Archinect - News

In an Ontario plaza, interactive pavements play music ‘as if by magic’

2024-02-28T13:28:00-05:00

Montreal-based studio Daily tous les jours has completed a public space design in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. Titled 'River Lines,' the project saw the creation of an interactive stage in an urban plaza for big impromptu musical ensembles.

Video credit: doublespace photography

Part of the studio’s wider Musical Pavement series, the interactive wave-patterned pavement is embedded with 62 sensing light rings that “get people moving through musical collaboration exercises.” The infrastructure is formed of twelve in-house tailored audio tiles that have no visible hardware and blend with the wider pavement pattern, meaning “music emanates from the ground as if by magic.”

Image credit: doublespace photography

Located on the site of a 19th-century foundry, the artwork is “a response to the historical nature of the site” and “an exemplar of how investment in the public realm is essential to reimagine and activate places and encourage collective interacti...

Gordie Howe International Bridge construction: Opening delayed to September 2025

2024-01-09T17:04:00-05:00

The completion date for the delayed Gordie Howe International Bridge has been pushed back to September 2025, according to the Detroit Free Press.

A public announcement put out by the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority detailed the progress that’s been made since the project commenced in late 2018.

Since that time, the bridge’s road deck construction, stay cable installation, and Port of Entry facilities have progressed successfully. Completion of the road deck, stay cable installations, and ancillary Port of Entry outbuildings will follow in the coming year. The finalization of the operations process is then anticipated for the year after.

"After a three-year pandemic and considering the size and complexity of the Gordie Howe International Bridge project, our project team is pleased that the impact to the construction schedule is limited to only 10 months beyond the original contracted com...

StudioAC plays with gabled forms for an ‘unapologetically contemporary’ Toronto home

2024-01-05T13:20:00-05:00

Toronto-based Studio AC has offered a look inside their “unapologetically” residential scheme in the Canadian city. The three-story home reads as a series of stacked boxes from the outside with echoes of traditional residential forms.

Image credit: Doublespace Photography

At the base of the scheme, an otherwise contemporary rectilinear massing holds a gable-shaped opening while, above, the scheme is crowned by a gabled roof form. Inside, the emphasis on gabled forms continued with ceiling levels on the first and third floors that follow a peaked, sloping form.

Image credit: Doublespace Photography

“While a gabled roof is one of the quintessential icons of “house”, the Studio was interested in elevating this phenomenon beyond motif to a spatial experience that defined a narrative throughout the project,” the design team explains. “This approach was integral to working with the client's budget strategy and thesis:...

StudioAC completes coastal Canadian home embedded into a steep ridge

2023-10-26T11:51:00-04:00

Toronto-based StudioAC has completed a residence east of the city, in a landscape characterized by an “intricate coastline and a bourgeoning wine-making industry.” The home, named Cherry Valley House, sits on a steep ridge that descends to the lakeshore.

Image credit: Felix Michaud

The house is sunken into the ridge, “protected at its back and providing a vantage point below the trees,” according to the team. Large windows on the shore-facing facade frame views of the lake, while panoramic windows at ground level face an adjacent meadow. Above, large dormer windows bring additional natural light into the space.

Image credit: Felix Michaud

The home’s contemporary spatial sequencing is contrasted by materiality drawing inspiration from the area’s agrarian architecture. Outside, brick and cedar “celebrate the duality of the site,” with brick used on the solid wall holding back the hillside, and a cedar roof wrapping down the facade fa...

DIALOG and Smoke Architecture complete Ontario college building inspired by Indigenous principles

2023-09-21T11:36:00-04:00

Toronto-based DIALOG has completed the A-Building Expansion at Centennial College in Scarborough, Ontario. Designed in collaboration with Smoke Architecture, and described by the team as “Canada’s first LEED Gold, zero carbon, WELL certified, mass timber, higher-education facility,” the newly completed scheme “seamlessly blends Indigenous perspectives, sustainability and innovative architecture.”

Image credit: James Brittain courtesy of DIALOG

The project provides 133,000 square feet of new construction in addition to 16,000 square feet of existing renovations. Paying homage to Indigenous traditions and nature-inspired sustainability, the scheme is rooted in the Mi’kmaq concept of “Two-Eyed Seeing,” which “harmonizes Indigenous wisdom and Western perspectives.”

Image credit: James Brittain courtesy of DIALOG

Inspired by how the traditional Anishinaabe Wigwams were designed with their skin pulled up in the summer for air circulation, the team incorporated that same concept for the bui...

