The formal method of verifying the currency of licensed architects through continuing education requirements has been in place in most provincial associations since the turn of the millennium. The introduction of these requirements parallels the revision of educational requirements for licensure, from professionally focussed five-year undergraduate university programs to diverse graduate programs. The task of determining what is germane to professional competence is a notable regulatory challenge, but the fact that all our professional associations have resorted to fines—in excess of registration fees—to leverage compliance with continuing education requirements suggests that something is amiss, and worthy of rigorous and objective review.

The original intent of continuing education as a non-profit, low-cost-to-architects way to keep practitioners up to date is not immediately obvious. The AIBC states the purpose of required continuing education as “a response to the public’s increasing expectation that architects remain current with contemporary technology, business practices, methods, and materials.” But in other cases, there has been noticeable mission-creep. The OAA describes the intent of continuing education as part of the organization’s “dedication to promoting and increasing the knowledge, skill, and proficiency of its members, and administering the Architects Act to serve and protect the public interest.” One large association thus defines their mission as keeping members up to date. The other offers a broader and more open-ended mission statement that extends well beyond the issue of currency. This reflects two quite different paths.

Regulating educational requirements is a tough challenge, certainly, for any organization. “The broader the range of issues to be accommodated, the greater the difficulty to regulate” is a familiar axiom. In our profession, regulating education should be premised on the fact that architects process information and come to understand their craft in unique ways. Visual literacy, for instance, is core to an architect’s formal education and professional skill set. The accreditation process for evaluating architecture university programs in Canada, as one example, requires an exhibition of ideas and concepts as a principal component. This is how we communicate, learn, and grow as architects. Yet, ironically, attendance at such an exhibition would be ruled invalid as counting towards provincial continuing education requirements, because its inherent value cannot be readily quantified.

A sizable amount of regulation focusing on professional development is also premised on the notion that one can somehow quantify reading, and accurately corroborate the time taken to research a topic, author a book, or publish an article. In contrast, travel—which for most architects is acknowledged as an important way of coming to understand architecture—is only deemed valid by regulators if it can be corroborated by a tour guide receipt. A mode of regulation that would more accurately reflect lived experience would not be driven by administrative expediency, and would assign value beyond that which can be easily quantified.

Activities cited in the “unstructured learning” category—aside from association meetings and committee work—are, on the whole, largely impossible to regulate with specificity, and in most cases, fail to credibly validate either currency or knowledge. Elimination of these activities would be a positive first step, and serve to focus attention on legitimate profession-specific requirements. A compelling argument can be made that compliance with unstructured continuing education requirements achieves nothing but increased workloads for regulators, ill will of individual members, and no credible validation of whether the individual in question is up-to-date or not.

Structured professional development, on the other hand, can and should be monitored in a comprehensive and straightforward manner. The profession of architecture, while complex and ubiquitous in comparison to other professions, is not so complicated when it comes down to what we actually do. All North American schools of architecture seeking accreditation, for instance, are presently required to meet student and program performance criteria that are specific, quantifiable, and accepted by 185 post-secondary institutions with widely differing missions and geographic settings. Consensus on this kind of complex and diverse subject matter has thus proven to be possible. The professionally specific Internship Architecture Program (IAP) provides another example of how the scope of professional activity can be defined in 15 rationally weighted categories that all associations agree on. The referencing of continuing education activity to any of these 15 categories could serve to ameliorate concerns of whether subject matter is profession-specific.

The question arises of whether verifying compliance with continuing education requirements is fair to all associations. Smaller provincial associations with limited resources, in particular, are not well positioned to credibly monitor professional development activity, or to deal with clarification and interpretation of regulations. Most associations rely entirely on computerized transcripts to record and tally up activity hours in each category, and restrict entries beyond the deadline of each cycle. The few unfortunate individuals targeted for audit rely on local interpretation, which can vary significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

The concept of a national organization such as the RAIC as a central repository for course material and records has obvious merit. The RAIC already offers mostly online courses. Professionally qualified staff could efficiently manage queries on regulatory requirements. Local jurisdictions could then, as most already do, focus on continuing education related to regional issues, such as changes to legislation, building codes, construction documents, and bidding and contract negotiation.

Updating continuing education requirements first requires acknowledgement that the existing system appears to be falling short of its intended mission. A quarter century of experience should provide hard evidence that we are failing to reach the desired results. The autonomy of provincial associations should be prepared to yield to a greater need for consistency, fairness, and objectivity across jurisdictional boundaries. Well-crafted and intelligent regulation can—and should—eliminate any question of competence and currency from public concern.

Robert Ian Macdonald, FRAIC, is Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Manitoba.

The post Op-ed: Reimagining Continuing Education appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Cities rarely behave the way we want them to. Urbanist William Whyte illustrated this in the 1980s when he studied the behaviour of park-goers in New York. Despite planners carefully arranging chairs in unique and novel ways, people instinctively moved them around to suit their own needs. Similarly, the worn paths we see cutting through park lawns are not part of the original design — they are “desire lines,” revealing the routes people naturally choose, rather than those intended by urban planners. This highlights a fundamental truth: how we plan and design a space often doesn’t align with the way people truly live and move through it.

As a PhD candidate in urban and regional planning, I have been delving into this disconnect between intention and execution. There’s often a chasm between what urban planners envision and what is actually realized. Many plans, no matter how meticulously crafted, remain unfulfilled, leading to a cognitive dissonance between our aspirations and the final product, and contributing to frustration and disappointment from the broader community. Despite their best efforts, planners often find that the systems they work within do not operate the way they had hoped. In many prairie cities, the plans and strategies drafted by urban planners often end up collecting dust on forgotten shelves, never to be revisited.

John Forester, a key figure in the study of power and its influence on the practice of planning, famously noted that “If planners ignore those in power, they assure their own powerlessness.” This statement underscores a vital point: urban planners are not merely neutral technicians but are embedded in complex political environments. They should aim for more than just managing permits and enforcing processes — they should be agents of change, actively challenging the status quo. Yet, not every planner sees themselves in this role. This raises the question: What is the true role of a planner in a city? And more specifically, in Edmonton?

Planners, no matter how skilled, can find their work stymied by organizational constraints, and even the best plans can falter when political and economic realities intervene. As we approach another election year, much attention will be focused on elected officials, yet we should also consider the questions we ask of the city builders who work within administrative spaces. While decision-making may rest with politicians, it is within the administration and public-private partnerships where expertise and leadership traverse election cycles. These city builders — planners, administrators, architects, and engineers — wield significant influence and should not only be part of the conversation but should lead it.

In 2018, I moved to Edmonton for this very reason. While my hometown of Winnipeg was bogged down by a decades-long debate over the infamous Portage and Main intersection, Edmonton’s planning landscape was thriving. Administrators and planners were shaping the discourse, pushing boundaries, and driving urban change. I was drawn to this energy and eager to learn what enabled such leadership among Edmonton’s city planners. What inspired them to push through and make urban transformation possible?

That question led me to consider: what makes planning in Edmonton different from Winnipeg? In Winnipeg, planners often feel powerless, constrained by municipal government structures. In contrast, in Edmonton, planners seemed to embrace their role, actively pushing for change and progress.

Through my research, I attempt to understand the role of central figures like planners in prairie cities such as Edmonton and Winnipeg. Drawing on Timothy Rowley’s social network analysis theory, I have discovered that planners are either commanders, compromisers, subordinates, and/or solitarians, and each play different but vital roles in shaping the urban narrative.

Commanders, often the public face of planning, have the power to initiate dialogue, shape the direction of planning efforts, and guide the process. Compromisers are the peacekeepers, helping resolve conflicts and facilitating compromise among stakeholders. Subordinates, though less visible, provide support by listening and synthesizing the concerns of both the public and officials. Solitarians are the researchers and analysts, offering clarity and detailed knowledge that can guide more informed decision-making. Together, these diverse figures form a web of influence, creating a robust environment for urban change.

How can we, and should we, make space for these diverse players? And is Edmonton’s planning environment still supportive of innovation and leadership? Understanding and creating room for all types of city builders is essential to successfully plan and shape our cities. It enables us to adapt and adjust our plans as cities evolve and as people shape their communities. This approach empowers planners, working within diverse constraints, to discover their authentic voice and influence, foster collaboration, and understand the significance of their work in driving meaningful change. It encourages creativity within our administrations, opening pathways for transformative action. Moving forward, I believe that embracing the complexity of governance and acknowledging the varied roles of city builders is key to shaping the future of our urban landscapes.

