Canadian Architect September 2009

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Kenji arai

Tom arban

Don Hall

contents

14 Brooks avenue house

11 news Santiago Calatrava designs new Peace Bridge in Calgary; construction complete on Kasian-designed YVR Airport Rapid Transit Station in Vancouver.

VancouVer Designer marc bricaulT crafTs a beauTifully ornaTe yeT resoluTely moDern Home for a family in Venice beacH, california. teXt aDele WeDer

22 tros/keefe house aKa/anDreWKingsTuDio aDopTs a HigHly THeoreTical approacH WHen Designing THis resiDence in calgary THaT maximizes VieWs THrougH Dynamic formal anD spaTial arrangemenTs. teXt THomas sTricKlanD

28 flaman residence HeriTage anD conserVaTion arcHiTecT bernarD flaman renoVaTes His regina pieD-À-Terre conDominium accorDing To THe sTanDarDs anD guiDelines for THe conserVaTion of HisToric places in canaDa. teXt leslie jen

32 fuel advertising office consTraineD by a TigHT buDgeT, barTleTT & associaTes WHip up an aWarD-Winning office space for an aDVerTising firm in recorD Time. teXt DaViD sTeiner

Jennifer Davis discusses how Mark Lewis’s Cold Morning suite of films at the Venice Biennale Art Exhibition challenges us to view the city of Toronto in a new light.

37 Books Three more publications concern a broad array of topics, from architectural surveys of Canadian practitioners John Lyle and Carmen and Elin Corneil, to the evolving urban form of Vancouver.

41 calendar The Roadshow: Architectural Landscapes of Canada tears up the country; Sculpted Envelopes: The Architecture of Uno Prii at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto.

light canada 2009 ls2

iiDex/neocon canaDa ligHTing sHoW: inTroDucTion anD seminars.

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maDe’s annual Radiant DeTaileD by leslie jen.

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ian cHoDiKoff inTroDuces THe WorK of sTepHen Knapp, THis year’s ligHTing KeynoTe aT iiDex/neocon canaDa.

daRk ligHTing exHibiTion, enTiTleD El Egant Co

35 insites

RRuptions

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42 Backpage Canadian Architect donates years of priceless historic architectural photographs to Ryerson University Library’s Special Collections.

sepTember 2009, V.54 n.09

THe eVocaTiVe brusHeD-meTal fronT gaTe of THe brooKs aVenue House by marc bricaulT. pHoTo by Kenji arai.

cover

The NaTioNal Review of DesigN aND PRacTice/ The JouRNal of RecoRD of The Raic

09/09 canadian architect

7

MIt oPen Courseware

viewpoint

editor Ian ChodIkoff, OAA, MRAIC associate editor LesLIe Jen, MRAIC

rev. eduPunk

editorial advisors John MCMInn, AADIpl. MarCo PoLo, OAA, MRAIC

Lessons on dIGItaL desIGn fabrICatIon—-one of Many Courses that are freeLy downLoadabLe at MIt’s websIte; referrInG to hIMseLf as an “InstruCtIonaL teChnoLoGy sPeCIaLIst,” JIM GrooM fIrst CoIned the terM “eduPunk” In 2008.

above, left to right

September is the time of the year when classes resume at architecture schools—and this sem­ ester will see little change from the last. In view of the many ways in which online technologies allow social networking sites, streaming videos and blogs to alter the ways in which we learn, perhaps now is the time for architecture schools to revisit their approaches to education.

Architecture is one of the disciplines best suit­ ed to smoothly adapt to current online resources and learning technologies. Just about any archi­ tect, building, technology, or material can be eas­ ily sourced on the Web. Furthermore, most archi­ tectural firms have developed their own websites complete with photos, design methodologies and even drawings containing detailed technical in­ formation. Add to this the countless websites de­ voted to student blogs, and personal photo sites containing images of recently visited buildings or cities, and we must ask ourselves how we can re­ duce some of the inefficiencies experienced in most of today’s design schools by shifting a larger component of the education process online.

Could the non­linear process of educating an ar­ chitect—drawing heavily from precedent­setting projects from around the world along with peer­ to­peer critiques of studio work—be enhanced through Web­based platforms?

Enter the “edupunk,” a term first coined in 2008 by Jim Groom, an “instructional technology specialist” at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. Edupunk is a do­it­yourself state of mind whereby you think and learn for yourself, on your own terms. Why spend $150,000 to attend a top US design school when you can download all of the course material for free and talk about it with your colleagues online? In an article entitled “Who Needs Harvard?” appearing in the Septem­ ber 2009 issue of Fast Company, Groom was quot­ ed as saying that “Edupunk is about the utter irre­ sponsibility and lethargy of educational institu­ tions and the means by which they are financially 8 canadian architect 09/09

cannibalizing their own mission.” To Groom, it’s not about bringing new technology into the pro­ cess of education, but about using technology to lower the costs of education and to improve access to learning. As Cathy Casserly, a senior partner at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching noted in the same article, “We’re chang­ ing the culture of how we think about knowledge and how it should be shared and who are the own­ ers of that knowledge.”

Extending Groom’s argument, even the most ambitious edupunk will need guidance. Since ar­ chitectual education is becoming increasingly standardized and tuition costs are rising, why not cobble together the best structural engineering, site design and urban planning courses from the universities of your choosing—either for free, or through a licensed educational facilitator operat­ ing out of an accredited school? For example, MIT began putting its coursework online in 2001.

Today, anyone can download the syllabi, lecture notes, class exercises, tests, and some video and audio for almost every course MIT offers. Stu­ dents around the world can learn how to solve the problems of designing a new curtain wall, or a post­hurricane New Orleans.

Unfortunately, all this information is useless without good mentors to provide a meaningful education for students. Such mentorships have al­ ready begun on several open education platforms.

One example is Peer2Peer University which allows students to schedule classes, meet and tutor one another online, and engage with facilitators who manage the individual courses. Over time, free online platforms will become increasingly valuable to students, and a more common option for main­ stream academic institutions. It will then be possible for architecture schools to devote more energy and resources to teaching students about enhancing their leadership skills and acumen in design, research and practice.

Ian ChodIkoff

ichodikoff@canadianarchitect.coM

contributing editors GavIn affLeCk, OAQ, MRAIC herbert enns, MAA, MRAIC douGLas MaCLeod, n CARb regional correspondents halifax ChrIstIne MaCy, OAA montreal davId theodore Winnipeg herbert enns, MAA regina bernard fLaMan, SAA calgary davId a. down, AAA vancouver adeLe weder publisher toM arkeLL 416-510-6806 associate publisher GreG PaLIouras 416-510-6808 circulation Manager beata oLeChnowICz 416-442-5600 ext. 3543 custoMer service MaLkIt Chana 416-442-5600 ext. 3539 production JessICa Jubb graphic design sue wILLIaMson vice president of canadian publishing aLex PaPanou president of business inforMation group bruCe CreIGhton head office 12 ConCorde PLaCe, suIte 800, toronto, on M3C 4J2 telephone 416-510-6845 facsimile 416-510-5140 e-mail edItors@CanadIanarChIteCt.CoM Web site www.CanadIanarChIteCt.CoM Canadian architect is published monthly by business Information Group, a division of bIG Magazines LP, a leading Canadian information company with interests in daily and community newspapers and business-to-business 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: $52.95 plus applicable taxes for one year; $83.95 plus applicable taxes for two years (Gst – #809751274rt0001).

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news PrOjects

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is working with local firm Stantec on the design and construction of the Peace Bridge, a landmark structure in central Calgary connecting the north side of the Bow River and the residential community of Sunnyside, with the south side—the modern downtown landscape of the Eau Claire district.

The structured shape is defined by a helix developed over an oval cross section with two clearly defined tangential radii creating an architectural space within. The upper openings are filled with glazed leaves bent to the same shape as the exterior of the helical form, offering protection to the users from the rain and winter weather conditions. Bicycle lanes are positioned in the centre flanked by pedestrian lanes on either side separated by a curb. The 125-metre-long bridge will be constructed of approximately 700 metric tons of steel with reinforced concrete abutments, while the cover and balustrades will be made primarily of glass. Calatrava’s design for the bridge began in early 2009 with construction documents being finalized and issued for tender this month. The bridge is anticipated to open in the fall of 2010. construction complete on Kasian-designed YVr airport rapid transit station.