Get Lectured: University of Waterloo, Fall '23

2023-09-19T12:02:00-04:00

Classes are back in session, and that means it's time for another edition of our Get Lectured series. Today, we take a look at what’s in store at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture this Fall.

The events begin on Thursday, September 21, with Northeastern University associate professor Marie Law Adams, who will speak about public infrastructure and the work of her Boston-based practice Landing Studio. She is followed by MASS Design Group’s Senior Director of Sustainability and Regenerative Design, Kelly Alvarez Doran, on October 5. UNAM Ph.D. candidate Elena Tudela Rivadeneyra will speak on November 2 about resilient design, and the semester concludes on November 16 with the school’s new Emerging Practitioner Fellow, Quan Thai.

More information about each of the events can be found here.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Toronto builders set their sights on (near) net-zero buildings by 2030

2023-05-04T15:24:00-04:00

Toronto builders have a challenging task ahead of them, and with a rapidly approaching deadline: constructing all new buildings with near-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

This goal falls under Toronto’s TransformTO Net Zero Strategy initiative, which aims to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions in the city to net zero by 2040. The building mandate targets the sizable portion of carbon emissions that buildings account for. As reported by Storeys, data from The Atmospheric Fund (TAF) on carbon emissions in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) found that the building sector accounts for 44% of all emissions in the region.

One Canadian construction company, EllisDon, has reportedly been exploring ways to contribute to meeting these sustainability goals. With a large amount of building emissions originating from materials used within the construction process, the company began working with building and material sciences specialists. One shift includes altering cement usage by implementing alternative materials, nam...

Incorporating Indigenous principles, Seneca College's new Health and Wellness Centre proposes an 'architecture of reconciliation'

2023-05-01T11:56:00-04:00

A new collaborative higher-ed project from Two Row Architect and DIALOG has been proposed for Canada’s Seneca Polytechnic College in Toronto.

The proposal calls for a new Health and Wellness Centre to be delivered at the eastern edge of the school’s Newnham Campus, transforming an aged sports center structure into a multi-level complex that serves the academic community of more than 30,000.

“There are a number of big ideas that have inspired this design. One is the idea that this building will be an intimation of what an 'architecture of reconciliation' could look like,” DIALOG Partner Craig Applegath said in a statement. “And such a wonderful way of not only connecting and reconciling Indigenous and settler cultures but also of providing a gateway for potential new Canadian students to imagine what the reconciled future Canada might look and feel like. Another is that this is intended to be a truly environmentally responsible building: with plans for net-zero carbon, and sustainab...

Art Gallery of Ontario reveals Selldorf, Diamond Schmitt, and Two Row-led expansion design

2023-03-02T16:52:00-05:00

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has just revealed the initial plans for its new Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery project led by Selldorf Architects, Diamond Schmitt, and Two Row Architect.

The 40,000-square-foot addition will add 13 galleries in order to expand its total exhibition space by 30%. The project is being funded by a $35 million donation from Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss and, led by Two Row, has sought expensive input from Ontario’s Indigenous community in addition to the other two architect-advisors that were announced by the gallery last year.

The AGO says: “These conversations and others are instrumental in leading the team to adopt adaptability, accessibility, relevancy, zero carbon operating, and inclusivity as their guiding principles.”

Rendering courtesy of Art Gallery of Ontario, Diamond Schmitt, Selldorf Architects, and Two Row Architect

The project will accomplish a zero carbon emissions output for all its operations and otherwise be designed along int...

Montgomery Sisam design net-zero timber research center for University of Toronto

2023-02-02T12:05:00-05:00

Toronto-based Montgomery Sisam Architects has unveiled their design for the overhaul of the University of Toronto’s Koffler Scientific Reserve. Situated in a rural site in King Township north of the city, the new campus is intended to accommodate research students and faculty for extended periods of time as they study ecology and environmental biology.

Image credit: Montgomery Sisam Architects

The existing site, stitched together over the course of a hundred years, features an estate house, small farms, and a blend of woodlands, watercourses, and fish lakes. In response to the current lack of housing, teaching, and dining spaces at the KSR, the new scheme includes a purpose-built Dining and Operations Center, as well as twenty accommodation cabins.

Image credit: Montgomery Sisam Architects

Montgomery Sisam’s design approach revolved around their interpretation of KSR’s work, where minor changes in specific plants can yield broader narratives about global issues such as climate change....

