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FOUR SEASONS CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS / DIAMOND AND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS INCORPORATED / PHOTO: TOM GRIFFITH
Become a member for 2013 | www.raic.org
DIRECTOR, PROGRAM IN ARCHITECTURE The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto, invites applications for a full-time tenure-stream appointment in Architecture to serve as the Director of the Faculty’s Program in Architecture. This appointment will be at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor and will be effective July 1, 2013. Candidates will be expected to possess the expertise to teach and conduct research in one, or more of the following areas: Building and/or Environmental Systems; Digital Design/Fabrication; Architecture and Health; Parametric, Visualization-based Urbanism. The Director of the Architecture Program provides leadership in the crafting, delivery, and ongoing reform of the faculty’s 3.5-year professional master’s program. This would include being the lead authority and spokesperson for the program with regard to staffing and everyday management of the curricular and extra-curricular aspects of the program, student recruitment and advising, and outreach to professional, academic and other communities with a stake in architectural discourse and practice. Set within a preeminent research university and located at the center of one of North America’s most cosmopolitan cities, the Daniels Faculty uniquely combines the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. The Daniels Faculty explores the intersections between nature, technology, architecture, and various built geographies in a way that situates design to meet its contemporary challenges. An emphasis on the connections between all of the design disciplines at work in the remaking of the built environment is apparent in the scholarly research and built work of many of our faculty. Following a decade-long transformation of the school’s faculty and professional programs, and a recent, major increase in its endowment, the Faculty is expanding its foundation in undergraduate teaching, and its research capacity by developing a PhD in Architecture, Landscape, and Design Studies. To accommodate both growth in its curricular offerings, and an increase in its research and outreach programs, a new building complex is being constructed by the Faculty on Toronto’s historic One Spadina Crescent. The Daniels Faculty is particularly committed to exploring new modes of practice by drawing on the community of minds at the Uni versity of Toronto, and a wide array of globally positioned academic, industry, and public sector partners. The Faculty enjoys ties with a number of adjacent disciplines within the University of Toronto (Engineering, Geography and Planning, Art, Literary Studies, Information, Medicine/Health) via both cross-disciplinary teaching appointments and various forms of research. The Daniels Faculty would be an especially engaging environment for someone whose creative work, or research explores the specif icities of contemporary practice from a perspective that is historically informed, technologically advanced, and theoretically acute. Candidates would be expected to bring a substantial creative, or technical research program, and to demonstrate not only a capacity to fuse their agenda with the interests and commitments of the faculty, but to build new research capacities and relationships. The search will focus on individuals with a minimum of a professional Masters in Architecture. Doctoral credentials and a demon strated capacity for administration would be a plus. Salary, appointment type, and rank will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. Evidence of excellence in teaching and research is required. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. All qualified candidates are invited to submit their application online by clicking the link below. http://uoft.me/academicopportunities (referencing #1201749). Applications should include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, teaching dossier, a statement outlining current and future research objectives, and representative examples of publications, research, and design work. If you have questions about this position, please contact Kevin Wilson (kevin.wilson@daniels.utoronto.ca, T 416 946 0208, F 416 971 2432). The UofT application system can accommodate up to five attachments (10 MB) per candidate profile; please combine attachments into one or two files in PDF/MS Word format. Submission guidelines can be found at: http://uoft.me/how-to-apply. Applicants should also ask at least three referees to send letters directly to the department via e-mail to kevin.wilson@daniels.utoronto.ca by the closing date, March 15, 2013. For more information on the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design please visit our website at: http://www.daniels.utoronto.ca// The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
14 MONAD The Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture continues its exploration of sustainable urban living in the design of this prefab multi-unit residence in Vancouver’s desirable Kitsilano neighbourhood. TEXT Adele Weder
Kindred Construction
Schmidt Hammer Lassen/Marshall Tittemore Architects
Nic Lehoux
Contents
9 News
ing Thom Architects and Ronald Lu & B Partners Company Ltd. selected to design Opera House in Hong Kong; commission for the Inuit Art and Learning Centre for the Winnipeg Art Gallery won by Michael Maltzan Architecture and Cibinel Architects Ltd.
20 City of Edmonton A number of recent architectural and urban design initiatives in Edmonton signal a positive transformation of the city’s downtown core and suburbs. TEXT Graham Livesey
27 Technical
Bing Thom Architects
Douglas MacLeod reports on the increased use and sustainable benefits of cross-laminated timber.
31 REVIEW
Diverse visions of Montreal contained in a current exhibition entitled ABC : MTL at the Canadian Centre for Architecture are considered by Louise Pelletier.
36 Calendar
T he Happy Show at the Design Exchange in Toronto; Kenneth Frampton comes alive at the National Gallery of Canada.
38 Backpage
JANUARY 2013, v.58 n.01
The National Review of Design and Practice/ The Journal of Record of Architecture Canada | RAIC
A tribute to the late, great Grant Marshall and his influence on interior design in his home city of Winnipeg and beyond, by Herbert Enns.
COVER The MONAD residential complex in Vancouver, British Columbia by Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture (LWPAC). Photograph by Nic Lehoux.
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Alanah Heffez
Viewpoint
A commuter on Bixi travels along the Milton Street bike lane in the Plateau district of Montreal. The shared city bicycle program was created under former city mayor Gérald Tremblay, while borough mayor Luc Ferrandez has championed the local network of designated lanes. ABOVE
January is traditionally a time for fresh pers pectives and renewal. For many Canadian architects, the most pressing issue at the forefront of change for 2013 is municipal governance. Allegations raised during the Charbonneau Commission hearings led to the resignation of Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay, Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt, and Mascouche mayor Richard Marcotte. London mayor Joe Fontana faces charges of using federal money to pay for his son’s wedding. In Toronto, an Ontario court judge ordered Rob Ford to leave his position over donations to his football charity solicited using city resources. From all appearances, the office of mayor is key in championing a long-term vision for the physical territory and cultural image of a city. Mayor Tremblay, for instance, fought to keep the Formula One Grand Prix in Montreal and oversaw the transformation of the area around Place des Arts into the broader Quartier des Spectacles. While these projects have incited local debate, the popularity of events including the Grand Prix and the International Jazz Festival—the latter of which is now hosted on grand plazas instead of parking lots—have kept Mon treal on the global stage as a cultural metropolis. This progressive image is underscored by the city’s popular, if financially troubled Bixi bikesharing program, also initiated by Tremblay and accompanied by a comprehensive network of bike paths in the downtown core. Mayor Ford’s year in office has, for his part, been marked by controversy over Toronto’s waterfront plan and the city’s public transportation infrastructure. In adopting an aggressively 6 canadian architect 01/13
pro-business and pro-automobile stance, Ford threatened to derail plans long in the making, inciting the righteous ire of the local architectural community, among other constituencies. Throughout the past century, municipal governance has attracted its fair share of strong personalities. However, these figures do not exclusively occupy the seat of mayor, nor are their legacies uncontested. Perhaps no city-shaper is as notorious as Robert Moses, who comprehensively transformed New York from the mid-1930s to the late 1960s, while occupying various non-elected roles in city and state government. Robert Caro’s 1974 biography The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, long the definitive oeuvre on his legacy, criticized Moses’ aggressive management style and charged his urban renewal projects with an underlying racist agenda. History is a fickle judge, and the critical winds have more recently turned in Moses’ favour. Columbia University professors Hilary Ballon and Kenneth T. Jackson’s 2007 volume, Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York, accompanied by a trio of exhibitions across New York, shifted the focus from the man to his works—the formidable portfolio of highways, bridges, buildings, parks, playgrounds and pools that have, mostly for better than for worse, made the city what it is today. Critics such as Samuel Zipp have gone further, characterizing the urban renewal projects of the era as the result of broader cultural and economic forces rather than the product of a single mastermind. Will current opinions on Canada’s troubled mayors endure in the future? It seems that many of those in present circulation are based on emotionally satisfying judgments of personality. An even-handed assessment of Tremblay’s attempts to rehabilitate Montreal over the past decade has been overshadowed by criticism of his moral legitimacy. Ford’s simplistic demeanour is all too easy to mock, and many urbanminded Torontonians have celebrated his potential dismissal from office. But pundits have also noted the broad public awareness around urban issues generated during Ford’s short term in office: Doug and Rob Ford’s pitch for a megamall, monorail and Ferris wheel on the port lands spurred many Toronto residents to take a closer look at the sophisti cated plans already in progress for the former harbour. Like Robert Moses, the real heroes may turn out not to be mayors at all—but the city bureaucrats and the directors of bodies such as Waterfront Toronto, who have persevered in advancing major planning projects during the present lacuna in political leadership. Elsa Lam
elam@canadianarchitect.com
Editor Elsa Lam Associate Editor Leslie Jen, MRAIC Editorial Advisors Ian Chodikoff, OAA, FRAIC John McMinn, AADipl. Contributing Editors Gavin Affleck, OAQ, MRAIC Herbert Enns, MAA, MRAIC Douglas MacLeod, ncarb, MRAIC Regional Correspondents Halifax Christine Macy, OAA Regina Bernard Flaman, SAA Montreal David Theodore Calgary David A. Down, AAA Winnipeg Herbert Enns, MAA 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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Assistant / Associate Professor — ARCHITECTURE The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto, invites applications for a full-time tenure-stream appointment in Architecture. This appointment will be at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor and will be effective July 1, 2013. Candidates will be expected to possess the expertise to teach and conduct research in one of the following areas: Building and/or Environmental Systems; Digital Design/Fabrication; Architecture and Health; Parametric, Visualization-based Urbanism. Set within a preeminent research university and located at the center of one of North America’s most cosmopolitan cities, the Daniels Faculty uniquely combines the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. The Daniels Faculty explores the intersections between nature, technology, architecture, and various built geographies in a way that situates design to meet its contemporary challenges. An emphasis on the connections between all of the design disciplines at work in the remaking of the built environment is apparent in the scholarly research and built work of many of our faculty. Following a decade-long transformation of the school’s faculty and professional programs, and a recent, major increase in its endowment, the Faculty is expanding its foundation in undergraduate teaching, and its research capacity by developing a PhD in Architecture, Landscape, and Design Studies. To accommodate both growth in its curricular offerings, and an increase in its research and outreach programs, a new building complex is being constructed by the Faculty on Toronto’s historic One Spadina Crescent. The Daniels Faculty is particularly committed to exploring new modes of practice by drawing on the community of minds at the Uni versity of Toronto, and a wide array of globally positioned academic, industry, and public sector partners. The Faculty enjoys ties with a number of adjacent disciplines within the University of Toronto (Engineering, Geography and Planning, Art, Literary Studies, Information, Medicine/Health) via both cross-disciplinary teaching appointments and various forms of research. The Daniels Faculty would be an especially engaging environment for someone whose creative work, or research explores the specificities of contemporary practice from a perspective that is historically informed, technologically advanced, and theoretically acute. Candidates would be expected to bring a substantial creative, or technical research program, and to demonstrate not only a capacity to fuse their agenda with the interests and commitments of the faculty, but to build new research capacities and relationships. The search will focus on an individual with a demonstrable background in architecture that possesses an advanced masters degree, or doctoral credentials. Administrative experience or the demonstrated capacity to assist the Faculty in this regard would be a plus. Salary and rank of appointment will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. Evidence of excellence in teaching and research is required. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. All qualified candidates are invited to apply by clicking on the link below. http://uoft.me/academicopportunities (referencing #1201746). Applications should include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, teaching dossier, a statement outlining current and future research objectives, and representative examples of publications, research, and design work. If you have questions about this position, please contact Kevin Wilson (kevin.wilson@daniels.utoronto.ca, T 416 946 0208, F 416 971 2432). The UofT application system can accommodate up to five attachments (10 MB) per candidate profile; please combine attachments into one or two files in PDF/MS Word format. Submission guidelines can be found at: http://uoft.me/how-to-apply. Applicants should also ask at least three referees to send letters directly to the department via e-mail to kevin.wilson@daniels.utoronto.ca by the closing date, March 15, 2013. For more information on the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design please visit our website at: http://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/ The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
2011 Canadian arChiteCtural PraCtiCes
BenChMarK studY e l B a l i Va a W O n
FOR DETAILS ON THE 256 PAGE RESEARCH REPORT AND TO ORDER A COPY GO TO: www.canadianarchitect.com/benchmark
News Projects Bing Thom Architects and Ronald Lu & Partners Company Ltd. chosen to design Opera House in Hong Kong.
