Canadian Architect January 2016

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STÉPHANE GROLEAU

DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY

WORKPLACES

05

CANADIAN ARCHITECT

JANUARY 2016

9 NEWS

Saul Bellow Library opens in Montreal; Under Gardiner project unveiled; winners of Quebec architectural awards announced.

30 INSITES

Peter Sealy reports on a symposium examining the state of the modern hospital and speculating on its architectural future.

33 CALENDAR

Sou Fujimoto lectures at the University of Toronto; Buildex at the Vancouver Convention Centre West.

34 BACKPAGE

12 SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD BUILDING restored heritage bank hall pairs with an elegantly detailed addition in this conferA ence space for parliamentarians by NORR Limited Architects Engineers Planners in association with MTBA Associates Inc. TEXT Sarah Brown

Katherine Ashenburg discusses the illumination of Toronto’s Luminous Veil suicide barrier, a project a decade in the making

by Dereck Revington Studio.

20 STGM HEAD OFFICE For its Quebec City offices, STGM Architects drew on its experience with sustainable solutions to create a high-performance—and highly comfortable—workplace.

TEXT Olivier Vallerand

26 MOSAIC CENTRE FOR CONSCIOUS COMMUNITY AND COMMERCE JOSH KJENNER

A client-centred IPD process led to this Living Building Challenge-targeted commercial building by Manasc Isaac Architects. TEXT Brandon Webber

Sir John A. Macdonald Building by NORR Limited Architects Engineers Planners. Photo

by Doublespace Photography.

COVER

V.61 N.01 THE NATIONAL REVIEW OF DESIGN AND PRACTICE / THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE RAIC

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 01/16

06

VIEWPOINT

LEFT

Assembled at

UC Berkeley, Bloom

pavilion, by California make-tank Emerging Objects, is composed from 3D-printed concrete polymer blocks.

Concrete Developments Architectural materials experience reputational changes. A century ago, wood was a cheap and expedient way to build tracts of North American workers’ housing; now, it’s a sustainable solution for ever-larger and taller buildings.

Since the beginning of its mass production in the nineteenth century, steel has supported soaring train halls and skyscrapers. Its predecessors, forged iron trusses, were far more ornate than standardized metal members, its character shifting from delicate to muscular.

Then we come to the fallen hero: concrete.

Fifty years ago, Canada proudly celebrated its centennial by erecting concrete concert halls, civic plazas and museums from coast to coast.

Megastructures built from massive concrete were the future—and with ambitious structures such as Zeidler’s McMaster Health Science Centre and Arcop’s Place Bonaventure, Canada was a global leader.

Now, those same buildings are falling into disrepair, and with them, concrete’s reputation.

Concrete is often cast as the villain—synonymous with mean, polluted cities that are gobbling resources and have snuffed out nature.

But if the recent past of concrete looks grey, the future could be green. Last fall, I had the privilege to moderate an architectural roundtable at Construct Canada that examined new technologies in concrete. According to the panelists, there may be a time when concrete could again be considered beautiful—and even poetic.

Ronald Rael of California’s Emerging Objects initiated the conversation. Rael’s firm researches the production of strong and inexpensive 3D-printed building components.

One recent project, Bloom, is a nine-foot-tall freestanding pavilion composed of 840 customized blocks, 3D-printed from an iron-oxide-free Portland cement polymer. Each brick incorporates part of a structural grid, as well as f loral patterned cutouts that allow light to shine into the pavilion’s interior. By using 3D powder printing—rather than the more widespread technology of 3D printing at an architectural scale by extruding wet cement through a nozzle—the finished product is finegrained and cleanly resolved.

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Turning to the East Coast, Brandon Clifford’s work with Matter Design uses 3D-printed moulds to precision-cast concrete into objects that explore the aesthetic of weight and weightlessness. One result is a slender, self-supporting concrete spiral staircase that hangs from the floor above. Another is a large-scale, Easter Island-like sculpture called the McNelly Megalith. Made of foam topped with a one-inchthick layer of concrete, the 2,000-pound statue can be easily rotated and rocked across a flat surface by a single person, due to a precise calibration of its center of gravity.

On the global scale, architects could have their biggest impact on concrete’s future in China, according to Filippo Gabbiani of Shanghai-based Kokai Studios. From 2011 to 2013, China used more concrete—some 6.6 gigatons— than the United States used in the entire 20th century. Unsurprisingly, many of the speculative buildings produced from that concrete have been of low quality. Much of Kokai’s work focuses on restoring concrete buildings, some of which were built in six months and are in need of renovation four years later. They’ve engaged in programmatic innovation—reinventing a commercial podium as an art institution, for instance—as well as developing new material techniques, such as injected gel compounds that reduce the corrosion of rebar.

Here in Toronto, a concrete legacy is also being reinvented. A week before the roundtable, an announcement was made that the underbelly of a section of the Gardiner Expressway will be renovated into a series of parks and public spaces. Initial renderings by designers Public Work and Ken Greenberg, FRAIC, show a skating rink, public stage and vibrant art installations under the massive concrete supports.

For those walking through the vacant space under the Gardiner, the full majestic potential of its concrete structure is palpable. Our cities have been constructed with concrete—can that concrete continue to sustain the passion of our cites?

Elsa Lam

­­EDITOR ELSA LAM, MRAIC EDITORIAL ADVISOR IAN CHODIKOFF, OAA, FRAIC ART DIRECTOR ROY GAIOT CONTRIBUTING EDITORS ANNMARIE ADAMS, FRAIC ODILE HÉNAULT DOUGLAS MACLEOD, NCARB, MRAIC REGIONAL CORRESPONDENTS HALIFAX CHRISTINE MACY, OAA REGINA BERNARD FLAMAN, SAA MONTREAL DAVID THEODORE CALGARY GRAHAM LIVESEY, MRAIC WINNIPEG LISA LANDRUM, MAA, AIA, MRAIC VANCOUVER ADELE WEDER PUBLISHER TOM ARKELL 416-510-6806 ACCOUNT MANAGER FARIA AHMED 416-510-6808 CIRCULATION CIRCULATION@CANADIANARCHITECT.COM CUSTOMER SERVICE MALKIT CHANA 416-442-5600 EXT. 3636 PRODUCTION STEVE HOFMANN 416-442-5600 EXT. 6757 PRESIDENT OF IQ BUSINESS MEDIA INC. ALEX PAPANOU HEAD OFFICE 80 VALLEYBROOK DRIVE, TORONTO, ON M3B 2S9 TELEPHONE 416-510-6845 FACSIMILE 416-510-5140 E-MAIL elam@canadianarchitect.com WEBSITE www.canadianarchitect.com Canadian Architect is published monthly by iQ Business Media Inc..

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PROJECTS

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 01/16

NEWS

Saul Bellow Library opens in Montreal

The Saul Bellow Library, designed by Chevalier Morales Architectes, has opened in Montreal.