The Kasian designed YVR Airport Rapid Transit Station offers the world a window to the spectacular natural beauty of British Columbia. As the starting point of the new Canada Line rapid transit route, the YVR Airport Station features the largest green wall in North America, sweeping west coast views, and a direct connection to the city of Vancouver. Wrapped in structural glass, the station platform reinforces visual connections between the land, sea, and sky of BC—the key elements that make up the Vancouver Airport Authority’s (YVR) thematic master plan. The $25-million YVR Airport Station sits 18 metres off the ground straddling Grant McConachie Way, the main roadway in and out of YVR. From the platform, visitors can see across the main airport runways to the North Shore Mountains. On the north side of the building, connected to Chester Johnson Park, a 17-metre-high and 12-metrewide green wall offers a living gateway for passengers entering the YVR Airport Station. Designed by landscape architect Randy Sharp, the wall is composed entirely of local flora, including bergenia, fern, common nana and white and green euonymus. Bookending the YVR Airport Station are the airport’s main control tower and the “Link” international terminal expansion building, another of the many Kasian-designed pieces of

sAntiAgo cAlAtrAvA llc

santiago calatrava designs Peace Bridge in calgary.

YVR. Completed in 2007, the $125-million, sixstorey, all-glass building connects Canada Line passengers to the airport’s main terminal. diamond and schmitt chosen to design the new Mariinsky theatre in st. Petersburg.

Russia’s world-renowned conductor Valery Gergiev announced that Diamond and Schmitt Architects of Toronto has been selected to design the new Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, which will add 2,000 seats to the growing Mariinsky complex. The existing Mariinsky Theatre, opened in 1860, has been home to premieres and residencies by composers such as Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovitch, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. The New Mariinsky Theatre is funded entirely by the Russian government, and administered by the Ministry of Culture, which hosted the design competition for architects earlier this year. Diamond and Schmitt will be working closely with St. Petersburg architects KB ViPS. The budget for the new theatre is X295,000,000, with a projected completion date of 2011. The New Mariinsky will complement both the existing Mariinsky Theatre located in Teatralnaya Square directly across the canal from the site of the new theatre, as well as the new Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall, a 1,200-seat facility two blocks west which opened in 2007. Said firm principal Jack Diamond: “This commission sends a strong signal that Canadian architects can work on the most demanding projects on the world stage. We are enormously grateful for the confidence the Russian Federation has put in our ability to produce a landmark for the new Russia and for the performing arts everywhere.” Diamond and Schmitt Architects is a 150-person firm with an international practice.

awards 2010 Berkeley Prize soon to launch.

The International Berkeley Undergraduate Prize

A rendering of the PeAce Bridge in cAlgAry, designed By sAntiAgo cAlA­ trAvA And exPected to oPen in 2010.

aBOVe

for Architectural Design Excellence launches on October 1, 2009. Each year the prize, whose primary goal is to foster a larger awareness and understanding of the social art of architecture, sponsors an Essay Competition, a Travel Fellowship Competition, and an Architectural Design Fellowship Competition. All are open to undergraduates studying architecture throughout the world. The proposals are due on November 15, 2009. www.berkeleyprize.org heritage toronto announces stephen Otto as special achievement award recipient.

Heritage Toronto has announced Stephen Otto as the 2009 Heritage Toronto Special Achievement Award recipient. Otto is one of the city’s most determined advocates for the preservation and promotion of Toronto’s built and documentary heritage. As the founding head of heritage conservation programs in the Ministry of Culture & Recreation from 1975-81, he administered the newly enacted Ontario Heritage Act and led the development of programs to support architectural conservation, archaeology, museums, historical plaques and publications. As a founder of the Friends of Fort York, Otto was motivated by his awareness of Fort York National Historic Site’s place at the centre of the history and geography of Toronto, and the urgent need for its recognition within Toronto’s Official Plan. As with his work on Fort York, many of Otto’s other contributions have focused on the public realm—the squares, parks, streets, bridges, cemeteries, markets and public buildings that define people’s experiences in Toronto. Many of these places have become character-defining to Toronto today—the Don Jail, the Don Valley Brickworks, the Distillery District National Historic Site, Todmorden Mills, and St. Lawrence Hall and Market, to name a few. His revised edition of 09/09 canadian architect

11

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Toronto, No Mean City, Eric Arthur’s classic work on the city’s 19th-century buildings, appeared in 1986. These Special Achievement Awards celebrate outstanding contributions—by professionals and volunteers—in the promotion and conservation of Toronto’s history and heritage landmarks. www.heritagetoronto.org

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Vancouver convention centre shortlisted for the international structural awards.

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The Institution of Structural Engineers has announced the shortlist for the 2009 Structural Awards, which includes Glotman Simpson for their work on the Vancouver Convention Centre expansion. The project is shortlisted in the Award for Arts or Entertainment Structures category. The shortlist for this particular award consists of one submission from New York and three from the UK. Established in 1968, the Structural Awards recognize and reward the work of the world’s most talented structural designers. Submissions are judged on whether, and to what extent, the structural design of the project displays excellence, creativity, innovation, sustainability, value and buildability. Creativity in structural design was necessary throughout construction, with Glotman Simpson’s use of Building Information Modelling and Tekla software; the structural bracing required to allow the stunning glass perimeter wall; and the techniques required to build on a site that hovers over the Burrard Inlet. The Structural Awards will be announced on October 9, 2009 at the Natural History Museum in London, UK. www.structuralawards.org

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12 canadian architect 09/09

Finalists in international architecture competition for innovative classroom designs announced.

Eight teams were recognized as finalists of the

the recently oPened rAPid trAnsit stAtion At vAncouver internAtionAl Air­ Port—the first rAPid trAnsit system in cAnAdA to link AirPort PAssengers directly to the city’s downtown.

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2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Classroom.

Finalists submitted designs ranging from an outdoor classroom for children in inner-city Chicago, learning spaces for the children of salt-pan workers in India, safe spaces for youth in Bogotá, Colombia, and a bamboo classroom in the Himalayan mountains. The 2009 Open Architecture Challenge was hosted by Architecture for Humanity and principal partner Orient Global in collaboration with a consortium of other partners around the world. This truly global initiative invited the architecture, design and engineering community to collaborate directly with students and teachers to rethink the classroom of the future. Designers entering the competition were given a simple mandate: collaborate with real students in real schools in their community to develop real solutions. After three rounds of reviews, more than 400 designs were narrowed to a shortlist of 52. On July 2, 2009, an international panel of jurors reviewed the designs at the 2009 Aspen Ideas Festival and selected eight entries as finalists for the competition. In September, one of these teams will be awarded $5,000 US and the selected partner school will receive up to $50,000 US to realize their design. The need for safe, sustainable, smart classroom design has never been greater. Worldwide, 776 million people are illiterate. With less than six years left to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals, the World Bank estimates ten million new classrooms are needed to reach its target of equal access to primary education. In addition, tens of millions of crumbling facilities—including many in the United States—are in urgent need of up-

WHAT’S NEW The Roadshow: Architectural Landscapes of Canada.

Taking place from September 23 to October 2,

2009, The Roadshow: Architectural Landscapes of Canada is a series of linked, broad-based national events that focuses architectural discourse in Canada at the level of the public, the profession, and the schools of architecture.

Beginning in Vancouver, The Roadshow brings together nine critical architects from across Canada. This group will travel and lecture together, delivering rapid-fire public presentations of their work at eight Canadian schools of architecture. At every stop, each of the nine architects will have 10 minutes to present one project and articulate this project’s engagement within a consistent framework around which intentionality and meaning have emerged. The cross-country lecture schedule is as follows: Monday, September 23—School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture, University of British Columbia, Vancouver; Tuesday, September 24— Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary; Wednesday, September 25— Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg; Monday, September 28—John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto, Toronto; Tuesday, September 29—School of Architecture at Waterloo, Waterloo University, Cambridge; Wednesday, September 30—Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, Carleton Univer-

sity, Ottawa; Thursday, October 1—School of Architecture, McGill University, Montreal; Friday, October 2—School of Architecture, Dalhousie University, Halifax. All events are free and open to the public. http://the-roadshow.tumblr.com/ War Memorials call for submissions.