The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) recently announced the appointment of two Hong Kong-born architects to collaborate on the architectural design of the Xiqu (Chinese Opera) Centre, one of the landmark cultural venues for the West Kowloon Cultural District, scheduled for commissioning in 2016. The two lead architects, Bing Thom in Vancouver and Ronald Lu of Hong Kong, have formed a joint venture partnership called Bing Thom Architects and Ronald Lu & Partners Company Ltd. and will work with the WKCDA over the next four years to design and deliver a world-class facility for the preservation, development and promotion of this important art form of Chinese cultural heritage in Hong Kong. The Xiqu Centre will be the first of 17 core arts and cultural venues to be opened within the District. The venue will provide a platform for the Xiqu communities to interact, develop and produce the finest examples of Cantonese and other Chinese opera performances, attract new audiences, and educate and collaborate with and host international cultural programs. Occupying a prime site of 13,800 square metres on the corner of Canton Road and Austin Road West, the centre will provide a gateway of access to the Cultural District. Early concept designs illustrate that the building will provide a striking entrance, a lantern for the District, employing the Moongate traditional Chinese motif and a dynamic treatment of the façade. Its flow or “qi” is expressed with curvilinear paths and forms. The architecture incorporates a generous amount of public leisure space in addition to 2,000 square metres of training and education facilities, two superbly designed auditoria for 1,100 and 400 seats (the latter to be developed in Phase 2) respectively, and a traditional Tea House for performances for audiences up to 280. The design team was picked unanimously by a jury panel made up of prominent leaders in the relevant professional and cultural sectors in Hong Kong and internationally. www.wkcda.hk/en/newsroom/press_releases/index_ id_117.html Michael Maltzan selected to design Inuit Art and Learning Centre for the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Award-winning American architect Michael Maltzan has been selected to design the Inuit Art and Learning Centre (IALC) at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG). The Centre will house both the WAG’s celebrated collection of contemporary
Inuit art, the largest of its kind in the world, and the studio art and learning programs. Michael Maltzan will be the prime and design architect for this historic project, and supporting his team will be Cibinel Architects Ltd. led by principal George Cibinel, acting as the associate and technical architect in Winnipeg. This past August, 65 prospective architectural teams from 15 countries responded to the call for expressions of interest for the IALC project. Founded in 1995, Los Angeles-based Michael Maltzan Architecture has designed a wide range of arts, educational, commercial, institutional, civic and residential projects worldwide. Notable projects include Inner-City Arts, San Francisco State University’s Mashouf Performing Arts Center, MoMA-QNS, New Carver Apartments, Pittman Dowell Residence, Regen Projects, and the Hammer Museum Billy Wilder Theater. George Cibinel, the principal of Cibinel Architects Ltd., has an impressive record of outstanding design, including major academic and cultural buildings for the University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg, Red River College, Franco-Manitoban Heritage Centre, Brandon University, and the Manitoba Pavilion for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. George Baird, founding partner, Baird Sampson Neuert Architects, headed the WAG’s national selection committee. Other members of the committee included: Stephen Borys, Executive Director, WAG; Herbert Enns, Director, Experimental Media Research Group, Professor of Architecture, University of Manitoba, and Director, Cisco Innovation Centre for Collaborative Technologies, University of Winnipeg; Naomi Levine, lawyer and President, WAG Board of Governors; Brigitte Shim, Principal, ShimSutcliffe Architects, Inc.; Richard Yaffe, Partner, Aikins, MacAulay & Thorvaldson, LLP, and
ABOVE a street-level view of the proposed Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong, designed by Bing Thom Architects and Ronald Lu & Partners Company Ltd.
Chair, WAG Foundation; and Mirko Zardini, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Canadian Centre for Architecture. The development of the Inuit Art and Learning Centre is part of the WAG’s Centennial Legacy project, which will be supported by the Gallery’s upcoming capital and endowment campaign. A national Inuit Art Task Force chaired by Stephen Borys has been set up to assist with the development of the program and mandate for the IALC. The Centre will be located adjacent to the existing WAG building, and a groundbreaking for construction is anticipated in 2014. www.wag.ca Patkau Architects appointed to design Audain Art Museum in Whistler.
A new art museum planned for Whistler will be designed by internationally renowned Patkau Architects Inc. of Vancouver. John and Patricia Patkau, both members of the Order of Canada, have been recognized for their award-winning projects in many parts of Canada and abroad. In 2012 the Patkaus’ work was represented in the Five North American Architects exhibition in the international section of the 2012 Venice Biennale for Architecture. Thirteen of their projects have received Governor General’s Awards for Architecture, but they have never been invited before to undertake a cultural project in British Columbia. “We are delighted that John and Pat have agreed to undertake this commission,” said Museum board member Jim Moodie. He added, “It will, no doubt, result in an exciting 01/13 canadian architect
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building which will add to the diversity of things to enjoy in Whistler.” http://designbuildsource.ca/2012/11/architectwhistlers-museum/ LMN Architects awarded two Canadian convention centre projects.
Following the recent accolades for the awardwinning, LEED Platinum-certified Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, Seattle-based LMN Architects is expanding its international presence in the convention centre arena with two new projects in Winnipeg and London, Ontario. The Winnipeg project is a high-profile, multi-storey expansion of the current Winnipeg Convention Centre, and will include an upperlevel exhibit hall, incorporating a signature event room dubbed the City Room—which extends over York Avenue, along with a ballroom, new pre-function spaces, and support areas on the adjacent expansion site. Team selection included a two-stage North American competition. The selected team consists of design-build contractor Stuart Olson Dominion Construction Ltd., developer Matthews Southwest, and LMN leading the design with local Winnipeg architectural firms Number TEN Architectural Group and LM Architectural Group. LMN was also selected to complete a space-needs analysis and utilization recommendations for the London Convention Centre, where they will collaborate with feasibility analysis firm HLT Advisory, Inc. and Toronto-based design firm Dialog. The team was selected by the London Convention Centre to evaluate the existing facility and regional competition venues, and determine what improvements can be undertaken to increase space utilization and event revenue. www.lmnarchitects.com
Awards 5468796 Architecture wins ar+d Award for Emerging Architecture.
Canadian firm 5468796 Architecture has been honoured with a prestigious ar+d Award for Emerging Architecture 2012 by Architectural Review magazine in the UK for work by architects under the age of 45. 5468796’s Bloc_10 housing project in Winnipeg was one of four first-prize winners, selected from over 250 entries from around the world. At a recent awards ceremony in London, England, 5468796 Architecture received £2,500, a quarter-share of the £10,000 prize fund. The winning design is a low-budget, 10-unit housing project that strives to reimagine and reinvent the market-driven condominium. The building is modelled after a white-box concept: each buyer purchases an unfinished unit 10 canadian architect 01/13
with basic plumbing, heating and electrical systems installed, allowing them to decide which rooms and finishes they would like on each floor. 5468796 challenged traditional townhouse layouts with apartments that cross from one side of the building to the other as they ascend over three levels. This arrangement provides every unit with north and south views, and transforms eight into corner suites. In addition, 5468796 maximized the usable area of the site by cantilevering six-foot-deep projections on alternating floors to expand rooms, create balconies and provide support for the wooden, vertical-slat privacy screen that wraps the building’s exterior. The screen provides privacy and shade for homeowners, and helps mitigate traffic noise. The screen’s sheer texture unifies the façade and gives Bloc_10 a distinctive identity within the city. This is the third honour for Bloc_10. In December 2010 the project was awarded a Canadian Architect Award of Excellence, and in May 2012 the project was distinguished with a Governor General’s Medal for Design Excellence. Representing the ar+d Award jury, Architectural Review’s Editor in Chief declared, “This scheme for housing takes a much belied building type and gives it a sense of dignity and delight. It also points the way forward to a genuinely new form of housing.” Marianne McKenna of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada.