The design was commissioned following an architectural competition in 2011. It involved expanding, redesigning and updating the 1974 Lachine Borough Library. Architects Stephan Chevalier and Sergio Morales transformed the out-of-date facility into a 21st century institution: an attractive, luminous and socially stimulating space. The library is imagined as an “ideas store” for a dense and dynamic area, where a rich mix of daily activities occurs. It benefits from the traffic through neighbouring commercial spaces by positioning itself along frequently used routes. The location of entrances to the library—including one close to the café—supports the integration of the library in residents’ daily walks. Although its purpose has evolved in recent years with the arrival of new technologies, the loan counter remains a focal point as a privileged location for interaction. Positioned on the main level, in the heart of the building, it is visible from all areas. It becomes a central pivot at the bottom of a gentle gradient ramp, close to vertical circulation and to the youth library entrance. At the onset of the project, Chevalier Morales analyzed what the library and its neighbourhood could become in 20 years if the densification, greening and transportation improvement principles envisioned in the broader urban plan were implemented. This enabled the firm to propose solutions that in the long term would reduce costs and environmental impacts. For example, windows and skylights were strategically positioned to take into account a potential expansion. www.chevaliermorales.com

Under Gardiner project unveiled

The City of Toronto, together with philanthropists Judy and Wil Matthews and Waterfront Toronto, has announced a $25 million partnership that will create a new public landscape beneath the western section of the city’s Gardiner Expressway. The Matthews’ generous gift will fund the design and construction of more than 10 acres of new public space and 1.75 kilometres of multi-use trail beneath the elevated expressway from just west of Strachan Avenue to Spadina Avenue. The project builds on the city’s approved $150 million investment in refurbishing this section of the Gardiner Expressway. The initiative, currently called Project: Under Gardiner, envisions a dynamic series of public spaces that create connections between several of Toronto’s newest neighbourhoods. “It turns what had become a barrier into common

ABOVE A view of the luminous interior of Saul Bellow Library in Montreal, designed by Chevalier Morales Architectes based on their winning scheme from a design competition held in 2011.

ground,” says planner Ken Greenberg, FRAIC, who heads the design team. Greenberg, working with Adam Nicklin and Marc Ryan of Public Work, envisages the creation of a series of 55 civic “rooms” that are defined by the concrete post-and-beam structural elements supporting the Gardiner. These rooms will be knit together by a multi-use trail for walking and cycling that touches some of the city’s densest and most walkable urban neighbourhoods.

Construction is set to start in the summer of 2016, with the initial phase of the project aiming for completion in 2017, just in time to mark the 150th anniversary of Canadian confederation.

UnderGardiner.com

Heatherwick Studio and Diamond Schmitt Architects selected to renovate Lincoln Center concert hall

Heatherwick Studio and Diamond Schmitt Architects have been selected as the architecture team that will lead the renovation and re-imagination of David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center’s largest concert hall. In addition to its primary purpose as the home for the New York Philharmonic, the new David Geffen Hall will be designed to facilitate a broader, ongoing array of community activities and events. Construction is expected to begin in 2019 at a preliminary estimated cost of $500 million. The team selection follows a rigorous two-year competition involving many of the world’s leading architecture and design firms. The concert hall, originally designed by Max Abramovitz, was the first building to open on the Lincoln Center campus. First known as Philharmonic Hall, it has been home to storied performances by the New York Philharmonic, as well as other renowned orchestras and soloists, for more than

five decades. The symphonic concert hall was renamed in September 2015 to honour music and media executive and philanthropist David Geffen, whose generous $100 million gift will allow Lincoln Center to move forward with the creation of the dynamic new hall. www.lincolncenter.org

Manasc Isaac to design indigenous-centred community service facility

Edmonton’s non-profit Boyle Street Community Services has announced plans to put up a new building on its downtown site that will include housing, a pharmacy and an aboriginal boutique hotel. Designed by Manasc Isaac Architects Ltd., the six-storey structure will replace the current facility at 10116 105th Ave. with a curved, multi-coloured structure intended to make Edmonton’s indigenous history more visible. The $60-million project aims to offer about 80 units of housing on four floors for approximately 100 working poor and formerly homeless people, topped by market-priced homes that will help cover the project’s costs.

There will also be a bistro, bank, palliative care, rooftop garden and an approximately 18-room hotel with aboriginal designs that will give jobs and training to the agency’s clients, about 80 percent of whom have an aboriginal background.

A major chain has already expressed interest in operating the hotel. “The Boyle Street Community Services’ redeveloped facility will be a community hub that is unapologetically and unmistakably indigenous in design,” write the architects. “It will complement the downtown core and will be a place that all Edmontonians can be proud of—one where reconciliation is lived each day.” www.boylestreet.org

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NEWS Back to the River competition results announced

OAQ Awards of Excellence winners announced

Vancouver House named Future Project of the Year

Civitas and Stantec were recently announced as the winners of Back to the River, a design competition to reimagine the Thames River in London, Ontario. Spearheaded by the London Community Foundation in partnership with the City of London and the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, the competition challenged five finalists to develop visionary designs that will help the community to rethink its relationship with the river. The project asked for designs that would strike a balance between environmental sustainability, economic development, and community and recreational space. Civitas and Stantec will be awarded a design contract with the City of London valued at at least $200,000 for an inaugural project at the Forks of the Thames.

A project for the SoHo neighbourhood may be the subject of a future competitive contract once capital funding has been secured.

The Ordre des architectes du Québec (OAQ ) has announced the winners of its 2015 architectural awards in a ceremony on November 21 held at the Centre des sciences de Montréal.

Presided over by French architect Manuelle Gautrand, the jury awarded 13 prizes and two mentions from the 175 entries received. They also selected a Grand Prize winner: the Bibliothèque du Boisé by Cardinal Hardy, Labonté Marcil and Éric Pelletier architecte. The following winners were recognized: Pavillon des sciences Anne-Marie Edward du Cégep John Abbott, by Saucier + Perrotte architectes; Siège social de la Caisse Desjardins de Lévis, by ABCP architecture | Anne Carrier Architecture; Résidence Edison, by KANVA; Belvédère de Val-Jalbert, by Atelier Pierre Thibault and ATSH; Maison Terrebonne by La SHED architecture; La Colombière by yh2; Résidence Roy-Lawrence by Chevalier Morales Architectes; En suspension by _naturehumaine; Entre les rangs by KANVA; Maison WilliamNotman by Sid Lee Architecture; Bibliothèque Monique-Corriveau by Dan Hanganu + Coté Leahy Cardas architectes; and the stage set for Samson et Dalila, Opéra de Montréal,

by Anick la Bissonière. A mention for universal accessibility was awarded to Tour Aimia by NEUF architect(e)s, and a mention for sustainability went to La Bergerie by l’OEUF architectes. The People’s Choice Award went to Collège Saint-Louis by Marosi Troy | Jodoin Lamarre Pratte.

Bjarke Ingels Group and DIALOG’s proposal for a 150-metre high twisted skyscraper in Vancouver has won the Future Project of the Year 2015 title at the World Architecture Festival. The project also garnered a Canadian Architect 2015 Award of Excellence. The designers contorted the form of their 49-storey Vancouver House, creating a 30-metre setback from the adjacent motorway flyover that prevents any windows or balconies from overlooking it. Nine floors at the base of the tower will accommodate offices, shops and restaurants, which will spill out onto a series of public plazas that stretch underneath the elevated highway. The WAF judges selected the project because it “mitigates the destructive impact of the highway flyover on infrastructure and urban form, and generates an exemplary new urban typology.” They said, “It is a delightful project that will impact positively on many future municipality- and developer-led agendas for cities across the world.” In 2014, the Future Project of the Year prize was awarded to Canadian firm 5468796 with its unrealized design for an art gallery in Victoria, BC.

backtotheriver.ca

AWARDS Canadians take the podium at International Olympic Committee awards

The Richmond Olympic Oval, the signature venue from the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, and now a multi-use community recreation centre and sports venue, has received the All Time Award from the International Association of Sports and Leisure Facilities (IAKS) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The All Time Award is reserved for landmark sports facilities from the past half-century. It is being issued in conjunction with IAKS 50th anniversary and will not be awarded again until 2065. Designed by CannonDesign, the Richmond Olympic Oval is one of just ten facilities to receive the All Time Award and the only award-winning venue from North America. This year’s IAKS/IOC awards also recognized several additional Canadian projects. Prince Arthur’s Landing, Thunder Bay’s waterfront project by architecture and urban design firm Brook McIlroy, received a 2015 IAKS/IOC Silver Medal.