Jason Syvixay is Vice President of BILD Edmonton Metro, and a PhD candidate in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Alberta.

The post Reimagining Urban Leadership appeared first on Canadian Architect.

The 2024 Canadian Architect Awards were tightly contended. Over two days of deliberation in October, jurors Andrea Wolff, Matthew Hickey, and D’Arcy Jones considered 143 entries to arrive at a selection of four Awards of Excellence winners and six Award of Merit winners. They also considered 35 student entries—the top architecture thesis projects in Canada as nominated by their schools—to select three Student Award of Excellence winners.

Photographer Lisa Stinner-Kun joined the jury to select one Photo Award of Excellence winner and two Photo Award of Merit winners. In our newly introduced Student Photo category, one entry was selected to receive a Student Photo Award of Excellence.

This year’s winners expertly balance design ambition, sustainability considerations, and a humanistic social vision. Going beyond the expected resolutions to a given program, they dug hard to develop design solutions that leveraged existing contexts, minimized environmental impact, and were generous in their provision of amenity. 

These qualities are especially evident in the winning projects which work closely with existing buildings. There is growing industry-wide realization that, in terms of sustainability, the greenest buildings are those that are already built. According to the AIA, around half of the current work of architects involves adaptive reuse, renovation, or additions to existing structures. The most successful of these projects not only show a deep appreciation of the social, historic, and cultural values embedded in existing buildings, but also integrate these values thoughtfully into new design interventions. 

The Confederation Centre of the Arts Revitalization, by Abbott Brown Architects, renovates and carefully adds to the 1964 project by Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold and Sise—the first of Canada’s Centennial buildings. The project includes needed accessibility and energy upgrades, as well as the additions of a stage-sized rehearsal hall, new classrooms and learning areas for visual arts, theatre, and dance, and artist-in-residence spaces. A new street-level entrance creates a warm, open welcome, subtly softening the Brutalist design.  

On the West Coast, the revitalization of the Tofino Fish Pier, by Leckie Studio Architecture + Design, transforms a different kind of historic structure—an artifact of industrial heritage. The original fish pier housed an ice plant that served the area’s deep-sea fisheries. The wooden structure for that ice plant remains at the heart of the design, with its large-scale spaces now being leveraged as gallery and gathering spaces. In a powerful pivot, the former colonial structures are being revitalized for use by Indigenous communities and fishers, recognizing and supporting their legally affirmed harvesting rights.

A third project involving an existing building—in this case, a major addition—is located near downtown Montreal. The Éva-Circé-Côté Library, by Lapointe Magne et associés architectes working in consortium with L’OEUF Architectes, expands a library currently housed in a former fire hall; the project restores the envelope of the heritage building and frames it with a triangular addition. Beyond its impressive sustainability figures—an EUI of 97.22 kWh/m²/year, a TEDI of 26.94 kWh/m²/year, and WUI of 0.081 m³/m²/year—the project conserves large existing trees to shade new spaces, reuses construction waste, and draws on local supply chains. It also encourages community agriculture and active transportation, reasoning that helping to instigate even small changes in the transportation and consumption habits of users can help to reduce the neighbourhood’s carbon footprint in an impactful way.

One of the winning student projects also engages deeply in the adaptive reuse of a building. Matthew Dlugosz’s thesis project, entitled Parkdale People’s Palace, proposes the renovation of an existing church in a central-west Toronto neighbourhood to become a local community food hub, with layered uses including a co-op grocery store, community kitchen, community garden plots, a flexible dining and co-working hall, and a farmer’s market.

Rosalie Laflamme’s thesis project, Heritage of a Rural Patrimony, demonstrates a similar sensitivity to its context—in this case, the rural centre of Petite-Rivière-de-Saint-François, Quebec. Casting an eye to rural industry, it proposes a centre for reviving traditional arts—combining areas for boat building, carpentry, maple syrup manufacturing, and preparing eels harvested through weir fishing. Like the program, the architecture of the paired buildings draws on vernacular forms and local materials.

Although it did not quite make the cut, another project that was much discussed by the jury was NinetySeven Victoria, by bnkc architecture + urban design. Located in Kitchener, Ontario, the project addresses the absence of affordable housing with an initiative to create a “campus of care”—a grouping of buildings that combines transitional housing, mental health and addiction support, and community food programs. The project includes a renovation and addition to an existing warehouse, as well as a new building on the host organization’s current site. The jurors applauded the approach of evolving a warehouse into a courtyard-centered campus, although they felt that the addition to the existing building could be handled with a more elegant touch.

Another group of winners that deal closely with their immediate surroundings in exemplary ways are urban infill projects. Montreal Old Port Infill, by architecture écologique’s Étienne Lemay, is a slim building that replaces a previous structure that burned down in 1959. While just 18 feet wide, it makes subtle allusions to its predecessor, adopting the previous building’s rounded corners and marking the height of the previous parapet with a change in stone texture.

Two infill projects are among the Toronto project winners. Annex House, the first built commission by Harry Wei’s firm WAO (Wei Architecture and Objects) combines three homes on a single-family lot. Units in the main house are interlocked and arranged to prioritize access to natural light, including on the lower level. The design aims to fit in, rather than stand out—elegantly integrating extra density into an established neighbourhood.

Located in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood, 11 Brock Avenue, by SvN Architects + Planners, aims to deliver 40 new supportive and rent-geared-to-income residential units on a vacant lot. The units are grouped around a courtyard, providing daylight and a dedicated outdoor space for residents, while the street façade is a lightly playful composition, accented by soft curves that transform into a canopy and bench-height informal seating to extend a warm welcome to residents and neighbours.

A second project by SvN was also discussed by the jury, although in the end they felt that a more convincing deployment on an actual site would have been needed to consider it more thoroughly as a possible winner. Cabin Communities addresses the lack of options for unhoused people in Toronto by introducing prefabricated, mass timber cabins that could be rapidly built and deployed in neighbourhood vacant lots. The cabins are grouped around a central shared space with access to a community kitchen, dining area, washroom facilities, and laundry. Designed using Passive House principles and with residents’ comfort in mind, the cabins provide dignified, secure temporary homes as a step for residents to transition into more permanent housing. 

Programmatic innovation is at the heart of several other projects. Coronation Park Sports and Recreation Centre, by hcma architecture + design and Dub Architects, in collaboration with FaulknerBrowns, is a dynamic combination of a velodrome with a community sports hub—a departure from the usual configuration of velodromes as standalone facilities. The cycling track is positioned a full story above the centre’s ground-level infield courts, with a four-lane running track looping below and outboard the cycling area. Creating visibility between different sporting uses aims to generate broader community interest in track cycling and triathlon.

On a more modest scale, The Open, a project in Calgary by Public City Architecture, adds a sporting function to what might otherwise be a prosaic washroom project. Pairing a pickleball court with a green-roof-capped public washroom helps to generate activity and interest, adding to the vibrancy, visibility and safety of the facility.

Student Jose Power’s thesis, Ascending Worlds, brings an inventive eye to the space of the residential elevator. Reflecting on the early days of elevators—when the new mechanized devices were rendered as luxurious moving rooms, to dispel anxieties about living at height—Power explores the potential of elevators to serve as miniature social condensers. His whimsical catalogue of proposals includes retrofitting elevators as cocktail bars, mini-sized concert venues, and micro libraries.

Two final winning projects offer innovation in the realms of construction process and form. Mont-Laurier Library, by Chevalier Morales with L’OEUF Architectes, is based on a wooden reciprocal frame structure—a kind of waffle slab made out of mass timber. The design is engineered for disassembly, envisioning the future reuse of the building’s materials as its original use changes.

Warehouse Park Pavilion, a pavilion by gh3*, is located in an Edmonton park whose design is being led by CCxA. The barrel-vaulted, berry-red structure nods to mid-century styles, while also offering a distinctive contemporary presence. Its red colour alludes to the pavilion’s adjacency to a fire-pit-equipped warming plaza—a space meant to offer respite during wintry weather.

A final project that drew especial attention from the jury, although it was not ultimately selected as a winner, was Ja Architecture’s The Grounding Meadow. The project was the winning entry in a recent competition to revamp the landscape design for the Ontario Association of Architects’ headquarters in north Toronto. It proposes the removal of non-permeable hardscapes and their replacement with a wild meadow that allows for on-site stormwater treatment through filtration and sedimentation. The meadow is overlaid with a permeable metal grid that bridges to the parking and pedestrian entrances. The jurors were intrigued by the design strategy that tightly integrated architectural and landscape thinking—although this quality also, they felt, made it difficult to evaluate the project within the framework of an architectural competition. 

