation and replaced old windows with new ones. Underpinning to create a basement apartment had a secondary benefit: the house now stands on a concrete foundation poured atop four inches of expanded polystyrene foam. For wall framing, 2” x 4” studs were placed an inch away from the brick, at intervals of 24 inches rather than the usual 16 to reduce thermal bridging. Four inches of spray-foam insulation was then applied for a total R-value of 27. The roof assembly now has an R-value of over 50, with six inches of insulation added to the top and lower-density foam applied between the rafters. At high-performance levels, minimal heating and cooling input is needed to keep a house comfortable. When the family returned from a trip during a January of epic cold, it found the house had lost only four degrees. And when you don’t have space to waste, small systems are beneficial. A tiny combination boiler—no larger than a backpack—feeds the home’s three levels with infloor hydronic heating and domestic hot water. By tying a ductless mini-split into the energy-recovery ventilation ductwork, they created a unified, consistent and quiet air-delivery system for both heat and air conditioning. “It’s still challenging for people to make that conceptual leap; that their house should be airtight,” says Lolley. “It’s about controlling the airflow, not gaining air through cracks or up the sewer pipe. Without airtightness, insulation is useless. It’s like buying the best Canada Goose parka but not zipping it up.” After the envelope was in place, every leak was identified with an infrared camera and filled with acoustical sealant. The final air leakage rate of 2.08 air changes per hour is significantly better than the average Canadian home, which cycles through 4-6 air changes per hour. Despite meeting LEED Platinum levels for airtightness, Lolley and Knezic’s home doesn’t attain the Passivhaus standard for that metric. However, those elusive Passivhaus targets may soon become easier to reach. Passive House Institute US, an affiliate and Passivhaus certifier, is advocating for a departure from the European methodology. Stuart Fix, an Edmonton mechanical engineer and President of ReNü Building Science, sits on the PHIUS technical committee. In Fix’s view, the vast majority of projects, particularly in cold Canadian climates, are discouraged by high-cost premiums associated with Passivhaus. Certifying every building, everywhere, to a set of European energy-performance standards is not optimal, he says. The German model was based on a more moderate climate, higher energy costs, and a base building construction of greater quality. PHIUS has proposed an adapted standard called PHIUS+ that takes into account specific North American climate zones and economic data to set more achievable targets. Their vision is for greater mainstream adoption in the industry, and for governments and municipalities to eventually integrate PHIUS+ into building codes. Although single-family homes have been the stock and trade of the Passivhaus standard, the approach is increasingly being applied to multifamily, institutional and commercial project types. Fix drew on Passivhaus principles in consulting on a mixed-use commercial development in Edmonton: the recently completed Mosaic Centre for Conscious Community and Commerce by Manasc Isaac Architects. Here, passive design techniques are supplemented with active measures such as a geothermal heating system and a 180 kW photovoltaic system. The result is a net-zero-energy building, designed to produce as much energy over the course of a year as it uses. Manasc Isaac will be seeking Living Building Challenge and LEED Platinum certification for the project. “Whether you hit the targets or not, there is real value in the Passivhaus Institute’s methodology,” says Fix. “Once informed by these techniques, no matter what your capital budget is, you can make the best use of that investment in energy efficiency. It’s just a question of how far you take it.” Government, industry, environmental and consumer interests clearly

ABOVE Three views of the Mosaic Centre for Conscious Community and Commerce in Edmonton, designed by Manasc Isaac Architects to Passivhaus targets, and supplemented with active solar components.

intersect with the Passivhaus approach. However, there is more to be done in building up both the supply and demand side. Key to expanding a Passivhaus ethos in the North American market is educating prospective owners and occupants in the cost-benefit rationale. A developer might consider a Passivhaus agenda if homebuyers valued it. Commercial projects could benefit if the standard was adjusted in scope and benchmarks to set high—but attainable—goals for the Canadian climate. Meanwhile, practitioners continue to push forward in integrating leading technology and design elements to create increasingly sustainable buildings. The 1977 Saskatchewan Conservation House was ahead of its time. Now, Canadian architects are determined to build on its legacy. Stephanie Calvet is a Toronto-based architect and writer.