Bronze Medals were awarded to the NCC Rideau Canal Skateway Facilities in Ottawa by CSV Architects and to the Regent Park Aquatic Centre in Toronto by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects. The Edmonds Community Centre in Burnaby by CEI Architecture received an Award of Distinction. Finally, Vincent Morissette’s project Actus was recognized with a Silver Medal in the student and young professionals category. www.iaks.org

CA Jan 16.indd 10

www.oaq.com/pea

Alex Josephson of Partisans named DX Emerging Designer of the Year

Alex Josephson, co-founder of Toronto-based firm Partisans, has been named the winner of the Design Exchange’s 2015 Emerging Designer Competition. With an impressive roster of awards and honours to his credit, including the OAA Best Emerging Practice Award and a shortlist mention at the recent World Architecture Festival in Singapore, Josephson and his firm continue to put Canada on centre stage in the international design community.

Partisans has worked on iconic projects such as the Union Station revitalization, Bar Raval, the Grotto Sauna, and other notable work in Toronto, across Canada, and abroad. The Emerging Design Competition jury was curated

by Design Exchange President and CEO Shauna Levy. Josephson will receive a $10,000 prize for his win, and his work with Partisans will be displayed at the Design Exchange from December 8, 2015 to January 30, 2016. www.dx.org

www.worldarchitecturefestival.com

Pelletier de Fontenay wins the 2015 Phyllis Lambert Grant

Montreal architecture firm Pelletier de Fontenay, founded in 2010 by Hubert Pelletier and Yves de Fontenay, has won the 2015 Phyllis Lambert Grant for its project entitled Architectures de la nature captive. The grant comes with a $10,000 cash prize. Pelletier de Fontenay, one of the winning teams in the international competition to design the Insectarium Metamorphosis, will use the grant for a study trip to Germany, where they will delve into specific considerations relating to the architecture of nature museums. Pelletier de Fontenay is the eighth winner of this award, created as a tribute to Phyllis Lambert. designmontreal.com

WHAT’S NEW RIBA launches new global architecture award

The Royal Institute of British Architects has announced the 2016 RIBA International Prize, a new global architecture award for the world’s best new building. The RIBA International Prize will be awarded to a building of any type or budget and in any country which exemplifies design excellence, architectural ambition and which delivers meaningful social impact.

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The prize is open to any qualified architect in the world. The winner will be chosen by a Grand Jury led by architect Richard Rogers and including Kunlé Adeyemi, founder and principal of NLÉ, and Philip Gumuchdjian, founder of Gumuchdjian Architects and chair of RIBA’s awards committee. The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada will be involved in the preliminary evaluation of Canadian entries. RIBA’s rigorous judging process will see two expert panels of jurors visit each of the shortlisted buildings in person twice, before the Grand Jury selects six finalists to visit once more to decide on the winning building. www.architecture.com/Awards2016

Extraction to represent Canada at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale

A multimedia exploration of our extractive industries and mineral lives is set to represent Canada at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. Titled Extraction, the project features an installation, film and book addressing the ecologies and territories of resource extraction. The project explores the architectures, histories and economies of Canada’s culture of resource extraction. Through the lens of the territorial infrastructures and political ecologies of resource

urbanism, Extraction engages contemporary and historic media across a range of cultural, spatial and industrial views. It brings together perspectives from business, history, art and activism to rethink Canada’s global position as home to 75% of our planet’s prospecting and mining companies. The team is led by landscape urbanist Pierre Bélanger and includes OPSYS in collaboration with architectural firm RVTR , Nina-Marie Lister of Ryerson University’s Ecological Design Lab, and Kelsey Blackwell of Studio Blackwell. The multimedia exhibition project features contributions from prominent Canadians including Michael Awad, Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky, Nick de Pencier, Eriel Deranger, Max Haiven, Thomas King, Alessandra Ponte, John Van Nostrand, Mel Watkins and Suzanne Zeller.

As the Official Commissioner for Extraction, Catherine Crowston and the Art Gallery of Alberta will support the launch of the project in Venice on May 27, 2016. canadacouncil.ca

IN MEMORIAM Matthew Searle

Design advocate Matthew Searle passed away peacefully but unexpectedly on Friday, Novem-

ber 27, after a brief illness. Matthew was President of Searle & Company in Toronto, a boutique marketing and business consultancy that creates innovative business development, branding and marketing solutions for clients focussed on the design and architectural industries. Matthew was on the board of the Toronto Offsite Design Festival, directed marketing and business development at lighting design firm Lightemotion, and was Chief Marketing Officer for the 2017 World Design Summit in Montreal. Previous to this, Matthew was Marketing and Conference Director of IIDEXCanada for eight years; operated the Montreal-based Rapport marketing firm; developed further expertise with Triede, Azure, Canadian Interiors, Blackstock, Beaton Group and SIDIM; co-founded FaxSource based on that emerging technology; and worked with the team at Designers Walk’s Resource Centre. Matthew truly believed in the power of design to effect change in the world, and worked to demonstrate how creative approaches can have a positive impact on quality of life and on the bottom line. Matthew was beloved of his partner Pierre-Éric Villeneuve; siblings Suzanne, Hart and Paul Searle; his aunt Cynthia Coop, a professional interior designer in Winnipeg; and his many cousins, nieces and nephews.

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 01/16

NEWS

Architecture keynote panel: Buildex Vancouver This year’s architecture keynote panel at Buildex Vancouver is entitled Today, Tomorrow & Afar: Design Trends of the Present Day and Predictions for the Future.

Jim Huffman

Over the course of history, the practice of architecture has unfolded in ways that reflect the places and times in which the designers lived. New materials, unique approaches and daring designs have moved the process forward, challenging each generation to push the bar ever higher. While many argue that architecture has moved leaps and bounds, others ask: has it come far enough?

Building technology and connectivity continue to advance; the consciousness around the health and wellness of built environments and their tenants are heightened; energy performance requirements of buildings have become more stringent—all while the aesthetic deliverables of a project remain just as demanding.

Bruce Knapp

This discussion will pay tribute to the historical advances of architecture while identifying and expanding on present-day practices and trends. In particular, the panelists will evaluate how industry is meeting the increasing demands of project stakeholders. Looking toward the future, they’ll examine challenges and opportunities, predicting behaviour and changes they expect to see in the coming years.

The panelists include Jim Huffman, design director and associate principal at Perkins+Will; Alan Boniface, principal at DIALOG; Trevor Boddy, architecture critic, curator, and consulting urban designer; and Bruce Knapp, principal at B+H Architects.

Alan Boniface

The architecture keynote panel takes place on February 25, from 10:30 – 12 pm, at the Vancouver Convention Centre West. The panel is part of Buildex Vancouver, Western Canada’s largest tradeshow and conference for the construction, renovation, architecture, interior design and project management industries. Buildex runs from February 24-25, 2016. www.buildexvancouver.com

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sponsored by

Trevor Boddy

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CANADIAN ARCHITECT 01/16

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BANK ON IT

BANK ON IT AN AMBITIOUS RENOVATION OF THE FORMER BANK OF MONTREAL SEES THE AWARDWINNING 1930S BUILDING EXPANDED AND REPURPOSED AS A STYLISH RECEPTION CENTRE AND MEETING SPACE FOR TODAY’S PARLIAMENTARIANS. Sir John A. Macdonald Building, Ottawa, Ontario NORR Limited Architects Engineers Planners in association with MTBA Associates Inc. TEXT Sarah Brown PHOTOS Doublespace Photography PROJECT

ARCHITECTS

Imagine, for a moment, that this is your first week on the job. You’re a rookie MP, fresh and eager after your October 19th election win, heading to Ottawa for the compulsory weeklong orientation session. One key meeting is booked at the newly opened Sir John A. Macdonald Building.

