Canadian Architect April 2019

CANADIAN ARCHITECT apr/19

urban housing

The Official Magazine of the RAIC

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$6.95

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URBAN HOUSING

CANADIAN ARCHITECT

APRIL 2019 03

ALEX ST. JEAN

04 VIEWPOINT

Cloud-based computing can enable spatial freedom for architecture offices, says editor Elsa Lam.

06 NEWS

MICHAEL ELKAN PHOTOGRAPHY

$100K RAIC International Prize opens for entries; Canadian Competitions Catalogue reaches 5,000-project milestone.

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10 ELÄÄ A multi-unit housing development by Kanva fits into the outdoor-focused context of its Montreal neighbourhood by breaking all the rules. TEXT Susan Nerberg

15 THE FOLD Ja Architecture’s latest spec home for a small Toronto developer presents a refreshingly different spatial sensibility. TEXT Peter Sealy

21 VANCOUVER’S AFFORDABILITY CRISIS

MICHAEL ELKAN PHOTOGRAPHY

SAM JAVANROUH PHOTOGRAPHY

An open letter to city council outlines the tough measures needed to address the area’s lack of affordable housing. TEXT Chris Knight and Gair Williamson

08 REPORT

Acton Ostry Architects reinvents rental housing in The Duke, a courtyard-centered Vancouver building.

26 PRACTICE

Enoch Sears details how to build a client-attracting website.

28 BOOKS

Leslie Van Duzer reviews a monograph on Arthur Erickson’s Eppich House II; Elsa Lam peruses new volumes by Atelier Pierre Thibault.

32 CALENDAR

Lectures and exhibitions across Canada and beyond.

34 BACKPAGE

Courtney Healey visits a design-forward take on the standard site office.

Elää in Montreal, Quebec,

by Kanva. Photo by Alex St. Jean.

COVER

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THE NATIONAL REVIEW OF DESIGN AND PRACTICE / THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE RAIC

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Viewpoint Left Perkins+Will’s new Toronto office uses a hotelling approach to workstations, enabled by cloud computing.

scott norsworthy

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Computing in the Cloud One of the tech buzzwords these days is cloud computing: the delivery of computing services—servers, storage, software, databases and so on—over the internet.

You are already using the cloud if you have Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, or another online backup account. Your data may live on your hard drive, but a copy is also on one of the data centre servers that, in a dark warehouse somewhere, makes up the cloud.

Storing files on the cloud allows them to be accessed remotely, and also allows them to be selectively shared with clients and collaborators. Toronto firm Sustainable recently transitioned from a local network to a system where files are synced to the cloud. “We used to use different services like Dropbox and WeTransfer to send files to clients,” says designer Joel Andersen. “This consolidates and streamlines the whole process.” Files can also be quickly pulled up at site and client meetings.

Another aspect to cloud computing that architects are beginning to tap is the idea that data processing can be done over the internet, rather than by the hardware on a personal computer or laptop. Processing a complex rendering, for instance, can be done by a powerful off-site computer (or set of computers), rather than having a dedicated rendering machine at an office. Diamond Schmitt has servers for in-house rendering, but for large jobs, says associate Dan Gallivan, “we go to a cloud service and use their computing power.” For renderings, the firm uses a service called Rebus Farm, and for virtual reality visuals, it turns to Origami XR .

A cloud-computing approach has been taken up in a comprehensive way by Perkins+Will, which has some 2,400 employees globally. Their cloud-based infrastructure setup “allows every single employee the power to compute large amounts of data without having to lug around a high-performance computer,” explains design application manager William Daravong. Each employee is assigned a laptop, and with an internet connection, they can work with pro-

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Art Director Roy Gaiot Contributing Editors Annmarie Adams, FRAIC Odile Hénault Douglas MacLeod, ncarb, MRAIC

ject files firm-wide as well as software that lives in the cloud, rather than on their personal computers. “Perkins+Will employees have access to our large infrastructure resources almost anywhere.”

The firm’s cloud-based computing is an in-house system, while the storage aspect is a cloud-based network similar to Google Cloud. The company also worked directly with Autodesk to set up a token-based licensing system. Rather than having individual licenses, employees pull from a pool of Perkins+ Will tokens to use any Autodesk program.

The setup simplifies collaboration between the firm’s offices. Through their laptops, staff can securely access the network in any Perkins+Will location, as well as connecting to infrastructure such as printers and meeting room screens. Even in another city, “it’s like working in the same office, because the tools are identical,” says design director and principal Andrew Frontini.

When Perkins+Will’s Toronto office recently relocated downtown, their cloud setup allowed the studio to adopt a hotelling approach where employees do not have assigned seating, but can choose to work at any open desk.

“We leveraged the potential of the technology in our office design,” says Frontini, explaining how the office is structured as a series of touch-down, task-focused spaces, rather than dedicating a desk and phone for each employee. In the previous office, individually assigned desks were unoccupied 40 percent of the time; the change in spatial strategy allowed the firm to shrink to a smaller footprint in a more central location.

The mobility within the office floor plate enabled by the technology was “a revelation,” says Frontini. And the insight they’ve gained from their experience with the technology goes beyond their own walls, suggesting ways to design for clients who are increasingly working with their fingertips in the cloud.

Elsa Lam

Editor elsa lam, fRAIC

Regional Correspondents Montreal David Theodore Calgary Graham Livesey, MRAIC Winnipeg Lisa Landrum, MAA, AIA, MRAIC vancouver adele weder, Hon. MRAIC Sustainability Advisor Anne Lissett, Architect AIBC, LEED BD+C Vice president & Senior Publisher Steve Wilson 416-441-2085 x105 sales MANAGER Faria Ahmed 416-441-2085 x106 Customer Service / production laura moffatt 416-441-2085 x104 Circulation circulation@canadianarchitect.com President of iq business media inc.

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news

Projects Diamond Schmitt and Abbott Brown complete Dartmouth’s Zatzman Sportsplex

The Zatzman Sportsplex has reopened in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. A $28-million renovation and expansion designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and Abbott Brown Architects adds new amenities and services to this major civic recreation facility.

The design objective of the revitalization was to create activity, transparency and connection.

A more open plan within the facility and new views outside to the adjacent Halifax harbour and Dartmouth Common now connect this 9,290-square-metre facility to its surroundings.

A central triangular atrium links the levels of the facility and provides natural light and focus on the range of available activities.

Principal features of the transformation include a new entry, a larger cardio area, and a new double gymnasium. A central café adjacent the gym, a childcare area with views to the Common, and fitness studios activate the core of the building. The aquatics area has added a splash area for kids, water slides, a therapy pool, and universal change facilities. Accessibility improvements were made to the teaching pool.

“Improvements in infrastructure make the whole facility more energy efficient and accessible, with better wayfinding and circulation and much more natural light,” says Alec Brown of Abbott Brown Architects. www.dsai.ca / abbottbrown.ca

AWARDS $100,000 RAIC International Prize and $5,000 scholarships open for submissions

The $100,000 RAIC International Prize for transformative architecture is inviting submissions for its third edition. The unique international award, formerly known as the Moriyama RAIC International Prize, recognizes the power of great architecture to transform society.