This is a call for submissions for an exhibition that will be a collective investigation of what it means, in 2009, to represent the facts, acts and consequences of war. This online exhibition will provide ideas and images around the issues of war and how and for what reasons a war, or wars, are memorialized. The call for submissions asks that you define the war, the site, and propose a war memorial. The submission must contain: a title; the war—which, where, when, issues and causes (500 words maximum); the site—mapped; a form—show it in a way that fits a web page; a short biographical note, contact e-mail, and website. Maximum submission size is two pages, sent as PDFs to exhibitions@onsitereview.ca. The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2009. This exhibition will form a complement to On Site Issue 22: WAR (out in late fall 2009). exhibitions@onsitereview.ca

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grading. Meeting this need for classroom space will constitute the largest building project the world has ever undertaken. The world will need to spend in excess of $100 billion US just to meet current demand for classrooms. Serving as a catalyst to build safe, sustainable and smart educational facilities around the world, the 2009 Open Architecture Challenge has created an online portfolio of design solutions, all licensed under Creative Commons and viewable at www.openarchitecturenetwork.org. School districts, independent schools and social entrepreneurs from around the world can now download, adapt and replicate these ideas in their current and future learning environments. Beyond the awarded funds, three building partners—Rumi Schools of Excellence in India, Building Tomorrow in Uganda, and Blazer Industries with the Modular Building Institute in the United States—have committed to build classrooms based on selected designs. An international travelling exhibition is set to launch in the fall. www.openarchitecturechallenge.org

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09/09 CANADIAN ARCHITECT

13

Bricolage VancouVer designer Marc Bricault asseMBles a rich palette of Materials to craft a Masterfully detailed hoMe full of whiMsy and delight.

Brooks Avenue House, venice, cAliforniA MArc BricAult teXt Adele Weder photos kenji ArAi, unless otHerWise noted proJect

designer

14 canadian architect 09/09

Venice Beach is perhaps the only district in Los Angeles that’s made for walking. Its oceanfront boulevard is lined with hawkers, buskers and soothsayers in a linear 30-ring circus.

Narrow lanes and canals are flanked by an eclectic panoply of architecture, an odd mix of high-end favela and California cool. Century-old beach bungalows with piecemeal additions share a block with comical new constructions like Frank Gehry’s giant binocular-shaped façade for Chiat/Day. This is a neighbourhood that is all about the art of the promenade. And in keeping with the spirit of the neighbourhood, this transformation of a house on Brooks Avenue is a promenade in itself.

Designed by Vancouver-based Marc Bricault, the Brooks Avenue House reads as a linear narrative, and a good portion of its interior feels more like a covered boardwalk than a room. The project is an addition and renovation of an existing 2,000-square-foot house, which was itself an outgrowth of a small beach cottage built almost a century ago. Effectively, though, this is a brand new house, augmented to 3,700 square feet wrapped around a newly created courtyard.

Bricault is what you might call an architectural artisan. Not only is he unregistered, he has no formal post-secondary training in architecture, design, or anything else—at least, not in terms of formal parchment-wielding institutions. He trained the way architects of decades and centuries past have trained: on the job, at night, as an apprentice, as a collector of images and ideas. It’s easy to imagine how the multi-disciplinary nature of his practice serves him well in distinguishing his projects from workaday Modernism.

“Not having been trained as an architect,” says Bricault, “I’m perhaps more interested in details.” His interior for Vij’s restaurant in Vancouver is distinctive not for its spatial configuration but for gestures like the teak feature wall that evokes a louche cocktail bar. It follows logically that his work crosses over into other design disciplines, including graphic and industrial. For Thomas Haas Chocolates, he designed both the packaging and the chocolate tablet itself, embossing both with concentric trapezoids that enhance the sense of indulgence.

Bricault has done millwork for high-profile Vancouver architects like Tony Robins and Richard Henriquez. He physically constructed the wood-and-glass Memory Theatre installation, arguably Henriquez’s signature creation and the centrepiece of the eponymous exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. The pragmatic and direct hands-on experience of architectural creation has served Bricault well: as he simply puts it, “I know how things go together.”

Bricault’s work posits a leading role for craft in architecture and an exaltation of surface. Both words are suspect in contemporary discourse, true craft having been vanquished a century ago, and attention to surface having been tainted by the speciousness of Postmodernism. Contemporary architectural studies, largely estranged not only from craft but from the very act of construction itself, do not offer an obvious role or theoretical framework for this kind of design. What, then, A forest of slender white columns forms seismic cross-brAcing in the mAin hAll. right, top to BottoM A bird’s-eye view of the gorgeously detAiled helicAl stAircAse; A lush, green living wAll trAnsforms the cAntilevered volume of the mAster bedroom; A series of five pivoting wood-frAmed glAss doors opens up the mAin hAll to the courtyArd. opposite

09/09 canadian architect

15

the generously proportioned mAin hAll receives An AbundAnce of nAturAl dAylight. clocKwise froM BottoM left the streAmlined Kitchen forms A lineAr extension of the mAin hAll; orgAnic, florAl motifs inform much of bricAult’s worK; the criss-crossing steel members comprising the stAir’s bAlusters.

aBoVe

colours captured in his photographic wanderings and the specific curves and hues of, for instance, the goldfish pattern in a shower stall’s tile floor.

“I just like looking at structure and composition that nature seems to pull off so well,” he says.

The fractal geometry that nature pulls off is the same kind of compositional order one sees in

dAnnA KinsKy

dAnnA KinsKy

are its underpinnings and its inspiration?

For a clue, one might look to Bricault’s predilection for collecting images. Through the macro lens of a camera, close-ups of tree bark, ripe tomato, train tracks, and insect wing transform into abstract exotica. Bricault himself downplays any direct correlation between the shapes and

Bricault’s detailing: in the ornamental enamelwork, the backlit floral motifs, and nature itself by way of the vibrant “living wall” of greenery that clads the rear zone of the house.

Even a casual observer can perceive a link between the cloisonné pattern of an insect wing and the intricate patterns and gentle backlighting of his projects. The Brooks Avenue House is a primary example. The existing house, a prewar cottage embedded in a 1980s-era expansion and second-storey addition, was a relatively straightforward rectilinear plan. The cottage-area zone was

16 canadian architect 09/09

transformed into a guest area, and the entrance and living area was renovated and re-articulated with a new fenestration pattern. But the essential transformation is the extension of the kitchen into a double-storey wing whose first floor serves at various times of the day and week as hallway, flex space, playroom, dining chamber, and a second entryway to the newly expanded upper floor. The upstairs of this wing contains the children’s bedrooms and threshold to the new master suite, constructed over the carport. Clad in battenboard, this extension defines the inner courtyard, imbuing it with a Moorish flavour and making Bricault’s signature detailing seem especially apropos.

For the back lane of Brooks Avenue, the double-height addition generates an unusually beautiful façade—the only façade, really, in this typically bleak big-city alleyway. It reads as a careful composition of a lush green square (the living wall) over a rectangle of beautifully wrought metal (the carport gate). And the crowning feature, quite literally, is the penthouse lantern, the endpoint of the helical staircase and the entry point to the boardwalk-equipped rooftop garden.

In architectural terms, Bricault cites the Maison de Verre, Chareau’s 1932 glass-block masterpiece in central Paris, as a kindred-spirit project. The Maison de Verre, which is also a fusion of craft and Modernism, is defined by translucence, by careful filtering to soften and shape the raw natural and electric light. On the level of detail and gesture, this is how Brooks Avenue works. The most direct example is the glassblock wall of the master ensuite bathroom. Less directly but still in keeping with the approach of using luminosity as a design tool, the landscaping in the courtyard and alongside the outside wall includes embedded ground lights. As night falls, the glazed flex room between the kitchen and staircase turns into an ethereal dining chamber. Sword Ferns, Cup-of-Gold, Birds of Paradise and other botanic exotica project a backdrop of intricate shadows onto the adjacent outside wall with operatic flair. Set on a concrete pad, it reads much like a covered bridge or glass-walled pergola, visually floating over the ground. “You’d sense that the garden just slips underneath and comes up the other side,” says Bricault.

Over an evening dinner, the homeowners speak of their wish to make the “perfect” home as one of the tools to create—or at least aim for—a perfect life. That seems archetypally Californian, and beyond both the means and the purpose of architecture—and, for that matter, life itself. Bricault’s work does not project the illusion of perfection in the manner of Ando or Pawson. With its vervy juxtapositions, it more strongly suggests the jarring unpredictability of life.

The Brooks Avenue House is unabashedly embedded with ornament: visual intricacies that at times border on eccentricity. Especially uncanny are the curlicue forms that ambush a visitor at irregular intervals. The first such gesture occurs literally as one sets foot on the site: the brushed-metal front gate has an intricate leafy pattern cut out of the metal. Just off the entrance foyer, the powder-room mirror projects another top right A view of the brooKs Avenue house in its venice beAch context. far right the colourful swirling fish pAttern in the mosAic tile of the shower floor enlivens the stArK white bAthing enclosure. right wAll tiles in A rich, red hue Along with beAutifully intricAte florAl pAtterns in the mirror heighten the AmbiAnce of the powder room.

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foliage-inspired form, eerily backlit by a fluorescent light.

Behind a pair of floor-to-ceiling seismic cross-braces and in front of a tiled wall is a helical staircase with matching cross-braces for its balusters.