Among the photos, one image by Montreal- and London-based photographer James Brittain stood out: a photo of École du Zenith, an elementary school recently completed by Pelletier de Fontenay and Leclerc Architectes. They were particularly taken by the image’s expert composition—which didn’t feel forced, but rather like a perfect found moment.  

Another image by James Brittain was also selected for recognition: his image of Provencher_Roy’s Le Tour du Port in Montreal. The jury noted the compositional strength of an image that includes several existing structures in a way that gives them a sense of purposeful placement, and the natural lighting that allows the tower to appear transparent, rather than reflective. 

Jacqueline Young of Stationpoint Photographic was the photographer behind the third professional photo selected for recognition. Her image of Douglas Cardinal’s St. Albert Place was noted for its craftsmanship, visible in the amount of detail brought out, and in treating the shadows as being as important as the architecture itself. The resulting image presents a lovely ambiguity between being an architectural image, and an almost abstract composition.

For the first time this year, our Photo Awards of Excellence included a category for students. One image stood out from the dozens received: Jenna Bosc’s photo of the Église Précieux-Sang, a Winnipeg church by Étienne Gaboury. The jurors found the image remarkable for its technical capture of detail, and for offering a surprising view of a familiar landmark.

Canadian Architect offers its congratulations to all of this year’s winners, and our sincere appreciation for all those who offered their work for consideration by our jury.

As appeared in the December 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

See all the 2024 Awards of Excellence winners

The post A Balanced Approach: Jury Comments on the 2024 Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Specialized technical skills—such as expertise in sustainability, computational design, heritage, energy modelling, and construction detailing—are often associated with male architects. As Vice Chair of the Advisory Committee of BEAT (Building Equality in Architecture Toronto), I had the pleasure of supporting a recent seminar that aimed to counter that bias. The day-long event featured five women who have developed in-depth technical knowledge as a key part of their career journeys.

The day’s moderator—and the curator of the panel—was Jennifer Davis, strategic business development lead at WZMH Architects. Jennifer spoke about how she began stacking skills sets in a succession of personal and professional projects—taking on construction detailing in architecture offices, then applying those abilities to her own public art projects, which in turn led to the development of a proficiency in proposal-writing. At WZMH, she wrote her own job description for a role where she creates business development opportunities based on the firm’s technical expertise. A recent project involved leading a publication and presentation series that showcases the firm’s extensive experience in re-cladding towers.

Dima Cook, a principal and director at EVOQ Architecture, described how, early in her career, she lucked into being part of a project team rehabilitating the Harbour Commission Building in Old Montreal, which she had studied in university. Over time, she built up the expertise and appetite for detailed on-the-ground investigation that characterize her work. She has long had the benefit of a female mentor—heritage doyenne Julia Gersovitz—but still encounters friction on construction sites, where crews are predominantly male. “I come across the guy who says, ‘I’ve been mixing mortar for 30 years,’” says Dima, “and I say, ‘so have I, and we’re doing it my way.’”

Kendra Kusick is a project manager and digital tools expert with Teeple Architects. Her work is also research-intensive, involving diving deep into Excel spreadsheets and Revit errors, often through online forums, and persisting until finding a solution. She advocates for the value of good work to speak for itself, referring to times when her office has taken up efficiency-oriented processes she’s developed, without her having to explicitly advocate for their adoption. But she is also on guard about being pigeonholed in her specialty, or taking on tasks because others are complacent about learning basic skills—a sentiment echoed by the other panellists.

Sophie Tremblay, an associate at LGA Architectural Partners, built up her abilities through hands-on work detailing energy efficiency retrofits for a series of city-owned social housing projects. Wanting to go further in developing her expertise in envelope detailing, she approached the partners to support training for Passive House certification at an advantageous time: the firm had just missed a few opportunities because they didn’t have a certified Passive House designer. 

Olivia Keung, an associate at Moriyama Teshima Architects, came to a specialty in sustainability out of a desire to make the greatest positive impact in the profession. The intersection between social and environmental sustainability is evident in projects she is involved with—including an expansion to Sudbury’s Science North—as well as her committee work as sustainability advisor for the City of Toronto’s Design Review Panel, and on the RAIC’s Advisory Committee for Promoting Equity and Justice.

Advocating for women to take on more technically oriented roles is part of Olivia’s passion: early in her career, she observed how men were often picked to take on “meatier” tasks and projects, and how that led to them making quicker gains in expertise, status, and salary. “If they can do it, so can I,” she concluded—as did the other panellists. They hope to inspire other women to follow in parallel paths—and to encourage allies in the industry to support the diversity of people looking to put in the time, hard work, determination, and brain power needed to gain specialized technical expertise.

The post Viewpoint: Technical Women appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Currently on display at Amsterdam’s Van Eesteren Museum, the exhibition Big Plans presents the lives and work of ten women urbanists from the modernist era.

Although recent years have shown growing interest in women architects from past and present, the role of women in urban planning has remained underexposed. Big Plans takes a first step towards complementing 20th century historiography by offering an introduction to the lives and work of ten leading women urbanists.

Not only did these women plan regions, cities and neighbourhoods, they also created laws, computer programs and publications with which they further developed the fields of urban design and planning.

Population growth, urbanization, industrialization, and decolonization brought radical change in the 20th century. Modernist urbanists devoted themselves to the accompanying challenges of social equality, public health and prosperity, and economic opportunity for all. Intense discourse in architecture and urban planning—via the ranks of CIAM (Congres Internationaux d’Architecture), numerous magazines, and universities—fostered a worldwide cross-pollination of knowledge and ideas. Through their publications, lectures, and pedagogy, these women professionals disseminated designs and ideas that added depth and humanity to modernism.

These women urbanists’ varied experience, positions, and perspectives on society greatly enriched 20th century urban planning. Their contributions to a rapidly changing world were not due to some specifically female approach—such as, for example, extra attention to childcare or communal facilities. Rather, what distinguishes their work is the shared belief in the emancipatory power of urban design for women, for disadvantaged socio-economic classes, and for other marginalized groups in society.

A common thread is their collaborations and the forms of collective authorship they advanced. They recognized that this work expands our understanding of urbanism as a wide-ranging, contextual field that thrives on shared knowledge and insights.

A square on a roof

Among the 10 women urbanists featured in the exhibition, some are relatively well-known, while others will be new to many. Canadian architect and urbanist Blanche Lemco van Ginkel has been receiving growing recognition in recent years. A brief stint at Le Corbusier’s office in Paris in 1948 resulted in her iconic design for the roof of the Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, which the exhibition Big Plans presents as one of her early urban designs. This rooftop functions as an urban square with, at its heart, the iconic ventilation towers, the pavilions with playground and wading pool, and a running track leading along the edge overlooking the Alps. It provides a welcoming space for community life but also, through its spatial expression, offers a common identity for the dwellers of the Unité d’Habitation.

This focus on community life and a shared identity through space is characteristic for Lemco van Ginkel’s approach, and can be recognized in some of her other projects that are featured in the exhibition.

One of them, Movement in Midtown, is a pioneering traffic study that she executed with her partner Sandy van Ginkel in 1970. At a time when the automobile was central to city planning, this project prioritized the experience of the pedestrian. The plan involved a partial closure of Madison Avenue and the construction of a finely woven system of pedestrian connections inaccessible to automobile traffic in the area between 34th and 63d street in Midtown Manhattan. In its sketches of leafy green streets with terraces, this plan for a laid back, clean, and walkable city for everyone appears remarkably contemporary.

As part of this plan, the New York Office for Midtown Planning and Development also commissioned the design of the accompanying “Ginkelvan”—a hybrid electric minivan, as an alternative to short-distance inner-city transportation, which would be accessible for users including those in wheelchairs and strollers.

The “Ginkelvan” got no further than a prototype, and Movement in Midtown was never implemented.

An international generation of urbanists

Beside the life and works of Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, the exhibition presents the work of Carmen Portinho (Brazil, 1903-2001), Luz Amorocho (Colombia, 1923-1995), Jane Drew (UK,1911-1996) and Eulie Chowdhury (India, 1923 – 1995) (both with leading positions in the project of Chandigarh), Renée Gailhoustet ( France 1929 -2023), and Flora Ruchat-Roncati (Switzerland, 1937 -2012). For each woman, the exhibition elaborates on their biography and their body of work, offering a particular focus on one of their Big Plans.