In keeping with a focus on the social relevance of architecture, jurors will visit all finalist projects to see the buildings in use and appreciate their impact on society and human well-being.

The RAIC is accepting entries from architects anywhere in the world, of any nationality, until April 26, 2019. The buildings should be “inspired as well as inspiring” and ref lect humanistic values of equality, respect, and inclusiveness. Projects should have been completed and in use for at least two years.

The two previous winners, in 2014 and 2017, were a library near Beijing and a kin-

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Appareil Architecture’s Le dernier petit cochon is one of six new installations to be constructed this year at the International Garden Festival in Grand-Métis, Quebec.

ABOVE

dergarten in Tokyo, Japan. The most recent competition garnered submissions from 17 countries across six continents.

The prize includes an award of $100,000 and a handcrafted sculpture by Canadian designer Wei Yew. In addition to the main Prize, three students from Canadian university architecture programs will each receive scholarships of $5,000. They will be chosen on the basis of a written essay.

The winner will be announced on October 25, 2019 at a gala event in Toronto. www.internationalprize.raic.org

International Garden Festival announces 2019 designers

The International Garden Festival has announced the six designers selected by a jury to add gardens to the Festival’s 20th edition, presented at Les Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens, from June 22 to October 6, 2019.

Visitors will be invited to explore a total of 27 contemporary gardens, and enter the interactive spaces created by more than 85 landscape architects, architects, designers and visual artists.

The six new gardens, selected from 154 projects submitted from 28 countries, are: Dirt ground by Silvia Bachetti & Agnese Casadio (Bologna, Italy); Le dernier petit cochon

by APPAREIL Architecture (Montreal); Forêt by Mathilde Leveau & Ronan Virondaud (Quebec City and Le Mans, France); The Colors of Métis by SOWATORINI L andschaft

& sevengardens (Berlin and Essen, Germany); Making Waves by Ted Kesik, Cornel Campbell, Thevishka Kanishkan, Reesha Morar & Anton Skorishchenko (Toronto); and Ici et ailleurs by José Luis Torres (Montmagny, Quebec).

The International Garden Festival is the leading contemporary garden festival in North America. Since its inception in 2000, more than 180 contemporary and ephemeral gardens have been exhibited at Grand-Métis and as extramural projects in Canada and around the world. www.refordgardens.com

Student design competition for a modern police station launches

Architecture students are invited to speculate on front-line policing in an international design competition sponsored by the Canadian Academy of Architecture for Justice. The competition challenges entrants to design an urban police facility that addresses ways of reducing potential friction between those who police and the community they serve.

Participants are encouraged to explore a spectrum of architectural responses, from functional and practical solutions to philosophical and social approaches. How can a police building be integrated into the community and be a catalyst for building a positive relationship between the police and the community they serve?

Submissions are welcomed from either studio groups or individuals, and are due by June 16, 2019. The jury includes Elizabeth McDonald of Bjarke Ingels Group, Alex Bozikovic

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of The Globe and Mail, John Pepper of RPL Architects, Michael Moxam of Stantec, and David Clusiau of NORR. The first prize is $3,000, and second- and third-prize winners will each receive $1,000. www.caaj.ca/competition

The CCC needs the collaboration of current practitioners for improved updating. If you are aware of any missing competition, or if you have access to archives pertaining to competitions in Canada, please contact professor Jean-Pierre Chupin at jean-pierre.chupin@umontreal.ca.

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www.ccc.umontreal.ca

WHAT’S NEW Canadian Competitions Catalogue reaches 5,000-project milestone

The Canadian Competitions Catalogue (CCC), a free online public resource, reached a major milestone in February 2019. More than 5,000 projects, documenting over 180 competitions, are now digitally archived in its databases.

The Canadian Competitions Catalogue is the digital and bilingual repository for architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture competitions in Canada. A non-profit endeavour, the CCC was created in 2002 by researchers at the LEAP (Laboratoire d’étude de l’architecture potentielle) in order to facilitate comparative studies on contemporary architecture.

Accessible online since 2006, the CCC has become a public resource with only a handful of equivalents worldwide. It currently lists 425 competitions, with half of these already documented. This corresponds to nearly 46,000 documents for projects imagined or realized in Canada since 1905.

The CCC is built on the premise that every project—even those not built—should be considered a source of knowledge and ideas. The spotlight placed upon the winner of a competition is perhaps what blinds us from seeing that the non-winning schemes are not merely the leftovers of a selection process, but rather “potential architectures” with an important role in the edification of cultures and societies.

MEMORANDA April 15 deadline for Cool Gardens installation proposals

Storefront Manitoba and The Forks are inviting design teams to submit proposals for temporary, contemporary summer garden installations to be located at The Forks in Winnipeg. www.coolgardens.ca

RAIC Foundation invites applications for bursaries and scholarships

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Foundation is inviting Canadian architecture and design students to apply for several substantial scholarships and awards, with submissions due in late April and early May. www.raicf.ca/en

ERRATUM In last month’s News (CA, March 2019), it was stated that PARA-SOL Architecture et développement was the designer for the Youville Mother House project in Montreal. The full design team includes PARASOL , Beaupré Michaud et associés, and Civiliti.

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Out in the Open TEXT

Jim Taggart Michael Elkan, courtesy of Acton Ostry Architects Inc.

PHOTOS

A rental housing development in Vancouver centres on a soaring open-air courtyard.

In recent years, the City of Vancouver introduced housing policies to address current and future needs for housing affordability and choice in the ever-evolving urban environment. The new policies allow strategically located sites to be rezoned to permit greater height and density in exchange for developers committing to provide and operate rental housing for a period of 60 years or for the life of the building. The Duke responds to these challenges with a new rental building typology inspired by precedents from England.

The Duke is a 14-storey mixed-use development with 12 storeys of residential rental accommodation located above a two-storey commercial podium. The unit mix comprises 25% two-bedroom family units with one-bedroom and studio units making up the balance.

To achieve economic viability as a rental development, the project had to achieve a relatively high density within a 14-storey height limit imposed by the City. Use of a typical double-loaded corridor form of development set back from the lot lines could not realize the density required for economic viability. To achieve the required density, the living units are pushed out to the lot lines, thereby accommodating a greater number of units on the site. Positioning the units at the perimeter of the site created a figure/ground plan configuration with a void at the centre that was developed as a soaring open-air circulation space to access the units. A hightensile steel and Teflon membrane structure is suspended above the openair atrium to protect the space from the elements, with portions extending past the void to shelter portions of the extensive rooftop communal terrace.

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The trapezoidal shape of the site lends a dynamic spatial quality to the atrium that is further enhanced through the play of multi-coloured entrance doors against a backdrop of white finish surfaces.