Make that a compressed helical staircase: it winds upward within a trapezoidal space with two rounded corners, up to the same-shaped lantern skylight from which one can walk out to a rooftop garden. On the second floor, behold the master bedroom’s Juliet balcony, sculpted into a metal grille with an Art Deco-like cutout pattern of undulating tulips. The tiled shower floor of the master ensuite is inlaid with a scatter of brightly coloured enamelled fish, whose gyrating forms are evocative of the tendril patterns on the gate and mirror. Then, the living wall: four walls and a rooftop carpeted with a crazy quilt of foliage, fed by recycled greywater from the house.

Conventional Modernism, with its tenets of sleekness, clarity and muscular bravado, tends to be at odds with these animated and feminine shapes, materials and textures. Bricault knows this, and is fine with it: “You see that in fashion,” he notes, “a collision of patterns and materials that creates lushness and richness and complexity.”

It’s a fine line, in architecture as in fashion, between elegance and excess.

The Brooks Avenue House follows the simple maxim of William Morris: have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. ca Adele Weder is an architectural critic and curator based in British Columbia.

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client pAul & ciceK bricAult design teaM mArc bricAult, AlAyne KAethler, JAnA foit, miKe lecKie, pAul crowley, shAmus sAchs, rebeccA bAyer, hAnnA teicher, JAcQues vrignon structural Andrew lisowsKi landscape richArd grigsby 2 original interiors bricAultcottage design (515 ft ) staircase woodworK ted belch Mosaic & tile wAlter gibson first addition (1,533 ft2) steel edwArdo romeo

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contractor AlisAl builders & blue sAnd construction enVironMental bill wilson new addition (1,746 ft2) area 3,750 ft2 Budget $1.2 m coMpletion mArch 2009

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bedroom w/c rooftop decK green roof vegetAble gArden solAr pAnels

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home explorations the process of positioning this calgary home within the socio-economic framework of an established suburban community is discussed.

TROS/KEEFE HOUSE, CALGARY, ALBERTA AKA/AndREwKinGSTUdiO text THOmAS STRiCKLAnd photos wAYnE GOddARd proJect

architect

“Architecture is...of all the arts that closest constitutionally to the economic, with which, in the form of commissions and land values, it has a virtually unmediated relationship.” (Fredric Jameson, “Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,” New Left Review 46, [1984]: 53-92).

It is probable that the first 10 years of the 21st century will become emblematic of architecture’s complicity with corporate and financial irres­ ponsibility. With the emergence of the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States, the image of suburban sprawl and excessively priced and built homes are an obvious target for critics of con­ temporary North American planning and dev­ elopment processes. Buildings are bound to economics. A recently completed house by AKA/ andrewkingstudio produces, however, a different relationship of architecture to the history of land 22 canadian architect 08/09

development by exploiting subversive possibili­ ties within the existing landscape of a communi­ ty. Designed during Calgary’s most recent oil boom, the Tros/Keefe House, King believes, questions the relationship between economics and civic planning rather than being emblematic of it.

Collaboration between the marketplace and architecture is nothing new. An ostensible exam­ ple is mid­19th­century planning and construc­ tion in Chicago. Financial capital is concentrated within certain lifestyles and reinforced by civic planning policies. The Calgary neighbourhood in which the Tros/Keefe House is situated, Crescent Heights, is a good example of this process. The area is largely populated with Eaton’s­like pat­ tern homes constructed before and after WWI. The new residence’s lot size is standard for the area and previously was the site of a small house

built in 1913 after the area was annexed by the City of Calgary in 1911, before its establishment as a neighbourhood in 1914. Currently, there is an Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP) in place, which draws from the context to guide how an ex­ isting built­up area or neighbourhood should de­ velop in the future. In effect, the ARP—via build­ ing setbacks, surface area and height restric­ tions—prescribes a lot size and housing typology that underpins the economic viability of a com­ partmentalized single­family building located at the centre of the lot. In practice, however, the context reveals irregularities that offer avenues for spatial invention and difference.

King’s design for the Tros/Keefe House ex­ ploits the neighbourhood’s non­conformities to create a built space that engages with a variety of views and the clients’ lifestyle. The house design is based on four positions: House as Pattern,

House as Lens, House as Material, and House as Container. Each position was developed sepa­ rately and then potential congruencies amongst the positions were explored, with the form of the house emerging from this process. For example, House as Lens concentrated on views, revealing long vistas from the back of the lot to downtown Calgary and to the Rocky Mountains, and short views to the street and potentially within the in­ terior. House as Pattern explored the patterns of land development in the neighbourhood and the prairie landscape, looking for irregularities that might offer interesting spatial solutions. One such incident, a barn constructed prior to the an­ nexation and which does not conform to the ARP guidelines, secured a viable argument for creat­ ing an outdoor space at the side of the house. To achieve this space and provide visual access to the Rockies, King stretched a skinny box along

AndREw KinG’S mAnY ExpLORATiOnS inTO COnTEmpORARY dOmESTiC LivinG RESULTEd in A SERiES OF SLidinG And CAnTiLEvEREd vOLUmES THAT ARTiCULATE THiS nEw HOmE in A pLEASinG And REFRESHinG mAnnER.

aboVe

one side of the lot. A square box was attached to create the front half of the house and to complete the outdoor room. The anterior of the outdoor room, or the elevation of the house, is finished with a glass curtain­wall system, which opens up views to the room and across it into other parts of the house, thereby embedding the room within the ocular arrangement of the house.

The house is experienced through a series of overlapping views that are intensified by vertical and horizontal movements within its spaces. This strategy is further articulated by the structural system—House as Material. A steel beam, ex­ pressed on the exterior, functioned as an orga­ nizing datum during construction and now inte­

grates the various paths of circulation through the house. Concentrated by its tectonic assembly, the house is arranged around overlaps that are at once material and spatial, putting it in tension with its neighbour’s interior wall divisions and ornamental signifiers of the late Victorian era.

The idea was to mirror the lifestyle of his clients (House as Container), an art enthusiast and a computer programmer. “It’s almost like a Calvino story,” King explains. “Their lives are so diver­ gent in certain ways but so compressed together in other ways. And really, the house becomes a kind of foil for that existence.” The expectations are that the house will offer another kind of place in the landscape by proposing convenient over­ 08/09 canadian architect

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laps, with views and relationships, rather than the unrealized inter­World War expectations of a tight compartmentalized family meeting in the kitchen and dining room table at the centre of the lot.

By hiring an architect to design a house in a community largely constructed from pattern homes, the clients for the Tros/Keefe House are unique within the cultural landscape of the neighbourhood. Moreover, having the means to build a house that is particular in terms of one’s lifestyle and beliefs certainly positions the house differently in relation to the housing market.

While the house is thus already distinct amongst its neighbours—visually and economically—it tes­ tifies to King’s interest in dissecting “the norma­ tive patterns” of landscape development. Both sympathetic to and in tension with the context, the Tros/Keefe House challenges the typology, or single purposing, of houses that are irrevocably intertwined with global finance, while at the same time building on an existing civic discus­ sion about how buildings are set into the land­ scape. Simply put, King’s design offers not a re­ jection of, but a critique from within the en­ meshed historical arrangement of lifestyles, houses and economics. Symbolically, the discus­ sion is manifest succinctly on the front elevation of the house. There, a 4½­foot cantilever allows the landscape to slip beneath the house, embed­ ding itself in the overall floor plate. From the end of the extension, a large window projects dramat­ ically outward like a camera lens capturing within its frame a reflection of the houses across the street. ca Thomas Strickland is pursuing his doctorate in the history of medical architecture, considering in particular the influence of pop culture of the 1960s and ’70s on innovative, space-age hospital design. He is an occasional art curator and published critic.

client dOnnA TROS And JOHn KEEFE architect team AndREw KinG, pAUL STAdY models and drawings RYAn pALiBROdA, ZSOFi SCHvAn-RiTECZ, CEdRiC BOULET, dUSTin COUZEnS landscape AKA/dOnnA TROS interiors AKA/dOnnA TROS area 3.500 FT2 budget wiTHHELd completion JAnUARY 2009

THE LARGE CUBiC vOLUmE OF THE LivinG ROOm pROvidES UnUSUALLY GEnEROUS viEwS OF THE RESidEnTiAL nEiGHBOURHOOd BEYOnd. left A viEw OF THE FROnT EnTRY— THE FORmAL GESTURES OF “SLidinG” THE HOUSE’S mAnY vOLUmES ARE AppAREnT, EvEn AT THE GROUnd pLAnE wHERE A LARGE wELL ALLOwS dAYLiGHT TO pEnETRATE inTO THE BASEmEnT. opposite bottom, left to right An inTERiOR viEw OF THE SECOnd LEvEL; THE FROnT ELEvATiOn REFLECTS THE nEiGHBOUR’S HOmE ACROSS THE STREET; An OBLiqUE viEw OF THE FROnT FAçAdE.