You make your way to 144 Wellington Street, directly across from West Block, chatting with your fellow members of parliament, perhaps remark­ ing on the noble façade of the former Bank of Montreal building or noti­ cing for the first time the contemporary glass-fronted addition, situated in a former parking lot. As you and your colleagues enter the main hall, there’s an abrupt hush as everyone pauses to take in the moment—the gran­ deur of the gallery, sun streaming through soaring windows, lighting up the intricate tiled floor and bouncing off the exquisite suspended art-deco lights. Your heady confidence in the wake of the election takes a backseat as you survey your surroundings and draw a deep steadying breath.

Susan Kulba would have it no other way. “This building speaks to the dignity of Parliament. It speaks about tradition and Parliament and

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democracy—when our MPs enter it, it reminds them of their role,” says the senior director of the House of Commons’ Architecture & Long Term Vision and Plan Program Management Directorate.

Indeed, for close to a century this building has exemplified grandeur and dignity. It has also represented optimism. The Bank of Montreal launched the competition to build its headquarters in 1929, just as the Great Depression commenced, using the three-year construction project to provide jobs for hundreds of workers and signal its confidence in the Canadian economy. In 2012, the renovation of the dilapidated former bank and the building of the adjacent Annex took the same amount of time as that initial construction project. It was similarly bold, with the federal government freeing up $99.5 million to finance the monu­ mental task of creating a state-of-the-art replacement for the West Block’s former Confederation Room, designed to host significant par­ liamentary events—think state dinners, galas, large diplomatic recep­ tions, and the occasional federal-provincial conference.

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David Clusiau, FRAIC, senior principal at NORR , joined with conservation architect Mark Brandt, MRAIC, to lead the teams responsible for preserving and updating the heritage exteriors and interiors of the original building, while adding 3,100 square feet of meeting and auxiliary space in a new addition. To retrofit the space for the 21st century, the brief included integrating modern security, multimedia and food service requirements into the plans. In other words, add sparkle and spaciousness—but never forget that the new Confederation Room and its surrounding spaces must be exceptionally functional.

It’s interesting to note that in 1932 The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada awarded architect Ernest Barott a gold medal for his design of the bank, remarking that the building “has been designed to harmonize with its impressive setting and simplicity has been the keynote.”

For customers of the bank, the understated elegance of the exterior, in concert with the well-appointed interior, provided a daily reminder of the significance of the bank and its mission. Eighty-three years later,

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ABOVE A contemporary annex to the renovated former Bank of Montreal is a sophisticated addition to the Confederation Boulevard streetscape.

NEXT SPREAD The former banking hall has been completely restored while incorporating new HVAC, lighting, audio-visual systems and other infrastructure allowing it to be used as a conference and reception venue.

the addition of a modern Annex to the restored main building garnered an Award of Excellence from the City of Ottawa at its annual Urban Design Awards. In 2016, noble architecture once again acts as a cue to the building’s inhabitants, subtly prompting parliamentarians to recall the importance of their calling.

The Annex was envisioned by Clusiau as a sympathetic contemporary addition that defers to the heritage landmark by preserving the temple-view of its west façade. “The Annex is not meant to be a landmark in its own right. It’s designed to set up visitors to better appreciate the existing building,” explains Clusiau. With that recognition

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16 as a starting point, the contemporary addition both completes the Confederation Boulevard street edge while seeming to almost hover above the sidewalk. The main entrance for most visitors is through the Annex, and the first order of business is to pass through post-9/11 security. The key, says Clusiau, was to incorporate the necessary safety features with dignity, minimizing their role. He accomplished this by designing a “visual spiral,” with floor-to-ceiling Eramosa limestone, cut in striated and f leuri patterns, drawing the visitor’s eye upwards as they enter the Annex. The richly veined stone guides visitors through the security apparatus, then back toward a showpiece staircase that spirals around signature slabs of rich red Cape Breton marble. Here, a striking glazed roof f loods the area with natural light as visitors ascend to the second-f loor meeting room, all the while enjoying unobstructed views of Parliament Hill.

Upstairs, a spacious mezzanine presents particularly lovely vistas of the West Block’s gothic Mackenzie Tower. The attached meeting room, suitable for up to 200, is a graceful melding of the traditional and the contemporary, with fine wood panels providing gravitas, and a coffered ceiling and canted light cubes creating visual interest while also complementing the traditional coffered ceiling in the main banking hall. This is a space that is of its time, even as it pays homage to the architecture of the past—a room that exhorts parliamentarians to look to the future as they contemplate the traditions of their constituents.

The understated style of the Annex sets the requisite tone for consultations and small conferences, while recognizing that the real emphasis rightly belongs with the rehabilitated Bank of Montreal building—and, in particular, with the former banking hall.

On entering the main hall, the visitor’s attention is drawn first to the magnificent coffered ceiling. For nine months, scaffolding took workers to within five feet of the coffered panels as they worked on cleaning, touchups and repairs. “Picture what 80 years of nicotine f loating up through the air had done to that ceiling,” says Brandt.

“We marked every spot that needed work with a colour-coded ribbon and it looked like a party zone up there.” A poultice of seaweed and rice paper developed in Japan was used to clean the ceiling, which was then meticulously repaired and repainted. New acoustic coffer panels, set within the rehabilitated ceiling, conceal fire sprinklers and ventilation infrastructure.

From the glory of the ceiling, the visitor’s gaze travels down to three splendid chandeliers, evenly spaced along the grand expanse of the main hall. Over three metres tall, they were completely restored and, in the process, re-lamped with energy-saving LEDs. During the rehabilitation, new uplights were also added to highlight the delicate filigree of wall patterning. Secondary spaces—the south hall entrance and a former staff cafeteria on the second floor, now turned small meeting room—are ornamented with smaller versions of the chandeliers.

If the visitor can tear her eyes away from the upper half of the room, she will be struck by the rehabilitated marble f loor that f lows through the centre of the hall, matched with new terrazzo along the sides.

Once again, a careful restoration is paired with modern technology— underneath the yesteryear glamour, radiant heating and cooling keeps the room comfortable. One of the key challenges for the architects was integrating heating, cooling, and ventilation systems that would preserve the heritage building, given that upwards of 500 people will LEFT, TOP TO BOTTOM View of the grand stair leading to the banking hall.

The rehabilitated coffered ceilings conceal acoustic controls, fire sprinklers, and return air vents; a stair in the new atrium wraps around a richly veined deep red slab of Cape Breton marble. OPPOSITE The fully glazed atrium connects the historic banking hall to a contemporary addition. Conceived as a second stone box, the addition includes a granite base topped by limestone above, set out in a modular pattern with bronze inlaid joints.

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CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Structural glass roof joists lend an exceptional degree of transparency to the atrium; detail of the glass fins facing the atrium; canted light cubes give three-dimensionality to the ceiling of the multipurpose room; the underlying geometrical order and proportions of the restored bank building provided inspiration for the addition. OPPOSITE The mezzanine lobby of the Annex faces Parliament Hill’s West Block.

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Sarah Brown is an independent writer and editor based in Ottawa. She specializes in writing about design.

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congregate for the largest galas. Among their creative solutions are the unobtrusive speaker benches, which fulfill multiple functions, cleverly concealing air supply components, a fire alarm system, a speaker system and voting lights.

The entire scene is bathed in a cathedral-like radiance, courtesy of lofty double-paned windows that run the length of the hall. The inner pane has a yellow tint, which creates a golden glow on sunny days. Experts matched the colour of broken panes, yielding light uniform in hue. Outside, intricate ornamental grilles, parts of which had become severely oxidized over time, have been brilliantly restored.