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PRODUCT sHOwCAse CertainTeed Introduces MemBrain™ Introducing CertainTeed MemBrain™, the Smart Vapour & Air Barrier Film. Moisture is an issue for every builder and the hidden risk in every home particularly in climates with extreme seasonal fluctuations. CertainTeed has a revolutionary way to help get it out with Membrain. It looks similar to typical polyethylene sheeting, but is actually a patented polyamide-based material. What makes MemBrain unique is its ability to adapt its permeability depending on climatic conditions. www.certainteed.com/insulation

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The perfect solution for achieving the beauty of wood without the maintenance. Longboard is aluminum soffit and siding available in a wide range of wood grain finishes with superior resistance to weathering in the critical areas of colour and gloss retention. www.longboardproducts.com

News (continued from page 8) IVM international program “Passages, Transitional Spaces for the 21st Century.” Similar competitions are occurring in Barcelona, Shanghai, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Tours, followed by a rotating exhibition. Toronto’s competition is organized by Metrolinx and the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design in partnership with the City of Toronto. Open to young professionals and emerging practices in architecture, urban design, landscape architecture and urban planning, this competition is an opportunity to investigate how new transit infrastructure along Sheppard Avenue East might interweave with existing local smallscale pedestrian networks. It is also a chance to test how forging connections between local paths and transit infrastructure can further support development and improve local living conditions. The jury consists of a group of international and local experts including Henri Bava, Andres Borthagaray, Harold Madi, Marcel Smets, Richard Sommer, Leslie Woo and Mirko Zardini. The deadline for applications is April 30, 2015. Six teams will be selected for a design workshop in May 2015. www.daniels.utoronto.ca/middlecitypassages

WHAT’s neW IIDeX Woodshop call for submissions.

IIDEXCanada is seeking submissions of residential and commercial furnishings, fixtures, lighting and accessories for their 2015 IIDEX Woodshop exhibition: 15 innovative wood prototypes that utilize Toronto’s untapped ash wood resource. The 2015 exhibition will debut at IIDEXCanada from December 2-3, 2015 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. If selected, your submission will be featured at IIDEXCanada to over 16,000 design and architecture trade professionals, exposed to a digital network exceeding 200,000 professionals, and reviewed by a prestigious jury of media and professionals. The submission deadline is May 1, 2015 at 11:59pm. https://iidex.formstack.com/forms/iidexwoodshop2015callforsubmissions

Toronto hosts international landscape architecture conference in May.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) recently announced a conference to be held on

May 22, 2015 at the Isabel Bader Theatre, University of Toronto. Entitled “Making and Managing Toronto’s 21st-Century Landscape,” the conference will feature Toronto Mayor John Tory alongside experts from Canada, the Netherlands and the United States. Within the context of four days of related events and activities, the day-long conference will examine the role of landscape architecture in the city’s current and ambitious phase of urban development along its waterfront, in its diverse neighbourhoods, and the international implications of this planning and development strategy. It will also look at the city’s extant park system and how public/private partnerships could aid in effective long-term stewardship. In addition to the conference, two days of free expert-led tours of the city’s diverse body of new and heritage-designed landscapes will be on offer— in tandem with the City of Toronto’s Doors Open architecture tours. Numerous globally significant, innovative and influential practitioners are confirmed to participate, including Adriaan Geuze, Claude Cormier, Michael Van Valkenburgh and Jennifer Keesmaat. http://oala.ca/making-and-managing-torontos-21st-century-landscape-may-21-24/

Material Future: The Architecture of Herzog & de Meuron and the Vancouver Art Gallery

SAH Annual International Conference

March 27-October 4, 2015

The Society of Architectural Historians celebrates its 75th anniversary at its annual conference at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza.

This exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery examines Herzog & de Meuron’s design philosophy through a selection of their projects, including museums and galleries from around the world. www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

Transform Toronto April 10, 2015

A panel discussion at the Ted Rogers School of Management in Toronto begins at 8:00am, bringing some of the Toronto Star’s 10 big ideas for 2014 into focus. www.canurb.org

Architecture+Design Film Festival 2015 April 15-19, 2015

This film festival at Winnipeg’s Cinemathèque features critically acclaimed films focusing on the importance of architecture and design in everyday life. http://adff.ca

April 15-19, 2015

www.sah.org/2015

speaks at 7:30pm at Toronto’s Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art about his public art projects between Jerusalem’s many borders.

April 16, 2015

Taking place at 7:00pm at SFU Woodwards World Art Centre in Vancouver, this discussion will focus on what heritage values in Vancouver ought to be recognized. http://heritagevancouver.org

Grow Op 2015: The Culture of Landscape

Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel hosts this innovative exhibition of conceptual responses to landscape, gardens, art and place-making. www.gladstonehotel.com

OCAD University’s Graduate Exhibition April 29-May 3, 2015

Green Real Estate Conference April 23, 2015

This conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre focuses on upgrading existing and developing new properties as green or high-performance buildings.

www.realestateforums.com/greenref/en/

www.ocadu.ca

Contact Photography Festival

This annual event each May features well over 1,500 Canadian and international artists and pho-

April 23, 2015

Artist and activist Matan Israeli

Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities as Toronto Pearson Approaches Capacity Milestone May 4, 2015

The Urban Land Institute hosts this discussion involving an international panel of regional airport experts on a GTAA demand forecast identifying the regional airport capacity challenge for Southern Ontario. http://toronto.uli.org

OCAD University celebrates the graduating class of 2015, showcasing the future of art, design and digital media through the work of more than 600 talented students.