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Weekend at Bernie’s

a regina architect undertakes a renovation of his heritage-designated condominium according to the standards and guidelines for the conservation of historic Places in canada.

Flaman Residence, Regina, saskatchewan BeRnaRd Flaman teXt leslie Jen Photos don hall ProJect

architect

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Lifestyle magazines bombard readers monthly with countless examples of living stylishly in small spaces. Starkly modern gallery-like apartments with carefully edited objets are the de rigueur norm. In contrast to these dwellings, architect and heritage consultant Bernard Flaman has chosen to painstakingly restore—as much as reasonably possible—his tiny 450-square-foot pied-àterre in Regina to its original 1914 condition. A regional correspondent for Canadian Architect, Flaman moved to the city in 2003, taking a job as Heritage Architect with the Government of Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Culture, Youth and Recreation, after 15 years spent practicing architecture in Germany, Vancouver and Saskatoon. As of last year, he is working for the federal government as the Conservation Architect with Public Works and Government Services.

Called The Bartleman, the heritage-designated three-storey brick building was designed by Regina firm Storey and Van Egmond, and is located in the city’s downtown core, close enough to Flaman’s office such that he can walk to work. The corner apartment on the top floor enjoys prime southeast orientation with a good amount of natural daylight. One would expect most architects to update the space through a grand, modernizing clean sweep, eradicating interior walls and opening up the plan to increase light and flow—which is exactly what Flaman initially intended to do. Instead, strongly influenced by his work in heritage conservation, he challenged himself to adhere to the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada. A rigorous and meticulous process ensued, one which richly illustrates the link between heritage conservation and sustainable design. In Flaman’s heroic efforts to return the apartment to its former modest glory, his reuse of as much original and salvaged material not only restores and embodies the original intended character of the suite, but dramatically reduces the amount of new material consumed.

Ceilings are reclaimed tongue-and-groove Douglas Fir salvaged from the cottages at Fort San in the Qu’Appelle Valley. The wood has been stained a reddish hue, offering a cozy and characterful warmth to the apartment. The original double-hung windows were repaired and stripped, their function having been compromised over decades from the cumulative effect of numerous sloppy paint jobs. Any doors that were salvageable were repaired and restored; those that were not were replaced with brand new wood-and-glass doors, which provide the added benefit of allowing more light to penetrate throughout the rooms of the apartment. Original hardwood floors and plaster walls were also restored, and layers of old paint were laboriously scraped away from wood mouldings. The intention was to take them back to a clear finish to let the beauty of the natural wood shine through, but previous damage meant that a

The bedroom boasTs a rich, warm ceiling made of reclaimed douglas fir; a red eames shell chair affixed To The ceiling becomes a sculpTural objecT. toP a view of The aparTmenT from The kiTchen/dining area shows a blend of conTemporary and hisToric elemenTs. aBove left The original brick fireplace dominaTes The fronT room, enhanced

by The charcoal jan kuypers chair hovering above The manTel. aBove right The aparTmenT even accommodaTes a small work area Tucked away in a corner. left a view inTo The compacT kiTchen/dining area unveils The surprise of Twin plywood chairs suspended from The ceiling. oPPosite

new, fresh paint job was the only viable option in the end.

Interestingly, the apartment was originally designed without a kitchen; 95 years ago, bache-

09/09 canadian architect

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wooden supporTs cradle a resTored clawfooT Tub in The baThroom. leaving The concreTe-like TexTure of The scraTch coaT beneaTh The old wall Tiles exposed gives The room a biT of indusTrial lofTlike ambiance. aBove a sculpTural whiTe casT-iron sink is insTalled againsT a polished black graniTe panel which conceals The relocaTed plumbing. toP

lors were not expected to cook for themselves.

The new kitchen is aligned entirely along one wall, which frees up the remainder of the room to accommodate a dining table and even a small desk in the corner. Despite the extreme space constraints of the kitchen, it is immaculately fitted with top-of-the line stainless steel appliances, in typical European fashion. A small Sub-Zero refrigerator is tucked below a Miele wall oven, while a gleaming dishwasher and two-burner cooktop round out the appliance suite. These elements, coupled with Italian cabinet hardware and the white Carrera marble backsplash, form a refined counterpoint to the rustic qualities of the cabinets. In the interest of sustainability, Flaman was able to incorporate reclaimed solid Douglas Fir into some of the kitchen cabinetry. This wood has special significance, as it formed part of the 2004 30 canadian architect 09/09

5 baThroom 6 closeT 7 deck

exhibition that Flaman curated, entitled Character and Controversy: The Mendel Art Gallery and Mod­ ernist Architecture. Elsewhere, Baltic birch plywood is used, to which bright blue laminate is applied.

The marble backsplash is pulled eight inches away from the wall to allow for plumbing and electrical conduits; cleverly, the top of this gap is covered with frosted glass and illuminated from below, offering the double functionality of a muchneeded source of ambient lighting as well as a horizontal surface on which to place random objects.

The same level of detail and thoughtfulness has been employed in the bathroom, where textural and period contrasts are apparent. A restored clawfoot tub rests on wooden supports, conveying traditional heritage character, but resolutely modern elements are utilized everywhere else. A sleek and glossy white cast-iron sink picks up on the shiny white subway tiles running halfway up the wall, all of which form a pleasing contrast against the polished black granite slab panel behind the sink that conceals the relocated plumbing. Additionally, new honed black granite sheathes the floor, despite Flaman’s attempts to retain the original maple hardwood that lay beneath the stratified layers of linoleum and vinyl.

Sadly, a good portion of the wood was too badly rotted to be kept. In exercising his mantra of reuse and recycle, Flaman salvaged what boards he could, replaned them and used them as flooring in the closet. One serendipitous aspect of the bathroom is the scratch coat which Flaman chose to leave exposed after removing the old tiles surrounding the tub; the texture resembles concrete, giving the bathroom a touch of industrial loft-like ambiance. Even the most mundane aspects are addressed: Flaman avoided the standard-issue

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toilet paper roll holder by ingeniously recessing three stainless steel kitchen canisters into the drywall to discreetly contain the fluffy white rolls.

What is most notable about Flaman’s home when one visits is the whimsical display of midcentury modern chairs. Considerable space constraints mean that there is little room for his carefully curated furniture collection. So chairs become sculptural objects of display: a tomatored fibreglass Eames shell chair is hung from the ceiling in the bedroom, while a charcoal upholstered Jan Kuypers chair hovers above the mantel of the living-room fireplace. There is even an Eames-designed walnut plywood lounge chair cleverly displayed in a cubbyhole above the kitchen cabinetry.

It is commendable that this architect has not approached this project with conventional ideas about renovation. Instead, considerable effort has been made and energy expended in allowing just a small bit of historic architecture to live on, true to itself. Never content to sit still, Flaman is now undertaking a substantial renovation of his second residence, the family farm in nearby Southey.

As one would expect, he is tackling the project with conservation in mind, restoring the 1,100-square-foot home’s original ground-floor layout while slightly reconfiguring the second storey. While it will be an entirely sympathetic renovation in accordance with the Standards and Guidelines, the farmhouse will be brought up to modern living standards that reflect Flaman’s current needs and lifestyle. ca client bernard flaman architect team bernard flaman contractor sT. amand sTudio area 450 fT2 Budget $40,000 comPletion november 2008

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Fuel up

despite tight budget constraints, an imaginative new oFFice space gives an advertising Firm new inspiration.

Fuel Advertising OFFice, tOrOntO, OntAriO BArtlett & AssOciAtes teXt dAvid steiner photos tOm ArBAn proJect

designer

Renovated warehouse spaces—the kind from early in the last century—are a precious commodity in Toronto. They trade on their exposed wood charm and proximity to everything urban. Due to limited stock, demand is rising and space is becoming rare. Though no proof exists that working in an office tower leads to diminished creativity, it has become accepted that old and exposed equals edgy and exciting.

Fuel Advertising Inc., a 100-person company that deals mainly in print media, was located in an office tower in mid-Toronto for 20 years. Their departments—creative, administration and photography—were split over three floors. It was rare that people from the various departments would unintentionally cross paths, and employees felt compartmentalized. In addition to the undesired layout, much of the city’s creative advertising community had migrated south to the core of the city, especially to a west-end area of early 20th-century warehouses around King and Dufferin Streets.

The time had come to consolidate their work space and retool the shop.