(It’s a pity that seen from the inside, acoustic curtains often obscure the windows, drawn when meetings take place and projector screens and other audio-visual aids are in use.) The façade of the Annex picks up on these materials, expressing the grid of the main building throughout and interpreting it in new ways—bronze insets play off the makeup of the metal grilles, while glass blades in between the window panels emphasize the vertical nature of each panel.

When asked to sum up their experience working on such a historically significant project, Clusiau and Brandt are humble yet proud. “It’s spectacular how it all turned out,” says Clusiau. “We kept pulling rabbits out of hats to solve the many problems that come up with a heritage building like this, but everyone worked together to get it done.” Adds Brandt: “Any modern interventions had to be in harmony with the existing building. There was real integration between our firms in the design process. The whole project has a quiet dignity.”

That dignity is steeped in the old, but with an eye to the future; respecting Canada’s past, but not nostalgic in tone. The new cohort of MPs, and the veterans who will guide them, cannot help but be invigorated by such a vibrant meeting and ceremonial space, one explicitly designed to encourage interactivity, big-picture thinking, and, above all, optimism.

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GROUND FLOOR CLIENT PUBLIC WORKS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES CANADA | ARCHITECT TEAM DAVID CLUSIAU,

JONATHAN HUGHES, PILAR BRYSON, NINA DEGIOVANNI, GERRIE DOYLE, EARL REINKE, MARK SIDER, ALEXANDRA BIRTWISTLE, GERRY DESSEREAU, MIRENA DITCHEVA, BILL HALDENBY, JEFF JOHNSTON, DOUGLAS LOZADA | HERITAGE CONSERVATION ARCHITECT MTBA ARCHITECTS & ASSOCIATES—MARK BRANDT, CHRIS WARDEN, JORGE SOSA | STRUCTURAL JOHN G COOKE & ASSOCIATES LTD. | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL NORR LIMITED, ARCHITECTS & ENGINEERS | INTERIORS NORR LIMITED | CONTRACTOR ELLISDON | AREA 5,363 M2 | BUDGET $99.5 M | COMPLETION JUNE 2015

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STGM ARCHITECTES LEADS BY EXAMPLE IN THE DESIGN OF THEIR SUSTAINABLE NEW QUEBEC CITY OFFICES. STGM Head Office, Quebec City, Quebec STGM Architects TEXT Olivier Vallerand PHOTOS Stéphane Groleau unless otherwise noted PROJECT

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An architecture firm’s office is often more than just another project.

When done well, it is a calling card for an approach—an encapsulation of the firm’s philosophy, and a preview of what clients can expect for their own future buildings.

Quebec City firm St-Gelais Montminy + Associés Architectes (STGM) seized this opportunity recently with a new office that reflects their commitment to environmental sustainability. STGM’s former office was a cramped space, in a generic 1980s suburban office building in the residential borough of Charlesbourg. Its new purpose-built headquarters is spacious and striking: a contemporary two-storey structure in a formerly commercial and industrial zone of the borough of Beauport. It sits on a former service station lot, adjacent to an in-development eco-district.

The move positions the firm as a participant in the long-discussed transformation of a neglected neighbourhood into a model sustainable

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community. Moreover, the architects used the opportunity to design the province’s first private sector LEED-NC Platinum building. While keeping sustainability in mind at every scale, the design prioritizes the team’s comfort. The building’s success testifies to the compatibility and complementarity of both objectives.

The site itself is a statement of the firm’s dedication to sustainability: a five-minute drive from Quebec City’s downtown core, it is also next to a planned bus rapid transit terminus and a well-used bike path. The building allows STGM to bring together its affiliated firms and to share resources with them. This includes mechanical and electrical engineers Ambioner and interior designers IDEA, both of whom the firm collaborated with to create an efficient and integrated design.

These urban-level advantages are paired with careful site planning that limits asphalt surfaces and includes an electrical car outlet, reserved park-

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OPPOSITE TOP, LEFT TO RIGHT Prefabricated small-sized trusses and joists enable a lightweight structure while allowing for 14-metre spans in the open work area; the wood roof trusses were integrated as a design element, exposed on the upper storey to give the office its distinct character.

OPPOSITE BOTTOM The building stands out as an exemplar adjacent an area earmarked as an eco-district. ABOVE Private offices are clad in salvaged wood from local tear-downs. BELOW The exterior combines high-performance concrete composite siding, eastern cedar and a solar wall.

ing spaces for car-sharing, indoor bike storage, showers for active commuters, and two water retention basins. One of the basins, located on the west side of the building, ensures that nothing will get built on that edge and thus allows the firm to maintain sunlight input on their solar wall.

These decisions set a progressive example for the planned urban revitalisation of the neighbourhood.

Inside, nearly every aspect of the design has been shaped by eco-friendly structural and material decisions. For example, white-painted doubled wood trusses define the character of the second floor studio, occupied by the architecture team. This lightweight structure was designed in reaction to the site’s low-bearing-capacity soil, making use of the firm’s experience with economical structures on other projects. With its doubled trusses and columns, the structure frees up long spans for the studio.

The four-foot-wide modules include room for a large number of oper-

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able windows, used in the shoulder seasons for natural ventilation. Heating and cooling loads are taken up by a high-efficiency aerothermal system that lowers energy consumption by an estimated 51%. The system includes a heat exchange system connected to a solar wall (a black cavity wall that collects and pre-heats air, accounting for 24% of the heating) and a non-insulated room at the back of the building. In this room, condensers are kept in a controlled environment that allows the system to more efficiently work with tempered air. Fresh air is heated by used air from the building, supplemented with a natural gas furnace in case of extreme cold. The furnace also acts as a backup for the entire system.

To conserve water, rainfall is diverted from storm drains and collected for f lushing toilets. Six skylights in the studio and stairwells, along with plenty of large windows, provide natural lighting. An automatically adjusting LED system supplements daylight on cloudy days

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OPPOSITE Supergraphics using architectural quotes add zest to the wood-and-steel stairwell of the two-storey structure. ABOVE The spacious reception area includes a light-catching hanging sculpture. 86% of the spaces in the narrow floorplate building receive natural light, and almost every room enjoys views to the outdoors.

and in the evenings. The carpet pattern—based on the lighting diagram—playfully animates the resulting bright spaces.

The use of wood is not limited to the structure. In search of durable but lightweight materials, the architects clad the building with a simple composition of natural wood boards and black fibre cement panels that blend in with the solar wall. (Made of recycled material, the fibre cement panels frame the sides where building codes prevented the use of wood.) Inside, reused wood appears throughout the building: stairs are made of recycled beams from the contractor’s lumber yard, while the walls fronting partners’ offices feature salvaged wood siding, from 19th century houses in the nearby Beauce region. The team used a clear oiland-resin based natural finish on both interior and exterior wood, and is currently monitoring how it ages and weathers.

Finding reused materials was one of the challenges of the project, according to design partner Stéphan Langevin. Kitchen cabinet frames and chairs were refurbished and brought from the previous office to cut down on construction waste—even though this was as expensive as purchasing new versions. Locally made furniture completes the fit-out.

The natural materials and light-coloured finishes create a calm ambience that helps employees to focus. In contrast, a less successful decision is the use of well-known quotes from architects and philosophers in a bold graphic that adorns the stairwells. These differ too sharply from the understated design of the rest of the building—which already speaks for itself about the essentials of sustainable, thoughtful architecture.

While not all of the implemented solutions are clearly visible to visitors, the building as a whole becomes an educational tool, demonstrating how a sustainable office building can be created with a relatively low budget. The result has the potential to impact clients’ decisions, as they directly experience the advantages of environmentally integrated construction, along with witnessing the design team’s pride

for the design and their comfort within it. Conference groups visiting Quebec City have also toured the building.