His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, recently invested Marianne McKenna of Toronto as an Officer of the Order of Canada. The Office of the Secretary to the Governor General stated that “Marianne McKenna, O.C., has crafted architecture that enriches the public experience. A founding partner of KPMB Architects, she is responsible for a number of innovative structures, including the Royal Conservatory of Music’s acclaimed Koerner Concert Hall in Toronto. Whether designing an integrated campus for Concordia University in downtown Montreal, or the environmentally sustainable Jackson-Triggs Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, she is committed to creating edifices that weave into the fabric of the community.” A founding partner of the award-winning practice of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB), McKenna has designed and directed a diverse range of internationally acclaimed projects in the spheres of culture, business, education and science. One of her notable achievements is the Royal Conservatory TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, a project spanning 20 years that includes the elegant and acoustically mas-
tered Koerner Concert Hall, which has been described as the “jewel in the crown of Toronto’s Cultural Renaissance.” The design earned KPMB its 11th Governor General’s Medal as well as numerous awards for architectural excellence. In 2011, McKenna was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Conservatory for her outstanding contribution and commitment. Among her more prominent academic projects are the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre and Le Quartier Concordia (both in joint venture with Fichten Soiferman et Associés, Architectes), the integrated vertical campus of business, engineering and visual arts at Concordia University’s downtown Montreal campus, the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo, and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Current projects include the renovation and expansion of Toronto’s historic Massey Hall, the Music and Theater Arts Project in Walker Memorial Hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the expansion of Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. She is also partner in charge of the integrated design team for the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago, which was the winning scheme in an invited international design competition. Born in Montreal and educated at Swarthmore College and Yale University, McKenna was an associate at Barton Myers Associates prior to the founding of KPMB Architects in 1987. In 2010, McKenna was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by The Financial Post. She has lectured extensively, and currently sits on the Board of Directors of Metrolinx as well as the Institute of Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the Royal Ontario Museum. Upon being invested, McKenna stated, “For every Order of Canada, there are 1,000 people dedicating their lives to making our country better. I am deeply grateful to receive this honour, which will serve as a daily reminder to focus on creating architecture that cultivates innovation, creativity and community building.” Perkins+Will Canada wins IIDA Global Excellence Award.
The Toronto-based studio of Perkins+Will Canada has been honoured with a prestigious International Interior Design Association Global Excellence Award for its University of Toronto Mississauga Instructional Centre. The project won Best of Category for cultural, institutional and educational projects, and demonstrates the University of Toronto Mississauga’s commitment to strengthening the educational experience with inspirational and sustainable architecture. The building is distinguished by its
cohesive green and black copper that integrates the building with its green surroundings and poetically echoes the gradual evolution of the educational experience. Pathways and informal lounges ease student flow through building and connect the students with campus life. Photovoltaic panels act as sunshades and green roofs are planted with indigenous meadow grasses, expressing the university’s commitment to sustainable initiatives. This is the fourth honour for the Instructional Centre. In 2011, the project was presented with the Mississauga Urban Design Award of Excellence. This year it received a North American Copper in Architecture Award, an Interior Design Award in the IIDA’s Design Competition, and an honoree award in Interior Design Magazine’s Best of Year Awards. www.perkinswill.ca
Competitions VISIONARY (re)generation: University of Manitoba Fort Garry Campus Plan Competition.
This open international competition asks teams to develop an overall vision and urban design strategy that incorporates the guiding princiSOPREMA_PubSoprabase-CanadianArchitect.pdf ples and design objectives established through
an extensive consultation process with University of Manitoba and community stakeholders. Up to seven selected finalist teams will advance to a second, more detailed design phase of the competition to refine their vision for a sustainable campus community. Each team will receive an honorarium to fully develop their concept and vision, and the top four finalists will receive an additional prize. The winning team will be responsible for three tasks. First is a campus plan for the University of Manitoba that identifies a physical planning and design framework to guide the future growth and development of the campus. Second is a conceptual plan for the 49-hectare (120-acre) Southwood Precinct, formerly home to the Southwood Golf and Country Club. This plan will illustrate opportunities for residential and mixed-use retail and hospitality space, while preserving many of the site’s existing mature trees. And finally, the winner will create a Phase 1 site plan for eight hectares (20 acres) of the Southwood Precinct. This plan will include the conceptualization and siting of the first demonstration project, which will consist of mixed-use, multi-generational residential development and public spaces that accommodate both students and the wider community, as 1 12-10-11 10:05 well as supporting amenities. The promoter will
provide the net amount of approximately $270,000 for fees and prizes for services rendered. Every participant who advances to Phase 2 and submits a detailed design concept conforming to the requirements laid down in the competition brief will receive a flat-rate fee of $30,000 in respect of expenses incurred. In addition to this, the following prizes shall be awarded: 1st prize of $24,000; 2nd prize of $18,000; 3rd prize of $12,000; and 4th prize of $6,000. The jury is comprised of: Marc Angélil, architect, Zurich; Geni Bahar, transportation engineer, North York; Ray Cole, engineer and professor, Vancouver; Jennifer Keesmaat, urban planner, Toronto; Tobias Micke, landscape architect, Berlin; and Julie Snow, architect, Minneapolis. The deadline for Phase 1 entry submissions is March 11, 2013, and July 29, 2013 is the deadline for Phase 2 entry submissions. There is no fee to enter. http://phase1.de/projects_uom_home_e.htm
Erratum The proper credit for the renderings in the article entitled “City in Flight” in the November 2012 issue of Canadian Architect should have been listed as Foyd Architects (Christian Foyd).
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Lecturer/Senior Lecturer — Architecture The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto, invites applications for a full-time teaching-stream appointment in Architecture. This appointment will be at the rank of Lecturer / Senior Lecturer and will be effective July 1, 2013. Candidates will be expected to possess the expertise to teach in one of the following areas: Building and/or Environmental Systems; Digital Design/Fabrication; Architecture and Health; Parametric, Visualization-based Urbanism. Set within a preeminent research university and located at the center of one of North America’s most cosmopolitan cities, the Daniels Faculty uniquely combines the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. The Daniels Faculty explores the intersections between nature, technology, architecture, and various built geographies in a way that situates design to meet its contemporary challenges. An emphasis on the connections between all of the design disciplines at work in the remaking of the built environment is apparent in the scholarly research and built work of many of our faculty. Following a decade-long transformation of the school’s faculty and professional programs, and a recent, major increase in its endowment, the Faculty is expanding its foundation in undergraduate teaching, and its research capacity by developing a PhD in Architecture, Landscape, and Design Studies. To accommodate both growth in its curricular offerings, and an increase in its research and outreach programs, a new building complex is being constructed by the Faculty on Toronto’s historic One Spadina Crescent. The Daniels Faculty is particularly committed to exploring new modes of practice by drawing on the community of minds at the Uni versity of Toronto, and a wide array of globally positioned academic, industry, and public sector partners. The Faculty enjoys ties with a number of adjacent disciplines within the University of Toronto (Engineering, Geography and Planning, Art, Literary Studies, Information, Medicine/Health) via both cross-disciplinary teaching appointments and various forms of research. The Daniels Faculty would be an especially engaging environment for someone whose creative work explores the specificities of contemporary practice from a perspective that is historically informed, technologically advanced, and theoretically acute. Candidates will be expected to have substantial creative or technical experience and demonstrate a capacity to fuse their interests with the commitments of the Faculty. The search will focus on an individual with a demonstrable background in architecture that possesses an advanced master’s degree, or doctoral credentials. Administrative experience or the demonstrated capacity to assist the Faculty in this regard would be a plus. Appointments at the rank of Lecturer may be renewed annually to a maximum of five years. In the fifth year of service, Lecturers shall be reviewed and a recommendation made with respect to promotion to the rank of Senior Lecturer. Evidence of excellence in teaching is required. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. All qualified candidates are invited to submit their application online by clicking the link below. http://uoft.me/academicopportunities (referencing #1300012). Applications should include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, teaching dossier (including a statement of teaching philosophy), and a statement outlining current and future research objectives. If you have questions about this position, please contact Kevin Wilson (kevin.wilson@daniels.utoronto.ca T 416 946 0208, F 416 971 2432). The UofT application system can accommodate up to five attachments (10 MB) per candidate profile; please combine attachments into one or two files in PDF/MS Word format. Submission guidelines can be found at: http://uoft.me/how-to-apply. Applicants should also ask at least three referees to send letters directly to the department via e-mail to kevin.wilson@daniels.utoronto.ca by the closing date, March 15, 2013. For more information on the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design please visit our website at: http://www.daniels.utoronto.ca// The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
RAReFIED PREFAB A research-intensive Vancouver firm rethinks high-end living with a four-unit, arterial lot prefab.