Moving offices was cathartic. It gave Fuel a chance to detach itself from years of ad hoc growth that resulted in a disjointed office. As company pres32 canadian architect 09/09

ident Cyndy Carruthers says, “It was depressing not having a continuous space.” She wanted an office that would combine all their administration and creative teams together in one space to encourage casual meetings and informal discussions amongst the staff. By moving to a new space in the city’s trendy Liberty Village area, they could rethink themselves and their image, sharpening their brand and projecting a new air to clients.

Bartlett & Associates, an interior design firm that has been working in Toronto for 25 years, designed the new offices in three months and oversaw construction in three more. What the team designed is lively and bright, making the most of the building’s good bones, a slim budget and frugal materials. Two adjacent office suites, divided by a fire exit corridor, house the company’s creative and administration departments. Consistent colours, materials and furniture unite the parts into what feels like one continuous space. Though much has been packed into 930 square metres, there is an airy, open feel when walking amongst the desks and down the corridors.

Partition walls around offices and boardrooms are only three metres high, allowing the mechanical elements free passage along the ceiling. Simple furniture made of aluminum and white laminate, with quasi-industrial lighting, were all chosen from Canadian companies that manufacture in Canada—cost-effective and patriotic.

Spots of colour add the understated punch that Fuel wanted: translucent acrylic panels in red, pink, green and purple hang off exposed metal studs, making a dividing wall between desks; the eight-metre-long boardroom table has a bright red top; framed cotton fabric printed with retro flower graphics by Finnish textile designer Marimekko are hung in the staff lunch area. A number of wacky coffee tables are made from logs culled from the

mArimekkO FABrics help tO deFine the Busy stAFF kitchen And lOunge AreA. top leFt simple Aluminum And white lAminAte Accented with Bright cOlOurs cOmprise mOst OF the wOrk spAces. top right the receptiOn AreA, AlOng with Other AreAs thrOughOut the OFFice, FeAture OrgAnicAlly shAped wOOden cOFFee tABles. above the eight-metre-lOng BOArdrOOm tABle BOAsts A Bright red surFAce. opposite

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summer home of the project’s metal fabricator, and are placed alongside a custom couch clad in bright green vinyl.

With a very small budget, the designers focused on making simple details special—inset door handles, magnetic tack boards and the reception desk cladding are all made from galvanized sheet metal usually reserved for mechanical ducts. Office doors are custom made, hung on sliders and finished with a white lacquer. Tectum acoustic panels (boards that look as though they are made of compressed spaghetti) hang over the reception desk, fas-

tened to a grid of metal track, and a drop ceiling in the entry hallway is constructed of corrugated metal. The fabrication of such prosaic materials is deft, allowing the design to remain discreet.

“We wanted a neutral campus because it’s our clients’ ideas that matter,” states Carruthers. The walls are left bare and white save for large, framed fabric posters of inspirational quotes from famous people: “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free,” Michelangelo announces from one wall. The project’s success is most evident in their clients’ enthusiastic response. As Carruthers says of their new offices, “Our clients have been using our boardroom space for meetings that sometimes don’t include us.” ca David Steiner is a freelance writer living in Ontario. client Fuel Advertising architect team inger BArtlett, michelle grAy, JOel stevenett, genevieve BergmAn, AlexAndrA sAmOuk structural Quinn dressel AssOciAtes mechanical the mitchell pArtnership electrical mulvey + BAnAni

interiors BArtlett & AssOciAtes a/v westBury nAtiOnAl shOw systems contractor structure cOrp. area 20,000 Ft2 budget n/A completion OctOBer 2008

09/09 canadian architect

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inSiteS

cOLd, hard LOOk Artist MArk Lewis tAckLes toronto At the Venice BiennALe’s 53rd internAtionAL Art exhiBition.

Jennifer dAVis MArk Lewis/Monte cLArk GALLery/ cLArk & fAriA/GALerie serGe Le BorGne teXt

FiLM StiLLS

It is possible for the throngs of art connoisseurs, once setting foot inside the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale Art Exhibition, to momentarily escape the crush of heat and crowds outside and enter a chillier place.

From a nose-pressed-to-glass perspective, viewers of the 2009 film TD Centre, 54th Floor get a plan view of an intersection during early morning rush hour, its patterns of car and pedestrian movement predictable. Black mullions slowly slide by, indicating that the video camera has the privileged vantage point from within a skyscraper looming above. A familiar vertiginous perspective that is simultaneously enthralling and terrifying.

Though the Biennale’s true nexus lies inside the 29 national pavilions in the Giardini Publicci, promoting national cultural agendas are passé.

Coveted spots are increasingly awarded because of an artist’s presence at the leading edge of contemporary art production. The Germans, for example, boldly featured British artist Liam Gillick.

Canada did otherwise.

The Canada Pavilion went homegrown, featuring artist Mark Lewis’s Cold Morning, a suite of

four silent, looped non-narrative films, one of which is TD Centre, 54th Floor. With the commission to shoot three new films for the Biennale exhibit, the time was right for Lewis—who lives in London—to cast a familiar eye on his previous home of Toronto. Using this specific city as a place to act out his penchant for filming the generic corners of cities that are often ignored, Lewis provokes the viewer to reflect on the social and temporal disjunctions inherent in the built city.

He is not explicitly interested in Canadian identity as subject matter, but by filming Toronto’s generic urban environment, he inadvertently points to aspects of Canadian culture that we ourselves often overlook. These images present us with the uncomfortable challenge of defining a contemporary Canadian identity that contrasts our persistent romance with architectural landmarks and wilderness postcards.

An astute viewer from Toronto, knowing the title of TD Centre, begins to recognize details that shift the image from a generic scene to a specific place. The white-panelled cladding of the BMO tower across the street marks the intersection of Bay and King Streets in the financial district.

Mark Lewis’s fiLM TD Cen Tre, 54 Th Floor takes an unfLinching Look at the streets beLow in the heart of toronto’s financiaL district.

aBOVe

The I-beam mullion profile is the hallmark detail of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture, dutifully implemented in the Toronto-Dominion (TD) Centre, one of his most rigorous and complete projects.

This famous bank headquarters was the tallest building in Canada when it was completed in 1967, and embodied Toronto’s zeitgeist during this period of growth and optimism. This building announced to the world, and reinforced to Torontonians, the city’s aspirations to be “worldclass.” By commissioning the internationally recognizable yet universally unplaceable architecture of Mies, Toronto got its High Modern edifice and gained entry into the ideals it embodied. Rational egos could improve the city of today and tomorrow, offering the good life on a scale larger than ever imagined.

Lewis’s film turns its back on the TD Centre, usually represented in glossy architectural photos 09/09 canadian architect

35

as objects on a nascent Toronto skyline. By stealthily placing his camera at the floor plate’s edge to look outwards, the building becomes an aperture from which to examine the city spaces in between. From this view, the icon is negated, and the viewer is faced with an urban banality that has increased over the past 42 years.

Projected on the pavilion wall two metres from TD Centre is a lower, grimier view of Toronto. The film Cold Morning, the namesake of the exhibition, depicts the sidewalks at Bay and Queen Streets on a frigid winter day. Amid shrivelled snow banks, a homeless man rouses from a bone-chilling night spent huddled atop a steaming subway vent. He folds his sleeping bags and rearranges his belongings, preparing for another day on the streets. For seven minutes, an unmoving camera lens fixes upon him conducting routine chores as well-dressed commuters proceed past him, steering well clear. This scene of infrastructure-turned-makeshift-hearth is at once generic and specific. His identity obscured by a hood, the gestures of housekeeping are understood as the universal human tendency to make a home. His situation is exacerbated by, and particular to, the streets of the cold-climate cities of Canada and the American northeast.

The curatorial decision to project TD Centre and Cold Morning side by side means that the viewer inevitably sees the two films simultaneously.

These high and low viewpoints of the same four stiLLs taken froM the siLent fiLM TD Cen Tre, 54 Th Floor iLLustrate Lewis’s reverse exaMination of the city, which focuses not on Mies van der rohe’s iconic td centre and other such LandMarks, but on the banaL urban spaces and activities in between. BeLOW the fiLM Col D Morning depicts a Lower, griMier view of toronto—the sidewaLks at the intersection of bay and Queen streets in toronto. in the fiLM, a hoMeLess Man conducts his routine Morning tasks whiLe passersby consciousLy avoid hiM or are siMpLy obLivious to his presence. tOP

36 canadian architect 09/09

neighbourhood close the perceptual distance between these two locations. The difficult, or possibly non-existent relationship between the people who share the city’s streets while occupying different physical and social strata is glaringly obvious.

But lamenting the failure of utopian social ideals of 1960s High Modernism is perhaps a hasty conclusion drawn from this pair of films.