May 1-31, 2015

Matan Israeli in conversation

http://scotiabankcontactphoto.com

www.prefix.ca

April 23-26, 2015

Shaping Vancouver

tographers exhibiting at more than 175 venues throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

ROOFTech: The Canadian Roofing Exposition May 5-6, 2015

This forum at the Vancouver Convention Centre offers handson educational experience on all aspects of roofing for architects, engineers, contractors, building inspectors, property managers and everyone in the AEC industry. www.rooftech.ca/index_2015.php

80 Valleybrook Dr, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 04/15

LOOKING BACK

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AT HOME WITH JIM MURRAY TEXT

ABOVE Founding editor Jim Murray’s last Toronto home was a modest coach house in the Annex, renovated to his design.

Ingrid Leman Stefanovic

Locals know it as “The White House of the Annex.” When we purchased 6A Kendal Avenue in Toronto almost four years ago, my husband and I had no idea of its true legacy. Only later did we learn that it had once been home to Canadian Architect founding editor Jim Murray. For me, a philosopher raised in a family of architects, Murray had been my father’s valued colleague. Even as a child, I knew Murray as a Canadian star. So to have stumbled into what was his last home prior to his passing was both auspicious and humbling. The fact that it reflected a sense of place of my Don Mills childhood house, also designed by Murray, made it particularly meaningful. Certainly, his Modernist inspiration is reflected in the stairway’s clean lines and the Frank Lloyd Wright-esque sliding doors. Eventually befriending his daughters who had handled the estate sale, I learned that Jim Murray had, in fact, been an intensely private man. This house was a perfect oasis for such a personality. The interior—to use phenomenologist Gaston Bachelard’s words—“bespeaks intimacy.” Opening onto a private garden, Murray’s design of a wooden pergola over the patio provides a unique sense of enclosure, while simultaneously drawing the eye to a sheltered garden that

stretches to the end of the 90-foot-wide property. Not only was he a private man, but Jim Murray was also an uncharacteristically modest architect. Ruskin may have believed that architecture is a “conqueror of forgetfulness” but Murray, I am told, felt that buildings were inherently transitory. On the one hand, Murray was quite right: a number of his Toronto buildings have indeed been demolished, much as he prophesied. Examples include the Anglo Canada Insurance Building at 76 St. Clair Avenue West and the Spaulding House at 111 Park Road in Rosedale. But numerous other designs persevere in the form of private homes, housing developments, churches, schools, industrial projects and shopping malls, such as Sherway Gardens in Etobicoke. Jim Murray’s White House of the Annex similarly shelters far-reaching memories. Interested to learn more, I asked University of Toronto architecture student Ramsey Leung to undertake archival research on Jim Murray’s home. Designated on a mid-1800s map as “wilderness,” the site eventually came to form part of the estate of lawyer and politician Robert Baldwin. By 1905, the property was formally annexed to 55 Walmer Road, passing through a number of owners, including Charles D. Warren, whose profession is

noted in Toronto’s archives simply as “capitalist.” A structure—probably a carriage house—on the site of the current home appears in city documents in 1913. From 1921 to 1961, the property was held by the family of Henry T. Ross, Assistant Deputy Minister of Finance. To our amusement, we find that in 1952, the building is valued at $2,000. An advertising firm’s vice president, Robert M. Campbell, eventually transforms the coach house into a dwelling that is purchased and renovated by Jim Murray in 1975. A neighbourhood myth recounts that the house was once part of the Toronto Lawn Bowling Club, but there is no evidence that we uncovered to justify that story. Still, as Bachelard reminds us, every house “shelters daydreaming” and as “a living value, it must integrate an element of unreality.” In her book The Art of Memory, Frances Yates laments: “We Moderns have no memories at all.” Yet, our buildings tell rich stories, if we listen. Through this home, no less than through his other designs, Jim Murray’s legacy lives on. Ingrid Leman Stefanovic is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Environment at Simon Fraser University. She is the daughter of the late Alexander B. Leman, former President of the Ontario Association of Architects.

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Fallingwater®, Kaufmann Residence, Mill Run, Pa., c. 1936 Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright Conservator: Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

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Perma-Crete is a trademark and Manor Hall, Timeless and Pure Performance are registered trademarks of PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc. Bringing innovation to the surface and PPG IdeaScapes are trademarks and Duranar, Starphire, Sungate and the PPG Logo are registered trademarks of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc. Fallingwater is a registered trademark of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. © 2015 PPG Industries, Inc. All rights reserved. *Colorants added to this base paint may increase volatile organic compound (VOC) levels significantly, depending on color choice.

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