A narrow, vertical south-facing slot provides glimpses into and out of the atrium space, while an 18-metre high, pink-coloured hanging art installation washes shafts of coloured light into the brilliant white atrium. Three communal outdoor landscaped terraces span the sunlit slot to stimulate impromptu social interactions between residents.

Two amenity rooms are located on the uppermost f loors with direct stair access to the rooftop terrace amenities that include a children’s play zone, urban agriculture, a dog-friendly space, and social seating with a barbecue area.

The rental units are oriented outward, with a staggered elevational treatment that reflects the shifting nature of the traffic pattern passing by on the adjacent arterial thoroughfare. Featuring masonry cladding with steel and glass finishes, the building has a robust character that projects quality. Studio units have shallow Juliet balconies, while larger family units feature larger projecting balconies.

The overwhelmingly positive response from residents suggests that The Duke may have set an important precedent—one likely to be followed by many future developments in Vancouver.

This text originally appeared in Acton Ostry Architects: Twenty Five Years, a book published to commemorate the firm’s 25th anniversary.

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ABOVE, left to right

The Duke’s atrium is topped by a Teflon membrane supported on a steel structure; corridors ringing the courtyard lead to the brightly coloured doors of the building’s rental residential units.

Right A pink-coloured art installation occupies the entryway from the street to the soaring atrium.

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It Takes a Village Modelled after Scandinavian housing typologies, a new development in the community-oriented borough of Verdun features a shared courtyard weaving between units.

Elää, Montreal, Quebec Kanva TEXT Susan Nerberg PHOTOS Alex St. Jean PROJECT

ARCHITECT

Arriving at the street corner that marks the entrance to the Montreal borough of Verdun, you can’t miss the black-and-white set of blocks anchoring the intersection. With its dark streetside façade jutting out at different vertical planes, it stands in stark contrast to the surrounding brick duplexes and triplexes that define the area. And that’s exactly the point. Designed by the young architecture firm Kanva, Elää isn’t just the new kid on the block. It’s an entirely new kind of place for living.

“We wanted to create a new typology—a village,” says architect Dina Safonova of Kanva. She explains that the borough has many pockets of green space and swaths of nature. The citizens favour some degree of communal living, making ample use of the area’s parks, trails and marina. “Verdun sits between the St. Lawrence River and the historic Lachine Canal, so people are always close to nature and water, and they like to get outside,” Safonova says. The design for Elää takes these broader community elements and makes them central to its overarching theme.

Composed of six separate building blocks, which all together house 41 condos, the complex is conceived as a village. At the centre of this village is a green space that, much like a town square, serves as connective tissue, uniting the six volumes as well as the residents who live within.

This slender landscaped courtyard is crisscrossed by a path that leads to the main entries of each block, allowing for face-to-face meetings with neighbours as they come and go on their daily business. Kitted out with benches and a barbecue area, it also brings people together in the summer.

“It’s like the green spaces that dot the borough beyond,” says Safonova.

The norm in Montreal has historically been to construct buildings with a defined front and back. Triplexes dating from the 1900s, for instance, reach from the street in the front to a laneway or a yard in the

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back, creating a long and narrow floorplate for the dwellings inside. For Elää, the approach was completely different. “Here, there is no front and back; instead, there’s inside and out,” says Safonova. The courtyard configuration—inspired by Scandinavian design, a fact that was used successfully by the developer in its marketing—and ample fenestration in multiple directions in each unit give residents greater access to daylight and a range of visual connections to their surroundings. You wouldn’t see this in older buildings just around the corner, or even in many of the brand-new condos along the Lachine Canal, which still follow a version of the “same-old” recipes.

To ensure privacy in a complex where the different blocks are close to one another, no unit looks directly into another, with windows set at different heights and slightly offset from those of the next building over. Still, all occupants have views of the common garden as well as of the surrounding streets; units set slightly below grade have a small walk-out patio, while top-floor dwellings have a rooftop deck.

A canopy of lights hovers above the landscaped area, and many of the courtyard walls—kept light in colour to contrast with the dark cladding toward the street and to create an open, airy feel—will eventually become living walls covered in vines climbing up wires from the ground all the way to the rooftop, further enhancing the sense of nature.

Connecting the street and the courtyard, two roofed bicycle storage racks have secure space for one bike per condo. Compare that to only a total of ten underground parking spots for cars, much less than the

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borough first asked for (and one of many project-specific deviations from existing by-laws), to boost the use of active and public transit.

The bike storage modules riff off Montreal’s traditional entrée-cochères, which once served as the entries for horse-drawn carriages from the street into courtyard stables. At Elää, the bicycle entryways also serve to enhance the project’s porosity, funnelling light and breezes into the communal area. The encouragement of low- and zero-carbon transportation, along with the use of exclusively native, drought-resistant plants; recyclable building materials; high-performance insulation; energy-efficient appliances; and hook-ups for solar panels that make the building net-zero-ready have garnered the project a LEED Platinum rating.

On a material level, Safonova says, the inside-outside theme and private-public separation are underscored by encasing the perimeter in dark cladding while leaving the courtyard façades bright. Toward the street, the architects chose local cedar that was charred using a Japanese shou sugi ban technique that creates a textured longevity. “This material is new to Montreal,” says Safonova, adding that it’s fireproof, insectand rot-resistant and biodegradable. On the elevations facing the courtyard and the adjoining volumes, the design team opted for a wall composition with exterior insulation and fibreboard, covered with textured acrylic panels. The panels can easily be removed for repair, and recycled at the end of their life. At ground level, the architects incorporated a mesh for durability. “There, it made the panels as durable

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site rendering

A Scandinavian-inspired aesthetic distiguishes the multiunit Elää from neighbouring triplexes in the Montreal borough of Verdun.

Opposite Weather- and fire-proof charred cedar on the street-facing surfaces contrasts with white acrylic panels adjacent the courtyard.

ABOVE Left The courtyard weaves between the units and includes landscaped beds, benches, a communal picnic area, and overhead lights.

ABOVE Right A rendering of the interior of one of the units, whose layouts were planned to allow for views in multiple directions.

Previous Spread

Ground Floor

as brick, so you can bump into them hard with bikes or carts without causing damage,” explains Safonova.

“We like to imagine the project as a fruit,” says Safonova. “There’s the exo-carp—the hard, exterior shell or thick peel—then there’s the mesocarp facing the interior courtyard and enclosing the juicy and fragile interiors.” Whatever the image, the project is the sweet fruition of planting the seed for a new typology.

Susan Nerberg is a writer and editor based in Montreal.

CLIENT Knightsbridge + District Atwater | ARCHITECT TEAM Tudor Radulescu (RAIC), Rami Bebawi (RAIC), Dina Safonova, Éloïse Ciesla. | STRUCTURAL L2C experts | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL Martin Roy & Associés | CIVIL Vinci Consultants | LANDSCAPE Vlan Paysages | CONTRACTOR Core Construction | AREA 5,645 m2 | BUDGET Withheld | COMPLETION Winter 2018

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Above the Fold An infill residence in Toronto reinvents the urban attached house.