Such a pessimistic interpretation is symptomatic of a contemporary Canadian identity that is attempting to define itself in a moment when time passes at such speed that the present almost immediately becomes history.

The designation of the TD Centre as a heritage building indicates that Modern edifices are becoming historical objects; relics of an epoch that we no longer identify with completely, but often romanticize as better days gone by. We could take comfort in its ideal still-to-come future. But despite our chronological distance from the High Modern era, there is an uneasy relationship with the ideological constructs embodied by landmark buildings that remain stubbornly in sight.

It is a new and disturbing phenomenon in many cities, including Toronto, that Modernist buildings are becoming antiquated. Perhaps it is an underlying awareness of this process that has prompted Toronto’s new identity campaign. It is ironic that the city’s most recent building boom has focused on renovating contemporary museums; landmark buildings that in themselves accelerate the process of historicizing the recent past. This attempt to build identifiable icons is an unoriginal approach, a tactic used during the office-building surge of the 1960s and ’70s.

Toronto has also contracted the museum fever infecting every other “city of culture” at the moment. This is a generic method of identitymaking, a borrowed way of envisioning possible futures that should be sui generis, and one which betrays Toronto’s insecurities. in the Spaces Between

Lewis’s films focus on “in between” places and

leftover people. By coolly resting his gaze on the overlooked, he heightens the viewer’s awareness and refines their observation. For example, Cold Morning is a collection of visual short stories that describes the potential of urban public spaces, accepting its generic nature with wide-eyed attentiveness and taking the time to digest the unintentional outcomes borne of unconventional perspectives.

This particular way of seeing recognizes the city as fragmented and full of many, often conflicting stories that occupy the same place and time. The films aestheticize the urban environment while deftly avoiding the temptation to romanticize or bloat with pathos. Lewis is particularly adept at capturing this moment because he avoids the sentimental traps of romanticizing Canadian identity as wilderness clichés, and simultaneously looks away from the urban architectural icons associated with past ambitions.

He forces us to look at the genericness that surrounds us, and to work to pull out the specifics, never letting us forget that the outcomes can be splintered and unintentional.

These looping films of the Cold Morning exhibition suspend the present moment long enough so that we can interrogate the ordinariness existing around us. Lewis’s confidently iconoclastic approach to inherited ideals, when it comes to both subject and medium, is a refreshing way to look at the “here and now” that has contributed to the construction of a contemporary Canadian identity. ca Mark Lewis: In a City is a companion exhibition to Cold Morning that runs at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto from September 8 to October 26, 2009. Both the Toronto and Venice shows are curated by Barbara Fischer.

Jennifer Davis spent the summer working at the Canadian Pavilion in Venice. She is currently pursuing a Master of Architecture degree at the University of Toronto, and has worked at firms in New York, Madrid and Toronto.

Books reVieWed By

JaNiNE DEBaNNÉ, LESLiE JEN aND GaBriEL FaiN.

passing through “kinetics” and “town floor,” are displayed alongside an inventory of exhibition entries and excerpts on each theme. Of special note are the explorations that document the McMullen Summer House, under the “palette” theme. That 1988 kit-of-parts project on Lake Kashagawigamog near Haliburton, Ontario exemplifies the architects’ commitment to constructive intelligence and poetic metaphor. It is a work of supreme material and contextual sensitivity that makes obvious the unity of the Corneils’ practice that spans the two countries to which the architects are tied: Norway and Canada. Jd

architecture e+c: Work of elin + carmen corneil, 1958 to 2008

By Elin and Carmen Corneil. Halifax: TUNS Press, 2009.

Based on a travelling exhibition focused on the Canadian practice of Elin and Carmen Corneil that originated at Carleton University, this exhibition catalogue provides an account of the firm’s history and working methodology while crediting the help received along the way. The book contains an eloquent foreword by Terrance Galvin and an informative introduction by Michael Milojevic. The student of architecture will find guidance in the Corneils’ work, and seasoned practitioners, if not called back to a simpler practice, will be inspired.

At first glance it seems ephemeral, or appearing to be a mere pamphlet, but Architecture e+c: Work of Elin+Carmen Corneil, 1958 to 2008 powerfully documents the work of two of Canada’s most significant Modern-era architects alive today.

Leafing through the economically edited pages that illustrate and discuss a travelling retrospective exhibition of the firm’s career, today’s architect is likely to wonder when architecture got so complicated. A series of projects—unfortunately, not the entire exhibition—is beautifully depicted with text, reproductions of working drawings (drafted by hand, of course), thumbnail sketches, and photographs showing the progress of the design. The layouts, composed by the Corneils and organized by nine themes that focus on their work over the last 50 years, balance indeterminacy and bold graphic devices. For the Corneils, beauty is found in the rough-hewn rather than the glossy, and seeing this expressed in the exhibition recalls an era that is characterized by the quest for the authentic experience. Elemental themes ranging from “the rustic” to “beacons,”

Vancouver Matters Edited by James Eidse, Mari Fujita, Joey Giaimo and Christa Min. Vancouver: Blueimprint, 2008.

Vancouver Matters presents some highly insightful perspectives on a city that has thrived in the past few decades, both literally and in the global imagination. Regularly touted as one of the best places to live in the world and soon to host the 2010 Winter Olympics, the city has undergone a significant amount of growth and change in recent years. The hype has been further fuelled by “Vancouverism,” a term implying a “kind of point-form urbanism” that has become a planning model for communities across the globe (see CA, August 2006).

In response to this, the editors of Vancouver Matters asked contributors in Vancouver’s design and academic community to conceive of essays

focused on a material condition within the context and processes of the city. The range of themes runs the gamut from those most obvious and elemental such as Water, Trees, View and Grass, but extend to intriguingly abstract titles like Intimacy, Veil and Residue.

In Stucco, Kenneth Terriss details the evolution through the decades of the “Vancouver Special,” the derisively named banal and bulky two-storey stucco box so prevalent throughout the city.

Plans, sections and photographs depict variations of the Vancouver Special, transforming an uninspiring and inelegant housing type into rather fascinating subject matter—from what is essentially a practical housing solution that emerged in response to the relentless city grid and the 33-foot-wide lots that carpet “the entire eastern half of the city and much of the west side.”

Taking an unusual position, Hannah Teicher poses the intriguing question of what Vancouver might have gained had it not managed to so successfully quash various freeway initiatives throughout its history. To illustrate this point, Teicher’s Freeway considers Granville Island, the much lauded planning achievement and entity loved by all—created out of the residual space beneath the Granville Bridge, one of the city’s few thoroughfares resembling a freeway. Since the 1970s, Granville Island has flourished and continues to do so, boasting a highly mixed community of retail, hospitality, educational, cultural, recreational and even industrial functions—and which also embraces locals and tourists equally.

Teicher suggests that as Vancouver evolves, it “awaits its own particular third wave,” a finergrained approach to challenge its pervasive and monotonous grid, “offering up multiple ways of experiencing the city.”

Lyndsay Sung’s Hedge provides amusing respite, a moment of levity in the midst of some heavily academic essays. Picking up on the ubiquity of nature in Vancouver, Sung focuses on the abundance of quasi-anthromorphic topiary found around the city, and takes it one step further. Embellishing the greenery with white paper cutouts of smiling mouths and eyes, she has created a photo-essay of various shrubs and hedges that grin blankly at the camera, comically giant blob-like aliens that randomly dot the urban residential landscape.

The 16 essays all highlight the fact that—as suggested by the book’s title—Vancouver does indeed matter. But what they really do is encourage us to look beyond the rallying cry of civic boosterism to critically engage with the real Vancouver, and to consider the possibilities of what it might yet become. LJ 09/09 canadian architect

37

a Progressive traditionalist: John M. Lyle architect

By Glenn Mcarthur. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2009.

John M. Lyle was one of the most influential Canadian architects of the first half of the 20th century. Born in Ireland in 1872, Lyle studied at the prestigious École des Beaux Arts in Paris after having immigrated to Hamilton

with his family. Following graduation, Lyle worked in several important New York offices before moving to Toronto in 1904 and quickly establishing himself as one of the most prominent architects, educators and activists in the city. His life and work is the subject of Glenn McArthur’s wellresearched and graphically elegant new book entitled A Progressive Traditionalist: John M. Lyle, Architect.

It is often forgotten that Lyle was responsible for some of Toronto’s most important and iconic buildings including Union Station and the Royal Alexandra Theatre. As the title of the book suggests, his work constantly shifted between the modern and the traditional due in part to his Beaux-Arts training, his sensitivity to specific building programs, and his acceptance of new technical innovations. The Louis XVI-inspired Royal Alexandra Theatre, for instance, was Canada’s first fully air-conditioned building. As McArthur explains, Lyle’s work took cues from many different sources including the Neoclassical and the Georgian. Of Lyle’s Runnymede Branch Library in Toronto, McArthur describes a “tasteful synthesis of French, English and Native elements married into an invigorating and daring composition.”

