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14 Absolute Towers A pair of curvaceous new highrise condominiums sex up the suburban landscape of Mississauga. TEXT John Bentley Mays
22 Mies van der Rohe Gas Station Conversion
Tom Arban
Doublespace Photography
Steve Montpetit
Contents
7 News
Bridgepoint Health project officially opens in Toronto; three architectural teams shortlisted for Emily Carr University’s new campus in Vancouver.
26 Insites
Les Architectes FABG transform an architecturally significant but long-neglected gas station into a community centre on Nuns’ Island. TEXT Kyle Yen Burrows
A new book authored by Phyllis Lambert inspires Hans Ibelings to survey the status of Mies van der Rohe’s buildings in Canada.
Kate Schneider
31 Profile
n introduction to Charles Renfro of A Diller Scofidio + Renfro by Lian Chikako Chang prepares audiences for his keynote address at IIDEX Canada in late September.
33 Calendar
Model Behaviour exhibition at the AIBC Gallery in Vancouver; Nakashima: A Retrospective at Mjölk in Toronto.
34 Backpage
august 2013, v.58 n.08
The National Review of Design and Practice/ The Journal of Record of Architecture Canada | RAIC
J avier Zeller shares his thoughts on the ambitious documentary-based Highrise interactive website project chronicling life in the vertical suburbs.
COVER Absolute Towers in Mississauga by MAD Architects in association with Burka Architects Inc. Photograph by Doublespace Photography.
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from The Case for Tall Wood Buildings
Viewpoint
Above A rendering of a 20-storey wood building with a wood structural core and a glulam curtain wall.
Tall buildings are a big deal—in more than one sense—in current Canadian construction. Toronto is an epicentre, the top city west of Istanbul for current highrise development. And innovation is happening across the country. The Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat named The Bow in Calgary “Best Tall Building in the Americas” for 2013. Last year’s title went to the twisting Absolute Towers in Mississauga. The ultra-energy-efficient Manitoba Hydro Place in Winnipeg snagged the accolade in 2009. Canada’s next major construction advance may well combine our modern track record for award-winning towers with our national myth of backwoods origins. Mid-rise wood buildings are now permitted in several provinces, and the next push could be to go even taller. According to studies led by British Columbia architect Michael Green, building up to 30 storeys in wood is both technically and economically feasible. Moreover, building wood skyscrapers could help mitigate global climate change. Steel and concrete production is responsible for about 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions; wood, when preserved as part of buildings, stores carbon dioxide. 6 canadian architect 08/13
In February, Green presented his argument for building wood skyscrapers at the TED conference, a popular showcase for thought leaders. Since the video of his talk was posted online last week, over 250,000 people have viewed it. Green points to the emotional draw of wood— each piece as unique as a fingerprint—but, judging by posted comments, perhaps passes too quickly over the issue of fire. Canadian designers are still haunted by the spectre of a 2011 fire in Richmond, BC, which destroyed an in-construction housing project intended as an exemplar for six-storey wood buildings. Despite the builder’s insistence that the incident pointed to the need for greater fire protection in the vulnerable construction phase—in the finished building, sprinklers, firewalls, and fire separations would have mitigated damage—the image of a wood building burned to the ground touches a core fear that’s tough to dispel. The peer-reviewed report that grounds Green’s TED talk, entitled The Case for Tall Wood Buildings, does much better in laying out the argument that wood highrises can be durable and safe. It does so primarily by making a key differentiation between light-frame wood construction and the composite wood panels now coming to market. Massive wood products such as cross-laminated timber, Green and his collaborators explain, perform like heavy timber in fires, first charring on the outside in a way that protects the core from collapse. Because of this characteristic, a properly engineered tall wood building can achieve a two-hour fire rating. This would make it comparable in fire performance to steel-frame and steel-reinforced concrete buildings; under sufficient heat, even steel members are prone to collapse. At the report’s core is a detailed case study design. It lays out engineer-vetted options for 12-, 20- and 30-storey constructions that combine tilt-up structural wood panel products and glulam columns in various combinations. Steel beams support wood floors, providing the requisite level of ductility for earthquake resistance. The designs carry a Creative Commons licence, inviting other designers and engineers to build on the research and share their findings. As a next step in developing tall wood systems, the report calls for a courageous publicprivate partnership to construct a pilot project. “A prototype of 16-20 storeys or higher would illustrate the capacity of the system well beyond the approaches used elsewhere,” it notes. Cana dian industry and regulators would be wise to step up to the plate, and situate the country as a continued leader in tall building innovation. Elsa Lam
elam@canadianarchitect.com
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 Montreal David Theodore Winnipeg Lisa Landrum, MAA,AIA, MRAIC Regina Bernard Flaman, SAA Calgary David A. Down, AAA Vancouver Adele Weder Publisher Tom Arkell 416-510-6806 Associate Publisher Greg Paliouras 416-510-6808 Circulation Manager Beata Olechnowicz 416-442-5600 ext. 3543 Customer Service Malkit Chana 416-442-5600 ext. 3539 Production Jessica Jubb Graphic Design Sue Williamson Vice President of Canadian Publishing Alex Papanou President of Business Information Group Bruce Creighton Head Office 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Telephone 416-510-6845 Facsimile 416-510-5140 E-mail editors@canadianarchitect.com Web site www.canadianarchitect.com Canadian Architect is published monthly by BIG Magazines LP, a div. of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd., a leading Canadian information company with interests in daily and community newspapers and business-tobusiness information services. The editors have made every reasonable effort to provide accurate and authoritative information, but they assume no liability for the accuracy or completeness of the text, or its fitness for any particular purpose. Subscription Rates Canada: $54.95 plus applicable taxes for one year; $87.95 plus applicable taxes for two years (HST – #809751274RT0001). 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 foreign: $125.95 US per year. Single copy US and foreign: $10.00 US. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Dept., Canadian Architect, 80 Valleybrook Dr, Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9. Postmaster: please forward forms 29B and 67B to 80 Valleybrook Dr, Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9. Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in part or in full without the consent of the copyright owner. From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: Telephone 1-800-668-2374 Facsimile 416-442-2191 E-mail privacyofficer@businessinformationgroup.ca Mail Privacy Officer, Business Information Group, 80 Valleybrook Dr, Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9 Member of the Canadian Business Press Member of the ALLIANCE FOR AuditED MEDIA Publications Mail Agreement #40069240 ISSN 1923-3353 (Online) ISSN 0008-2872 (Print)
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NEWS Projects
Bridgepoint Active Healthcare recently opened its new hospital in Toronto. The 464-bed facility is a major milestone in Bridgepoint’s vision to become Canada’s leading centre for rehabilitation and patients living with complex health conditions. The adjacent pre-Confederation Don Jail was also restored to become the hos pital’s administrative offices. This epic project is based on a master plan developed by Urban Strategies in 2006 and designed and constructed by two teams recognized as leaders in health-care design and architectural excellence: Stantec Architecture/KPMB Architects are the Planning, Design and Compliance Architects for Bridgepoint responsible for the project-specific outline specifications and the Design Exemplar, whereas HDR Architecture/ Diamond Schmitt Architects are the architects to the Design, Build, Finance and Maintain consortium responsible for the design as constructed and are the Architects of Record. The two architectural teams delivered the project under a two-tiered design and delivery process under Infrastructure Ontario’s Alternate Financing and Procurement program. The opening of the hospital and the transformation of the historic Don Jail is the first phase in the realization of the campus of care, and marks the beginning of the next phase to complete the redevelopment of the site as an interconnected, pedestrian-friendly campus with landscaping and gardens. Every element and detail was strategically designed to bring the community to the hospital and to maximize connections with the city and with nature to optimize healing. Key strategies are integrated through every level, from the ground-floor “porch” which is accessible to the community, to the windows that allow patients lying in bed to have un obstructed views, to a green roof that provides access to the outdoors in the upper levels of the hospital. In addition to the completion of the overall site redevelopment, the project is undergoing the most rigorous hospital facility postoccupancy evaluation in the history of Canada to measure and assess the effect of architecture on well-being and health outcomes. BIG and Dialog’s design for Calgary’s new TELUS building unveiled.