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The Fold, Toronto, Ontario Ja Architecture Studio TEXT Peter Sealy PHOTOS Sam Javanrouh Photography PROJECT

ARCHITECT

Last year, a daringly sculptural residence took form on a quiet street in Toronto’s leafy Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood, just west of the downtown core. Although small in size, the completed house, called the Fold, is a compelling and sophisticated piece of urban design. Its distinct materiality and powerful massing assert the house’s own autonomous presence while speaking to its surroundings. The result is a robust, yet jewel-like exercise in the typology of the urban attached house—one which honours Toronto’s history of Victorian eclecticism without sycophantic emulation.

The house’s most striking move is a diagonally sloping folded roof that negotiates the difference in roof forms between its northern and southern neighbours. This reconciliation of the house to its urban situation did not unduly constrain Ja Studio; rather, it provided the Toronto-based partnership of Behnaz Assadi and Nima Javidi with an opportunity for the complex formal expression which has become the studio’s trademark. As with many of their recent projects, the outcome is an intriguing and successful contribution to their adopted city’s heteroclite architectural catalogue.

While the lower half of the main façade remains clad in its original brickwork (the Fold is in fact a forceful yet sensitive repurposing of an existing structure), Ja Studio chose weathered copper panels produced

by Canadian firm Copper in Design for the main façade’s upper reaches. This decision—together with the relatively limited use of glazing— gives the Fold a singular presence within its neighbourhood. The metal

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stair and balcony axonometric

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A folded copper roof wraps around an outdoor room and distinguishes the house from its neighbours. Opposite top The main floor centres on an open-plan kitchen and living area. opposite left A top-lit, sculptural stair connects the four levels of the home. above A sitting area flanks the front entrance. right The second-floor bathroom has access to a rear-facing balcony. A slight level change, rather than a door, connects it to the master bedroom.

Opening page

façade’s dappled texture subtly echoes the patterning of the brick wall below, indicating the care with which this material was chosen.

A double-height exterior space inserted within the façade gives the house’s volumetric geometry a dynamic appearance as observed from different points on Strachan Avenue. Protected by the street’s dense foliage and framing a trapazoidal expanse of sky, this outdoor room links the house’s domestic environment to the public theatre of the city.

It creates a thoughtful inside-out condition which challenges the climate-driven Canadian equation of the façade with a sealed envelope.

This effect is amplified by the architects’ decision to leave exposed the wood framing supporting the copper roof above, thereby revealing the lightweight tectonic logic behind the Fold’s forceful massing.

A similar exercise has been performed on the rear façade, in which a multi-storey opening frames terraces on the second and third storeys.

The former is reached from the master bedroom and bathroom; the latter from the children’s bedroom. Again, these room-sized spaces allow the urban realm to animate its domestic counterpart without unduly intruding.

Inside, the ground floor is an expansive, high-ceilinged L-shaped space which wraps around the front façade garage. Three ceiling-height

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An opening set into the ceiling of a third floor bedroom continues the geometric motifs of the home. Semi-enclosed outdoor spaces are inserted along both the front and rear façades of the house. Opposite Two views of the outdoor room at the front of the house, which is lightly enclosed by new partitions and bordered by the neighbour’s fire wall. The space can be used throughout most of the year in Toronto.

ABOVE

ground floor

second floor

Ja Architecture Studio Inc Plans 144 Strachan Avenue Issued for Publication

Architect Placeholder Unit #X | Stree Name Street Address Toronto, Ontario Postal Code CANADA

Date Scale 28//02/19

Tel: +1 416 594 2300 E-mail: info@Officename.com

A201 08/12/18 revision First Floor Plan

Do not scale from this drawing All dimensions to be verified on site.

0

glass doors extend the open-plan living and cooking areas out onto the rear terrace, and flood the space with generous western light in the afternoon and evening.

A top-lit pentagonal staircase links the living area to the other floors.

The staircase’s articulate geometric expression testifies to the flexibility of North American wood frame construction—an ongoing area of exploration for the architects—offering the designers a powerful spatial tool to bind together the house’s four levels, from the basement to the attic.

Beyond permitting light to penetrate deep into the house, the staircase also allows for carefully calibrated changes in section within storeys. For example, the street-facing exterior room (which is accessed directly from the staircase) sits atop the ground-floor garage, both of which are set slightly lower than the adjoining interior spaces on their respective floors.

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1m

2m

While the house’s peculiarities suggest a specific family, in fact, the Fold was built on spec by developer Luloo Boutique Homes. It’s the third built project undertaken between Ja and Luloo. This partnership has involved a clear demarcation of responsibilities, with the latter handling many of the interior finishes and furniture, leaving the architects to orchestrate the interior spatial configuration and control the houses’ exterior appearance.

The studio’s own way of working emphasizes considered drawing and well-crafted model-making, as well as an open spirit of collaboration between Assadi, Javidi, and a small, dedicated team of young architects and students working in the office. It’s yielded a rigorous practice which consistently produces provocative designs.

Ja Studio’s willingness to work in a studio mode within the economic system of North American urban homebuilding allows the architects to

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third floor

Ja Architecture Studio Inc Plans 144 Strachan Avenue Issued for Publication

Architect Placeholder Unit #X | Stree Name Street Address Toronto, Ontario Postal Code CANADA

Date Scale 28//02/19

Tel: +1 416 594 2300 E-mail: info@Officename.com

A203 08/12/18 revision Third Floor Plan

0

2M

Do not scale from this drawing All dimensions to be verified on site.

0

1m

2m

drive their typological experiments forward in a consistently impressive fashion. In the case of the Fold, the result is a significant contribution to the ever-changing artefact that is the city, from one of Canada’s most exciting firms.

Architectural historian Peter Sealy is a lecturer at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

CLIENT Luloo Homes | ARCHITECT TEAM Nima Javidi, Behnaz Assadi | STRUCTURAL AMA Design Structural Engineers | INTERIORS SEEB Interior Design | CONTRACTOR Mazifa Construction Management | CLADDING/ROOF Copper in Design | DOORS/WINDOWS Chateau | AREA 290 m2 | BUDGET Withheld | COMPLETION November 2018

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 22nd Best of Canada Awards The only national design competition in Canada to focus on interior design projects and products without regard to size, budget or location.

All winners will be published in the July / August issue of Canadian Interiors.

Submission Deadline: Friday, May 10th at 11.59 p.m.

www.canadianinteriors.com/BoC

BocApr CA ad 2019.indd 19.indd 202

2019-03-19 2019-03-20 12:25 3:10 PM

OLENA STRUK

CANADIAN ARCHITECT 04/19

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OPEN LETTER TO VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL GAIR WILLIAMSON ARCHITECTS SHARES OBSERVATIONS ON VANCOUVER’S HOUSING CRISIS—AND PROPOSES SOME MODEST WAYS TO MOVE FORWARD. Chris Knight and Gair Williamson PHOTOS Michael Elkan Photography TEXT

Right Worshipful Mayor of Vancouver and Honorable Members of City Council; Following the discussion which unfolded during the public hearing for our housing project at 3532 E Hastings, we feel compelled to contact this council directly to provide some context from practitioners working primarily in the local housing sector.

