In our June Issue:
Our June issue looks at infrastructure that has been elevated through its architectural design.
For our cover story, Trevor Boddy visits 5468796 and Kasian’s 9th Avenue Parkade + Innovation Centre in Calgary—a block-long parking garage designed for future conversion into residences and offices.
We also take a look at three projects—by gh3*, Local Practice, and Smith Vigeant—that help bring drinking water to our cities and return stormwater safely to natural waterways.
This month’s editorial looks at a social approach to infrastructure, through a project by Toronto’s Workshop Architecture that was shortlisted in a major competition by Britain’s Network Rail. And Pamela Young takes a look at the other side of the coin with her exploration of defensive urbanism—structures designed to ward off people—and how architects can fight back with more inclusive designs.
The issue also steps back to look at several infrastructural projects of historical significance in Canada. Photographer Amanda Large takes us to the R.C. Harris Water Filtration Plant in Toronto, while D’Arcy Jones revisits the G.M. Shrum Generating Station at the W.A.C. Bennett Dam (the latter designed by Andrew Gruft, who passed away last year).
Rounding out the issue, Kelly Alvarez Doran takes a deep dive into mass timber through a life cycle lens (and how material choices can reduce the embodied carbon content of any project); Jake Nicholson challenges the predominance of the requirement for “three similar projects” in RFP submissions, and Adele Weder peruses Alex Bozikovic and Raymond Biesinger’s recent book on Canada’s lost buildings.
Stay cool, stay healthy, and enjoy the summer reading.
-Elsa Lam, editor