TELUS is set to contribute a new architectural landmark in Calgary’s downtown core, transforming the entire 7th Avenue block into one of the most technologically innovative and environmentally friendly sites in North America. TELUS Sky will be a LEED Platinum signature
Tom Arban
Bridgepoint Health project officially opens.
ABOVE The ambitious new Bridgepoint Health facility flanks the eastern edge of the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto and overlooks scenic Riverdale Park.
development created by the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Dialog, along with developer Westbank and real estate investment trust Allied Properties. The 750,000-square-foot vibrant mixed-use tower will incorporate office, retail and residential space. There will be 430,000 square feet of office space, of which 155,000 square feet will be for anchor tenant TELUS, alongside 341 residential rental units, thereby creating a dynamic community with a unique blend of urban living and working. TELUS Sky will also support Calgary’s burgeoning arts culture, fusing iconic architecture, technological innovation and artistic expression. A unique 5,500-square-foot public gallery will ensure the city’s commitment to the arts in downtown Calgary continues. The development will also feature a stormwater management system to recycle rainwater for washroom toilets and outdoor irrigation, reducing water use by millions of litres per year. Scheduled for completion in the fall of 2017, TELUS Sky will use 35 percent less energy than similarly sized developments. CS&P Architects to Design Flagship Humanities & Social Sciences Facility for McMaster University.
Toronto-based CS&P Architects will design a flagship humanities and social sciences facility for McMaster University in Hamilton. L.R. Wilson Hall will be the first new facility built for these faculties at the university in many decades. The building will incorporate new “active” learning classrooms while pro viding a host of formal and informal learning/ studying environments for the faculties’ undergraduate and graduate student body. Construction is slated to start on the over 150,000-square-foot five-storey building this summer and the project is expected to be com-
plete in September 2015. Included in the building’s program mix will be a new 350-seat Concert Hall, 150-seat multi-purpose Black Box Theatre and 400-seat tiered Lecture Theatre. The building will also engage the community through its proposed Research Centres and Institutes; the Wilson Institute for Canadian History, Gilbrea Centre for Health and Aging, Pathway Institute, and the Indigenous Studies Program. The site is bordered by a buffer of a mature tree line along Forsyth Avenue and Sterling Street, and the preservation of these reinforcing landscape features will be an important design consideration. Three architectural teams shortlisted for Emily Carr University’s new campus.
From eight national and international proponent teams that responded to the Emily Carr University of Art + Design Campus Redevelopment Project RFQ to design, build, finance and maintain the new state-of-the-art campus at Great Northern Way in Vancouver, three teams were shortlisted: Vancouver-based Bing Thom Architects, Toronto-based Diamond Schmitt Architects (with Vancouver’s Chernoff Thompson Architects), and Toronto-based Zeidler Partnership Architects (with B+H Architects, a firm with an office in Vancouver). A request for proposals (RFP) will be issued to the three teams this fall and Emily Carr will award the contract in the summer of 2014. Construction will begin in early fall of 2014 and the new university campus is expected to be completed in 2016. The capital cost is up to $134 million for the project and will be provided by the BC government (up to $113 million) and the remainder through a capital campaign by Emily Carr. Founded as the Vancouver School of Art in 1925, Emily Carr is the only specialized postsecondary institution in British Columbia 08/13 canadian architect
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offering programs in Fine Arts, Media Arts and Design exclusively. Emily Carr is one of only four such institutions in Canada, and is consistently recognized nationally and internationally for the excellence of its faculty, students and alumni. The project site is located at Great Northern Way and East 1st Avenue in Vancouver, and comprises 3.4 acres just west of the new Centre for Digital Media. The new building will be designed to LEED Gold standards, and will maximize the interior and exterior use of wood, in keeping with the BC government’s Wood First Act. www.ecuad.ca/gnwcampus
Awards 5468796 Architecture wins Professional Prix de Rome.
The Canada Council for the Arts has awarded 5468796 Architecture the $50,000 Professional Prix de Rome prize for their project Table for 12: A Conversation in Architecture, which will allow hosts from eight cities to set the table for informal conversations about architecture. The aim of the project is to promote Canadian architecture, identify synergies between cities and provide opportunities for global exchange.
These “tables of 12” will include architects and their clients, journalists, politicians, artists and engineers among others. They will discuss the state of design in their respective city as well as their policies and what it takes to create a strong design culture. The host cities span four continents. Table for 12 will launch at the Winnipeg Design Festival in September 2013, followed by discussions hosted in Mexico City, New York, Lisbon, Eindhoven, Copenhagen, Tokyo and Sydney. In June 2014, the journey will conclude in Winnipeg, where the project’s findings will be shared during the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Festival of Architecture. “With Table for 12, 5468796 Architecture is positioning Canada as a global leader,” said Robert Sirman, Director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts. “The project’s ambitions are perfectly aligned with the intent of the Professional Prix de Rome and the growing appetite for greater public engagement in cultural development.” Administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture recognizes excellent achievement in Canadian architectural practice. It is awarded to a young architectural firm that has completed its first buildings and demonstrated exceptional artistic potential. The prize allows
the winners to travel the world to hone their skills, develop their creative practice and strengthen their presence on the international scene. The project can involve multiple trips to a number of destinations, spread over a two-year period. 5468796 Architecture is a Winnipegbased design studio, established in 2007. The office unites the diverse knowledge and experience of 12 young professionals, symbolized by the single table that they share. In just six years, 5468796’s projects have received every significant Canadian design award and a number of important international prizes, including the 2013 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Emerging Architectural Practice Award and a 2012 Governor General’s Medal in Architecture for Bloc_10. Last year, they were Canada’s official representation at the 2012 Venice Biennale in Architecture with Migrating Landscapes. http://canadacouncil.ca/en/council/news-room/ news/2013/prix-de-rome AIBC Call for Nominations.
The AIBC has issued a call for nominations for three separate awards. The first is for the AIBC Lifetime Achievement Award, a recent addition to the Institute’s volunteer recognition program. This award is intended to recognize
Call for nominations: $50,000 Margolese National Design for Living Prize The UBC Margolese National Design for Living Prize was created by a generous estate gift made to the University of British Columbia by Leonard Herbert Margolese. The Prize will be awarded to a Canadian who has made outstanding contributions to the development or improvement of living environments for Canadians of all economic classes.
DEADLINE :
October 1, 2013 DETAILS/FORM : sala.ubc.ca/margolese
8 canadian architect 08/13
current or former BC architects who have made exceptional, sustained and significant contributions to the profession of architecture and its public appreciation in the province through an outstanding, career-long body of work. Considerations will be given to those with notable work across an entire career generally greater than 25 years, and the award may be bestowed posthumously. The second award is an AIBC Special Certificate of Recognition, which honours those individuals or firms who have made an exceptional, sustained and significant contribution to the practice or profession of architecture through volunteer activities. And the third is the Barbara Dalrymple Memorial Award for Community Service, which recognizes lifetime or exceptional contributions made by an AIBC architect, other individual registrant, or architectural firm, in the spirit of the former architect’s dedication to positive change and legacy of professional and public service. All nominations are due on August 26, 2013. http://aibcenews.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/2013lifetime-achievement-award-final.pdf The Bow in Calgary named one of the best tall buildings for 2013.
Highly distinctive towers in Canada, China, the
UK and UAE have been named the best tall buildings in the world for 2013 by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). The four regional winners include The Bow in Calgary, Canada (Americas); CCTV in Beijing, China (Asia and Australia); The Shard in London, United Kingdom (Europe); and Sowwah Square in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Middle East and Africa). An overall winner for the Best Tall Building Worldwide will be named from the four regional winners at the CTBUH 12th Annual Awards Ceremony and Dinner at the Illinois Institute of Technology on November 7, 2013 in the iconic Mies van der Rohe-designed Crown Hall. The Council received more than 60 entries from around the world for the Best Tall Building awards. The CTBUH Best Tall Building Awards are an independent review of new projects, judged by a panel of industry executives. Projects are recognized for making an extraordinary contribution to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, and for achieving sustainability at the broadest level. Winners and finalists are featured in the annual CTBUH Awards Book, which is published in conjunction with a major global publisher and distributed internationally each year. www.ctbuh.org
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Stantec wins Southcott Award for Quidi Vidi Village Plantation.