Vancouver is at the turning point from a provincial, suburban city—primarily connected to its local economies, modest in scale and density— into a true world city. This transition has been going on for some time, but it is now, in the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis, that strong leadership and hard decisions are clearly needed. The primary question exposed in this public hearing—“how can we reconcile a desire to protect existing rental housing with the parallel need to construct new housing at an unprecedented scale?”—is emblematic of the tension between Vancouver-the-local and Vancouver-the-world-city.

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ABOVE A rendering of Gair Williamson’s proposed housing project at 3532 East Hastings, which raised a debate over rental housing developments at Vancouver City Council.

We are not policy experts; however, as specialists in multi-family rental and condominium developments in Vancouver, we have become keenly aware of city policies and bylaws which are problematic. There is certainly room for changes at a fundamental level, but a good place to start is to scrutinize the existing framework of policies, and look at some fairly simple changes which could have a meaningful impact. In this spirit, we have assembled some observations to share. #1 – Affordable housing is a political fiction

Housing affordability was one of the central issues in the last election.

But what is really under discussion here? At one end of the spectrum is the dire situation of the city’s most vulnerable groups, who are unable to afford even the lowest market-rate rents (which are NOT affordable!).

At the other end of the spectrum, an out-of-control real estate market means that middle-income families can no longer expect to be able to buy a home, and market-rental rates are driving young families to other

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Left and ABOVE Gair Williamson Architects’ market rental project at 245 East Georgia contains 40 units of studio apartments ranging in size from 320 square feet—the minimum allowed under the zoning bylaw— to 365 square feet. This 25-foot frontage tower type is unique to Vancouver, and with its small footprint, it is a relatively affordable land acquisition. Faced with the impossibility of providing an underground parking garage, parking is provided through car share under an agreement with a commercial provider. The units have fully glazed frontages, kitchens that are part of the interior circulation, and a pull-down bed that doubles as a dining table. The bylaw requires a bulk storage room; instead, the architects negotiated with the Planning Department to allow one-foot-deep storage cabinets to ring the ceilings of the units, on the premise that the renters of such small units would not be storing large items. There is also a gym in the basement and a roof dedicated to outdoor amenities such as urban agriculture.

centres in the lower mainland or beyond. These are two very different problems which are all-too-frequently discussed in the same breath.

Let’s be clear: the policy framework in place at this time (implemented by the previous Council, but set in motion over many years) has been successful at altering the format for development, in parts of the city, from condominiums to a more favourable ratio of rental-only developments. But this measurable change has disingenuously been lauded as proof that programs incentivizing the construction of rental housing will trickle down to benefit the lowest-income sectors of the population. They will not.

Councillor Jean Swanson is absolutely correct when she says that the city desperately needs a source of funds to build more non-market housing. Market development alone is not the solution. There are two separate issues here. One relates to the basic needs of access to housing, while the other has more to do with the expectations and aspirations of those who have chosen to come to Vancouver to live and work. The

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first problem is highly complex, and may require appeals to federal and provincial government for assistance. The second problem—though serious—is comparatively straightforward and self-regulatory. We need parallel solutions to both issues.

Our city leaders must begin to be precise about which of these issues is targeted by any given policy decision, as they are often at odds with one another.

Our project at 3532 E Hastings is exemplary of the tension between these issues. A group of tenants in a dilapidated building (renting units at rates below even the social housing average for the area) stand to be displaced to make way for a new building which would quadruple the number of available units on site, but at market rates more than double the current rental rates. Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s summary—that council has a duty to uphold, both in regard to the tenants who stand to be relocated and whose future is uncertain, and to the developer who has, in good

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pender street

In a six-storey rental project at 303 East Pender, Gair Williamson Architects developed a mix of studios and two-bedroom units, reflecting new bylaw requirements for family units. Given the small area of the studios, the layout results in a void in the centre of the plan, which was infilled with bulk storage rooms and bicycle storage at the upper levels. This allowed for more liveable area in the units, but also reduced the size of the underground parking garage, which is typically the largest-cost item of a multi-family residential project.

Lane

ABOVE and right

go re av

faith, worked within the constraints of existing policy to develop a viable project—was intelligent and measured. While sympathy for displaced tenants to make way for new development is well-placed (and should drive this council to develop methods to assess the needs of the displaced and more clearly lay out policy to provide assistance), the suspension of all development in such cases would be a mistake which would not serve the long-term goals of either camp. Your best chance to deliver on your promises to build new rental units in this city is to work with in-stream projects! #2 – Developers are not the enemy

We are frequent witnesses to a culture that views the development community with suspicion and contempt: “Why are the rents so high?”

“Why is the building so big?” “Why isn’t there more parking?” Within the context of the housing crisis, the development community has

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en ue

seldom been cast in a positive light. But a developer will not—usually cannot—proceed with a project that is not economically viable. Smart, well-crafted policy will leverage a desired outcome (for example, more lower-income or social-housing rate units in a market development) without pushing a prospective development into the red.

The Development Approvals Process (DAP)—the labyrinth of regulatory hurdles a development team must navigate to deliver a project— has become so complex that even the most experienced practitioners are frequently blindsided by policy conf licts or new requirements.

The regulatory guidelines, by-laws, bulletins, and other rules have proliferated exponentially, but are not clearly consolidated. Furthermore, the DAP is plagued with uncertainty with regards to timelines, changes to policy, and cumulative policy—all of which contribute inordinately to the cost of development in Vancouver. The DAP is increasingly concerned with the financing of amenities and meeting

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a wide range of different targets, which adds to its complexity. New incentives for development are few and far between, while cumulative economic burdens are par for the course. Such is the toll incurred by rezoning—in terms of time, additional policy compliance, community contributions, and so on—that many developers have ceased to work in Vancouver, while others have reverted to development within the constraints of the existing zoning.

It’s worth pointing out that land prices are a major driver of affordability. Land prices are impacted to an enormous degree by zoning and development bylaws. Historically, this and other cities have used Floor Space Ratio and other density controls as a political tool, enabling the city to inf late the price of land at will. A recent example of this can be seen in the changes to land-valuation following the introduction of the Grandview-Woodland Plan. Rampant speculation based on potential density increases runs counter to the goal of delivering affordable housing, but it is very effective at increasing the tax base. Sadly, conf licting constraints within the GrandviewWoodland framework means that most of the density increases available on paper are actually prohibited by the details.

Circling back to 3532 E Hastings: the development as it is currently proposed is the product of coincident factors. The land was available for purchase at a reasonable rate precisely because it is outside of the scope of a detailed community plan that would trigger speculation. The site is within a commercial C-zone – which city-wide rezoning policy currently favours for density lifts. Even so, the proposal is marginally viable.