LWPAC
MONAD LWPAC—LANG WILSON PRACTICE IN ARCHITECTURE CULTURE TEXT ADELE WEDER PHOTOS NIC LEHOUX UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED PROJECT
ARCHITECT
MONAD’s dense urban configuration results in a complex interweave of indoor and outdoor spaces. Here, a daybed sits in a slim private courtyard situated between two bedrooms. Top left A ground-floor retail space continues the commercial fabric along West 4th Avenue, while four residential units occupy the remainder of the lot. Above Access is consolidated around a glassed-in elevator shaft and shared courtyard. Opposite
lane Blenheim Street
Waterloo Street
The design brief of MONAD is one that has bedevilled city planners and politicians since the invention of zoning bylaws. Pure and simple living space, roomy enough to raise a family and flexible enough to expand, contract or divide at will. In Vancouver’s leafy established neighbourhoods, the detached house has done this a little more efficiently than its critics have charged—but life is changing, and room is running out. MONAD’s single retail and four residential units are configured handsomely within the confines of a standard 33-foot x 113-foot lot—smaller than many standard single-family lots. The project, its creators and fans assert, is an effective alternative to that land-gobbling, energy-wasting paradigm. Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture (LWPAC) is a dynamic young firm that prides itself on the extensive research undertaken for each project. Led by Oliver Lang and Cynthia Wilson, LWPAC won its first major acclaim in 2006 with ROAR_one, a 10-unit housing complex a few blocks away from their latest project. On a micro-scale, MONAD continues the evolution started with ROAR, which was designed in collaboration with Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden (now DIALOG). Despite its well-earned Governor General’s Award, ROAR was a bit of a first draft, its architectural shell left in tentionally rough inside and out. As Lang puts it, the project was “all archi tecture rather than interior.” A renegade project by Vancouver standards, ROAR faced many hurdles at City Hall for its extra height and density. That project helped pave the way for this one, and Lang and Wilson exemplified the transition by moving their own personal residence from ROAR to MONAD, which is also the current location of their office. “We’re test-driving our own buildings,” comments Lang. “But in MONAD, we hope to stay.” LWPAC’s latest project name suggests a highly ambitious branding: the term “monad” denotes the basic indivisible and indestructible buildingblock unit of the universe, according to the metaphysical doctrine of Leibniz. “We borrowed this term because it’s about creating efficiencies,” says Lang. Located in the far west of Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood, MONAD stands out as a gem embedded in a banal arterial strip of mixeduse low-rise buildings. As the stock of glass towers and squat monster homes continues to swell, the potential for building at in-between scales remains largely untapped. Patrick Condon, a senior researcher at the Design Centre for Sustainability at the University of British Columbia, points out that the all-or-nothing argument of high-rise proponents can be self-defeating when it comes to increasing density in the city. “It would be a huge mistake to overlook densifying the arterials on a small-height level,” says Condon. “When you consider the neighbourhood animosity that those density bombs produce, you can see that the smaller-scale projects like MONAD are much more sustainable.”
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In its refinement and level of nuanced design, MONAD is a kind of ROAR _two. The complex is a conflation of streetfront retail space and four residential units ranging from 850 to 2,000 square feet, with the larger units boasting sufficient bedrooms, flex zones and outdoor space to serve as comfortable family residences. Prior to its construction, an unremarkable medical office and yoga studio stood on the lot. On its front façade, MONAD’s floor-to-ceiling glazing projects an elegant street presence and floods the residential units with natural light. The four units are configured around a central atrium, which serves as a lightwell, circulation zone, and common outdoor space. The elevator’s glass wall offers a sublime view of the neighbourhood’s roofs and treetops; its doors open not to a dark interior corridor but to a life-affirming open-air space. All that beautiful glass
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imparts a price to pay in terms of conventional privacy. One steps into that outdoor corridoratrium to behold, here and there, close-up views of the neighbours astride in their homes. By night, the neighbourly vignettes shift into a more cinematic mood, infused with the golden hue of potlights and veiled by glare on the floorto-ceiling glass. The configuration seemed strikingly nonprivate to this visiting reporter. However, the concept of the private realm is, to a large extent, a social construction. As Lang points out, single-family houses tend to be built with the same setbacks front and back, so that when people barbecue and dine al fresco, they often stand literally a few feet from their next-door neighbours, with not a shred of privacy for either party. As for the city’s vaunted townhouse-tower combinations, the street-level
windows are usually sheathed in blinds, night and day. Asks Lang, “the idea of the great view cones of Vancouver—where is it now, when your curtains are always drawn?” The two MONAD penthouse residences jointly share the landscaped rooftop, but its common stairway bisects that expanse of outdoor space, generating a natural sense of property division even as they appropriate each other’s expansive views. Urbanites consign themselves to a tacit collective agreement upon entering a public space: we keep a certain distance, we feign a certain diffidence and keep our voyeurism in check. But to challenge the status quo of urban housing, we will have to rethink the concept of private space as well. Familiarity serves to normalize what would otherwise seem jarring. Over the course of a 90-minute visit, I found that the initially distracting view of the next-door neighbours
A generous roof deck offers stunning views of Vancouver to the east. Above The penthouses are configured with openplan living spaces on the top floor and bedrooms below. Opposite BOTTOM, left to right MONAD glows with light in this view from nearby McBride park; Accessed from the back lane, a car elevator allows for stacked storage of up to four vehicles; A frosted glass pane brings natural light into a shower from a private deck; The dining space opens to a large deck in a second-floor unit. Opposite top
fixing dinner devolved to peripheral, almost phantomesque activity. No doubt that, after a year or a decade, their visual presence would vanish by sheer familiarity, the way goldfish fade into the background. LWPAC’s design employs strategic gestures that also facilitate some semblance of privacy for the fish tanks. The kitchens, which were adjacent in ROAR, are deliberately placed at alternate ends of the plan for the two heavily glazed top-floor units. “It’s a cross-plan rather than an aligned plan,” notes Lang. “When you have so much transparency in a building, the alter nating program of the building is important to
help manage privacy.” MONAD’s prefabricated elements were made by Controlled Architectural Systems Assembly, a joint-venture between Intelligent City Research and Development—LWPAC’s research arm—and Preform Construction Ltd., a manufacturing operation based in nearby Surrey. Founded by architect Tony Robins three years ago, Preform was itself an attempt at overhauling the high-end modular-home industry. It would seem like a perfect partnership for establishing a critical mass for the production line of an emerging genre—“precision prefab,” if you like. But perfection is elusive.
Devising a set of standardized modules and building them off-site should, in theory, make such housing both replicable and relatively affordable. The LWPAC/Intelligent City information backgrounder describes the impetus for MONAD as the urgent need for “a systematic and holistic approach to make multi-storey urban living beautiful, desirable, sustainable and affordable.” Have they succeeded? Certainly it’s beautiful, with its deftly proportioned metalframed glass façade, precise detailing and wideangle views. It’s desirable enough, if you measure that by the ease with which the developers found buyers for the units. Sustainable? Though
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garden roof Garden Roof
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12 Above A top-floor living room gives views into the shared court yard and a glimpse of the neighbour’s kitchen. Opposite A bedroom in a penthouse unit includes floor-to-ceiling glazed patio doors that slide open onto a small outdoor space.
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8 bicycle storage 9 living 10 bedroom
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4 Unit 202 7 storage 108melectrical 5 retail 6 retail entry 9 mechanical
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not officially certified, LWPAC asserts that it’s the equivalent of LEED Gold. Affordable? Maybe, if you compare each unit to the price of a singlefamily house of equal square footage; not so if one expects to attract the average Vancouver family with its $67,000 annual income. Each MONAD unit entered the market at a price point of over $600 a square foot, and not even the designers expect that price tag to fall significantly for future projects of similar quality. Where MONAD truly excels is in its rethinking of high-end living. The designers have strategically configured the units to a zero-lot-line, while setting back only the basement to avoid complications with excavation permits. The large-span open spaces and front-and-back glazing help maximize natural light in all corners of the homes. Storage rooms for seasonal possessions are smartly sequestered underground, rather than consuming precious space inside the units. The project detailing alone is of a quality and precision that would challenge most Vancouver contractors. At this level of quality, explains Robins, a replicable pre-fab costs the same as a conventional construction, but takes significantly less time to produce. “You can save eight months or even a year in terms of turnaround time,” he notes, which reduces financing costs and boosts marketing flexibility. But to make projects like MONAD truly replicable on a wide scale, says Robins, each module must be almost identical, with no customizing on a module-bymodule basis. Lang’s adjustment of the lengths and window specs of some units would make mass replication more complicated. Robins sees MONAD as an important benchmark and prototype, but maintains that greater homogenization of the units will be required to make such projects truly replicable on a meaningful scale. For his part, Lang is keen on sticking with the approach he refers to as mass customization. What might seem like an oxymoron is actually a different mode of thinking about individuality within a replicated framework, says Lang, citing sources from Gilles Deleuze (“there is no difference without repetition”) to the individual choices of apps on a massproduced smartphone. “We had to rethink the old idea of standardization,” says Lang. Even two such projects a year, he says, would suffice to make this a viable approach. “It’s not so much a question of how many we make as it is about continuity.” These days, LWPAC is looking forward to greater monadic heights. A current proposal envisions a mid-rise complex, as intricately detailed as MONAD. “At eight storeys, it can make things work out more efficiently since there are more ways to offset the costs,” says Lang. Perhaps enough kinks will be smoothed out that ROAR_three will become Vancouver’s first architecturally significant prefab mid-rise. Until then, one can appreciate the rarefied design of MONAD. CA Adele Weder is an architectural curator and critic based in British Columbia.