For Jane Drew, the chosen case study is the village of Tema Manhean in Ghana, in which she aimed to fuse traditional Ghanean forms of cohabitation and the modernist New Town. For Carmen Portinho, it is the housing plan of Pedregulho, an idealistic neighborhood on a Rio de Janeiro hillside that offered low income families not only dwelling,s but an array of amenities and communal areas. For Renée Gailhoustet, it is the intricate urban texture of social housing combined with other functions in the heart of Parisian suburb Ivry-sur-Seine, which was developed under her guidance in the 1970s and 80s. For Flora Ruchat-Roncati, is is the Trans Jurane highway system, which she designed to add a new layer of identity fitting landscape and culture.

Big Plans highlights other urbanists for their significant contributions to the field of urbanism outside of spatial design. Catherine Bauer (US,1905-1965) is presented for her groundbreaking writing and publishing on housing, but most of all for the US Housing Act of 1943 that she authored. All her work was founded in a drive to synthesize the aesthetic agenda of modernist architecture with a clear vision of social justice.

Beverly Willis (US, 1928-2023), a well-known architect and urbanist, is highlighted for her pioneering role in computer use for urban design. Drawing on knowledge of aerial imagery from her time as a pilot during WWII, Willis’s firm in 1971 developed CARLA (Computerized Approach to Residential Land Analysis). The software digitized analog topographical maps, soil surveys, planning regulations, and marketing information in order to generate a rapid assessment tool for residential land analysis.

In a multitude of forms and ways, the selection of 10 women urbanists on display in Big Plans made pivotal contributions to shaping the modern world. The exhbition shows how collaborations and the networking of people and knowledge strengthened their concepts and designs, and offered strategies to realize them. The hope is that Big Plans inspires the visitor to reconsider notions of authorship in urban design—thinking of our cities as collaborative in nature. On the other hand, it also demonstrates the importance of the individual women who have brought their own unique experiences, knowledge and passion to the field.

Big Plans was created by the Curatorial Research Collective , a group of doctoral researchers in the field of architecture culture at the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands. The exhibition emerged from Catja Edens’ doctoral project ‘And the rest is history…On the archival representation of women architects’. Big Plans is on show at the Amsterdam Van Eesteren Museum until November 24th and at Plaza Vertigo Eindhoven University of Technology in April 2025.

The post Big Plans offers introduction to lives and work of 10 leading women urbanists appeared first on Canadian Architect.

On October 24, 2024 the Department of Architectural Science (DAS) at Toronto Metropolitan University launched a month-long exhibition entitled DAS Bash, showcasing 75+ years of architectural education. Hundreds of alumni, students, faculty and friends gathered for the opening event, featuring funky archival displays, vintage drafting equipment, student and faculty work spanning three-quarters of a century, experimental digital fabrications, and a large interactive model of the Architecture Building itself — home of the Department since 1981.

The opening event also featured a series of Pecha Kucha presentations by distinguished alumni whose graduation years spanned from 1980 to 2017. 

The DAS Bash, which runs through Nov. 28, is conceived as a living work-in-progress, with interactive displays to prompt fresh reflection on the past and present and reimagining DAS futures. 

The large working model of the Architecture Building (at 1:25 scale) serves as a centerpiece for interpretive interaction. Collaboratively designed and constructed as a DAS dream machine, memory theatre and experimental apparatus, it serves to inspire, enact and envision the school’s potential for continued physical and pedagogical transformation. 

Each wing of the model is on wheels, encouraging visitors to move the elements around and inhabit its creative foundations, which include a built-in seat or stage representing the school’s “Pit”, a central gathering and presentation space.

The building’s iconic double atriums (designed by Ron Thom Associates) continue to serve as lively social chambers; with diagonal stairways and internal view-corridors enlivening its core. Upper studios and ground-level workshops are the school’s hands-on innovation zones. Its curvaceous central gallery – added in 2013 by Gow Hastings Architects – has become the school’s energizing heart and much-loved critical forum for collective experimentation, community outreach and creative research.

One of the extensive undertakings of the exhibition is a 20-meter (65-foot) long interactive timeline, encircling the walls of the Paul H. Cooper Gallery. This timeline plots DAS accomplishments and transformations from 1948 to the present, showing a wide range of information: from the school’s inaugural annual tuition of just $25; to yearbook images of early graduates, including the first “Lady Draftsmen”; to dramatic accounts of a 1968 student revolt and a 1978 fire at the school’s prior premises; to narratives about the people, program developments and provocations that have contributed to making DAS the uniquely innovative and highly relevant place of discovery it is today.

TMU’s Department of Architectural Sciences (DAS) began as a School of Architectural Draughting in 1948, it was among the inaugural programs of what was then Ryerson Institute of Technology. Modeled partly on MIT in Cambridge, RIT was an ambitious educational experiment conceived by founder Howard Kerr, and created in response to social and technological changes sweeping society after World War II. 

Over the years, DAS programs have maintained balance of mind and skill, with robust liberal studies – which have been integral from the start – bolstered by an evolving architectural curriculum with varying emphasis on draughting, building technology, construction management, landscape architecture, and urban planning. 

Starting in 1973 the Department embraced a holistic vision of Architectural Science, integrating Architecture, Building Science and Project Management. In 2010, DAS earned professional accreditation for its architecture program, and now offers graduate programs in each of its complementary disciplines, including a PhD in Building Science and a newly launched PhD in Architecture focused on design research. More on DAS here.

According to DAS Chair Lisa Landrum, the “model in the gallery and timeline on the wall are not the full story, but serve as scaffolds for extending more narratives and innovations. We invite alumni, professional partners and the entire DAS community to interact with the displays and collaborate in building our model of education together.”

The DAS Bash exhibition is open weekdays until November 28, 2024, at the Paul H. Cooper Gallery, located on the main floor of TMU’s Architecture Building at 325 Church St., Toronto. 

Curation of DAS Bash was led by DAS professors Lisa Landrum (Chair), Carlo Parente (Gallery Director), and Jurij Leshshyshyn with students and recent graduates, notably Ozlem Bektas, Kolbie Fung and Raymin Sidhar (archival research, led by Prof. Leshshyshyn); Jessica Gu and Christian Maidankine (timeline graphics), Matthew Chetcuti (model), with support of several other students, faculty and staff, and contributions by TMU Archives and Special Collections. 

The exhibition is made possible with the generous sponsorship of Walters Group, and additional support of Arup, Perkins&Will, Dillon Consulting and Kennaley Construction Law. 

Teagan Hyndman is a MArch student at TMU.

The post DAS Bash: celebrating 75+ years of architectural education at TMU appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Governments across the country are looking at ways to deliver more accessible spaces. In fact, British Columbia recently mandated new accessibility standards for both large condominium and apartment buildings. The move triggered concerns among real estate developers who were quick to argue that this would lead to increased expenses for builders and, consequently, for buyers.  

Sadly, this is an often-used argument, yet it is rooted in a misunderstanding of both the long-term economic potential and the evolving market landscape. This isn’t just about compliance with regulations—it’s about tapping into a massive, underserved segment of the population. Rather than viewing accessibility mandates as a burden, developers should recognize them as an opportunity to innovate, expand their customer base, and increase profitability. 

A Shift from a Charity Model to a Consumer-Focused Market 

For too long, disability has been viewed through the lens of charity, community support, or government-subsidized housing. This limited perspective has overshadowed the fact that people with disabilities—27% of Canada’s population—are also potential homebuyers and renters. The prevalent “medical model” of disability often defines this group by their limitations, rather than their economic potential. It’s time to challenge these outdated assumptions and see individuals with disabilities as consumers, not causes. 

There is a misconception that people with disabilities are financially incapable of participating in the housing market, which contributes to the slow progress in accessibility legislation. Yet, by adopting a social model of disability—where inclusive environments enable full participation in society—we can unlock a market of eager buyers and renters who have been left out of the conversation for too long. 

Designing for an Untapped Market 

Consider the potential: In Canada, the 8 million people with disabilities (PWDs) have about $47 billion in disposable income — the opposite of a niche market. Adding their families and friends, this grows to 12 million Canadians, or more than a third of the population, with an estimated disposable income exceeding $311 billion, based on 2020 statistics. For real estate developers and architects, this represents a massive, largely untapped market. When designing new developments, accessibility should not be treated as a costly add-on but as a smart business strategy. By incorporating universal design principles, developers can make their properties appealing to a wider audience, including those with physical, cognitive, visual, or hearing disabilities. 