In fact, it was Lyle’s search for a distinctly Canadian form of architectural expression and his attempt to give a voice to his national identity which set him apart from many of his contemporaries.

Using both archival and original photographs together with many of Lyle’s own hand drawings and personal memoirs, McArthur takes the reader on a journey through numerous bank commissions, private residences, city plans and public monuments in an effort to expose the richness and diversity of Lyle’s architectural vision. McArthur’s new book will certainly prove to be an important contribution to the continuing discourse on the seminal figures in Canadian architecture. GF

Your Illustrated Guide to the 2009 Edition of the International Building Code As the U.S building industry adapts the international standards, architects and other building professionals need a clear, practical guide to the International Building Code. Marrying the graphic skills of bestselling author Frank Ching with the code expertise of Steven Winkel, FAIA, this invaluable reference provides an easy-tounderstand interpretation in both words and illustrations of the portions of the building code that are most relevant for the architect. Highlighting major changes between the new code and previous model building codes, this book will help architects understand how this code change will affect their practice.

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978-0-470-19143-9 • Paperback • 432 pp. • September 2009 • $66.00

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calendar Utopia Across Scales: Highlights from the Kenzo Tange Archive

the roadshow: architectural landscapes of canada

August 26-October 18, 2009 The Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) presents this monographic exhibition on Kenzo Tange, presenting several original models and dozens of original drawings of Tange’s best-known works, including Hiroshima Peace Centre, Kagawa Prefectural Government Building, and Yoyogi National Indoor Stadiums. The exhibition will also feature a visual essay on Tange’s visionary plan for Tokyo Bay in 1960. www.gsd.harvard.edu

September 23, 2009 This series of linked, broad-based national events that focus architectural discourse in Canada at the level of the public, the profession, and the schools of architecture, kicks off today at the UBC School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture in Vancouver. The Roadshow brings together nine critical architects from across Canada, who are travelling and lecturing together, delivering rapid-fire public presentations of their work at eight Canadian schools of architecture.

The Roadshow appears in Calgary on the 24th, Winnipeg on the 25th, Toronto on the 28th, Cambridge on the 29th, Ottawa on the 30th, Montreal on October 1, and finally, Halifax on October 2. All events are free and open to the public. http://the-roadshow.tumblr.com/

Revival

September 21-October 4, 2009 This exhibition at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto allows visitors to experience an alternative reality through a visual exhibition which explores a confrontation between obsolete equipment Sculpted Envelopes: The ArchiEcoLog 8x5.125 CA E18.qxd 9/4/09 11:20 AMPrii Page 1 and new technology. tecture of Uno www.daniels.utoronto.ca/events/1315 October 8-30, 2009 This exhibition at

the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto will show 63 drawings, photographs and paintings

by Toronto-based, Estonian-born architect Uno Prii (1924-2000). Included are architectural designs for apartment buildings, shopping malls and office towers—drawn primarily from the 1960s—which exemplify Prii’s futuristic vision. www.daniels.utoronto.ca/events/1315

lectures at 6.30pm at the National Gallery in Ottawa. Admission is free and open to the general public. architecture@carleton.ca adrian Parr lecture

October 15, 2009 Adrian Parr, Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Cincinatti School of Architecture and Interior Design, will deliver a lecture at 7:00pm at The Uptown, located at 610 8th Ave SW in Calgary.

Josep acebillo lecture

October 8, 2009 As part of Carleton University’s Forum Lecture Series, Josep Acebillo, chief architect for the city of Barcelona, lectures at 6:00pm at the Ottawa Little Theatre.

Admission is free and open to the general public. architecture@carleton.ca

Peter eisenman lecture

October 19, 2009 Peter Eisenman of Eisenman Architects in New York delivers the David J. Azrieli Lecture in Architecture at 6:00pm in Room G10 of the Macdonald-Harrington Building at McGill University in Montreal.

dominique Perrault lecture

October 14, 2009 As part of Carleton University’s Forum Lecture Series, Dominique Perrault of DPA Dominique Perrault Architecture in Paris

For more inFormation about these, and additional listings oF Canadian and international events, please visit www.canadianarchitect.com

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BackPage

the accidentaL archiVe

selWyn Pullen

researchers take note: oVer 50 years’ Worth of inValuable PhotoGraPhs DocumentinG canaDian architecture Were recently DonateD to ryerson uniVersity.

teXt

leGG brothers ltD. aBOVe LeFt Postal station D in VancouVer (1967) by ian DaViDson anD D.e. White. aBOVe alfreD h. JarVis, Director of the national Gallery of canaDa, Peter Dickinson, Partner in charGe of DesiGn at PaGe & steele architects, anD r.c. fairfielD of rounthWaite anD fairfielD architects reVieW comPetition entries for a community Gallery in 1957. James a. murray, founDinG eDitor of Canadian ar Chite Ct , oVerlooks the Jury’s Deliberations.

marco Polo

Since its inception in 1955, Canadian Architect has published thousands of photographs documenting noteworthy buildings and their architects. When I joined the magazine in 1997, most photos came to us as 4” x 5” colour transparencies; by the time I left six years later, Canadian Architect was receiving nearly all visual material in digital form. In its early years, however, many photographs came to the magazine in the form of 8” x 10” enlargements, mostly black-and-white prints which, since they were reproductions of negatives that remained in the photographers’ possession, were usually not returned. Consequently, the magazine accumulated a sizable accidental archive, stored in filing cabinets and cardboard boxes, without appropriate environmental controls, at risk of damage and mistaken or thoughtless disposal.

Earlier this year, this vulnerable, haphazard collection found a more appropriate home when Canadian Architect donated the photos to Ryerson University Library’s Special Collections. The Canadian Architect Photography Collection will ultimately be digitized to provide access to scholars and other researchers interested in Canadian 42 canadian architect 09/09

Modern architecture. Initially, material is being organized by region, city and project; eventually, it will be cross-referenced by architect to facilitate research into a particular practitioner’s work. While many of the prints include extensive annotations on the back, a considerable number bear no identifying marks, requiring research to determine the projects depicted. Faculty and student research assistants from Ryerson’s Department of Architectural Science are assisting with this task. Also, some of the photos were damaged by adhesives used to secure images onto layout sheets. In light of this, Ryerson University is a particularly fitting home for the photos, which can benefit from the expertise offered by graduates and students of the School of Image Arts’ M.A. program in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management.

While the collection includes many iconic photos of celebrated projects, there are also many lesser-known projects considered significant enough for publication in their day, but that did not become part of the canon of Canadian Modernism and that in many cases have been transformed beyond recognition or demolished

outright. One such project is illustrated here— Postal Station D in Vancouver (1967) by Ian Davidson and D.E. White, which captures the spirit of its age: the concrete bas-relief on the building recalls similar expressive strategies used at Expo ’67.

The collection also includes many photos of individuals who contributed to the culture of Modern architecture in Canada. The image pictured above shows Alfred H. Jarvis, director of the National Gallery of Canada, Peter Dickinson, partner in charge of design at Page & Steele Architects, and R.C. Fairfield of Rounthwaite and Fairfield Architects, as they jury a 1957 competition for the design of a community art gallery, sponsored by the magazine. Looking over their shoulders is James A. Murray, founding editor of Canadian Architect, who passed away last year aged 88 and whose enduring legacy is enhanced by this collection. ca Marco Polo is an Associate Professor in Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science and a former editor of Canadian Architect.

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The Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer works in just 12 seconds, using sheets of air travelling at over 600km/hr to scrape water away like a windshield wiper. The faster dry time and no heating element also means it consumes up to 80% less energy than warm air dryers. For the cost of one paper towel, the Dyson Airblade dries 23 pairs of hands – saving you money and reducing landfill*.

The Dyson Airblade hand dryer can contribute towards LEED ratings through: · Minimum Energy Performance/EA Prerequisite 2 · Optimize Energy Performance/EA Credit 1 · Materials & Resources (MR Prerequisite 1& 2) · Sustainable Purchasing: Ongoing Consumables (MR Credits 1.1 - 1.3) · Solid Waste Management: Ongoing Consumables (MR Credits 7.1 - 7.2)

For a demonstration or to see how businesses are cutting their carbon footprint, costs and landfill visit www.dysonairblade.ca or call 1-877-397-6622 Visit us at IIDEX. Booth 627.

5 year warranty

The fastest, most hygienic hand dryer.

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