Prefabrication Diagram
CLIENT INTELLIGENT CITY R&D ARCHITECT TEAM OLIVER LANG, CYNTHIA WILSON, MATT BEALL, THOMAS BOCAHUT, DON CHAN, EITARO HIROTA, CLAYTON BLACKMAN STRUCTURAL FAST + EPP MECHANICAL PEREZ ELECTRICAL COBALT LANDSCAPE SPACE2PLACE BUILDING ENVELOPE JRS CODE LMDG SUSTAINABILITY RECOLLECTIVE GEOTECHNICAL GEOPACIFIC PREFAB-CONTRACTOR CONTROLLED ARCHITECTURAL SYSTEMS ASSEMBLY AREA 12,500 FT2 BUDGET WITHHELD COMPLETION DECEMBER 2011
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BIG D DESIGN IN THE BIG E A bold series of architectural and urban planning initiatives are transforming Edmonton’s downtown core and suburbs.
AN AERIAL VIEW SHOWS THE PROXIMITY OF RESIDENTIAL AREAS TO EDMONTON’S CENTRE. MAYOR STEPHEN MaNDEL AND CITY ARCHITECT CAROL BéLANGER ARE WEAVING HIGH DESIGN THROUGHOUT THE URBAN FABRIC.
ABOVE
photo: city of edmonton
City of Edmonton
TEXT
GRAHAM LIVESEY
City of Edmonton
City of Edmonton
When Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel was elected nine years ago, he stated that the City’s tolerance for architectural “crap” was zero. He has since made it clear that he sees architecture as vitally important for the transformation of Edmonton. An articulate and knowledgeable advocate for urban redevelopment, Mandel is willing to position Edmonton on a larger stage by sourcing expertise not only locally, but also nationally and internationally. The mayor’s vision is realized by an energetic civil service, including the infectiously enthusiastic figure of Carol Bélanger, chief architect for the City of Edmonton. As a result, Edmonton currently has an ambitious range of initiatives on the table, including a host of new architectural projects and urban design master plans. To realize the mayor’s vision, the City administration has changed procurement procedures in ways that have allowed Edmonton to engage outstanding architectural firms to design new civic buildings. Previously a senior urban designer for the City of Edmonton, Bélanger has guided the adoption of stricter RFQ and RFP processes. When specific building types are being contemplated, the RFQ call solicits firms from Edmonton and elsewhere with expertise in that area. Out-of-province firms typically enter into joint ventures with local practices. Based on shortlists produced by the selection committee, firms are likely to be awarded projects during a given three-year budget cycle. The revamped RFP process is comprehensive in that expertise and design excellence are emphasized. Proponents are also asked to provide a “vision” of their project, which is not an actual design but a holistic approach to specific project parameters. The City is additionally committed to environmental stewardship, requiring at least a LEED Silver or higher rating on new projects. Some of these changes have been enabled by the New West Trade Agreement, which eases exchanges of professional experience between British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Further, Bélanger has also worked closely with the Edmonton Design Committee to raise design standards and with the Edmonton Arts Council’s “percent for art” program to integrate public art into new projects. THE PROPOSED ARENA BY 360 ARCHITECTURE OCCUPIES A STRATEGIC LOCATION AT THE INTERSECTION OF SEVERAL NEIGHBOURHOODS, INCLUDING THE CIVIC PRECINCT TO THE SOUTHEAST; A RENDERING FROM THE WEST SHOWS THE ARENA’S STREAMLINED FORM SET AMIDST PROPOSED DEVELOPMENTS FOR THE SURROUNDING DISTRICT; AN INTERIOR RENDERING OF THE WINTER GARDEN BRIDGING OVER 104 AVENUE.
LEFT, TOP TO BOTTOM
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gh3 ABOVE GH3’S PLANNED LANDSCAPE MAKEOVER OF CHURCHILL SQUARE ADDS PLANTINGS TO REPLACE A PARKING LOT AND to SOFTEN STREET EDGES. THE DESIGN IS SCHEDULED TO GO BEFORE COUNCIL FOR APPROVAL THIS YEAR. BOTTOM A NEW HUB FOR AN UNDERSERVED AREA OF THE CITY, THE RECENTLY COMPLETED COMMONWEALTH COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTRE BY MACLENNAN JAUNKALNS MILLER Architects AND HIP ARCHITECTS ADJOINS THE EXISTING EDMONTON ESKIMOS STADIUM, VISIBLE AT RIGHT.
A number of urban design master plans are underway including the Capital City Downtown Plan and the Quarters Downtown Plan, which are intended to densify the core, making it more liveable. The civic centre of Edmonton is organized around Churchill Square, which went through an extensive redevelopment in 2004. Arranged around the square are the city’s major institutions including City Hall (Dub Architects), the Citadel Theatre (Diamond and Myers), and the Francis Winspear Centre for Music (Cohos-
Evamy). The new Art Gallery of Alberta, formerly the Edmonton Art Gallery, also sits on Churchill Square and was completed in 2010 based on a design by the American architect Randall Stout in collaboration with HIP Architects. Commissioned after an invited competition was held in 2005, the project was designed to provide a signature “image” for the city. While the resulting building is controversial, the process that surrounded the selection of the architect generated a lot of discussion and interest among Edmonton residents.
MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects
Edmonton and its surrounding communities are situated in a flat landscape, bisected by the deep, forested North Saskatchewan River Valley. Historically an industrial city, it is home to the Alberta legislature, the University of Alberta, many fine inner-city neighbourhoods, and an extensive park system. Like most contemporary cities, Edmonton also suffers from undistinguished suburban sprawl. As part of its overall strategy, the City has ambitious plans for improving the downtown core, which has suffered from its fair share of urban blight.
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Teeple Architects Teeple Architects ABOVE, TOP TO BOTTOM THE PROPOSED CLAREVIEW RECREATION CENTRE AND BRANCH LIBRARY BY TEEPLE ARCHITECTS AND ATB ARCHITECTS INCLUDES A HIGHLY TRANSPARENT FAÇADE and a dynamically expressed horizontality; THE animated INTERIOR design of the library.
Following the lead of the Art Gallery of Alberta, other civic institutions are now being redeveloped. In a hockey-mad environment, the proposed new City of Edmonton Downtown Arena has been very much the focus of public attention. Designed by 360 Architecture of Kansas City, the concept for the downtown arena features dramatic forms that respond to the inner-city site northwest of the civic centre. While there is widespread enthusiasm for a state-of-the-art arena—NHL Oilers owner Daryl Katz has threatened to move the team if it does not get a replacement for the aging Rexall Place—it appears that the City and Katz are struggling to come to terms over financing. The Royal Alberta Museum, for its part, is moving to a new site just north of the civic centre. Projected to open in 2016, the provincial designbuild project involves DIALOG (Edmonton), Lundholm Associates Architects (Toronto), and the Ledcor construction company. The reloca24 canadian architect 01/13
tion of such an important institution will greatly enhance Edmonton’s civic heart. Edmonton is also committed to smart infrastructure and development, evident for example in an ambitious plan to expand its light rail commuter system. The city currently has a line that services the core and the south and northeast sectors, and plans to add new lines to service the west, north and southeast. To finance this project, Council has recently approved a $1.5-billion public-private partnership. Another important inner-city initiative is the redevelopment of Blatchford Field, the former municipal airport site (see CA, November 2012). A master plan has been developed by Perkins+Will (Vancouver), Civitas (Vancouver), and Group2 (Edmonton), who were selected from five in vited proposals that included submissions by Foster + Partners among other international firms. The project will transform the abandoned airport lands into a thriving inner-city
eco-community including mixed housing for 30,000 residents and elements of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology campus. Beyond the inner city, many of the newest projects are located in the suburbs. For example, Edmonton has embarked on a bold program to build a series of multipurpose recreation centres to enhance neighbourhoods and to revitalize existing civic infrastructure. One of the first projects to be completed under the new procurement process is the Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre (CCRC) by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects (Toronto) and HIP Architects (Edmonton), which opened in 2012. The project renovates and adjoins Commonwealth Stadium, and provides new community recreation facilities for the surrounding communities of McCauley and Parkdale, and Alberta Avenue. The intention is to provide the Edmonton Eskimos with indoor training space while creating an outstanding recreation facility for simultaneous use by locals. The CCRC is also a venue for large-scale sporting events and concerts. A similar project, currently under construction and slated to open in 2013, is the Clareview Recreation Centre and Branch Library by Teeple Architects (Toronto) and ATB Architects (Edmonton). Located in a lower-income suburban community, the design is a daring exercise in surface and volumetrics that incorporates an existing twin arenas facility and includes a school. Eight stakeholder groups, including library, school and recreation users, came together in a productive collabo ration towards what will become a vital piece of northeast Edmonton’s fabric. Another rec reation centre, the Meadows Community Recreation Centre by Perkins+Will (Toronto) and Group2, is scheduled for completion in 2014, and further recreation centres are planned in the coming years. The Edmonton Public Library system is one of the busiest in North America, and is cur
Schmidt Hammer Lassen/Marshall Tittemore Architects
Schmidt Hammer Lassen/Marshall Tittemore Architects
HCMA/DUB Architects
HCMA/DUB Architects
HCMA/DUB Architects
THE HIGHLANDS BRANCH LIBRARY BY SCHMIDT HAMMER LASSEN Architects AND MARSHALL TITTEMORE ARCHITECTS FEATURES A SLICK BOX-LIKE EXTERIOR that melds effortlessly into the icy landscape and grey winter sky of the Canadian Prairie; THE WARM AND SPACIOUS INTERIOR OF THE HIGHLANDS BRANCH LIBRARY; THE WAVE-LIKE JASPER PLACE Public LIBRARY BY HUGHES CONDON MARLER AND DUB ARCHITECTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION; THE SKYLIT INTERIOR OF the JASPER PLACE Public LIBRARY PROVIDES A UNIQUE COMMUNITY GATHERING SPACE; THE MILL WOODS LIBRARY BY HCMA AND DUB ARCHITECTS INCLUDES A LIBRARY TOPPED BY A SENIORS’ ACTIVITY CENTRE AND MULTICULTURAL CENTRE.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
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gh3 gh3
ABOVE AND LEFT THE BORDEN PARK PAVILION’S CIRCULAR FORM REFERENCES A CAROUSEL THAT WAS ONCE LOCATED ON THE SITE. THE COMMISSION WAS one of two AWARDED TO GH3 IN A DESIGN COMPETITION GEARED TO ATTRACT EMERGING FIRMS.