The Return on Disability Group (RoDG) released ‘The Global Economics of Disability: 2024’ in September. The report values the economic power of the global disability market at over $18 trillion in spending. It also stresses that businesses can open new revenue opportunities and “thrive by designing for functionality and customer experience, rather than just aiming to meet compliance standards.” 

As an accessibility strategist, I have worked with developers and architects to rethink how they approach design. Universal design isn’t just about ramps and wide doorways; it’s about creating spaces that everyone can use with ease. This includes thoughtful considerations like wider hallways, tactile wayfinding features for the visually impaired, or smart technology that enables individuals with mobility issues to control their environment. 

Developers often ask whether accessibility will compromise their design vision. In reality, integrating lived experience into the design process enhances creativity and innovation. The more diverse perspectives you include, the more versatile and appealing the final product becomes. A home or building that accommodates a range of abilities will attract more potential buyers and tenants—people who are actively seeking environments that meet their needs. 

The Business Case for Accessibility 

The assumption that accessible units are expensive and not worth the investment is misguided. The primary reason people with disabilities are not buying or renting homes is not financial; it’s because there are too few options designed with their needs in mind. Many homes on the market simply don’t consider the basic requirements of people with disabilities, such as ample space for wheelchairs or intuitive technology for individuals with visual impairments. When the design doesn’t work for them, they have no choice but to look elsewhere. 

By intentionally designing barrier-free spaces, developers are positioning themselves to tap into a market that is loyal and appreciative. People with disabilities value businesses and services that prioritize their needs, and they repay that consideration with their business and loyalty. In real estate, this could translate into long-term renters, repeat buyers, and strong referrals. In an industry built on investment, the return on creating accessible spaces could be significant. 

Accessibility as a Driver of Profitability 

Accessibility isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s profitable. Companies that understand this are already seeing returns on their investment. By making homes and commercial spaces more accessible, developers aren’t just fulfilling a legal obligation; they are also creating a product that appeals to a broader market. 

The key to successfully tapping into this market is to collaborate with accessibility consultants who have lived experience. These professionals can provide invaluable insights into how to design spaces that are functional, appealing, and fully accessible. Their lived experience with disability gives them a unique perspective on what works and what doesn’t in the built environment. This expertise can help developers avoid costly mistakes while ensuring that their properties meet the needs of people with disabilities. 

Consider this: almost one in four potential buyers or renters has a disability. Ignoring this segment means ignoring a substantial portion of the market. Architects and developers should take the time to research accessibility consultants, ask for case studies on past projects, and evaluate the return on investment from accessibility improvements. This isn’t just about compliance—it’s about making smart, future-focused business decisions. 

A Call to Action for Architects and Developers 

If you’re an architect or developer interested in expanding your market, it’s time to start thinking differently about accessibility. This isn’t about charity or doing the “right thing”—it’s about providing a product that meets the needs of millions of Canadians. It’s about positioning your properties as inclusive, forward-thinking, and ultimately more profitable. 

Accessibility works. It drives loyalty, expands your customer base, and can lead to real financial returns. It’s not an expense—it’s an investment. Every time I open the door to my own home, I’m reminded that thoughtful design is not just about convenience; it’s about creating spaces where everyone, regardless of ability, can thrive. 

Developers who invest in accessible design today will be the ones reaping the rewards tomorrow. It’s time to embrace accessibility, not as a burden, but as a profitable opportunity. 

Mark DeMontis has 15 years of experience as an accessibility strategist. Having lost his sight at 17, he founded Canadian Blind Hockey for blind or partially sighted Canadians and has raised funds by inline skating over 8,000 kilometres. Mark has worked as the accessibility advisor to the Premier of Ontario and some of Canada’s top brands including the NHL and Lululemon. His firsthand experience as both sighted and visually impaired provides him with unique insights into the consumer behaviours of both markets. As Chief Accessibility Officer at The Substance Group, he helps organizations embrace accessibility as a business driver. 

The post Mandating Accessibility in New Buildings: An Opportunity, Not a Cost  appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Architecture has traditionally been a profession of generalists, but can offer fulfilling opportunities for those who choose to specialize.

 This was the case for Bill Chomik, a Calgary-based architect who, over the latter half of his career, has become the world’s leading expert in planetarium design.

Chomik’s foray into this esoteric specialty happened largely by circumstance. In 1983, he was approached to perform some minor conceptual planning for the Calgary Science Centre. He eventually joined the Science Centre’s board, as well as helping write a closed RFP for retrofitting the building with the new style of planetarium—a tilted dome that allowed for upright seats, replacing the original flat dome that required almost fully reclined seats.

To complete the design, Chomik consulted extensively with suppliers. He also travelled to Finland to visit the just-opened Hereka Planetarium, by Heikkinen-Komonen Architects.

Chomik and colleague Urs Kick studied the new structure from top to bottom, and ultimately used it as a model for the Calgary planetarium.

At the grand reopening of the Calgary venue, suppliers approached Chomik saying that he was good to work with, and that—unlike many architects, whose designs undermined the ability of the projectors and other technical elements to perform at their best—he listened to what they had to say about their equipment. Chomik replied, “We’re Canadians, we listen and deal with everyone around us.”

A month later, he got a call from Athens: his name was put forward for a new planetarium being built there. He interviewed and got the job. Soon after, he was working on planetariums in Chicago, Guangzhou, Seoul, and San Jose. Although they were never the sole focal point of his practice, the firm took on these projects, and he continued to work on planetariums—one a year or so—after his practice was acquired by Kasian and he became a principal with the larger firm.

To date, Chomik has been involved in the design of some 18 completed planetariums, with another 14 projects currently underway. Now retired from Kasian, he is a sole practitioner who works as a consultant to firms leading the design of planetarium-containing venues. In this capacity, Chomik has worked with the likes of I.M. Pei, Ricardo Legorreta, MAD Architects, and Zaha Hadid Studio.

His scope now focuses on high-level conceptual design, and Chomik is glad for the opportunity to have a seat at the table, and for the travel his work involves. “I’d encourage young architects to try and develop a specialization if they want to have an interesting time in the prime of their career,” he says. “I made it a point 30 years ago to really understand planetariums—what clients wanted, what technologies were out there to support it, what flaws were out there that should never be repeated again—and became a world expert.” 

As appeared in the November 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

The post Editorial: Star Specialist appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Climate

Edited by Sandra Piesik (Thames and Hudson, compact edition 2023)

Vernacular architecture is generally understood as referring to domestic, native and Indigenous structures. So it is perhaps of little surprise that in our contemporary scape—dominated by forms of monolithic scale and proportion—methods of producing vernacular architecture have often been overlooked and marginalized. Yet, as a strand of construction indebted to a rich history of making, the vernacular’s sphere of influence can be seen as an important response to the growing climate crisis. Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Climate, assembled by architect-author Sandra Piesik, offers an insightful overview of age-old methods of production, and supports and celebrates present-day efforts that follow in their wake. 

Unconcerned with its own behemoth scale (the framing as a ‘compact’ edition referencing a shrinking from an earlier version with larger type), Piesik’s text navigates the breadth of global vernacular construction, convening an encyclopaedic collection of references with considered commentary. Ordered around climatic typologies—tropical,
dry, temperate, continental, and polar—the book provides concise introductions by regional experts, inviting consideration of a world foreign to many who operate within the narrow scope of contemporary architecture. Crucial to the book is the vast array of photos that support the edited essays; although these have a somewhat domineering presence, they are effective in facilitating an understanding of how the texts should be read. Through the displayed architectures, the kaleidoscopic nature of the vernacular shines: the volume surveys a truly global footprint, from the global South to Iceland and the Arctic, and from rural environments to Brazil’s favelas. 

The integrated essays penned by experts span a legion of fields. A text by Anna Yu Mainicheva, ‘Homesteads of Northern and Central Russia’, appears in the continental section alongside a contribution from Aldona Jonaitis examining the ‘Indigenous Dwellings of America’s Subarctic and Northwest Coast’. Beyond challenging political barriers, this careful placement of content plays a significant role in articulating the volume’s ambition, demonstrating relevance across a global scale. Similarly, words by the likes of Ronald van Oers point to the dynamism within the vernacular; his case study surveys the plethora of influences on chattel houses and the timber architecture of the Caribbean. Texts by Canadian scholars Tammy Gaber and Miriam Ho are also included, looking respectively at vernacular architecture in Turkey and Kazakhstan.