Stantec Architecture in St. John’s has captured a Southcott Award for Design in Context for the Quidi Vidi Village Plantation. Developed by the Newfoundland Historic Trust, the Southcott Awards recognize excellence in the preservation of the architectural heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador. The program commends those who demonstrate excellence in building design, restoration and preservation. Located in one of the most historic fishing communities of St. John’s, the Quidi Vidi Village Plantation was created to connect artists to the general public. The two-storey, 4,600-square-foot building was built to reflect the traditional fishing stages and fishing rooms that have occupied the site since the 1600s. A unique collaboration between cultural heritage and modern-day craft, the Plantation serves as a craft incubator for emerging artists in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Plantation is a municipal project for the City of St. John’s, consisting of a cultural centre, a new wharf featuring a boat docking area designed for boat design instruction, as well as open gathering areas for the public. A bridge was also designed to connect the Plantation to the East Coast Trail and other walking trails linking the entire city of St. John’s.
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What’s New Kiyoshi Matsuzaki RAIC Scholarship recently unveiled.
The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Foundation unveiled the Kiyoshi Matsuzaki RAIC Scholarship during the Festival of Architecture in Halifax this past June. This scholarship advances Matsuzaki’s personal belief in the future of the profession of architecture, and his unyielding support of the younger generation of students as the next leaders of the profession. The annual scholarship of $3,000 is to be presented to a student enrolled in the RAIC Syllabus Program. Offered through an endowment, several in the profession added their donations to the scholarship during the Festival, ensuring funds will be available well into the future. Kiyoshi Matsuzaki, PP/FRAIC, was named a Fellow in 2002 and acted as RAIC President in 2007-2008. He along with his wife, Eva Matsuzaki, PP/FRAIC, (RAIC President in 1998-1999), volunteered their time and energy with the RAIC for decades. Kiyoshi sadly passed away in December of last year and will be greatly missed by all who knew his unrelenting enthusiasm and optimism. www.raic.org
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Brook McIlroy recognized by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.
Through a continual commitment to support Aboriginal communities and groups across the country, Brook McIlroy has received the Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) Committed designation—the first architecture, urban design, planning or landscape architectural practice in Canada. With a focus on investment in community engagement, outreach and con sultation, Brook McIlroy continually seeks to increase its commitment to supporting and working together with Aboriginal communities across Canada through projects and programs. The PAR Committed Certification forms the foundation of the firm’s past, present and future working relationships with Aboriginal communities in the collaborative development and implementation of city-building projects. Many, if not all, of the firm’s projects entail a high degree of engagement with the surrounding communities in which they are situated, many of which involve working and engaging with, as well as learning from, Aboriginal stakeholders. Such engagement has proven to enrich both design and planning processes in creating exceptional communities and places. Brook McIlroy’s approach towards collaborative project develop-
ment and design amongst diverse communities offers unprecedented engagement techniques. The firm’s practices have contributed towards a variety of successful projects including the Spirit Garden at Prince Arthur’s Landing in Thunder Bay and the Iroquoian Longhouse at Conservation Halton, amongst others. The Spirit Garden— a unique landscape feature and “headland” on Thunder Bay’s revitalized waterfront—demonstrates the application of a collaborative effort between the Brook McIlroy design team and local Aboriginal communities, in addition to wetland ecologists and the Department of Fisheries. Officially opened to the public in December 2011, this project received the 2012 Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) Award for Planning Excellence in the Aboriginal Community Planning and Development category. The Spirit Garden is being actively used as a gathering space for storytelling, ceremonies, concerts and contemplation. Recently, the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University has used the Gathering Circle within the Spirit Garden as an outdoor classroom to teach students Canadian history in a manner that truly represents the important role of Aboriginal societies in the making of the nation. It has also served as a peaceful platform for Thunder Bay’s Idle No More movement.
SUMMER/FALL 2013
Kiyoshi Matsuzaki RAIC Scholarship unveiled The RAIC Foundation unveiled the Kiyoshi Matsuzaki RAIC Scholarship to advance his personal belief in the future of the profession of architecture; and, his unyielding support of the younger generation of students as the next leaders of the profession. The annual scholarship of $3,000 is to be presented to a student enrolled in the RAIC Syllabus Program. Offered through an endowment, several in the profession added their donations to the scholarship during the Festival, ensuring funds will be available well into the future.
Kiyoshi Matsuzaki, PP/FRAIC, was named a Fellow in 2002 and acted as RAIC President in 2007-2008. He along with his wife, Eva Matsuzaki, PP/FRAIC, (RAIC President in 1998-1999), volunteered their time and energy with the RAIC for decades. Kiyoshi sadly passed away in December of last year and will be greatly missed by all who knew his unrelenting enthusiasm and optimism. RAIC is honouring his memory through this Endowment and Scholarship by encouraging a new generation of architects.
IIDEX Canada Charles Renfro named as Keynote Speaker September 26-27 will mark the second offering of IIDEX with the RAIC and the Interior Designers of Canada as co-presenters of IIDEX, and again plans are to offer expanded programming and show space for the architecture profession. This year features Architecture Keynote, Charles Renfro, AIA, Partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Architect of the recent Highline park project in New York City, Renfro’s work extends far beyond the 90 person interdisciplinary studio based in New York and includes cutting edge projects across the globe.
UIA/PHG 2013 Annual Healthcare Forum + GUPHA Meeting RAIC will also be presenting the 2013 International Union of Architects Public Health Group (UIA/PHG) Forum and Global University Programs in Healthcare Architecture (GUPHA) Meeting during IIDEX 2013, September 24-28. This collaboration enables the knowledge sharing of international perspectives on health and the design of the care environment plus the role that health care quality and innovation plays in these projects to support better health care.
Left: Photo by Alessio Boni / Right: Diller Scofidio + Renfro, High Line, New York City. Photo by Iwan Baan
The RAIC Foundation turns 50 in 2014! The “Foundation 50” monthly giving campaign’s goal is to support excellence and knowledge in Canadian architecture into the future. More than 35 RAIC members and other donors have already joined the “Foundation 50 Club” as monthly donors, and cumulatively, raised almost $25,000 a year to support a new scholarship, which will be awarded to a Canadian aboriginal student to attend architecture school. Please join the “Foundation 50 Club” and support the future of Canadian architecture!
Editor: Sylvie Powell Masthead photo: Language Technologies Research Centre at University of Quebec in Outaouais | Menkès Shooner Dagenais Letourneux Architects / Fortin Corriveau Salvail Architecture + Design | Photo: Michel Brunelle
été/Automne 2013
Création de la bourse Kiyoshi Matsuzaki de l’IRAC La Fondation de l’IRAC a annoncé la création de la bourse Kiyoshi Matsuzaki de l’IRAC. Cette bourse réaffirme l’optimisme qu’affichait Kiyoshi Matsuzaki envers l’avenir de la profession et son appui indéfectible à la génération des jeunes étudiants qui seront les leaders de demain. La bourse d’un montant de 3 000 $ sera offerte tous les ans à un étudiant inscrit dans le programme Syllabus de l’IRAC, grâce à un fonds de dotation auquel se sont ajoutées les contributions de plusieurs architectes réunis pendant le Festival, pour en assurer la pérennité.
Kiyoshi Matsuzaki, PP/FRAIC, a été nommé fellow en 2002 et il a été président de l’IRAC en 2007-2008. Lui et son épouse, Eva Matsuzaki, PP/FRAIC, (présidente de l’IRAC en 1998-1999) ont consacré bénévolement beaucoup de temps et d’énergie à l’IRAC pendant des dizaines d’années. Kiyoshi est malheureusement décédé en décembre dernier. Son enthousiasme et son optimisme manqueront à tous ceux qui l’ont connu. L’IRAC honore sa mémoire en encourageant une nouvelle génération d’architectes par ce fonds de dotation et cette bourse.
IIDEX Canada Charles Renfro conférencier principal à IIDEX Les 26 et 27 septembre, l’IRAC et Designers d’intérieur du Canada présenteront ensemble pour une deuxième année consécutive l’événement IIDEX qui offrira un programme élargi et de l’espace d’exposition pour l’architecture. Le conférencier principal du volet architecture d’IIDEX sera Charles Renfro, AIA, associé de la firme Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Architecte de la High Line, le parc urbain suspendu récemment aménagé à New York, Renfro est l’un des associés d’un bureau comptant quelque 90 professionnels de diverses disciplines. Il réalise des projets avant-gardistes à la grandeur de la planète.