rently undergoing renewal. At the centre of the system is the 1960s Stanley A. Milner Library on Churchill Square, slated for restoration. The City has additionally planned a series of new branch libraries, including the Jasper Place Public Library and the Mill Woods Library by Vancouver’s Hughes Condon Marler Architects (HCMA) and Dub Architects (Edmonton), and the Highlands Library by schmidt hammer lassen architects (Denmark) and Marshall Tittemore Architects (Calgary and Edmonton). The two projects by HCMA and Dub Architects demonstrate a healthy and productive collaboration between firms. The Jasper Place Library features an iconic wave shape formed out of a dramatic layer of structural concrete, whereas the Mill Woods Library incorporates a library, seniors’ complex and community centre in a daring formal arrangement. Alongside these major projects, Edmonton has initiated a program designed to encourage participation by younger firms. In 2011, the City held a national design competition for five park pavilions spread across the city, which attracted submissions from 65 firms. The winning schemes by gh3 (Toronto), the marc boutin architectural collaborative (Calgary), Dub Architects, and Rayleen Hill Architecture + Design (Halifax) represent diverse approaches to the design of public washroom and change26 canadian architect 01/13
room facilities. gh3 won two of the projects, including the Borden Park Pavilion, a distinctive circular structure in timber and glass. Dub Architects combine notions of billboard design with a photovoltaic array in their Mill Woods Sports Park Pavilion. Once built, these facilities will add another layer to Edmonton’s fabric by introducing design excellence to small civic buildings. Bélanger has raised the possibility of another competition in the near future. Among members of the local architectural community, Mayor Mandel’s initiatives are meeting with mixed reception. Some architects, including long-time Edmonton architect David Murray, believe Edmonton will benefit from the national and international attention it is garnering through the mayor’s initiatives, and bringing in design talent from outside Alberta will strengthen the quality of work by local firms. Others, such as Allan Partridge of Group2, are unsettled by the demand for out-ofprovince firms to team with local firms, and are convinced that local firms are equally capable of producing outstanding work when challenged to meet higher design standards. Nevertheless, even Partridge is cautiously optimistic that the results of the mayor’s general initiative will be significant in raising the bar for Edmonton’s architectural community. The City’s initiatives aim to bring about a
wave of design renewal by, as Bélanger puts it, “sprinkling high design across the city.” The City seeks to ensure that inspiring environments are available to all residents—not just visitors to major cultural institutions. Edmonton has largely avoided the “starchitecture” syndrome through implementing an open, rigorous, impartial and transparent procurement process structured to produce design excellence. The competition for Canadian architectural firms to secure work is on the rise. Institutions, governments and corporations have high expectations for expertise in planning, systems design and sustainability. Local firms can no longer assume they can subsist only on local work. As evidenced in the widespread amalga mation of firms repositioning themselves in the contemporary marketplace, it is incumbent on firms to cultivate expertise moving forward. So far, Edmontonians have been pleased by what their civic representatives are under taking, and there has been an enthusiastic response from the various public agencies involved. In the past, Edmonton has prided itself on homegrown work by Don Bittorf, Peter Hemingway, Douglas Cardinal and Barry Johns, as well as landmark projects by firms from further afield, such as Diamond and Myers’s HUB Mall and Citadel Theatre. The strategy of tapping expertise from near and far has served many of the world’s metropolises, and the current transformation occurring in Edmonton demonstrates that mid-size cities can also benefit from such a renaissance. CA Graham Livesey is a professor in the Master of Architecture program at the University of Calgary.
Technical
TESTING THE LIMITS
MCFARLAND MARCEAU ARCHITECTS
MCFARLAND MARCEAU ARCHITECTS
Cross-laminated timber opens new possibilities for environmentally forward and aesthetically innovative mid-rise buildings.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER IS SHAPED INTO DRAM ATIC ARCHES AT McFarland Marceau Architects’ UBCO FITNESS AND WELLNESS CENTRE; THE WAFFLE-GRID ROOF IS COMPRISED OF INTERSECTING CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER PANELS; A CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER PANEL IS LIFTED INTO PLACE; A CLOSE-UP OF THE HBV SHEAR CONNECTOR DETAIL.
DOUGLAS MACLEOD STRUCTURLAM, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED TEXT
PHOTOS
The two-person crew slams and braces the 2 x 6s into position. First they set down a rectangle of finger-jointed 40-foot-long pieces, spray it with glue, then place a layer of 8-footlong pieces crosswise over top. A third layer of
40-footers completes the massive wood sandwich. The entire panel is rolled into a hydraulic press. Ninety minutes and 80 psi later, an 8-foot by 40-foot finished product emerges that is changing the way architects think about wood construction. “Cross-laminated timber, or CLT, is plywood made from 2 x 6s,” explains Stephen Tolnai, Director of Sales and Marketing at Structur-
lam, a leading Canadian manufacturer of the product. Built with three, five or seven layers of wood, CLT panels are ready to use as floors, roofs or walls. Using CNC equipment, door and window openings can be cut out in the factory, and on the job site, the panels can be trimmed with a saw. Like light wood-frame construction, cross-laminated timber uses quickgrowing species such as spruce, pine and fir, 01/13 canadian architect
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but its layers allow CLT to perform much like heavy timber. The cross-lamination reduces swelling and shrinkage, while strengthening the panels in two directions, in the same manner as a reinforced slab. These properties allow CLT panels to span up to 7.5 metres (25 feet). Canadian companies such as Structurlam and CST Innovations are positioning crosslaminated timber as a time-saving replacement for concrete. As Tolnai points out, “CLT is just as strong but one-sixth the weight—and it can be installed in two-thirds the time.” In 2009, for example, a four-man crew assembled the eight-storey superstructure of the Stadthaus apartment block in London, England in just 27 working days, using only a mobile crane. Building eight storeys in concrete could easily take 40 days or more. While architect Andrew Waugh points out that the material was more expensive than reinforced concrete, he emphasizes that labour savings far outweighed 28 canadian architect 01/13
material costs. Equally important are the sustainable features of this product. Wood is a natural carbon sink and a dry cubic metre of Douglas Fir typically sequesters 255 kg of carbon. This property of wood allowed Waugh to argue that his design sequestered 188 tonnes of carbon while a similar concrete building would have generated 124 additional tonnes of carbon through its manufacture. Thus, the use of CLT resulted in a total offset of 310 tonnes. Also significant for British Columbia is the fact that lumber used in CLT panels can include pine beetle-killed wood from lodgepole pines, thus making use of trees that would otherwise be left to rot in the forest. As architect Michael Green of Vancouver and New York has written, “Every great movement in architecture has been born from a structural revolution. Steel and concrete in the industrial revolution gave us Modernism. Wood in the climate change revolution will offer us a new architecture; one
where we either replicate the forms and approaches we have in the past with steel and concrete, or an architecture where we look at all the systems of a building as one—as nature does.” Cross-laminated timber has its origins in Switzerland in the 1990s. From there it quickly found acceptance across Europe and particu larly in Austria, Germany, Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom. European companies such as KLH have an annual output of almost 650,000 m 2 per year, dwarfing the 200,000 m 2 per year (27 panels per day) currently produced by the Structurlam facility in Okanagan Falls, British Columbia. As Tolnai points out, “We’re really in the early phase of the life cycle of this product. We need innovative architects and early adopters to embrace this new technology.” Fortunately, that’s exactly what’s happening across the country. Currently in Canada, CLT is often used in conjunction with other types of engin-
Don Erhardt
THE INTERIOR OF THE ELKFORD COMMUNITY CONFERENCE CENTRE, BY EDMONTON-BASED ARCHITECT DOUGLAS SOLLOWS, DISPLAYS A COMBINATION OF CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER PANELS, GLULAM BEAMS, AND HEAVY TIMBER TRUSSES. ABOVE Walls, partitions, floors and roof decks MADE OF CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER TAKE CENTRE STAGE AT THE UBC BIOENERGY RESEARCH AND DEMONSTRATION CENTRE, BY MCFARLAND MARCEAU ARCHITECTS. OPPOSITE
eered wood. Opened last June, the Elkford Community Conference Centre by Douglas Sollows Architect, one of the first commercial applications of CLT in North America, includes structural insulated panels (SIPs), glulam beams and heavy timber trusses. John Paone, a director of Elkford Centre builders Alfred Norie Construction, emphasizes that proper planning is the key to building with crosslaminated timber. He notes the need for accurate modelling, checking and double-checking details, and organizing the shipment and storage of the material in a manner that allows the “pieces of the puzzle” to be easily and quickly assembled. But what of its drawbacks? As its proponents are quick to admit, CLT is ideal for specific
kinds of buildings. At almost double the price tag of stick-frame construction, it’s inappropriate for individual homes. As the European experience has shown, CLT is an economical and sustainable alternative for mid-rise buildings up to 12 storeys in height. While architects such as Green argue that various wood technologies can be used as the structure for buildings up to 30 storeys high, CLT will probably never replace concrete and steel for very tall buildings. Finally, it should be noted that CLT does not have the sound-isolating properties of concrete and its spans are limited by the natural deflection of wood under loading. The major barrier to the widespread use of CLT in Canada, however, is regulatory. While cross-laminated timber has been used in Eur-
ope for more than 15 years, it has yet to make it into the Canadian building code system. Each use of CLT requires special approval. Speaking at the 2012 Wood Solutions Fair in Vancouver, Liam Dewar, director of UK timber supplier Eurban, was emphatic that we must “free the tree” and end “the discrimination against timber in Canada.” While more than a dozen CLT buildings are planned or completed nationwide, Canada still lags far behind other parts of the world. In the United Kingdom, Dewar and Eurban alone have worked on close to a dozen CLT buildings ranging from two to eight storeys in height, while in Melbourne, Australia, the 10-storey Forte Tower will soon be the tallest timber apartment building in the world. There is no doubt that revisiting our 01/13 canadian architect
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building codes to accommodate CLT would greatly speed its dissemination and acceptance in this country. For the time being, promoters of CLT recommend that architects employ specialists early on in the design process. Tolnai, for example, suggests hiring a code consultant to guide the design through its various stages of approval, and engaging a heavy-timber specialist during construction. A variety of organizations are also providing resources to help architects use this product, including FPInnovations, whose comprehensive CLT Handbook covers everything from structural design to vibration performance. Despite regulatory challenges, Canadian professionals are already testing the limits of what CLT can do. McFarland Marceau Architects used cross-laminated timber in their Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Project for UBC Vancouver. When asked to design an addition to the Fitness and Wellness Centre at UBC’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna, they wanted to try something new. According to Craig Duffield, the associate in charge, “the idea was to take CLT and use it in an unantici-
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pated way.” In this case, they crafted curved and streamlined moment arches from the material. The column and beam components of the arch are prepared as separate pieces of CLT, then joined with a glued-in HBV shear connector—a steel mesh that fits into a slot cut into both halves. These moment arches demonstrate how CLT can be shaped into complex forms using standard CNC equipment. Other firms are also exploring the possibilities of wood construction. Earlier this year, Williamson Chong Architects won the prestigious Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture for their proposal entitled “Living Wood.” Over the course of the next two years, the firm will explore innovative wood products and manufacturing technologies including CLT. As part of their study, they will visit completed buildings and manufacturing facilities from Austria to South Korea. Composite systems are another powerful area of potential innovation for CLT. Such a system can also be found in the Fitness and Wellness Centre where the architects used a five-ply CLT panel for the floor, covered with one inch of acoustical insulation and four
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inches of concrete. Here too, HBV shear connectors hold the system together. The resulting floor is both cheaper and lighter than a solid concrete one. It is in the adaption and combination of this material with other building systems that CLT may demonstrate its real value and help us to revolutionize the role of wood as a natural and sustainable construction material. With Canada’s vast stands of timber, CLT would seem an ideal product to help re-energize our national forestry industry. With the current innovations being designed and built by our architects and engineers, Canada can, and should, play a leadership role in a wood construction revolution. CA Douglas MacLeod is the Chair of the new RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca University and is an advisor to the CoCo Laboratory, a design, research and development incubator. The Tall Wood Buildings study is available as a free download from www.mg-architecture.ca/portfolio/ tallwood/ and FPInnovations’ CLT handbook may be purchased at www.fpinnovations.ca.