Towards the book’s end, an appendix—perhaps better understood as a sixth ‘chapter’—offers a modern account of the vernacular by presenting contemporary references. Francis Kéré’s Gando Primary School Complex represents arguably the most lauded example. However, less celebrated—yet equally impressive—works include Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architect’s Rufisque Women’s Centre, and Architype’s Enterprise Centre at the University of East Anglia. Canadian architect Brian MacKay-Lyons’ Muir Craig Cottage is also included in the mix. These aid in providing a rich register of the vernacular, and, yet again, evidence its global multiplicity. Despite a somewhat muted presence against the dazzling imagery, the short texts that accompany these examples facilitate an ease of understanding, supporting the volume’s ‘lessons to be learned’ approach. Like the short essays in the main section, the pockets of texts throughout the book work hard and add depth. 

In sum, Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Climate is a well-constructed compendium. The volume provides a highly considered overview of the vernacular, while retaining a format which is both approachable and inviting. While perhaps imagined to be read across its breadth, the weight of the tome makes it even more valuable as a reference document. For those committed to a different kind of architecture and a non-extractive approach, this book is a useful starting point, ably demonstrating that a ‘new’ way of thinking can be found in the ‘old’. 

As appeared in the November 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

The post Book Review: Habitat—Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Climate appeared first on Canadian Architect.

In mid-October, downtown Toronto was host to a surreal sight—a 2.7-kilometre-long run of two-metre-tall dominoes. Made of lightweight concrete, the 8,000 oversized dominoes snaked down sidewalks, meandered through parks, and even wandered into buildings: a library, stores, a condo tower lobby.

Setting up the dominoes took the better part of a day. Then, at 4:30 pm, it was go-time: the first domino was tipped over, and the chain tumbled through the city.

The production was hosted by The Bentway and curated by Station House Opera, a British performing arts company that premiered Dominoes as a way to link the five host boroughs of the 2012 London Olympics. Since then, the site-specific performance has toured to cities including Copenhagen, Melbourne, Marseilles, and Malta. For Toronto, the artists chose a path tracing the development of the city’s west end: from the Victorian residential fabric south of King West, to the industrial-inspired Stackt Market, then weaving its way through the waterfront’s high-rise neighbourhoods before ending at Lake Ontario.

Putting together the event was a logistically complex undertaking, including negotiating with city agencies for crossing streetcar tracks, getting sign-off from more than 40 site partners, and setting up with help from some 300 volunteers. Near the end of the run, the line of dominoes crossed Lakeshore Boulevard. The busy street could only be closed for six minutes—a tense window in which time the dominoes were quickly set up, knocked down, and cleared away.

The enormous effort was worth it, says Ilana Altman, co-executive director of The Bentway. She explains that while The Bentway is anchored in its eponymous space—an urban park and public art venue under the raised Gardiner Expressway—the organization’s mission centres on revealing opportunities and connections in the urban landscape. “Dominoes helped Toronto to really see these possibilities in a compelling and convincing way,” says Altman.

The Bentway is looking to make those connections more permanent. Its own site is growing: its first phase, designed by Public Work, opened in 2018, and this fall, the organization named Field Operations and Brook McIlroy as the designers for its second phase. Earlier this year, Toronto City Council endorsed a public realm plan that outlines a comprehensive vision for the remainder of spaces below and adjacent to the 6.5-kilometre expressway.

Beyond the physical links that were created by the line of dominoes, the event created important social connections. “It was quite moving to see the level of interest we got from volunteers,” says Altman. “People were passionate and invested in it; people were meeting neighbours for the first time.”

On show day, my seven-year-old son and I delighted in rediscovering pockets of downtown, in chatting with the volunteers setting up the dominoes, and in seeing the clever ways that the white slabs had been laid to climb hills, zigzag through open areas, and even hop over a park bench. It was a sunny fall afternoon, and hundreds of people were out, engaging with an openness facilitated by the charming installation. As 4:30 pm approached, the crowds grew along with the sense of anticipation. My son and I were stationed at the end of the run, and cheered alongside a throng of Torontonians as the dominoes fell one by one—and the last domino splashed into Lake Ontario.

The post Domino Effect appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Three years ago, Canadian Architect and Twenty + Change first partnered to bring a curated showcase of emerging Canadian architectural practices to the pages of this magazine. This year, we are thrilled to have done so again.

The sixth edition of Twenty + Change, called New Perspectives, is the result of an open call for submissions, and careful consideration by a curatorial team representing architectural practices from across the country—many of whom were showcased in earlier editions of Twenty + Change. The team included Marie-Chantal Croft of Écobâtiment (Quebec City), Susan Fitzgerald of FBM (Halifax), Andrew Hill of StudioAC (Toronto), Ben Klumper of Modern Office of Design + Architecture (Calgary), and ourselves, Heather Dubbeldam of Dubbeldam Architecture + Design (Toronto) and Elsa Lam of Canadian Architect (Toronto).

One of the trends we observed in this year’s selection was the rise of firms rooted in environmental sustainability practices. Three of the firms chosen this year—architecture écologique (Montreal), BoON (Quebec City), and Poiesis (Toronto)—boast one or more Passive House-certified designers, giving them the expertise to design buildings that require minimal operating energy.

Other firms, such as COMN (Toronto) and Alexandre Bernier (Montreal), are focused on infill housing, contributing towards a vital component of a sustainable future. Further west, AtLRG (Winnipeg) has built a reputation for tackling complex urban sites, from new-builds to office-to-residential conversions.

One of the most ambitious change-makers in our showcase is Mindful Architecture (North Vancouver), a partnership between an architect and an industrial designer with a patented cradle-to-cradle living wall system. Their mass timber Métis Cultural Centre in Fort McMurray, Alberta, is currently under construction, and projects in development include insulation made of human hair, and a 3D-printed solar pit house inspired by traditional circular Indigenous dwellings.

The idea of replacing conventional construction with technologydriven solutions is also key to projects by Leckie Studio Architecture + Design (Vancouver) and VFA Architecture + Design (Toronto). While both firms practice conventionally, they also have side-hustles: Leckie’s Backcountry Hut and TripTych are prefabricated designs for cabins and urban housing; VFA’s Ukkei Homes harnesses prefabrication to create affordable laneway suites that can be added to existing properties.

What is the potential of new models for practicing architecture? Two Montreal firms—LAAB and Pivot—are asking precisely this question. LAAB leans heavily on quantitative analysis, using UX modelling to ground services anchored in strategic design. Pivot, for its part, is one of a handful of architecture co-ops in Canada—an egalitarian model that opposes the hierarchical structure of traditional architectural practices.

Cross-disciplinarity is in the DNA of another trio of firms. Nonument (Toronto) positions itself at the intersection of art and architecture, while Future Simple Studio (Montreal) embraces branding and object prototyping alongside residential and commercial interiors, and Oxbow (Regina and Saskatoon) describes architecture as a subset of landscape design.

The broader context—whether a forested West Coast island, northern city, or southern metropolis—is key to a set of practices that might be seen as addressing the concerns of critical regionalism. Laura Killam (Vancouver) is deeply attuned to her childhood landscapes along the Salish Sea, while s.no has set up a thriving practice in Whitehorse, and blanchette’s designs carry an intent to bring out the Nordic character of Montreal.

Three final firms take a cross-cultural approach to architecture. Odami (Toronto) is a partnership that blends and blurs ideas from one partner’s training in Europe with the other’s Canadian education. Rafael Santa Ana Architecture Workshop (Vancouver) prides itself on a diverse staff comprised mostly of newcomers to Canada, who bring a vibrancy of ideas to the practice. And EHA (Vancouver) takes both a cross-cultural and cross-generational view of design: they specialize in environments for community- based elder care, with several initial projects blending in elements from traditional Japanese homes to align with their clients’ background.

Any emerging practice spends some time getting its footing. And then, with some luck, it begins to be able to ask bigger questions:  what is Canadian architecture now? And what might it become? In the pages ahead, you’ll find 20 distinct answers.

Twenty + Change: New Perspectives would not be possible without the financial assistance of our incredible sponsors. We are grateful to the following organizations for their generous support of this initiative. Patron sponsors—Blackwell, SvN and Dubbeldam Architecture + Design; Supporting sponsors—Diamond Schmitt Architects, KPMB Architects, Arcadis, DTAH, Gow Hastings Architects, Andreu World, MJMA Architecture & Design, DIALOG; Benefactor sponsors—BDP Quadrangle, Montgomery Sisam, LGA Architectural Partners and V2com newswire.