Forum 2013 du groupe de la Santé publique de l’Union internationale des architectes à IIDEX 2013 L’IRAC a le plaisir d’accueillir le Forum 2013 du groupe de la Santé publique de l’Union internationale des architectes (PHG-UIA) et les programmes universitaires mondiaux en architecture des soins de santé, à IIDEX 2013, du 24 au 28 septembre 2013. Rédactrice en chef: Sylvie Powell photo en cartouche de titre : Centre de recherche en technologies langagières de l’Université du québec en Outaouais | Menkès Shooner Dagenais Letourneux Architectes / Fortin Corriveau Salvail Architecture + Design | Photo : Michel Brunelle
Cette collaboration favorise le partage des connaissances et les échanges internationaux sur la santé et la conception des établissements de santé, ainsi que sur le rôle de la qualité des soins et de l’innovation dans ces projets qui visent la prestation de meilleurs soins.
Gauche : Photo par Alessio Boni / Droite : Diller Scofidio + Renfro, High Line, New York City. Photo par Iwan Baan
La Fondation de l’IRAC aura 50 ans en 2014 ! La campagne de dons mensuels « Fondation 50 » vise à soutenir l’excellence et à mieux faire connaître l’architecture canadienne. Plus de 35 membres de l’IRAC et autres donateurs ont déjà adhéré au « Club de la Fondation 50 ». Leur contribution s’établit à près de 25 000 $ par année, ce qui permet d’offrir une nouvelle bourse d’études qui sera remise à un étudiant autochtone du Canada qui s’inscrit dans une école d’architecture. Devenez membre du « Club de la Fondation 50 » et appuyez l’avenir de la profession !
2013 Awards of Excellence Canadian Architect invites architects registered in Canada and architectural graduates to enter the magazine’s 2013 Awards of Excellence. Eligibility
4. Please do not submit any material in CD, DVD, or any other audio-visual format not confined to two dimensions, as it will not be considered.
Projects must be in the design stage, scheduled for construction or under construction but not substantially complete by September 12, 2013. All projects must be commissioned by a client with the intention to build the submitted proposal. All building types and concisely presented urban design schemes are eligible.
Entry Fee
Judging Criteria
Publication
Awards are given for architectural design excellence. Jurors will consider the scheme’s response to the client’s program, site, and geographic and social context. They will evaluate its physical organization, form, structure, materials and environmental features.
Winners will be published in a special issue of Canadian Architect in December 2013. Winners grant Canadian Architect first publication rights for their winning submissions.
Presentation
Framed certificates will be given to each winning architect team and client. Details to follow upon notification of winners.
1. Anonymity. The designer’s name must not appear on the submission except on the entry form. The project name and location should be identified. 2. Each entry must be securely fastened in a folder or binder of dimensions no greater than 14´´ 5 17´´; oversized panels will not be accepted. One (1) copy of this entry form must be enclosed within an envelope and affixed to the front of each folder, preferably without the use of Scotch tape or adhesives. Clips are ideal. 3. Each project folder must include: a) first page—a brief description of the project (500 words or fewer) b) second page—a brief description indicating the project’s ability to address some or all of the following issues (1,000 words or fewer): i) context and/or urban design components ii) integration of sustainable design iii) innovation in addressing program and/or the client’s requirements iv) technical considerations through building materials and/or systems c) drawings/images including site plan, floor plans, sections, elevations and/or model views
$100.00 per entry ($88.50 + $11.50 HST). Please make cheques payable to Canadian Architect. HST registration #809751274RT0001.
Awards
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Award winners will be notified after judging takes place in October 2013. Deadline
Entries will be accepted after August 8, 2013. Send all entries to arrive by 5:00 pm on Thursday, September 12, 2013 to: Awards of Excellence 2013 c/o Leslie Jen Canadian Architect 80 Valleybrook Drive Toronto, Ontario M3B 2S9 Return of Entries
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New Girls in Town
Tom Arban
Mississauga’s voluptuous new Absolute World towers raise the bar for architecturally radical and economically viable residential highrises.
Tom Arban
Dynamic forms emerge as each tower rotATES between two and eight degrees from floor to floor. has a more opaque façade than the first, contributing to subtle interplay between the sister structures.
Opposite
abroad, for example, hailed Ma’s scheme as a breakout from the standard design template that had dominated the art of the residential highrise in North America since the Second World War. Hazel McCallion, Mississauga’s popular, much-elected mayor, early on declared herself a supporter. And key players in the real estate industry joined the pro-Ma chorus when
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Six years ago, when Yansong Ma’s design for the first lyrically sculptural, curvaceous Absolute World condominium tower was unveiled, some critics predicted the project would never be built at its intended location, an important crossroads in the rapidly growing Toronto edge city of Mississauga—or anywhere else. According to the naysayers, the technical hurdles involved in raising a structure this unconventional in shape would prove insurmountable. Even if someone figured out a way to put it up, they argued, doing so would be unaffordable for the Toronto-area backers, Fernbrook Homes and Cityzen Development Group. It was further alleged that investors and prospective homeowners would never buy into a residential scheme so dramatically different from standard cereal-box apartment blocks. “There were many doubting Thomases,” Cityzen’s president and CEO Sam Crignano told
me recently. “Criticism came from my peers in the development community, and everyone had a reason why—cost reasons, structural reasons, marketing reasons, technical reasons. There was always an expert out there who had reasons why this could never happen.” Other voices, however, quickly rose to the defense. Some media observers in Canada and
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Tom Arban
Project Absolute Towers, Mississauga, Ontario Architects MAD Architects in association with Burka Architects Inc. Text John Bentley Mays Photos Doublespace Photography unless otherwise noted
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Tom Arban
The twisting towers are a welcome contrast to the existing landscape of rectilinear highrises in downtown Mississauga. The entrance plaza to the Absolute City Centre complex flanks Hurontario Street, proposed to house a new light-rail transit route between Port Credit and Brampton. ABOVE right A view of the plaza from above, Including the podium with a green roof buffering the lower storeys from Hurontario Street. Opposite Continuous balconies ringing the towers provide wide viewing angles for residents and promote a sense of community within each floor. Top
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the structural engineers recruited by the developers pronounced Ma’s striking plan doable for a reasonable price and within an acceptable time frame. Crignano estimates that executing the design cost him and his partners “around 20 percent” more than raising an ordinary condo stack. Profits were acceptable, however, due to the increased prices the project could command. It was the condo scheme’s success in the marketplace that ultimately silenced the opponents. Investors and brokers finished snapping up the product only a couple of days after it appeared, even though the price of $450 per square foot was markedly above average (around $400) for Mississauga. Popular demand to own a suite in Marilyn Monroe—as pundits instantly nicknamed the building in homage to the pneumatic movie star it resembled—was in fact so fervent, the developers immediately put its young, Yale-trained and Beijing-based architect to work on a second adjacent highrise. This one, like the first, sold out rapidly. Last year, the spotlight fell again on Absolute World, when a jury of experts assembled by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat—a widely respected non-profit research and advocacy group headquartered in Chicago—named Yansong Ma’s now-completed project the “Best Tall Building Americas” for 2012. With this award, the Absolute towers won the same admiring recognition from the design professionals that they had long enjoyed in the mass media. For the record, the residential component of Absolute City Centre, as the entire master-planned development at the corner of Burnhamthorpe Road and Hurontario Street is known, consists of three shorter, conventional towers designed by the Toronto firm formerly called Burka Varacalli Architects, and the two structures by Ma, which are together called Absolute World. There are about 1,850 units in the entire complex.