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Review
MULTIPLE IDENTITIES
An ambitious exhibition gathers diverse visions of Montreal at the Canadian Centre for Architecture.
Text
Louise Pelletier CCA unless otherwise noted
Photos
IDENTITY: [aI’de ntItI] n. The collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing is definitively recognizable or known. Over the past two decades, the Canadian Centre for Architecture has been at the heart of a cultural transformation, brought about in part by changing tools of representation and communication, but also by the new role of museums as agents of cultural change. Architecture galleries around the world are attempting to bridge the gap between viewer and display in order to promote a more active participation of the public. In this vein, the current display at the CCA claims to be more than a conventional exhibition. ABC : MTL presents itself as an evolving self-portrait of the city. The city appears in multiple guises in ABC : MTL, which offers a
mosaic of impressions, an assortment of everyday moments, and a compendium of urban mapping strategies. The fourth CCA exhibition of the past 20 years to focus on Montreal, ABC : MTL differs from its predecessors in form as much as intent. Opening the Gates of Eighteenth-Century Montréal (1992) explored the military and commercial foundations of the city, whereas Montréal Métropole, 1880-1930 (1998) focused on urban transformations with the appearance of the first skyscrapers. The 60s: Montréal Thinks Big (2004) examined the spectacular changes brought about by rapid growth during the 1960s. While these earlier exhibitions considered pivotal moments in Montreal’s development, ABC : MTL acts as an ongoing investigation of what constitutes Montreal’s identity today. Instead of offering a unified historical narrative, it presents a multiplicity of fragments and stories of urban life. One of the intentions is to democratize the exhibition space by giving the public—“from city-shapers to city-users”—a say in defining the distinctiveness of the city. This is most evident in seemingly candid projects, such as SYN-collective’s mapping of the sub-
ABOVE A wall of conceptual drawings by Atelier Big City addressing notions of interstitial space as a theme in their work. In front, a series of texts by Céline Huyghebaert and photographs by Gwendoline Genest explore voyeurism through residential windows at dusk.
terranean city or Arjuna Neuman and Ramak Fazel’s photographic documentary of their first encounter with Montreal. As curator Fabrizio Gallanti explains, “the identity of a place does not depend on a privileged minority, but [is rather] an unstable condition which is the result of a genuine polyphony of voices.” Gallanti and his curatorial team gathered works in large part through an open call that invited “current Montreal citizens, former residents, newly arrived expats, travellers and visitors” to submit proposals. The only requirement was to suggest a “fresh interpretation and critical analysis of Montreal” that addressed the physical and spatial character of the presentday city. Several projects were also commissioned and selected outside the open call. The CCA has received some 250 proposals to date, and the display will draw on these submissions 01/13 canadian architect
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Audrey Wells Jonathan Sa'adah
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Myriam Yates’s video Racetrack Superstar Ghost documents the preparations for a U2 concert in the former hippodrome, slated for new development; Reminiscence by Nicholas Baier uses meteorological data to extrapolate the appearance of the sky over Montreal on a cloudy day in 8,000 BC and Electrosmog by Jean-Pierre Aubé superimposes sound samplings from radiofrequencies over Montreal with images of urban transmission towers; A model of the lean, linear design for a new indoor soccer centre at the Saint-Michel Environmental Complex by Saucier + Perrotte Architectes and Hughes Condon Marler Architects accompanies an installation of images taken during a 24-hour period in Montreal by architectural photographers Arjuna Neuman and Ramak Fazel; Graphic artist Audrey Wells’s book 17 documents worship spaces in the Park Extension neighbourhood, one of the city’s most ethnically diverse areas.
32 canadian architect 01/13
Fiona Annis and Robin Pineda Gould
to evolve over time, changing monthly until the exhibition ends this spring. The broad scope of the selected projects is apparent from the first room, which presents abstract visions of the city. At the opening, it included Reminiscence by artist Nicolas Baier and Electrosmog by Jean-Pierre Aubé. Baier’s conjectural computer-generated image reconstructs the sky over the Greater Montreal region at the dawn of human life 10,000 years ago, while Aubé populates the metropolis’s night sky with electrom agnetic field readings captured from radiowaves. This sound documentary of the cityscape raises social and political issues, especially among the strongly social-justiceoriented youth of Montreal, since radiofrequencies are seen by some as an essential resource and by others as a health hazard. The next room recreates a section from the bleachers of the abandoned Blue Bonnets Raceway. A film by Myriam Yates highlights the ephemeral condition of the former hippodrome. It shows the construction of a temporary structure for a U2 concert in 2011, the last show to take place on the site before its reclamation by the City for new development. Since the hippodrome site is currently at the centre of public consultations, it is significant that this room will serve as a stage for public discussions on issues raised by the exhibition. A string of three spaces combines projects on themes ranging from residual spaces, infrastructure and transportation, to voyeurism, homelessness and social activism. Related books are available for consultation on nearby tables, seemingly with the intention of instigating spontaneous exchanges between visitors. Some of the most successful pieces, however, invite a different kind of participation. They create imaginary places for poetic inhabitation
ABOVE Bridge (Montréal Suite), a two-channel looped video by Fiona Annis and Robin Pineda Gould, points cameras above and below the island city’s entryways. BELOW The Tunnel of Death by photographer Jonathan Sa’adah captures the conflict between different modes of transportation near one of the train corridors that carves its way through downtown Montreal.
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through representing very real conditions. Jonathan Sa’adah’s panoramic The Tunnel of Death, for example, offers an improbable view of the intersection between d’Iberville Street and Saint-Joseph Boulevard, capturing the complex motions and “coexistence of infinite trajectories that share a common space of circulation,” while inviting the viewer to reflect on the nature of urban space. The last room addresses issues of immigration and multiculturalism. Recordings of immigrants’ stories on the political situations they left behind, produced by Concordia University’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, resonate with Audrey Wells’s documentation of 17 places of worship for various cultural communities in the Park Extension area, including converted former churches and buildings originally designed for other functions. In the same room, one finds a model of the only forthcoming architectural project featured in the exhibition: the winning competition entry for a soccer facility in Saint-Michel by Saucier + Perrotte Architectes and Hughes Condon Marler Architects. Located on the site of the former Miron quarry, which until recently was used as a landfill, the architects undertook to generate a “communal space of encounter around soccer,” using this increasingly popular sport to inte-
grate recent immigrant communities. Although one comes across many compelling views of the city, one encounters difficulty in trying to grasp the exhibition as a whole. This results from the heterogeneity of the juxtaposed pieces, their varying nature and temporality, and the missing narrative that would create meaningful links. All-encompassing, rationally conceived territorial views, such as maps documenting maritime and air traffic by Francisca Insulza, are juxtaposed with complex temporal pieces, such as Bridge by photographer Fiona Annis and artist Robin Pineda Gould. Their two-channel video evokes the tension between sky and water, the bridge itself appearing only in the imagination of the observer. Time is slowed down or accelerated and fleeting moments emerge, such as when the light starts to fade in the sky, or stagnant water is replaced by the countercurrent of the St. Lawrence River. For its part, the graphic presentation by Montreal firm FEED does not attempt to make explicit the conceptual association between different projects. Instead, an indexing strategy replaces descriptive panels and statistical data is deployed to give a pseudo-objective view of the city. If the main intention of the exhibition is to present a self-portrait of Montreal, ABC : MTL
would seem to reveal a city of fragmented identity and anecdotal history. On the other hand, can the exhibition act as a platform to foster meaningful dialogue on current issues and encourage cultural change, as its creators also claim? The open call for proposals has contributed to democratizing the exhibition space and given a voice to the public. However, by posing an open question, a process of aestheticization has been unavoidable. Some of the projects presented in the first iteration of the exhibition have potential to engage pressing social and political issues, from health and immigration to public developments and homelessness. If a real dialogue is to happen, however, these underlying questions need to be highlighted and opposing views must be confronted. Only then will the exhibition engage a significant debate about the current and future state of Montreal. CA ABC : MTL continues at the Canadian Centre for Architecture until March 31, 2013. Louise Pelletier is Professor and former Director of the Environmental Design program at the Université du Québec à Montréal. She is the author of Architecture in Words and co-author of Architectural Representation and the Perspective Hinge.