Alexandre Bernier

Architecture écologique

AtLRG Architecture

blanchette archi.design 

BoON Architecture

COMN Architects

EHA

Future Simple Studio

LAAB architecture

Laura Killam Architecture

Leckie Studio Architecture + Design

Mindful Architecture

Nonument

Odami

Oxbow Architecture

Pivot

Poiesis Architecture

Rafael Santa Ana Architecture Workshop

s.no architecture

VFA Architecture + Design

As appeared in the October 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

The post Twenty + Change: New Perspectives appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Every few years, we dedicate an issue to showcasing emerging talent. The following pages put the spotlight on 20 firms that our curatorial team chose for the contributions they’re making to the culture of Canadian architecture. It’s a small sampling of the many firms we feel are worth watching in the years to come.

As someone in my mid-40s, I was interested to see that at least a half-dozen of the firms featured this year were founded by architects who had just turned 40. It’s an emergence story that’s familiar: an architect is employed at established firms for a dozen years, then opens up their own practice. Sometimes, there’s a precipitating incident: they’ve started a family, and can find better flexibility by being their own boss. Their peers in other fields have become established enough to now be clients, and are willing to entrust a renovation or small business design commission to their long-time friend. Or, it’s just a mid-life crisis thing. As one of our selected architects put it, there’s something about hitting 40 that makes you question: if not now, then when?

Frankly, it’s also challenging to start your own firm any sooner than 40. While decades ago, an architect’s scope of work was simpler— the design drawings for a large building were sometimes only a dozen sheets, and many more details were worked out on-site with the aid of builders—now, the work is much more complex. The technical requirements for buildings have become more rigorous, coordinating a wider array of specialized subconsultants is more challenging, and architects’ responsibility (and liability) has grown. Contractual obligations and relationships have also changed, creating the not-infrequent situation that architects and contractors are working in opposition rather than in concert, each aiming to avert responsibility for changes and errors. The complicated documents, details, and processes involved with architecture can’t easily be taught in architecture school, but require many years of on-the-job learning to manage effectively.

This may all sound somewhat discouraging, especially in comparison to other industries, where businesses have much younger founders. (I recently attended a tech conference where the entire convention centre seemed to be filled with would-be start-up entrepreneurs in their 20s, with laptops and world-changing ideas, hoping to attract venture capital funding.) But there are upsides to starting a firm at mid-life.

Psychoanalyst Carl Jung saw mid-life as a critical transition between a first half of life focused on acquiring things (knowledge, material goods, success) and a second half that is more about finding meaning. We ask questions such as: “What makes me feel I am useful in this world?”

What does it mean to start a firm from this place of searching? It can often mean less focus on becoming a starchitect and more on finding ways to best contribute one’s abilities to the world, and to others.

This is palpable in many of the firms featured in Twenty + Change: New Perspectives. Most of the selected architects are less concerned with creating a signature style, and more interested in how their buildings serve particular people and needs. They want to create places that fit in with their context— be it a wooded rural setting or a tight site in an urban downtown. They are interested in better understanding and working with the cultural nuance of a place. Many have deeply integrated environmental sustainability into their practices.

They’re also conscious of what their workplace is like: several of the firms spoke to our writers about how they’re working to create equitable businesses, and places that give their staff the opportunity to do their best work. Some have purposefully chosen to stay small, dedicating their attention to working with clients through all stages of projects.

The resulting work is highly accomplished, and in many cases even spectacular. We hope you enjoy the work of these firms who have much to be proud of, and a bright future ahead.

As appeared in the October 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

The post Editorial: Emerging at Midlife appeared first on Canadian Architect.

I’m a marketing consultant, and every January starts the same way for me. Principals tell me they want to take their marketing seriously. “This year, I don’t want to just ‘make it’ with referrals,” they say.

Some sign on with us, and others ask me to check back in a few months. By spring, many of them have lost steam. They said they would add recent projects to their website and post weekly on social media. But they can’t remember the last time they logged in to their accounts, let alone scheduled an update.

According to a Forbes survey, 87% of people abandon their New Year’s Resolutions by April. But if you’re in this group, it’s not because you’re lazy or procrastinating. I believe this happens when you don’t have the systems to simultaneously work on the business and in it. It’s like trying to eat healthy in a food desert. Your environment doesn’t make it possible—let alone easy—for you to make a change.

The Feast to Famine Cycle

In business, it’s called the “feast-to-famine” cycle. You spend months chasing new work. But once it’s secured, you’re so busy working that lead generation falls to the back burner, and you don’t have anything else lined up for when the project ends. Stressed and anxious, you repeat the pattern all over again. Since you keep selling from a place of scarcity (hence “famine”), you’re more likely to take on work you don’t really want, or to underprice just to make the sale—never leaving enough money left over to invest in your growth. It’s a pattern service-based business owners get trapped in. Through our marketing agency, we’ve spent years wrestling to understand and help pull firms out of the feast-to-famine cycle, including our own. Why does it happen? And how can you avoid it? I can boil it down to five points.

Problem #1. You only market when it’s quiet.
Marketing doesn’t work when you’re doing the bare minimum or being inconsistent. It thrives off compounded effort. It’s a lot like investing in the stock market. If you only invest $20 a year, or if you pull out every six months, it doesn’t reach its full potential. Instead, prioritize marketing year-round. Even when you’re busy. Make it easy and enjoyable for yourself, yet still impactful for the company. Do less, but show up often, starting with a little a day. Hire help, even if it’s just a part-time virtual assistant. Make it an essential part of your business and day-to-day operations.

Problem #2. You’re stuck in the weeds of client work.
You can’t dedicate as much time as you’d like on sales because you have to help your team get the work done. Usually, this is because you’re the most senior person in the company. If you want to get out of the cycle, you may need to hire more experienced team members and build processes for your team to solve problems without you. Zoe Feldman is a designer who’s figured this out. In a Business of Home podcast interview, she shares how she built her operations to create space for designing and sales marketing, while also avoiding getting caught up in the details.

Problem #3. You don’t have a proper business development strategy.
Say you hired a project manager tomorrow, and she reduced your workload by 40%. What would you do? If you had the time to focus on business development, would you know how? My advice is to start with positioning. What are you an expert in? Who is willing to pay a premium for it? Why? And where are they? Then work backwards to create a marketing strategy, both online and offline.

Problem #4. You didn’t factor marketing into your finances.
Whether you’re marketing in-house or out, someone has to pay for it. If you’re not budgeting for it, it’s eating up your profit margins. Once you have a strategy in place, research how much it will cost to execute it. How many hours will you dedicate monthly between you and your team? Multiply this by your hourly rate. Will you hire subcontractors? Purchase software? What about ad spend or events? Whatever the final dollar amount is, include it in your pricing and start putting it aside with every deal you close. Something I wish I had done earlier in my own agency was to make sure the projects I signed on today paid for the marketing I did tomorrow.

Problem #5. You don’t think you’re worth promoting.
I almost didn’t add this, but I remembered what Atomic Habits author James Clear said: “The key to building lasting habits is focusing on creating a new identity first.” If you think that sales, marketing and self-promotion are icky, then no amount of spending or systems-development will get you out there.

Solving these problems will require you to rethink and restructure many aspects of your business. You’re building a foundation and setting it up to run and grow without you at the epicentre. This takes time and patience. Not months, but years. It can be uncomfortable, but as long as you’re committed to it, the feast-to-famine cycles will get shorter.

And frankly, you can always choose to stop growing. At some point, you’ll find a sweet spot. With enough trial and error, you’ll learn how much business development is enough for you, before it feels like you’re just feeding a beast.

Daniela Furtado is a consultant, speaker, and writer on how to make businesses easy to find online. She helms Findable Digital Marketing, a boutique agency in Toronto. Her team uses search engines to help businesses quintuple their website traffic and triple their sales enquiries. They specialize in the design and build industry.

As appeared in the October 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

The post Marketing When You’re A Tiny Team appeared first on Canadian Architect.

A third-generation Montrealer, Alexandre Bernier cites the city and its architecture as his most prominent influences. Guided by a sense of care and stewardship for the place he calls home, Bernier’s portfolio is anchored by residential projects that blend modern aesthetics with Montreal’s architectural heritage—and are seamlessly integrated into the urban fabric.

Bernier studied environmental design at the Université de Québec à Montréal, whose program spans from the industrial design of objects to the planning of cities. After learning about Atelier Pierre Thibault’s Abbaye Val Notre Dame, Bernier recalls deciding he “wanted to do that—wanted to do architecture.” After interning at Thibault’s studio in Quebec City, he went on to study architecture at the Université de Montréal. He also worked with architect Alain Carle before founding his eponymous practice in 2015. Thibault and Carle are part of a generation of Quebec architects who, says, Bernier, shaped a culture of architecture in Montreal.