Now that both buildings are up and occupied and the cheering has largely subsided, it is surely time to ask what, if anything, these muchpraised towers have contributed to the contemporary discussion about architectural practice, about cities, and especially about the role tall buildings should play in the intensification of the world’s largest metropolitan areas. Everyone knows the towers are unusual, and public opinion seems to agree that they are beautiful. But so what? So this, for one thing: they have shown private-sector developers that design competitions for highrise residential schemes, which are nearly unheard of, can—with good will and broad vision on the development side—effectively summon forth ideas that are both artistically exciting and commercially viable. The call for proposals broadcast by Cityzen and Fernbrook (via a website) and the subsequent juried selection process were the work of people largely unknown in the great world beyond Toronto, but they had a welldefined, easily understandable objective: to set down a large, unignorable exclamation mark in the sprawling, very indifferent low-rise and midrise suburban landscape that rings Toronto. Because Mississauga’s zoning bylaws imposed no restrictions on height or density at that time, potential competitors were given wide licence to let their fancies roam; the devel opers’ brief only laid down the size and number of apartments that were expected. As it happened, the contest (launched in late 2006) attracted more than 600 expressions of interest from firms and individuals in 70 countries, and 92 actual submissions. Why all this attention? “I think,” Crignano recalled, “it’s because of the novelty of a design competition for a residential condominium project, the fact that it was made available to anyone and everyone. It stimulated a lot of conversation and got a lot of people interested. It was 08/13 canadian architect
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Clockwise from top left The fluid towers smoothly handle wind load; A detail of the second tower’s continuous balconies; The balconies consist of cantilevered concrete slabs with a thermal break at the exterior glazing line; A dizzying view of Tower 2 reflected in a balcony on Tower 1.
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highly unusual.” As the public discovered when the six finalists were announced in early 2007, the quantity of this keen interest did not translate into a uniformly high level of quality. The eight judges (picked from a mostly Canadian pool of developers, urban planners, architects and critics) had settled on a disappointing mixture of entirely routine tower schemes and some advanced ideas such as those put forward by Yansong Ma and Mexican designer Michel Rojkind. That Ma’s plan won at all was perhaps due to the enthusiasm it generated among the developers. For their part, Crignano said, the business partners had made up their mind going in that whatever went up on the site they owned in central Mississauga “would have to be something that made a statement. From the first time I set my eyes on [Ma’s] design, I immediately took to it—so did the mayor. Visually it was so strong. It stood out among the others.” In addition to proving that a competition can work even in a part of the real estate industry where it’s uncommon, the completion of the towers, in much the same shape that Yansong Ma originally envisioned them, demonstrates that architectural design can be radical while simultaneously respectful of the laws of physics and economics. Shortly after its selection, Ma’s plan was handed off to Toronto’s Burka Architects and structural engineers Sigmund Soudack & Associates. Under orders from Crignano and his partners not to tamper with the art of what Ma had done, the Canadian consultants set about turning the non-orthogonal, fluid scheme into something that could be built. They were able to do so in about a year—longer than it takes to complete working drawings for an ordinary tall building, but still a feasible time frame—because Marilyn and her sister tower were actually less unusual than they looked in Ma’s renderings. Though every floor would have to be different from all the rest, each building was an uncomplicated composition of a central core, a relatively commonplace structure, and a façade
that could be fashioned from ordinary window walls. “The skeletons are basically concentric,” Sigmund Soudack said, “and the only thing that articulates is the outside façade. In order to create the shape, we made the shear walls and columns move in and out, depending on the floor.” The sinuous profiles of the towers—which are complementary, not identical—are created by rotations of the elliptical floorplates, between two and eight degrees per floor in the 56-storey original building, and four per floor in its 50-storey companion. These novel forms did invite some problems, Soudack said. One involved guaranteeing allowances for the high number of load combinations—more than 200 in all—that the buildings would have to withstand. Another consideration had to do with the marriage of the continuously wrapping balconies with the thermal joints under each window. But, the engineer noted, with only a few exceptions—the concrete forming posed special challenges, for example—the systems, materials and technologies employed in ordinary highrise construction were adequate for this job. Also, in most respects, Ma’s vision survived intact its transition from idea into reality—though not exactly. In the renderings supplied for the competition, Marilyn seems slender, sleek and tall. What was finally built is surely tall, but slightly more buxom than she was at the beginning. While remaining feminine and as zaftig as ever, she put on a little weight around the hips during the time she was being readied for her debut. Be that as it may, the erection of the Absolute towers has indelibly imprinted on the Toronto-area fabric a controversial creative statement about the contemporary city that Canadian architects—especially the numerous “green” ones—should attend to. “Green is good, we all like green,” Yansong Ma said in a telephone interview from his office in Beijing. “Green sustainable buildings are very good, and we need them. But they are not enough. Cities now need nature, which is not only about sustainability.”
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Above
Looking up from ground level at the podium’s planted roof and the two Absolute World towers above.
When Ma uses the word “nature,” I discovered over the course of sev eral interviews with him, he means at least two things. One is actual greenery—trees and shrubs—stitched into the physical weft and warp of architectural objects. More importantly, however, the word signifies the incorporation of emotionally charged forms inspired by mountains and waterfalls and flowers, and, of course, by the contours of the human body. Nature, then, is “the spiritual dimension of reality,” an orchestration of naturally occurring shapes whose deployment aims to address the “emotional and spiritual needs of people, which are priorities now, as opposed to 50 years ago.” In the architect’s view, contemporary cities in both East and West have become zones of alienation, because the large structures in them fail to echo the rhythms of natural things and processes. “I think there were great highrise buildings many, many years ago, when people started building them. The highrise became the symbol of the power of cities, and a great city needs tall buildings. But now, in the modern world, building highrises…is not about a dream. It’s just a memorial for capital. When we build a strong building in a city, it is so cold. People feel disconnected from highrises, since there is no concern for the humans in them. Future cities do need highrises, but they should be architecture for all people, gardens in the sky, and less about the mechanical.” Ma regards Mississauga’s Absolute towers, which launched a career back in China that has been outstandingly successful, as eloquent digests of his beliefs about nature, architectural design and the city. His only regret—one shared by the developers—lies in the fact that no one in Toronto has pushed the initiative forward along the artistic and technical trajectory suggested by Absolute World. Another private-sector competition has not been held. No local real estate company has inaugurated a condominium project that matches Absolute’s aesthetic daring. Toronto developers, it should be said, belong to a notably risk-averse tribe: it would probably take more than a pair of towers to convince them of the market viability of voluptuous skyscraper forms. And, even if one 20 canadian architect 08/13
could show that its formula has become stale (as Ma and other critics maintain), the orthogonal tall structure has an illustrious history as a city-building tool that seems far from exhausted. Western cities, at least for a while, will probably go on being as “square” as they’ve long been. It remains to be seen whether Ma’s large, decidedly non-square projects completed or under construction in China—some of them remarkably naturalistic and picturesque—will have any artistic impact beyond his home country’s borders. They just might: Ma’s office, MAD, is not yet 10 years old, and the practical embodiments of his notions about nature have only just begun to emerge. Meanwhile, Yansong Ma is pleased as can be by the commercial and critical success of Absolute World. “A lot of people live in there, so the towers don’t belong to one family or company, like a normal office tower,” he told me. “They show that a highrise can avoid being a symbol for power. It can be a place for people, and at the same time become an image for the city—an image about nature and the human. In these buildings, I was criticizing the boxes around them—not just in Mississauga, but also in North America and in China. I would like to see this project as a starting point to create new ideas about nature in the city.” CA John Bentley Mays is an architecture critic and writes regularly for The Globe and Mail. Client Fernbrook Homes & Cityzen Development Group Architect Team MAD: Ma Yansong, Yosuke Hayano, Dang Qun, Shen Jun, Robert Groessinger, Florian Pucher, Yi Wenzhen, Hao Yi, Yao Mengyao, Zhao Fan, Liu Yuan, Zhao Wei, Li Kunjuan, Yu Kui, Max Lonnqvist, Eric Spencer. Burka: Roy Varacalli, Mark Zwicker, Alan Maguire, Jack Seto, Maurice Leblanc, Bill Gouweleeuw, Lana Williams. Structural SIGMUND, SOUDACK & ASSOCIATES INC. Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing ECE Group and Stantec Concrete Engineer Coffey Geotechnics Contractor Dominus Construction Group Forming Contractor Premform Landscape NAK Design Interiors ESQAPE Design Area 45,000 m 2 (Tower A); 40,000 m2 (Tower B) Budget withheld Completion Fall 2012
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Jump Start
A Montreal firm reinvents Mies van der Rohe’s long-neglected gas station as a community centre. Project CONVERSION OF MIES VAN DER ROHE GAS STATION, VERDUN, QUEBEC Architect LES ARCHITECTES FABG Text Kyle Yen Burrows Photos Steve Montpetit
A master of Modernism, Mies van der Rohe’s strong architectural gestures have defined museums, skyscrapers and institutions the world over. But as with any great artist’s oeuvre, Mies’s lesser-known pieces offer some of the greatest insights into his craft. One such project is the Standard Oil Gas Station in Montreal, construct ed a year before his death in 1968, to accompany the model residential community that Mies’s Chicago firm completed on Nuns’ Island. In size and formal expression, the construction resembles a seminal work from 40 years earlier: the Barcelona Pavilion. But while Barcelona may represent a distillation of his European work, Mies’s project in Montreal is a streamlined 22 canadian architect 08/13
concretization of our continent’s capitalist aspirations. These two projects effectively serve as bookends for an illustrious career, demonstrating a continued exploration of material properties and powerful building tectonics. Unlike the garish stations that litter highways across the country, the Nuns’ Island Gas Station was a bold, architectural statement. The monochromatic project was more a monument to car culture than a convenience store, framing automobiles that passed through it with self-assured grace. But faced with advances in technology and increased development on the island, the building became obsolete, unable to adapt. Esso built a brand new service centre closer to the highway, and Mies’s station finally ceased commercial operations in 2008. Emptied out and boarded up, only a skeleton remained when the building was finally granted heritage status by the City of Montreal in 2009. Les Architectes FABG, led by principal
Éric Gauthier, were challenged to breathe new life into this Miesian relic by transforming it into a youth and seniors’ maison des générations. Gauthier faced a similar challenge in 1990, when tasked to reanimate the shell of Buck minster Fuller’s Expo ’67 American Pavilion. FABG deftly inserted a cluster of rectangular platforms into the core of the geodesic dome to transform the sphere into the Biosphère Envir onment Museum. Gauthier explains that the challenge in both cases was reducing the projects to their simplest expression, “revealing the essence of the building, not being distracted by the details.” In the case of the Verdun project, Gauthier says that the key was “to emphasize the strength of the roof.” Mies’s design is an orthogonal composition of two glass boxes at opposite ends of the station, collected under a floating slab-like steel roof. The jet-black grid of supporting beams and
Above The adaptive reuse of Mies van der Rohe’s Gas Station on Nuns’ Island retains the original steel structure, including columns made of square-edged plates fastidiously welded to form I-beams. On the former filling island, four gas pumps have been converted to geothermal air intakes, while the teller’s booth becomes an enigmatic glass box.