The success of STGM’s office design shows that relatively small gestures and collaborative efforts can yield a building that is both intuitive to inhabit and easy on the environment. Like most architects, Langevin is not surprised: the new office confirms lessons learned on client projects, showing that building sustainably is well worth the extra effort.

As he puts it, “there’s no reason not to do it.” Whereas many sustainable buildings are celebrated for their state-of-the-art systems, here the strategies are low-tech and, even with the sophisticated mechanical set-up, characterized by a less-is-more attitude.

If the building stands out in its current context—with a pizzeria parking lot to one side and the loading docks for a one-storey semi-industrial warehouse to the other—it is only because expected transformations to the neighbourhood are taking longer than wished for. After a few false starts, the adjacent eco-district now seems on the verge of getting off the ground. The final result may not be as radical as other eco-districts around the world. But a big step for environmentally sustainable developments in Quebec will be made if the area’s new occupants take their cue from STGM’s lead, creating buildings as efficiently and intelligently designed as STGM’s new home.

Olivier Vallerand is an architect with 1x1x1 Laboratory. He also teaches at the School of Architecture at Université Laval.

CLIENT STGM ARCHITECTS | ARCHITECT TEAM STÉPHAN LANGEVIN, MICHEL GINGRAS, GUILLAUME ROBIN, CHANTALE GALIBOIS, RAYMOND BOUCHER, ALEX GUÉRIN, MAXIME ARCAND, VALÉRIE GAGNÉ, DANIELLE HÉBERT-BOUTIN | STRUCTURAL ALCO GROUP / BPR TETRATECH | MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL AMBIONER | CIVIL ROCHE | LANDSCAPE STGM / LES URBAINCULTEURS | INTERIORS STGM + IDEA | CONTRACTOR CEH INC. | GRAPHIC DESIGN PUBLIGRIFFE | LIGHTING PHOTOLUX DESIGN | AREA 1000 M2 | BUDGET $2.7 M | COMPLETION SEPTEMBER 2014

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A NET-ZERO ENERGY BUSINESS CENTRE IN SUBURBAN EDMONTON SHOWCASES BEST PRACTICES IN SUSTAINABLE DESIGN. Mosaic Centre for Conscious Community and Commerce, Edmonton, Alberta ARCHITECTS Manasc Isaac Architects TEXT Brandon Webber PHOTOS Josh Kjenner unless otherwise noted PROJECT

When it comes to sustainability, Edmonton—known more as the capital of dirty oil than for green design—is a paradox. The city’s suburbs creep further each year into Alberta’s best agricultural land and the car still dominates urban planning. Yet surprisingly, Edmonton is also home to more net-zero residences than any other city in Canada. The waste management program designed in Edmonton is a model other cities around the world come to study. In the midst of this stands the newly opened, ultra-sustainably designed Mosaic Centre.

A paradox in and of itself, Mosaic stands in the far south of Edmonton, just east of a section of the Queen Elizabeth Highway used by 90,000 cars daily. Its neighbours include low-density, low-rise commercial buildings, oversized single-family suburban homes, and vacant lots waiting to be paved into parking. That being said, Mosaic aims to be the first Living Building Challenge certified project in Alberta. As an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) build—one of the first in Edmonton—it was both 5% under budget and 30% ahead of schedule. It is also one of the world’s first net-zero energy commercial buildings in a cold climate.

To achieve this, Mosaic employs some exceptional design features. The 30,000-square-foot building is constructed with a glulam structure. In fact, glulam is used throughout—even scraps and cut-offs were upcycled into furniture, desks and art. A 250-square-foot, three-storey-high green wall helps purify the air and moderate humidity. A majority of the south and east façades, as well as a rooftop pergola, are clad in photovoltaic solar panels that produce 213kW of power—60 times the capacity of a typical residential system. Four electric car charging stations and a 40-bicycle garage encourage alternative means of transportation. Moreover, the design concept goes well beyond practical environmental considerations.

It presents a model that rethinks the ways we live and work.

I recently met with project architect Vedran Skopac of Manasc Isaac— an Alberta firm known for its environmentally progressive approach. Over a few drinks, we talked about the concept and construction of Mosaic as well as the design philosophy that guided it. Our discussion kept circling back to three principles—the “three Ds of design,” as Skopac calls them.

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ABOVE Balconies, terraces, an accessible roof and generous glazing connect the Mosaic Centre’s users to the outdoors. OPPOSITE, TOP TO BOTTOM The ultra-sustainable centre is located in suburban Edmonton; a series of bridges and stairs spans through the split-level building, which is three storeys tall on one side and two storeys on the other.

The first of these principles is distinction. Context—the unique place, people and purpose behind a building—should define form. Every place is different and no two people are the same. Can a building be as distinctive as its place and the people that inhabit it?

Part of Mosaic’s unique context was the desire of the clients—building owners Oil Country Engineering and EcoAmmo Environmental Consulting—to obtain Living Building certification. The rigorous certification requirements include demonstrating net-positive water and power output, net-positive waste diversion, as well as less quantifiable goals such as equitable community living and investment.

Most Living Buildings exist in moderate climates. To mitigate Edmonton’s cold conditions, sunshades on the south-facing glazing were specifically designed to stay icicle-free in the winter, and a triple-glazed fiberglass curtainwall system reduces thermal bridging through the skin. The project also deploys a geothermal heating system—including 31 boreholes drilled down to a 70 metre depth—paired with concrete floors to store thermal energy.

The site plan was also a major contextual consideration. The building is positioned slightly askew to the street grid to maximize solar gain, with the upper portion of the volume cantilevered to minimize the building footprint. This provides a large amount of south-facing land for gardening, composting and a daycare playground. Berms and bioswales planted with edible vegetation create more intimate spaces, while draining rainwater into a 7,000-gallon underground retention tank for irrigating plants in the garden and on the roof.

Skopac believes a Living Building like Mosaic needs to do more than just be environmentally sustainable. Buildings also need to be “emotionally sustainable,” he says. His second design principle, dynamism, acknowledges that people’s desires, motivations, goals and relationships are always changing. We create clutter, we let things pile up, we leave tools out after tasks. We work in ways that may not be logical at face value. Given our own volatility, how can a workplace like Mosaic increase its users’ quality of life, appreciation of beauty, enjoyment of other

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Flanked by a living wall, the atrium includes oversized steps that can be used for informal gatherings. OPPOSITE, TOP TO BOTTOM Exposed glulam columns and beams lend a down-to-earth character to the workspaces; a restaurant, daycare and wellness centre are accessible from the ground floor; large arrays of photovoltaic panels on the façade and roof contribute to the building’s net-zero energy goals.

ABOVE

people and satisfaction in work? The design team responded to these questions by creating dynamic spaces that invite imagination in use instead of declaring a single purpose. For instance, the feature stair’s broad glulam-and-steel steps are not just used for circulation—they are designed to be collision and connection spaces. These small interactions are intended, rather than inadvertant, producing a heightened sense of community.

The stairs also play host to intimate lectures and pop-up markets. The use of the space is not limited or prescribed.

In other parts of the design, the principle of diversity is at play, with value provided in the specific rather than the general. Layouts that are too open, Skopac observes, can actually end up curbing creativity.

Mosaic’s ceiling heights and room sizes vary considerably to accommodate specific needs, with vaulted ceilings in the restaurant and more cozy, intimate meeting spaces and workrooms.

With its diverse programs, Mosaic sometimes seems more like a community centre than a commercial property. A full-service restaurant locally sources produce (including from onsite gardens), has a no-throw-away food policy, and harvests honey from a four-hive rooftop apiary. A wellness studio on the main floor provides workout opportunities. Atop Mosaic, a terrace and greenhouse are in development. A second floor communal kitchen provides additional space for informally connecting. A major tenant is the co-working space Interchange, which provides flexible desk room for small, socially minded companies. Mosaic implements mixed-use ideals at the building scale. You might arrive as a consultant and leave as a gardener; both types of work feel natural and complementary.