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When council asks for the replacement of existing rental units at current rates, the developer has no choice but to reply that such a request would kill the project. It is notable that the developer was perfectly willing to rework the proposal within a policy incentive framework that could create a viable development, even going so far as to apply for the Moderate Income Rental Housing Pilot Program. This program offered a model which has the potential to incentivize the creation of new units at rates similar to the bottom-five-percent units in question here.

Let’s stop treating developers as the enemy, and work with the development community to develop incentive programs that will serve in everyone’s interest. #3 – Yes, it’s going to block your view

This brings us to the elephant in the room: density.

Consider a future Vancouver: A Vancouver which has successfully negotiated the growing pains of the transition from a regional centre to a major city on the world stage. A Vancouver that nonetheless provides housing to the homeless and to lower-income families that call it home.

A Vancouver that has maintained the high levels of amenity and quality of life that generated the impetus for growth in the first place. In short, a great future Vancouver. What do you see?

Do you see a dense downtown surrounded by immaculate low-rise suburbs, sprinkled with restored character buildings? Do you see highdensity social housing clustered in a small area of the Downtown East

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Opposite and above As multifamily rental projects began to be built in the Downtown East Side six years ago, the City incentivized development by creating a unique zoning district that increased available density from 1 to 1.5 FSR, provided that 20 percent of the units were reserved for social housing. This allowed Gair Williamson to create a new typology at Cordovan—with a mix of one-bedroom units and two-storey townhouses, facing a 25-foot-wide courtyard with five social housing units at grade. This courtyard allows for flow-through ventilation in the units and is also a social amenity, equipped with benches and a barbecue. Each of the social housing units has a front door directly on the street and they are flanked by the market housing entry to the second-level courtyard. As they are smaller units than those on the courtyard above, they are given additional ceiling height—up to 13 feet—to improve liveability. Since they are the public face of the project on the street, the architects specified oversized entry doors with premium hardware, as well as small front gardens with apple trees and blueberry bushes for privacy.

Side? Are our major transport corridors limited to six storeys? Is the area west of Granville reserved for the super-rich?

Vancouver has always seen itself as laidback and suburban in character.

It is within that lens that our expectations and aspirations arise: unlike European cities of a similar scale, we still expect, as median-income residents, to be able to purchase a home (this is Canada after all...!)

We expect density to go somewhere else—i.e. “Not In My Back Yard!”

It’s also worth pointing out that large numbers of our population, having bought into the market years ago, have become land-rich.

While land use policy of the past decade has paid lip service to additional density, the residential R-zones have remained sacrosanct. As an example, consider the recent “Making Room” initiative, which expanded laneway house and multi-unit dwelling options to RT zones. This program was publicized as an initiative designed to increase density and housing options within the single-family districts of the city. In fact, the density increases are negligible: the real effect is to further boost property values in the affected zones, and to provide homeowners with an income suite to offset mortgages which routinely exceed 50% of their income. This does nothing to help the more marginalized communities in Vancouver: it simply maintains the status quo.

City-wide programs (Interim Rezoning Policy, Rental 100, and predecessors) have targeted C-zones simply because they are the least controversial. Even so, the potential density lifts are modest—from 4 to 6 storeys, for example—and are often reduced when there are adjacency issues with single-family residential areas.

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In short, we have an enormous repository of underutilized land in this city. There are many ways to add density, but we are not going to get to that great future Vancouver by spot-rezoning C-zones alone. Ignoring the potential of the vast swathes of R-zoned land that ring downtown Vancouver will simply lead to an ever-expanding gap between the haves and the have-nots.

When we imagine what that future Vancouver could be, we imagine: towers in Point Grey; a Mount Pleasant built up with the density of the West End; new hyper-dense neighbourhoods springing up in the Terminal Railyards, disused parts of the Port Lands, underutilized and outdated multi-family areas, and major transit hubs. We imagine nonmarket housing dispersed in all new market developments across the city—not a ghetto in the Downtown East Side. We imagine continuous six-to-ten storey blocks along every arterial across the city, with 300-foot-plus towers at major nodes.

If we want to fix this problem, we need to drastically change our citizens’ expectations with regards to density. This is going to make some groups very angry, and will make your decisions all the more challenging. But we believe that dignified housing for all is more important than the private views enjoyed by those lucky enough to own a home in this city.

Gair Williamson is the principal of Gair Williamson Architects. Chris Knight is a senior associate at Gair Williamson Architects.

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Build a Client-Attracting Website TEXT

Enoch Sears, AIA

tips from An architecture marketing expert on how to design a website that stands out from the competition.

The year was 2005 and I was a newly licensed architect at a small architecture firm. Some of the younger staff and I were excited when we convinced the firm principal to revamp the firm’s website. We could already hear the phone ringing in our imaginations with big-budget homeowners wanting to hire us to design their dream house.

The new website went live… and then… crickets.

No new phone inquiries. No emails about glamorous projects (at least none that we could trace back to the website redesign). I was left scratching my head wondering what went wrong.

Perhaps you’ve done something similar—invested in a beautiful, up-todate website featuring the latest web technologies and most eye-catching project photos. If you’re ambitious, you even included a blog. After the website failed to create new demand, you resigned yourself to the sombre thought that a website is just a branding exercise—something people find after they hear about your firm from other sources.

While it is true that a website is a powerful tool for conveying your firm’s brand, if that is all a website does, it is woefully underutilized.

Going Beyond the Brochure Website Architects’ websites have a predictable format: a prominent portfolio page, a services page, and an “about” us page. By nature, as architects we are visually inclined: we like images. However, when we limit our

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ABOVE A client-centric website is one that has useful information that educates and delights prospects and clients. Canadian-based international firm Stantec has an area of their website devoted to “Ideas”—client-centric information and stories produced by the firm’s practitioners.

websites to a pretty portfolio, we sell our firms short. These websites are little more than online marketing brochures.

After my first website experience in 2005, I researched firms that were using their websites as an effective tool to bring in new work. I came across Modative.com—a young startup practice based in Los Angeles, California.

At the time, they were getting 90% of their new work from their website.

How did they do this?

Well, the City of Los Angeles had recently passed the Small Lot Subdivision ordinance to address the tight housing market. However, many homeowners and developers were unclear about the exact requirements of the ordinance. So, the team at Modative started publishing information on their website about how to develop successful projects under this new framework.

Modative’s informative, consumer-focused website got noticed by the media, and the Los Angeles Times published a profile of the firm. All of this combined to produce the “perfect storm” for the young firm, allowing Modative to hire additional staff and grow into larger and more interesting projects.

Modative currently has five educational offers on the resources page of their website, including a sample site planning and evaluation report, an architecture process guide, and a residential client checklist.