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I-beam columns, made of welded steel plates, contrasts with the white steel deck ceiling. Volumetric and tonal polarities, held in place by the bold roof plane, gave the original project an energy that Gauthier pursued with Miesian rigour in his restoration. In the new community centre, the enclosed spaces originally designed for car servicing and sales have been redesignated as the White and Black Rooms, recognizable by their corresponding colours of linoleum flooring. “Once the functions are removed, you are able to make a pure statement of architecture,” says Gauthier. The original Mies furnishings had long since disappeared, so the interiors were each refashioned for their intended audiences. In the White Room, a largely empty interior allows older citizens to engage in a number of activities, from stretching courses to social dance. Long façades of fullheight, low-iron glazing are achieved by com-
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Kyle Yen Burrows is an architectural graduate and freelance writer born and raised in Montreal. CLIENT ARRONDISSEMENT DE VERDUN ARCHITECT TEAM ÉRIC GAUTHIER, MARC PARADIS, DOMINIQUE POTVIN, JAIME LOPEZ, STEVE MONTPETIT STRUCTURAL/MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL AECOM CONTRACTOR NORGÉREQ AREA 3,625 FT2 BUDGET $1.4 M COMPLETION November 2011
Photographer UNKNOWN
pressing services to the shorter ends of the rectangular plan. The windows are partitioned into bays, neatly recalling the previous garage doors. At the opposite end of the former gas station, the smaller Black Room includes a solitary monolith of services, hovering off-centre in the space. This cleanly panelled volume includes a small office, washrooms, a storage room and cabinets full of equipment for ping pong, movie-watching and video games. The sequence of glazed façades creates visual connections across the length of the pavilion. Spaces are further connected with longitudinal lines of fluorescent lighting. Exposed bulbs in the exterior spaces once illuminated cars passing under the radiant white ceiling. Gauthier has taken this device and extended it indoors, per meating the many layers of glass and steel with continuous luminous lines. “It is an illusion to think the building can be pure and unchanging,” explains Gauthier. “There is a need to adapt the project to the new conditions of our time.” But even with the seemingly mundane task of ventilating the building, FABG demonstrated considerable dexterity in respecting the Miesian vision of minimalism. Geothermal heating eliminated the need for ungainly radiators, and allowed the air circulation system to effectively disappear. The only visible element is a clever nod to the station’s previous purpose: fresh-air intakes designed to take the place of the former gas pumps. FABG’s intervention certainly appeals to the mantra of “less is more.” With its minimal, monochromatic rooms and oversized structure, the renovated gas station seems more an architectural object than an active building. But the restrained, almost self-effacing interiors serve a dual function, both highlighting the minimal istic rigour of Mies’s earlier design, and acting as a mute backdrop for the community centre’s daily activities. The memory of the gas station is not forgotten. But when the space is occupied, it becomes exceedingly clear that La Station has become something more. The rooms come alive with yoga performed on coloured mats, games displayed on giant screens, and cabinets that burst open to reveal jumbles of cables, ping pong paddles and Xbox controllers. The restraint shown by Gauthier and his team allows residents to appropriate this structure as their own, parking this heritage project firmly in the present. CA
Existing vertical mullions with single-pane glazing
Modified vertical mullions with double-pane glazing
detail at north corner of seniors’ activity centre
Details Opposite top Les Architectes FABG extended the gas station’s exterior linear fluorescent lights into the two interior activity spaces—here, the seniors’ White Room is shown. Opposite bottom The Black Room includes a large storage block that contains foosball tables, video game consoles and other amenities for youth. Top The original gas station contained a sales office, visible at left, and service garage, seen at right. MIDDLE The Upgraded building envelope maintains the rhythm of the garage doors flanking the former service area.
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INSITES
Mies en Valeur
Rigid conservation regulations spearheaded by Phyllis Lambert preserved the Seagram Building in New York City. This article surveys how Mies van der Rohe’s buildings in Canada have fared.