To achieve this type of diversity, the architect included members from the client and construction teams during concept development.

It was an ideal approach for a building that used the IPD construction

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process, in which all the suppliers, trades, consultants and owners were at the table from the beginning. Each brought their own expertise and local knowledge to bear in the project, often finding creative opportunities or reductions in cost.

Mosaic represents a community of diversity and it stands as a model for how people can work together to achieve a high-aiming vision. In some ways, that brings us back to Mosaic’s paradox: that it stands in the midst of a suburb in a city bent to feed off the profits of oil extraction. Perhaps it is intentional that Mosaic exists in direct contrast to its surroundings.

To be an environmentally sustainable project is not enough though, even if the numbers work—Skopac argues that these places need to be beautiful and that “beauty is a survival skill.” He believes people won’t necessarily protect something because it is sustainable—they will protect it because they find it beautiful. As a community, Mosaic strives to present environmental design as not only necessary, but necessarily beautiful.

Brandon Webber is a writer and head of a small creative agency in Edmonton, Alberta.

He is passionate about architecture and urban design that promote walkable and resilient communities.

CLIENT MOSAIC FAMILY OF COMPANIES (CHRISTY BENOIT & DENNIS CUKU) | ARCHITECT TEAM VEDRAN SKOPAC, SHAFRAAZ KABA, ALECSANDRU VASILIU, ELEANOR MOLONEY, SONNY SHEM, ROB MARK, CLAUDIA YEHIA-ALAEDDIN, ZOHADYA SYED, JOSH KJENNER | STRUCTURAL FAST + EPP | MECHANICAL CLARK ENGINEERING | ELECTRICAL MANASC ISAAC | LEED AND LBC ECOAMMO SUSTAINABLE CONSULTING | LANDSCAPE PICEA | CIVIL DGE GROUP | GEO-EXCHANGE REVOLVE ENGINEERING | PV SYSTEM GREAT CANADIAN SOLAR | ENERGY MODELING RENÜ BUILDING SCIENCE, HABITAT STUDIO | CODE GHL, MANASC ISAAC | COMMISSIONING INTEGRATED DESIGNS | INTERIORS MANASC ISAAC ARCHITECTS, BLUE GRAPHITE, MIDORI | ART CLAY LOWE & AJ LOUDEN, OLIVER APT, ADAM LARSON, TIM ANTONIUK, VEDRAN SKOPAC | CONTRACTOR CHANDOS | AREA 30,000 FT 2 | BUDGET $10.5 M | COMPLETION FEBRUARY 2015

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THE HOSPITAL, FUTURE AND PAST TEXT

Peter Sealy

A COLLOQUIUM ASKS: HOW CAN HOSPITALS ADAPT TO THE DEMANDS OF EVERCHANGING MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY? AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH HOSPITALS DEEMED OUT-OF-DATE, SUCH AS MONTREAL’S ROYAL VIC?

Last fall, a colloquium in Montreal entitled Hospital / Hôpital examined the hospital’s importance as a political, cultural and architectural artefact. From the labour strife behind the creation of Modernist hospitals in West Virginia to the historic ties between the Sainte-Justine children’s hospital and Montreal’s working-class francophone community, 19 presentations sketched out the many links between hospitals and the communities they serve. A particular highlight was the screening of Robert Cordier’s film Miracles in Modern Medicine. Created for Arthur Erickson’s Man and His Health pavilion at Expo 67, the film shows six interventions involving humans and machines at Montreal hospitals.

It was recently rediscovered by Stephen Palmer of the University of Windsor; both Cordier and Palmer were on hand to present this glorious example of high-tech medicine as popular entertainment.

While several presenters explored the interplay between changing medical technology and hospital design, McGill Assistant Professor David Theodore, MRAIC, went one step further by asking: what happens when the hospital not only has to respond to the present state of medical practice, but to its (unforeseeable) evolution? “Ever since the hospital became

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ABOVE View of the MUHC’s new Glen Yards campus. OPPOSITE, TOP TO BOTTOM The future of the existing Royal Vic buildings is uncertain; the first hospitals designed for expansion include Northwich Park Hospital and the Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center.

a technological machine, circa 1970, every hospital began laying claim to be the hospital of the future,” said Theodore. To avoid creating buildings that were already outdated before opening, architects “had to find a way to build the hospital first, and then design it afterwards.” Among the devices deployed in this Sisyphean task: the central spine around which pavilions could be added or expanded at John Weeks and Richard Llewelyn Davis’ Northwich Park Hospital in London, England (1970), and the interstitial service floors used in Gerhard Kallmann and Michael McKinnell’s Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Brooklyn (1978).

For Theodore, the spectre of obsolescence, in which “we can’t, it seems, practise twenty-first century medicine in twentieth-century buildings,” is “a kind of medical crisis in which the patient never recovers.” This is precisely this situation now facing the Royal Victoria Hospital, left empty following the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC)’s recent move to its new Glen Yards site. In her presentation, McGill Professor (and former Director of the School of Architecture) Annmarie Adams, FRAIC, revisited a bitter kerfuffle from the mid-1990s when she criticised the MUHC’s initial proposal to demolish the Royal Vic’s postwar buildings

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MIRNA WASEF LONDON NORTH WEST HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST BRUCE WOOD

DON TOROMANOFF

while converting its earlier pavilions into condominiums. The MUHC ’s “swift and vicious” response was a harbinger of the deafness and outright corruption that would plague the super-hospital project. Regrettably, 19 years later, we are only a little closer to finding out what will happen to the Royal Vic. For Adams, this is both lamentable and unacceptable.

“Part and parcel of being a responsible architectural client is assuring the future of the original site,” she said.

The buildings left empty by the MUHC may fall into ruin, leaving demolition as the only option. Such “needless demolition” occurred in Calgary, London, Toronto, Ste. Agathe and St. John’s. On the flip side, Adams presented successful examples of hospital reuse from Australia and the United States. Noting Montreal’s long tradition of re-appropriating buildings for new functions, Adams expressed her wish that McGill University would acquire the Royal Vic site and put it to academic uses, a move that “makes sense, given the location and history of the institution.” The Royal Vic presents a spectacular architectural range across its 14 buildings spanning from 1893 until a century later. However, McGill’s present proposal for classrooms, laboratories and offices involves demolishing all of the Royal Vic’s postwar buildings.

While Adams’ presentation eloquently addressed the issues surrounding the Royal Vic’s reuse for a non-healthcare purpose, she also noted her disappointment that a way had not been found to keep the Royal Vic as a hospital. “If we can afford to gut the Royal Vic to remake it as a university, why couldn’t we gut it to remake it as a hospital?,” she asked.

The new MUHC, located west of downtown, cast a large shadow over the proceedings. While none of the presenters directly examined its architecture, Mary Hunter and Tamar Tembeck (both from McGill University) came closest with their insightful survey of public art in the new hospital.

The MUHC’s funding model was subject to a scathing condemnation

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PRODUCT SHOWCASE by the University of Waterloo’s Heather Whiteside, who denounced the recent rise of Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) in Canadian healthcare projects. The disastrous dénouement of the MUHC’s P3 process continues to shock those familiar with its details. Whiteside’s stance is unequivocal: not only do P3s fail to reduce inefficiency, “P3s themselves are corruption.” Private-sector financing is more expensive and risks are never truly transferred to the private partners, leaving taxpayers to pay extra when P3s work as they should and on the hook when they don’t.