Continued on page 32

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Books

Eppich House II

By Greg Bellerby (Figure 1 Publishing, 2019)

REVIEW

Leslie Van Duzer

A new building monograph, Eppich House II, presents the story of a masterful Gesamtkunstwerk designed by architect Arthur Erickson, landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, and interior designer Francisco Kripacz. It’s Erickson’s first steel residence, and arguably his most complete work, with its seamless integration of architecture, landscape and interiors. Eppich House II epitomizes the sensitivity to site, joy in material inventiveness, and, importantly, critical role of enlightened clients associated with West Coast Modernism.

While marvelling at the completeness of this work, other Gesamtkunstwerke may to mind: Mies’s Villa Tugendhat, Wright’s Taliesin West, Gaudi’s Palau Güell. But a more apt comparison would surely be the 1957 Miller House in Columbus, Indiana, the manifestation of a similar collaboration between a visionary industrialist and an accomplished trio of designers, in this case, architect Eero Saarinen, landscape architect Dan Kiley, and interior designer Alexander Girard. Eppich House II and Miller House belong to an elite subgroup within the history of Gesamtkunstwerke that were designed collaboratively and seamlessly, inside and out.

Among building monographs, this volume stands out for its inclusivity. Following a foreward by Michelangelo Sabatino, Greg Bellerby’s concise and insightful text tells the fascinating story of Eppich House II, from site selection through fabrication. Integrated in the text are a substantial number of quotations about the project from Arthur

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Erickson, his design collaborators, clients and commentators, adding additional voices and perspectives. The quotes are well-selected and definitely welcome, but the graphic design does not adequately set them apart from the primary text; consequently, the flow of Bellerby’s essay is disrupted. Photographs and drawings from different eras add still more voices, and arguably, a thicker history. The inclusion of such differentiated visual content is not unusual in a building monograph, however, the visual appeal of the volume would have been strengthened by a more hierarchical approach to presenting content of varying quality.

For 30 years, Hugo and Brigitte Eppich have maintained their home as lovingly as it was originally designed and fabricated. But circumstances change, and with the property on the market for $16.8 million, this is the perfect moment to secure its documentation. This volume succeeds in capturing the story of this house in a comprehensive manner. For their foresight, gratitude goes to the Eppichs and to Arthur’s nephew, Geoffrey Erickson, editor of the volume. As Victor Hugo wrote in the Hunchback of Notre Dame: “... the book of stone, so solid and so enduring, was to give way to the book of paper, more solid and more enduring still.”

Leslie Van Duzer is a Professor in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia. She initiated a series of monographs documenting endangered West Coast Modern houses in British Columbia with its first volume, House Shumiatcher.

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Courtesy of Geoffrey Erickson Roger Brooks

Courtesy of Geoffrey Erickson ABOVE Designed for the owner of a metal manufacturing firm and his wife, Eppich House II was constructed primarily using the materials, expertise and labour available in the owner’s plant.

Above Right Each of the house’s levels terminates in a half-vaulted greenhouse space made of glass block for privacy from neighbouring residences.

Right The interior’s stainless steel columns and furnishings were also constructed by the owner’s company and its affiliates.

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books

roy

ga io t

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Atelier Pierre Thibault, 1990-2015

By Pierre Thibault (Atelier Pierre Thibault, 2017)

Et si la beauté rendait heureux

By Pierre Thibault and François Cardinal (Les editions La Presse, 2016)

REVIEW

Elsa Lam

Architect Pierre Thibault’s work is known for its minimalist sensibility, with projects sitting quietly in their urban and rural settings. The studio has now compiled its work in a set of three substantial hard-bound volumes.

Each book includes ten projects, mixing built work and unbuilt proposals, and ranging in scale from theatre sets to building complexes.

In all, thirty projects are presented in plans, photos, model images, and pen-and-watercolour sketches.

The layouts are spare, usually with just a single image occupying each spread. There’s a luxuriousness to the books, which were printed and bound in Quebec rather than overseas. Qualities such as their fabric binding and the heavy weight of their paper add to the pleasure of perusing them.

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I find myself slowing down as I turn the pages. The experience perhaps deliberately echoes Pierre Thibault’s own desire to slow down the production of architecture. In working on the Abbey of Val Notre-Dame, he writes, “In this world that wants to do everything too quickly, the opportunity to collaborate with a community that always makes us think and that favours the long term over the short term has been a great learning. The monks were there to remind us to take the time to do well […]”

A year earlier, the portfolio publication was preceded by a book slimmer in size but more substantial in text, Et si la beauté rendait heureux.

It takes the form of five conversations between Thibault and journalist François Cardinal, each in a different place—the architect’s country house east of Quebec City, the condominium where he resides in Montreal, a house he designed for two Montreal art collectors, the Abbey of Val Notre-Dame, and Thibault’s favourite city, Copenhagen.

Over glasses of wine in these inspirational settings, Thibault and Cardinal muse on the intertwining of philosophy and aesthetics: what if beauty made us happy? Is beauty necessary for being happy? (Spoiler alert: yes, according to this book). In a world that’s increasingly focused on digital technologies, it’s an homage and a plea for thoughtfully designed, real-world buildings and cities.

ABOVE A conceptual sketch for Pierre Thibault’s Le Grand Plateau house in Lac Héron, Quebec.

2019-04-09 8:02 AM

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canadian architect 04/19

32 Continued from page 27 Because of this useful, client-centric information, people reach out to the firm consistently.

The Client-Centric Website Having followed my passion for the business side of architecture, I’ve discovered the power of a client-centric website. A client-centric website is one with useful information that educates and delights prospects and clients, instead of solely focusing on a firm’s achievements and projects. This simple strategy can be used by firms small and large.

Canadian-based international firm Stantec has an area of their website devoted to “Ideas”—client-centric information and stories produced by the firm’s practitioners (ideas.stantec.com). Resources available include articles such as “Biophilic design: What is it? Why it matters? And how do we use it?” and the firm’s Design Quarterly publication.

The Strategic Advantage of Being All About the Client While claiming to be a client-centered firm is easy, delivering on this promise and weaving it successfully through a firm’s marketing materials is challenging. However, firms that invest the time and resources in implementing this approach have a distinct strategic advantage over their “all about us” competitors.

Depending on your offerings to potential clients, they could arrive on your doorstep already understanding what an architect will need from them. Or, they may realize what they don’t know about their project— site challenges, infrastructure considerations, municipal regulations.

At the very least, you’ve given them something useful, and people like to reciprocate, meaning they may feel receptive to your proposal.

Maybe you’ve clarified the meaning of new regulations (like Modative

did), maybe shown them a step-by-step flowchart that helped them understand the design process. That “take-away” concept is key: this is not just a dolled-up way to promote your own firm.

Once you have offered a real value that they’ve accepted, you are now an architect that they “know.” You may not have met in person, but they know you have expertise in their area, and that you are generous (within limits!). They may even have your email or phone number. This is a powerful strategic advantage.