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. Ezra Stoller © Esto
Text
Hans Ibelings
At first glance, the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe seems to perfectly exemplify Alberti’s famous definition of beauty as “that reasoned harmony of all the parts within a body, so that nothing may be added, taken away, or altered, but for the worse.” It is often assumed that the elegance of his “almost nothing” is vio lated by any distraction from its transparency, openness and refined detailing. This may be the reason why the temporary 1:1 scale model of an unexecuted project for a 1930 golf clubhouse in the German city of Krefeld looks so convincingly like a Mies build ing: precisely because it is nothing more than a representation of a building. Belgian architects Robbrecht and Daem created the model based on archived drawings, on the site intended to house the original competition design. On dis play until the end of October, it contains over 2,000 square metres of pure space, with two references to the material sophistication this architecture could have acquired if actually built: shiny steel columns and plywood walls, whose patterning alludes to the bookmatched Tinos verde antico marble of the 1929/1986 German pavilion in Barcelona. Last winter, architect Andrés Jaque created an exhibition in the Barcelona pavilion that de liberately spoiled its Albertian beauty. He dis played everything that was stored in the cellar under the building: pieces of stone, furniture, glass panels, parts of previous exhibitions and the cleaning tools used to keep this replica building in its purest state. Jaque’s installation offered an aesthetic appeal to what otherwise might have been perceived as clutter. But it hinted at the resilience of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture: contrary to what one would expect, the installation actually highlighted the spatial and material power of the pavilion. Like any good architecture, there is no doubt that Mies’s structures are best off if Alberti’s maxim of not adding, taking away, or altering anything is taken as prescription. Case in point: the Seagram Building in New York, the subject of a new book written by Phyllis Lambert. Lam bert is the insider par excellence, as the client’s daughter who persuaded her father to hire Mies van der Rohe, as the director of planning during the building process, and as the patroness of the Seagram Building ever since. She is able to re count the story of the building like nobody else
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. © Richard Pare Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. © Richard Pare
could. One great merit of the history she pre sents is that it does not end with the completion of the building—but goes on to describe the pro ject’s life since 1958. Lambert emerges from this book not only as its author, but also as one of the actors. There is no false modesty in this regard: the author’s name is included in the index, and is among the most cited, together with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Seagram, Four Seasons Restaurant, Plaza of Seagram Building and Philip Johnson. These are the protagonists in an exceptional story. What is missing from the index but receives quite some attention in this book is a major player that entered the life of the Seagram Building in 1979, some two decades after its completion: Article 26 of the agreement of pur chase and sale between Seagram and the Teach ers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA). Article 26 defined the architectural integrity of the Seagram Building and Plaza and prescribed how much (or how little, in fact) was allowed in the first 10 feet of office space behind the trans parent façades. The basic message of Article 26 to the new owner was: the building is all yours, but don’t touch it. Due to the assertiveness of Seagram (and TIAA’s willingness to accept these conditions) the untainted life of the Sea gram Building was secured, well before it re ceived official landmark designation nearly a decade later. Although total preservation keeps Mies’s architecture at its Miesian best, its does not ne cessarily lose its dignity when this isn’t the case. None of Mies’s Canadian projects—three in Montreal and one in Toronto—have been treated with a similar uncompromising respect for the original as the Seagram Building, yet each has turned out to possess a rather robust beauty. The four Canadian projects, for which Mies van der Rohe was officially only the consulting architect, cover the spectrum from changing for the worse (Westmount Square), to not doing much at all (Nuns’ Island apartment buildings), to carrying on a legacy (TD Centre), to reinvent ing Mies. The last holds true for the Nuns’ Island gas station, recently turned into a com munity centre. Les Architectes FABG’s trans formation takes the original very seriously (see pages 22-25) and the architects have kept an admirably low profile, but did not freeze the former gas station in the rigor mortis of monumentalization. The three nearby apartment buildings are among the most run-of-the-mill projects of Mies’s career, and have never been treated as venerable masterpieces. Today they look like most 50-year-old buildings; just a bit worn. The overdue maintenance enhances the impression
Opposite A view at Dusk of the Seagram building shortly after completion in 1958. Top The set-back plaza was unprecedented in Manhattan, and its ongoing popularity is evident. Above A reflection of the Racquet and Tennis Club in the carefully preserved and maintained lobby enclosure.
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Miguel de Guzmán Thomas Hick
Thomas Hick
that this is the closest a Mies building gets to ordinariness, a quality not always fully appreci ated in his architecture. The two largest Canadian projects—the Toronto-Dominion Centre in Toronto and West mount Square in Montreal—reveal contrasting approaches. Bregman and Hamann (now B+H Architects), who collaborated with Mies on the original TD Centre together with John B. Parkin Associates, have remained involved up to the present. Between 1974 and 1991 they designed three additional office towers on the same block, complementing Mies’s original two towers, low bank building, plaza and concourse. And for the past three years, they’ve been active on the exemplary revitalization of the TD Centre, along with Michael McClelland of E.R.A. Architects. When the first part of the TD Centre was built in the late 1960s, it boasted a state-of-the-art HVAC system, but standards have changed since the pre-energy-crisis era. Aside from equip ment upgrades, the recent renovation includes replacement of the original single-pane win dows with thermal double-pane windows that will reduce heat loss by 50 percent. B+H has taken great pains to ensure that all interven tions remain true to the original designs of Mies, yet they took certain liberties to make the complex more sustainable, such as adding a neatly gridded green roof on top of the TD Bank Pavilion. Westmount Square’s renovation, undertaken in the late 1980s, only 20 years after the build ing’s completion, was done with less care. Part of the explanation might be a difference of sensibility and talent, but it also has to do with timing. The Austrian writer Karl Kraus once said of his own work that it would become time less as soon as it started to appear outdated. In architecture though, it usually takes even longer for buildings to become classics. As soon as the glamour of novelty wears off, after a decade or so, they enter a dangerous period of being un fashionable. If they manage to endure this, they may eventually acquire the aura of timeless ness. TD’s renovation started only after it was widely considered untouchable. The renovation of Westmount Square came too early in this re spect. The replacement of travertine with a much duller granite in the outdoor spaces (pur portedly for better resistance to winter condi tions) and the addition of skylights to the shop ping concourse have certainly not improved the complex. In addition to the three towers and a low box, a new fourth tower was simultaneously constructed—which, while anticipated in the original plans, did not exactly match Mies’s Modernism in its execution. This apartment tower, an example of watereddown Postmodernism, was designed by French 28 canadian architect 08/13
Tom Arban
Tom Arban
architect Henri Colombani, who describes apologetically but without any real explanation on his website that it was conceived “within the limits set by the architect, without the possibil ity of a copy.” Just as the transformation of Westmount Square came too soon for some to be convinced of its timeless quality, after just 25 years it might be too early to pass final judge ment on Colombani’s intervention. It would not be too daring, though, to contend that it will
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Opposite, top to bottom An installation by Office for Political Innovation displayed material stored under the Barcelona Pavilion; Two views of a full-scale tem porary model of an unrealized Mies de sign by Robbrecht en Daem architecten. clockw ise from top The revitalized TD Centre in Toronto meticulously maintains the appearance of the iconic complex; The corner Banking Pavilion receives a new green roof whose layout mirrors the gridded coffered ceiling inside; Following the replacement of glazing units, the towers are repainted from the existing battleship grey to a low-maintenance fluoropolymer matte black.
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Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. © Olivo Barbieri Fonds Phyllis Lambert, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. © Phyllis Lambert
never be able to compete with the power that Mies’s original Westmount Square retains de spite its renovation. Of all four Canadian projects, Westmount Square is definitely the worst off. Contrary to Jaque’s installation in which the clutter actually underlines the beauty of the architecture, here the changes are disturbingly present. But no matter how much Mies’s ensemble is robbed of its purity, it is still beautiful in its fulfillment of his ideal of stark, dark towers in the city. Maybe it is first and foremost this compelling darkness that has saved Westmount Square, and which proves how much Mies’s architecture can handle, such that almost nothing can bring it down. CA
Top A View from above of Westmount Square in 2004. Above In this 1971 view from Westmount lookout, the three Mies towers are a sombre, elegant presence in the Montreal cityscape.
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Hans Ibelings is an architectural historian based in Montreal. Until 2012 he was the editor of A10 New European Architecture, which he founded in 2004 together with graphic designer Arjan Groot. Currently, he is the editor and publisher of The Architecture Observer. His forthcoming book sheds light on the little-known work of Dutch architect Gert Boon (1921-2009).
Profile
CHARLES RENFRO Charles Renfro reflects on the evolution of his career with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and his search to reconcile digital media with real-life architecture.
“In 1987, we were trying to break out of the Postmodern era that had plagued us for most of the decade,” explains Charles Renfro, partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro. So when he was assigned to Bob Venturi for a preceptorship at the Rice School of Architecture, he was upset. “But then I got there, and I realized what great thinkers Bob and Denise were. Wow!” he recalls. “The ‘style’ that was perceived in their work was not at all what it was about. It was really thoughtful, provocative work. I learned from them a kind of giddy energy and enthusiasm to look at the cultural factors in life, which was really infectious in that office.” That energy, combined with experience in the nuts and bolts of architecture at Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects—“we would cobble things together from the hardware stores and junk shops on Canal Street”— prepared Renfro for his work with Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio. Soon after joining the firm in 1997, Renfro became what Diller has described as a destabilizing force in the power bloc that characterized her relationship with working partner and husband Scofidio. Renfro was made partner in 2004, on the heels of the breakthrough Blur Building, and a heady series of successes followed, including Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), the Lincoln Center in New York City and the Manh attan High Line. From the beginning, Renfro was undaunted working with bosses that were also a married couple, and today he expects the same steel from the younger members of the firm’s growing staff. “We bring the entire team around the table and everybody is required to contribute. It may be intimidating at first but they witness the partners’ back-and-forth—our disagreements, our silliness, the way that we approach design.” The table becomes a stage for high drama: “Our favorite tool in the office is a big fat red Sharpie for giant, fast and dirty sketches. When we come away from the table, we’re usually covered in red marks. We like to think we’ve been bloodied in battle, and the more red marks you have on you when you leave a design session, the more productive it has been.” I asked Renfro whether these sessions were deliberately a form of mentorship. “Mentoring goes with the territory,” he replied. “For a lot of people this is their first job out of school. We have no doubt that these experiences will live with them for some time.” He adds that the demographics of the office are actively shifting. “Recently we’ve taken on the role of executive architect on some of our larger jobs, and it’s changing the dynamic in the studio. We’ve been hiring older and more experienced people to supplement our staff, which has generally been quite fresh and eager—super-talented, but not so experienced that we could put together a million-square-foot building ourselves.” As much as the firm’s projects are increasingly complex and often heavy on technology—digital media is seamlessly embedded in many of their buildings—the end goal lies in bodily and social engagement. For instance, the focal point of the ICA’s mediathèque is a horizontal window at the bottom of the room. “It eliminates all the visual noise of adjacent buildings and the horizon, framing only the water in a three-by-four format, which is a traditional computer or television screen size,” says Renfro. “So there’s a reference that takes you into a space that is typically mediated, but it is analog—a kind of pseudo-digital situation.”
Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Lian Chikako Chang
Iwan Baan
Text
Top The Blur Building at the 2002 Swiss Expo is a tensegrity structure equipped with fog nozzles that create an artificial cloud. Above At the heart of the ICA in Boston, a mediathèque projects dramatically over the waterfront.
“I was in Israel the other day and my boyfriend posted something on Facebook and within 35 minutes it had 79 ‘likes.’ I was flabbergasted! What are these people doing all day—sitting on their Facebook accounts?” Renfro laughs. “We’re not asking you to make a public proclamation about your participation. It’s about bringing participation back to real life.” CA Lian Chikako Chang, Director of Research and Information at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, holds a MArch from Harvard University and a PhD from McGill University. Charles Renfro will deliver the architectural keynote address at IIDEX Canada in Toronto on September 27, 2013 at 11:00am. For more information, please visit www.iidexcanada.com. 08/13 canadian architect
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Calendar Arthur S. Goss: Works and Days
June 19-August 25, 2013 This exhibi tion at the Ryerson Image Centre in Toronto features the work of Arthur S. Goss, Toronto’s official photographer from 1911-1940, which illustrates the Victorian city’s ambitious, but often difficult, reinvention of itself as a modern Canadian metropolis. www.ryerson.ca/ric/exhibitions/ Goss.html
Migrating Landscapes Unpacked: Concept, Process, Impressions, Legacy
July 5-September 8, 2013 Through vibrant graphics and video, this exhibition at Cambridge Galleries Design at Riverside traces the unique development of the Migrating Landscapes initiative—the Canadian entry to the 2012 Venice Biennale—from its inception through to its realization. www.cambridgegalleries.ca
Postnatural Disaster
Grenzgänger: Border Crosser
June 22-September 8, 2013 Captains of Industry use the Alberta oil sands development as an example of a human-induced natural disaster, and their installation at Toronto’s York Quay Centre at Harbourfront proposes an architectural solution to support disaster response ef forts, rather than a structure to shelter us from the consequences of our own actions. www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/2013/postnatural-disaster/
July 17-September 30, 2013 In this ex hibition at Bulthaup Toronto, artist and graphic designer Udo Schlie mann focuses on the tension and relationship between order and chaos and how each state can have its own aesthetic expression. toronto@bulthaup.ca Model Behaviour
July 24-August 30, 2013 This exhibi tion at the AIBC Gallery in Van couver highlights the important
historic role that architectural models have played in bringing abstract ideas to life while convey ing visions of the future. http://aibcenews.wordpress.com/ 2013/07/11/current-exhibition-modelbehaviour/ Nakashima: A Retrospective
July 24-August 30, 2013 Mjölk in To ronto presents the first Canadian retrospective of works by legendary late architect and craftsman George Nakashima and his daughter Mira— architect, designer and head of the Nakashima Studio. www.kitka.ca Digital Fabrications: Architectural and Material Techniques
August 10, 2013 Part of the Philoso phy Café series, this monthly event at Shelf Life Books in Calgary features a discussion of Lisa Iwa moto’s book, one of the Architec tural Briefs Series published by Princeton Architectural Press. www.shelflifebooks.ca
Green Walls 101: Systems Overview and Design
August 15, 2013 This half-day pro fessional training course at the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto focuses on design and construction best practices for green façades and living walls, as well as the latest research findings on the environmental benefits of these technologies. www.cvent.com Model Making
September 7, 2013 Part of the Phil osophy Café series, this monthly event at Shelf Life Books in Calgary features a discussion of Megan Werner’s book, one of the Archi tectural Briefs Series published by Princeton Architectural Press. www.shelflifebooks.ca For more information about these, and additional listings of Canadian and international events, please visit www.canadianarchitect.com
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National Film Board of Canada
Backpage
The High Life
An ambitious NFB web project gathers stories from highrise tower-dwellers around the world. Text
Javier Zeller
Since 2009, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and director Katherine Cizek have been building a documentary juggernaut with their interactive website Highrise. From a base of the documentaries Out My Window and the Digital Emmy Award-winner One Millionth Tower, the Highrise site has been steadily gathering material and making partnerships in a five-year project to create a wide-ranging chronicle of life in the vertical suburbs. Concrete towers, found on the outskirts of cities throughout Canada and the world, are places which have, for the most part, outlived the utopian impulses that brought them into being. They are a kind of universal but unacknowledged vernacular, often the first stepping stone for immigrants to this country. My family lived in this kind of tower development on the edge of the town of Oakville in the first few years after arriving to Canada from Chile. Until Highrise, I hadn’t seen much in the media addressing that kind of experience directly. The documentaries that comprise Highrise combine histories of the slab-tower building form with personal narratives of people who call them home. At its most effective, Highrise creates a framework for voices, experiences and music of tower dwellers from around the world. The residents’ own stories shine as the core of the project; they are what invite repeated visits. 34 canadian architect 08/13
Above The 3D navigation page for One Millionth Tower suggests ground-level interventions such as a stage and farmers’ market to revitalize a tower complex on Kipling Avenue in suburban Toronto.
In one of the site’s key components, the documentary One Millionth Tower, interviews are interspersed with animated sequences that reimagine the future of one such neighbourhood in Toronto. Drawn in a friendly shimmering style like Japanese anime, these clips showcase interventions intended to animate the ground floors and parking lots at the base of the towers. The web interface itself evokes the spatial qualities of the neighbourhood: tower forms are arranged to create a three-dimensional space that the viewer navigates through, setting chapterlike stories into motion. Initially, this makes for exciting interaction, but the kinetic effects eventually begin to wear thin. Part of the reason for this shortfall is the design of the digital world itself. The virtual area one inhabits in One Millionth Tower perhaps resembles too closely some of the less lovely qualities of public space in these neighbourhoods. It is not a stretch to call the digital space cool and impersonal—closer in character to J.G. Ballard’s dystopian novel Highrise than the site’s creators may have intended. The focus on vertical living captured in the NFB’s web project reflects an evolving understanding of the invisible metropolis contained in these concrete towers. Toronto architect Graeme Stewart, whose work features prominently in Highrise, has long made a persuasive case that the suburban metropolis emerged fully formed a generation ago, and it remained invisible only as a consequence of our unwill-
ingness to acknowledge it. Highrise presents us with a metropolitan nation, not just an urban one. It confronts us with how we live and have lived for decades, no longer hewers of wood and drawers of water so much as riders of elevators and users of shared laundry rooms. With Highrise, the NFB makes visible the residents of this uniquely contemporary city—with commonalities that cross countries and continents. Highrise is poised to leap into a broader cultural conversation later in 2013, when the site launches three new documentaries in partnership with The New York Times, which recently nabbed a Pulitzer and a Peabody for its interactive online feature story Snowfall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek. It’s not hard to see why the Times and the NFB are natural partners. Highrise, with its multi-year timeframe and nonlinear structure, provides a compelling and unconventional narrative. The integration of content from an array of source materials creates a breadth and depth that would be resource-intensive to assemble using more traditional documentary techniques. As the site continues to unfold with evermore content and contributors, it has the potential to dissolve the structure of the documentary and come to resemble a community room for sharing the stories of vertical suburbs across the world. CA Javier Zeller is an architect working in Toronto with Diamond Schmitt Architects. The Highrise website can be accessed at highrise.nfb.ca.
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