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Calendar George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher
November 8, 2012-February 2, 2013 The Yale School of Architecture Gallery features a comprehensive retrospective of the gifted visionary who also excelled as an architect, urban planner, exhibition designer, corporate image-maker and author. www.architecture.yale.edu/exhibitions ABC : MTL—A Self-Portrait of Montreal
November 13, 2012-March 31, 2013 Tak ing place at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, this exhibition maps contemporary Montreal in a diversity of ways and media, featuring over 90 contributions including photography, music videos, sculptures and installations, draw ings, models, workshops, lectures and performances. www.cca.qc.ca The Happy Show
January 8-March 3, 2013 This Design Exchange show in Toronto features
the work of internationally renowned graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, as he attempts to increase his happiness via meditation, cognitive therapy, and moodaltering pharmaceuticals. www.dx.org
Witold Rybczynski lecture
Marimekko, With Love
January 21, 2013 Witold Rybczynski, Emeritus Professor of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania, delivers a lecture at 6:00pm in Room G10 of the Macdonald-Harrington Building at McGill University.
Streetfinder
Marlon Blackwell lecture
January 21-April 21, 2013 This exhi bition at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto is a retrospective look at the Finnish design company’s role in shaping a new aesthetic through printed pattern and textile production. www.textilemuseum.ca
January 12-February 9, 2013 This exhibition at MKG127 in Toronto features the work of artist Sara Graham, whose focus on the contemporary city has yielded a crossdisciplinary approach that incorporates philosophical, cultural, sociological and architectural criticism of the nature and condition of the city and city life. www.mkg127.com
January 21, 2013 Marlon Blackwell, principal of Marlon Blackwell Archi tect and department head/professor at the Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas, delivers a lecture at 6:30pm at the Orpheum Annex in Vancouver.
Aranzazu Fernandez Rangel lecture
January 16, 2013 Aranzazu Fernandez Rangel of muf architecture/art in London delivers a lecture at 7:00pm at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts in Vancouver.
Toronto Design Offsite Festival
Bruce Kuwabara lecture
January 22, 2013 Bruce Kuwabara of Toronto’s Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects delivers a Bulthaup lecture at 6:30pm in Room 103 at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto.
January 21-27, 2013 TO DO brings together a staggering array of makSmart Cities Summit ers from a wide range of creative January 23-24, 2013 Taking place at disciplines. Embracing ephemeral the Metropolitan Hotel in Toronto, installations, practical design this event provides attendees with interventions, and covetable obthe tools, processes and models jects, the festival plays out in venues required to cultivate “smart” comacross the city, from storefronts to munities and cities along with galleries to national institutions. cutting-edge strategies to streng Magazine ads press 3.75x4.875.pdf 1 11-10-13efficiency 4:03 PM and http://todesignoffsite.com then institutional
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36 canadian architect 01/13
Calendar assess broader commitments to competitiveness and sustainability. www.smartcitiescanada.com
that recontextualize and revivify our relationships with public mon uments and spaces. www.prefix.ca
Settlement/Resettlement
January 24, 2013 John van Nostrand of planningAlliance in Toronto delivers a lecture at 6:45pm in the Lawrence Cummings Lecture Hall at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Cambridge. Designing for District Energy Systems
January 24, 2013 Urban Ziegler of Natural Resources Canada in Waterloo lectures at 1:00pm in Room 106 at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto. Tatzu Nishi lecture
January 24, 2013 As part of the Urban Field Speakers series at the Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art in Toronto, Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi speaks about his extraordinary site-specific installations
Interior Design Show
January 24-27, 2013 IDS returns to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and features inspirational exhibits and cutting-edge products along with influential speakers Oki Sato, Jerszy Seymour, Philippe Malouin and Jurgen Mayer H. www.interiordesignshow.com
Best Practices in City Building
January 31, 2013 Jennifer Keesmaat, Chief Planner at the City of Toronto, delivers a lecture at 6:45pm in the Lawrence Cummings Lecture Hall at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Cambridge. Tom Wiscombe lecture
February 6, 2013 Tom Wiscombe, founder and principal of Tom Wiscombe Design, speaks at 6:00pm at the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary. http://evds.ucalgary.ca/events
Eva Jiricna lecture
January 28, 2013 Part of Carleton University’s Forum Lecture Series, Czech architect Eva Jiricna lectures at 6:00pm at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. www1.carleton.ca/architecture
Elke Krasny lecture
February 7, 2013 Elke Krasny of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna delivers a midday talk at 1:00pm in Room 106 at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto.
Metropolis and Mobile Life
January 31, 2013 This Daniels FORA discussion takes place at 6:30pm at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto. www.daniels.utoronto.ca
RVTR: Infra-|Eco-|Logi-|Urbanism
February 7-April 14, 2013 This exhibi tion at the Centre de Design at the Université du Québec à Montreal is
based on a recent urban planning research-creation project carried out by the RVTR collective. www.salledepresse.uqam.ca Kenneth Frampton lecture
February 8, 2013 Part of Carleton University’s Forum Lecture Series, architect, critic and historian Kenneth Frampton lectures at 6:00pm at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. Patti Smith: Camera Solo
February 9-May 19, 2013 This show at the Art Gallery of Ontario offers a glimpse into the world of legendary musician and artist Patti Smith through an intimate exhibition featuring over 75 works of photography, objects and film.
For more information about these, and additional listings of Canadian and international events, please visit www.canadianarchitect.com
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Backpage
Saying it With Colour A great mentor to generations of students at the University of Manitoba, interior design giant Grant Marshall is fondly remembered.
TEXT
Herbert Enns Henry Kalen
PHOTO
Grant Marshall (1931-2012) was one of Canada’s most distinguished and revered interior designers. Launching his professional career in the mid-1950s, he was swept up into the tailwind of Winnipeg’s postwar explosion of modern architecture, and designed interiors for many of the most significant projects of that era. These included the John A. Russell Building (1959), the Monarch Life Building (1959-1963), and the Manitoba Health Services on Empress Street (1959). His peripatetic movements included frequent travel to Europe and New York, one of his favourite cities. On the road he pursued his fascination with costume and set design in New York’s Theatre District. And, his lifelong commitment to watercolour painting was manifest amongst the villages and landscapes of France. Marshall’s contribution to Winnipeg’s lifestyle was significant: importing modern fur niture from Copenhagen and Marimekko fabric from Helsinki, he heightened our sense of modern living, and gave definition to liter ally thousands of homes in a style fixed by his extraordinary confidence and abilities in design. Working steadily until his passing at age 80, he arrived on site as a man on a mission, with his leather satchel in hand, an authoritative black Armani coat draped over his shoulders, and his large-swatch Benjamin Moore paint catalogue from 1961 locked in his elbow. In the early years, colour selection was an art form, and tubes of tint were mixed onsite by the painters. Well before the arrival of big-box hardware paint desks staffed by neophytes, Marshall accessed his phenomenal innate gifts of spatial cognition. Assessing light, shadow and prospect in interior living spaces, he then charged ahead with balanced spectral arrays that induced walls to luminesce and ceilings to float. He also designed furniture and selected artworks to more fully define the environments of his many devoted lifelong clients. With the potential for ebullient largerthan-life spectacle always near at hand, he filled the living spaces of his family and friends—a camouflage for his immense sensitivity and refined expertise. Marshall’s final exhibition was comprised of watercolours, 38 canadian architect 01/13
ABOVE Grant Marshall’s highly finessed interior design skills are evident in this 1961 photograph of the lobby of the elegantly modernist Monarch Life Building in Winnipeg by Smith, Carter, Searle and Associates.
which were installed in the Assiniboine Park Pavilion alongside paintings by Ivan Eyre and Walter J. Philips in the summer of 2012—the opening a radiant and sun-bleached celebration of life amongst his closest friends and associates. While we might all agree that material accomplishments matter, Grant’s highest gift was to almost five decades of interior design graduates from the University of Manitoba. Launched into practice with countless national and international awards, they established themselves around the world, and they speak
of his “…mentorship, teaching ability, graceful technique, insight, endless capacity for work and life, and a generosity of spirit and kindness.” As Lloyd Danku, BID ’86 (Lead— Interior Design Engineer, 787 Progam, the Boeing Company) wrote, “Grant was a great mentor to me and will be missed. I would not be where I am today without the teachings and dignity Grant instilled in me.” CA
Herbert Enns is the Director of the Experimental Media Research Group and a Professor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture.
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