Bernier is deeply invested in what he refers to as “the continuity of the city.” His design approach seeks to capitalize on what’s already working— the architectural elements that have allowed the city and its buildings to thrive for hundreds of years. Bernier explains that he is “always thinking about why buildings have evolved in the ways that they have, and how we can continue this evolution.” Instead of dreaming of a blank slate from which to imagine designs freely, Bernier seeks to preserve the DNA of the city, guiding its evolution to meet the needs of modern life and ensure that it will survive for the next hundred years.

This position is fundamentally geared towards environmental sustainability. Taking a holistic approach, Bernier aims to create spaces that transcend the “trend” cycle and stand the test of time, and that have the flexibility to be easily transitioned as needs change.

While the aesthetic and functional qualities of the spaces that Bernier designs are meant to be timeless, he takes a decidedly different approach to material selection. The architect tends to choose simple, natural materials, accepting—and designing with—the changes to materials that happen over time. The resulting patina tells the story of a building, rooting it in both time and place.

Bernier’s designs are materializations of a commitment to caring for the city and its inhabitants. He insists that this care is not only manifest in the physicality of architecture, but pervades every aspect of his work: “It’s also how you listen to people, how you work with people, and how you set up your practice.”

This profile is part of our October 2024 feature story, Twenty + Change: New Perspectives. 

As appeared in the October 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

The post Twenty + Change: Alexandre Bernier appeared first on Canadian Architect.

On September 5, 2024, the Department of Architectural Science at Toronto Metropolitan University hosted a landmark event celebrating the achievements of women in architecture. The opening of Buone Nuove/Good News: Women in Architecture was not only a showcase of excellent design but also a powerful testament to the importance of recognizing women leaders who have shaped and are shaping the future of design. Over 500 professionals, students, and community members gathered in a spirit of progress and empowerment, marking a moment of inspiration and momentum for the field. The event closes with a panel discussion on the evening of Thursday October 10, 2024.

This traveling exhibition, which first opened at the MAXXI Museum in Rome in 2022, features works and words of dozens of Italian and global women architects who have changed the field of architecture and are empowering a new generation of inclusive city-builders. The exhibition offers a new and more comprehensive perspective of architecture by showing how women and women-led collectives have elevated the quality of modern and contemporary design.

According to Shirley Blumberg, Partner, KPMB Architects, “This is a watershed moment in Toronto — a celebration of the voices of talented, diverse and multigenerational women in architecture. TMU gave this show the platform it deserves and then some. The overflowing crowd and the buzz on opening night was remarkable.”

The TMU edition of Buone Nuove embraces the Toronto context, adding local layers of relevance to the exhibition’s international focus. Showcased are 16 empowering practices of Toronto-based women architects who are making an impact through advocacy, mentorship, design excellence, and leadership. Their contributions reflect not only architectural excellence but also a commitment to fostering equity and inclusion within and beyond the profession. Many of these featured architects were in attendance, engaging with visitors and students, further enriching the evening’s celebration of community and dialogue. By elevating the voices and achievements of local practitioners, the exhibition highlights the vital role Toronto’s women architects play in shaping the city’s built environment and inspiring the next generation of designers.

Reflecting the city’s diversity, the exhibition highlights the importance of inclusive design and broader conversations about equity. Speaking to this directly, the “Beyond Gender” segment features a video excerpt from an ongoing research project “Taking Stock: Voices of Women in Architecture in Canada.” This project, led by TMU Prof. Jennifer Esposito and student Saskia Scarce, engages storytelling to amplify the voices of the next generation of Black designers. Future “Taking Stock” projects will explore the advancement of women in the field through examining practice, academia, disability, economic access, race, and Indigeneity.

“This project provided an invaluable opportunity to listen to and learn from Black women in Toronto; women who I see myself, experiences, and future reflected in. Our contribution is a call to action, aiming to embed a perspective that supports lasting, holistic transformation, a transformation that is not just necessary but urgent. In order to advance the conversation, “Taking Stock” seeks to examine the current status of women in Canada through an intersectional perspective that goes beyond gender,” said Saskia Scarce, undergraduate research assistant.

The Postcards to Progress initiative opens the exhibition to the broader architectural community, inviting professionals and students alike to showcase their projects, manifestos, and messages supporting diversity in the field. Over 100 unique postcards are displayed and a Good News Café provides space for open dialogue and the creation of more postcards, creating opportunities for further engagement and conversations about equity in architecture. View the Postcards to Progress here.

A historical component, led by TMU Prof. Cheryl Atkinson plots over 100 years of remarkable Toronto-area women in architecture within their socio-political contexts. A closing panel on October 10 will reflect on these milestones and future directions. Learn more.

According to DAS Chair Lisa Landrum, “Buone Nuove challenges us to not simply celebrate the good news about women in architecture, but continue to all work together – drawing on our architectural expertise – to foster the good with and for society.”

Buone Nuove/Good News is open Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm until October 10, 2024, at the Paul H. Cooper Gallery, located on the main floor of TMU’s Architecture Building at 325 Church St., Toronto. The exhibition is made possible with the support of Fondazione MAXXI, the Consulate General of Italy (Toronto), the Istituto Italiano di Cultura (Toronto), and and all the practices represented in the exhibit, notably Diamond Schmitt Architects, Giannone Petricone Associates, gh3, Arcadis, Superkul, LGA, and DTAH , as well as KPMB Architects, BORTOLOTTO, Dubbeldam Architecture + Design, Gow Hastings, Moriyama & Teshima Architects, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, Smoke Architecture, Williamson Williamson, AAmp. Studio, SvN, and Denizens of Design.

The TMU organizing team includes DAS professors Lisa Landrum, Carlo Parente (Gallery Director), Cheryl Atkinson and Jennifer Esposito; student assistants Mei Li, Sabeeh Mobashar and Saskia Scarce; and gallery coordinator Alex Berceanu. 

The Buone Nuove/Good News exhibit will continue its North American journey in Montreal, opening at the Centre de Design at the Université du Québec à Montréal in February 2025. 

Mei Li is a TMU student in the Department of Architectural Science, currently working on a Co-op work term in Vancouver. She was an assistant researcher and designer for the exhibit.

The post Women Changing Architecture: From MAXXI to MET appeared first on Canadian Architect.

The apparent simplicity of Montreal-based Étienne Lemay’s projects belies a long and circuitous professional trajectory. After training in graphic and interior design, he spent many years moving between Canada and work experiences abroad, in countries including France, Australia, and Kenya. When he appeared unannounced at Balkrishna (B.V.) Doshi’s office in Ahmedabad, India, he was invited to join a research project on materials and housing in informal settlements. While working with Marchese Partners in Australia, Lemay applied to study architecture at Dalhousie University. This led to many years working for Brian MacKay-Lyons—they still collaborate today.

Whereas in Doshi’s office, Lemay made the drawings because he couldn’t communicate with locals, in MacKay-Lyons’s office, he was handed a full project in Gatineau after only a year, because he was the only francophone. As a result, he quickly obtained his license.

Lemay’s early years of work focused on commercial interiors, but he became concerned with how much waste these projects produced—perhaps seeding his later interest in building sustainably. As he turned from interiors to architecture, Lemay gravitated toward residential projects— he likes the close client relationships and working at “a scale where you do everything.” Now a sole practitioner with one occasional employee, he revels in multitasking and isn’t looking to grow his office.

Architecture écologique’s projects are both “rough and refined,” says Lemay. This is the product of years of working in the Maritimes, as well as additional stints on the West Coast at Patkau Architects and in Quebec City at Atelier Pierre Thibault. A lineage of regionalist approaches to design comes across in how Lemay works with heritage buildings, and with the culture of built heritage.

In Quebec, construction culture differs from region to region. Lemay is continually both learning from and educating builders on sustainable techniques. For instance, he asks builders to leave screws in if they’ve put them in the wrong place, to avoid creating air gaps in the building envelope.

Beyond Lemay’s focus on sustainable architecture—he’s had Passive House accreditation since 2015—he values engagement with construction culture, since most of his projects are non-urban and embedded within natural landscapes. He will never raze a site and designs in ways that enable crews to tread lightly during the building process.

This profile is part of our October 2024 feature story, Twenty + Change: New Perspectives. 

As appeared in the October 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

As appeared in the October 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

The post Twenty + Change: Architecture écologique appeared first on Canadian Architect.