Think You’re Ready for the ‘Level 3’ Why? Having a client-centric website has advantages beyond just educating your prospective clients or even making sure they can easily reach out to you. Because of the way search engine algorithms work, an informationrich, client-centric strategy will also help a firm’s site appear first in rankings. And because clients do research before they hire a firm, this strategy exposes your firm to a potential client early in the project planning process. It’s like being the first person in line to enter a sold-out party.

Adding client-centric information doesn’t need to end with blog posts and free white papers, however. With all the social media channels that are available, it’s also easy to share rich content like videos and podcasts.

Firms that embrace a “clients first” approach with their websites are rewarded not only with a more educated clientele, but also with improved search engine rankings and visibility for their firms. More importantly, they’ll lead the conversation in their respective markets for years to come.

Enoch Sears is a licensed California architect and co-founder of The Architect Marketing Institute, which helps architecture firms around the world build highly profitable and impactful practices by giving firm owners access to unprecedented support for success in a competitive market. More information at archmarketing.org.

calendar

Winnipeg

ACROSS CANADA

05/01—05/05

Architecture + Design Film Festival The A+DFF presents critically acclaimed films focusing on the importance of architecture and design in everyday life.

Vancouver 05/07 AIBC Confab 2019

This new one-day professional development event offers interactive workshops, panel discussions, and intimate seminars; all with the goal of promoting conversation and a shared learning experience. www.aibc.ca

Calgary 04/18 EVDS Design Matters:

Sir David Adjaye As part of the faculty’s Design Matters lecture series, one of the most influential architects of this generation shares insights about his work and architecture as a social force. www.evds.ucalgary.ca

www.adff.ca

The Art Gallery of Alberta’s current exhibition includes the multimedia work You Will Remember When You Need To Know (1995) by Margo Henry (née David Hoffos).

Edmonton —05/17 2019 AAA AGM + PD

Symposium This full-day event will feature professional development sessions presenting current theories and practices to AAA members, helping them shape Alberta’s built environment. www.aaa.ab.ca

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Toronto

ABOVE

—07/01

another Landscape show Led by four newly appointed curators—including adjunct curator of design Amery Calvelli— this exhibition at the Art Gallery of Alberta simultaneously shifts and critiques landscape’s place in Canadian art and popular discourse, using works from the AGA’s collection. www.youraga.ca

04/26—04/27

New Circadia This symposium is the culminating event of the Daniels Faculty’s Home and Away lecture series, and includes a keynote address on Friday evening. www.daniels.utoronto.ca

05/02

Better Building Summit This day-long event includes 30 speakers, with a keynote by Al Gore, former Vice-President of the United States. www.soprema.ca

2019-03-20 3:10 PM

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05/02

DAS Year End Show Ryerson’s Department of Architectural Science presents its yearend show, spanning three storeys of the architecture building. www.ryerson.ca

05/25—05/28

Doors Open The 20th annual festival showcases the city’s most significant buildings. www.toronto.ca

Montreal 05/08—10/13

Our Happy Life The CCA’s new exhibit interrogates architecture and well-being in the age of emotional capitalism. www.cca.qc.ca

Quebec City

05/22—05/24 2019 OAA Annual Conference

At its core, architecture is about solving problems. In areas ran-

CA Apr 19.indd 33

ging from climate change to housing affordability, architects are catalysts for transformation.

www.oaa.on.ca

Halifax

05/28—05/31

45th Annual SSAC Conference The Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada hosts its 45th annual conference.

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www.canada-architecture.org

INTERNATIONAL Rotterdam —05/26

Netherlands <> Bauhaus: Pioneers of a New World Almost 800 objects–artworks, furniture, ceramics, textiles, photographs, typography and architectural drawings–provide unique insight into the inspirational interactions between the Netherlands and the Bauhaus.

Reinvent Ceiling Design with DesignFlex™ Ceiling Systems Rethink traditional ceiling design with triangles, parallelograms, trapezoids, and alternative square and rectangle sizes. Explore new pattern options in classic white, a pop of color, or a full palette of hues. The possibilities are endless.

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2019-03-20 3:10 PM

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canadian architect 04/19

34

Site Shack TEXT

Courtney Healey

A Vancouver-based construction management company brings fresh design and new dignity to the lowly site office.

Construction is a temporary affair, a logistical operation primarily concerned with the flow of materials and labour. To that end, the elements found on most construction sites— hoarding, orange pylons, generic trailers—are purely functional structures to be hauled away once a project is complete, without much thought put into how they look.

But multiplied by hundreds of construction sites across cities, these trappings of construction become ubiquitous and seemingly permanent objects, floating from one site to the next like so much urban flotsam. What if more attention were paid to their design? Could design improve conditions for staff working long hours on-site, maybe give construction a friendlier face? These are the questions that Powers Construction, a Vancouver-based construction management company, has tackled over the past few years.

For founder Patrick Powers, elevating the lowly site office—the one small haven of human comfort on a building site—seemed like a good place to start. In 2013, after years of working out of trucks and site-built plywood shacks, Powers began outfitting steel shipping containers with large glazed walls, modern furniture and artist-commissioned

CA Apr 19.indd 34

paint-jobs. After modifying five or six of these, the team felt ready to liberate themselves from the structural constraints of the container module. They envisioned the next version— dubbed the Site Shack—as a pitched roof, wood-framed structure covered in weathering steel. Powers worked closely with staff member Ryan Arceneaux (who is both a project manager with Powers Construction and a designer with Measured Architecture) through a year-long prototyping and building process alongside one of their active residential construction sites in East Vancouver.

At just 96 square feet, the Site Shack is a compact and hardworking space that balances its necessary functionality with a playful form and crisp architectural details.

Inside, the cozy warmth and rustic smell of a wood stove are pleasant and inviting. The Shack is constructed from 2x6 fir framing over an HSS floor assembly, complete with crane hoist-points. On the exterior, plywood sheathing is covered with two inches of exterior insulation and clad in 1/8” Corten steel, expertly welded with no visible fasteners.

One end of the Site Shack is enclosed by full-height glazing with a big sliding window

ABOVE Designed by Powers Construction, the contemporary Site Shack aims to put a friendlier face on the long process of construction.

for ventilation. The other end has a nearly invisible insulated steel door. The wood framing is left exposed on the interior, providing ample storage space within its depth for tools, binders, and rolls of drawings. A built-in desk hugs the window, and a custom stove enclosure made from steel cladding offcuts completes the interior tableau.

Following completion in 2018, the Site Shack enjoyed a short holiday as a staff retreat in the BC wilderness, before getting back to work as a site office late last year at a residential site in Vancouver, where it will live for the remainder of 2019.

It’s surprising and refreshing when this level of care and attention is paid to the otherwise overlooked elements of our built environment. For Patrick Powers, the Site Shack is an investment in his team and a powerful marketing tool for company culture. On a larger scale, this small project ups the ante for all contractors, and reframes the construction site as a unique opportunity for design and experimentation.

Courtney Healey is an architect and writer based in Vancouver.

2019-03-20 3:10 PM

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2018-03-08 4:42 PM 2019-03-20 3:10 PM