While the colloquium focused on hospitals, both the first and last presenters questioned their central role in our healthcare system—especially in the present fiscal environment, where hospitals compete for scarce funding with clinics and other primary care vehicles. Gregory Marchildon of the University of Toronto noted how—in spite of the general assumption that hospitals play too great a role in healthcare—successive healthcare reforms have often simply reinforced hospital-centric models. This sentiment was Arriscraft and ProGuardTM offer continuous insulation for thin-adhered masonry applications ProGuardTM insulated cement board panels provide continuous insulation for adhered veneer applications, such as Arriscraft’s thin-clad ARRIS.tile and ARRIS.stack. ProGuardTM eliminates the need to install a drainage mat, insulation, and cement board in three separate steps. Pre-selected screws complete the ease of specifying and using the product. arriscraft.com 1-800-265-8123

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echoed by Damian Contandriopoulos of the Université de Montréal, who charted the rocky future facing hospitals over the coming decades and questioned their utility in delivering healthcare outcomes efficiently.

The difficulty of managing and funding our healthcare system— widely acknowledged as the cornerstone of Canada’s postwar social democracy—looms large. While the controversies surrounding the new MUHC will likely subside with time (the successful incorporation of the former Royal Vic into the McGill campus would certainly help), the Canadian hospital will remain an urgent matter.

Held at the McCord Museum on October 1-2, 2015, the Hospital / Hôpital colloquium was jointly organized by McGill University’s Institute for Health and Social Policy and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Montréal.

Peter Sealy is a doctoral candidate at Harvard University.

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Provencher Roy: 1:X

Robert Rubin lecture

Superlith

Montréal en lumière

January 21-February 27, 2016

January 25, 2016

Opening January 28, 2016

February 18-March 5, 2016

The Université de Montréal’s Faculté de l’aménagement presents an exhibition and lecture series featuring case studies of five exemplary projects by the local heavyweight firm.

New York cultural historian and independent curator Robert M. Rubin lectures at Carleton University on his restoration of the Maison de Verre, Maison Tropicale and other 21st century icons.

Architectural-based artist Miles Gertler of Toronto collective Studio 93H presents a one-person exhibition at the Corkin Gallery. www.corkingallery.com

www.montrealenlumiere.com

Interior Design Show

Supermodels

Crafting the City: Consciousness, Craft and Consumption

January 21-24, 2016

January 27-February 7, 2016

February 10, 2016

amenagement.umontreal.ca

Hosted at the Toronto Metro Convention Centre, the annual Interior Design Show boasts upwards of 300 floor exhibitions in addition to a keynote speaker and seminar series. interiordesignshow.com

carleton.ca/architecture

Presented at UQAM’s Centre de Design, this travelling exhibition includes architectural models of projects by such Dutch architects as Gerrit Rietveld, Van Doesburg and Van Eesteren, Jan Benthem and Hans Heeswijk. www.dutchdesignsupermodels.com

Come up to my Room January 21-24, 2016

Part of the Toronto Offsite Design Festival, the 13th edition of this popular annual exhibition features site-specific installations by local designers and artists occupying four floors of Toronto’s historic Gladstone Hotel. comeuptomyroom.com

Toronto-area practitioners in alternative housing, urban agriculture, sustainable fashion and local food engage in a critical dialogue about how globalization, sustainability and notions of authenticity shape personal and collective codes of craft production. www.textilemuseum.ca

Matthew Coolidge lecture January 28, 2016

The Center for Land Use Interpretation’s founding director Matthew Coolidge speaks in Toronto about the geographybased organization’s program areas and current activities. prefix.ca

This annual winter festival features numerous indoor and outdoor events, centered around the Luminothérapie installation on the Place des festivals.

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Benjamin Brown: Architect

Sou Fujimoto lecture February 23, 2016

Tokyo architect Sou Fujimoto lectures at the University of Toronto’s Isabel Bader Theatre. daniels.utoronto.ca

Buildex Vancouver February 23, 2016

Western Canada’s largest AEC tradeshow and conference takes place at the Vancouver Convention Centre West. buildexvancouver.com

February 12-April 23, 2016

This exhibition at Urbanspace Gallery features Benjamin Brown, whose work in the 1920s and 30s supported the growth of Toronto’s Jewish community. urbanspacegallery.ca

Frank Barkow lecture February 29, 2016

Architect Frank Barkow lectures on his research-based work with Berlin firm Barkow Leibinger. sala.ubc.ca

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BACKPAGE

JAMES ANTHONY USAS

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LUMINOUS VEIL TEXT

Katherine Ashenburg

12 YEARS AFTER OPENING, A SUICIDE BARRIER SPANNING TORONTO’S DON VALLEY IS ILLUMINATED WITH A RAINBOW OF COLOURS. For walkers, cyclists and drivers on Toronto’s Prince Edward Viaduct at dusk, the only colour comes from the pink-streaked western sky.

Then, 25 minutes after sundown, a score of lights appears at the top of the viaduct’s suicide barrier, bathing the steel strings that rise from the bridge, the stony balustrade and the sidewalk in mauves, blues, oranges, pinks and reds.

Gradually the whole bridge is illuminated, but fitfully and unpredictably: the colours change, splashing over the strings, retreating, returning to ripple in another place. It’s as if a celestial harpist is meditatively playing a huge instrument, thinking as he goes about the location and the nature of the next subtle effect.

The Luminous Veil, as the suicide prevention barrier is called, inspires metaphors. Its designer, Dereck Revington, refers to it as a painting, a musical instrument, an orchestra. Those are not obvious images for a suicide barrier, but there is nothing obvious about Revington or his work. Beyond its function, he wanted to create a piece of public art that expressed healing and joy as well as mourning. The sources he relied on for his soaring design include poetry, novels (Virginia Woolf ’s The Waves, Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion), con-

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sultations with Toronto’s schizophrenic community and a numerical system called the Sigma Series that creates the rhythmic interplay between the inner and outer lines of the strings.

Something so freighted with intentions and influences could easily have become unwieldy, but Revington absorbed and melded them into a resonant but infinitely nuanced whole.

When the Luminous Veil opened in 2003, it was not luminous. Revington quotes the novelist Milan Kundera: “From the sketch to the work, one travels on one’s knees.” For this project, Revington has been on his knees since 1998, when the viaduct was the second-most popular suicide destination in North America, after San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

In that year, after 400 suicides, the City of Toronto announced a national design competition for a barrier. Revington’s winning entry included LED lights across the top, as well as on the undercarriage that supports the subway as it crosses the viaduct. But the barrier met with fierce opposition, often centred around its cost, and the lights came off the table early.

They stayed off the table until 2007, when Jennifer Jones, a dance teacher and member of the Danforth Business Improvement Associa-

ABOVE Purple hues ripple through the metal strings of the Luminous Veil, a suicide barrier atop Toronto’s Prince Edward Viaduct.

tion, saw the promise of Toronto’s only lit sculpture and initiated talks with the city. This time, things went more smoothly. As Revington says, “People can embrace the joy of moving light more than what frightens them.”

Even so, lighting the Veil took another eight years for Revington and his team, including 18 months working on the code that underlies the moving lights. It’s a dauntingly complex, dynamic system that changes daily according to the season, temperature, and direction and velocity of the wind. On July 4, 2015, at the Pan/ ParaPan American Games, a ribbon of 35,000 LED lights travelled the bridge’s 450 metres, and the Luminous Veil finally lived up to its name.

The $2.8 million spent for lighting didn’t stretch to the undercarriage, so the Veil remains a work in progress. Revington says of his creation, “It’s not what it means, but what it is.”

Hinting at sorrow and healing but ultimately mysterious, the Veil is probably something different for each viewer. But it’s also communal, because every night between sundown and sunrise something happens on the viaduct that is unique in Toronto and unique to that night.

Katherine Ashenburg is a Toronto-based writer.

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