Mukwa Waakaa'igan Indigenous cultural center project unveils updated design

2022-07-28T17:44:00-04:00

New renderings have been revealed for the planned Mukwa Waakaa’igan Indigenous Centre of Cultural Excellence at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, previewing a futuristic nod to the past while extending the conversation around an issue that’s been at the forefront recently as Pope Francis makes his long-awaited public apology tour across Canada.

The project is being headed by Moriyama & Teshima with Smoke Architecture, an Ontario studio focused on First Nations and Indigenous communities. The team says they intend it to serve as a showcase of the “truth-telling” work their client, the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA), has pursued in shedding light on the injustices that took place during Canada’s fraught residential schools era.

Image courtesy Moriyama & Teshima Architects

Per the architects: “The architectural design has been articulated through consideration of Indigenous teachings, from building form to material selection. The new Cultural Centre's ar...

A new tall mass timber proposal is heating up the race to the top in Toronto

2022-07-15T13:02:00-04:00

Around the same time the new world record holder for tall mass timber buildings — the 25-story Ascent tower — is making its much-awaited debut in Milwaukee, another North American design proposal has been revealed in Toronto that would surmount the historic milestone by a total of six stories if approved.

The proposed 31-story residential tower is being floated by 26-year-old developer Jackey Chen, who says an impressive 80% of the building’s 494 total apartment units will be made affordable under the city’s Open Door program, with project costs totaling between $75 and $80 million. Toronto studio ICON Architects will serve as the building’s designer.

The development would entail the preservation of three semi-detached heritage buildings located in front of its would-be podium and take around two years to complete following an anticipated start of construction sometime before 2025. The proposed plan would join a list of at least five other mass timber developments in the GTA that in...

Progressive modernist Jerome Markson has been awarded the 2022 RAIC Gold Medal

2022-04-01T20:22:00-04:00

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada has announced Jerome Markson as its 2022 Gold Medal Winner. The Toronto-based modernist is well known throughout Canada for his award-winning designs and contributions to the fields of architectural education and design theory.

Markson’s social housing projects are often considered to be the basis for the development of what is now considered to be one of the most diverse cities in the world. His designs for healthcare facilities as well as cultural centers and further civic projects contributed a considerable amount to the visual language of his native country throughout his vaunted six-decade career.

Markson's Market Square Condominiums in Toronto. Image copyright Fiona Smith via RAIC.

Writing on the RAIC’s website, the jury commended Markson for his “lifelong commitment to humanism, inclusivity and generosity, teaching us valuable lessons about urban housing and its critical relationship to city building.”

“His work epitomizes a deep c...

Design team selected to envision a new Indigenous cultural center in Ontario

2022-01-12T19:25:00-05:00

The heart of one of Canada’s oldest and most notorious educational institutions is about to be renewed thanks to a forthcoming Indigenous center for cultural excellence called Mukqua Waakaa’igan on the campus of Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Smoke Architecture are the team behind the plan to build the space that will serve as an important hub to the university. Its name translates to “Bear’s lodge” in Anishinaabemowin and is evocative of its use as a learning archive and place of healing for the Indigenous community. The architects say their proposal was developed in homage to the triadic directions of Memory, Present, and Future laid forth in a native text called The Sweetgrass Path.

According to the university, Mukqua Waakaa’igan is meant as a showcase for the decades-long pursuit of “truth-telling work” undertaken by the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association and the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre. Aside from the archi...

Ontario Place architect Eberhard Zeidler has passed away at 95

2022-01-10T16:35:00-05:00

Sad news to start the new year as the CBC has reported famed architect Eberhard Zeidler has died aged 95 at his home in Canada.

Zeidler was one of the last living links to the Bauhaus school and the man responsible for some of Canada’s most significant mixed-use urban developments including Ontario Place and the Eaton Centre in Toronto.

Born in Germany in 1926, Zeidler served in the Kriegsmarine under Hitler’s reign and later immigrated to Canada to work in the office of his professor Emanuel Lidner. Zeidler went on to join another firm in Peterborough called Blackwell, Ziedler and Strong that eventually became Zeidler Architecture. Zeidler had been serving in an emeritus role with the firm since announcing his official retirement in 2009.

Aside from his practice, Zeidler was an adjunct instructor at the University of Toronto from 1983 until 1995 in addition to his appointments to the Order of Canada and Order of Ontario, which were conferred in 1984. Zeidler was known to priorit...

Ontario's first mass timber higher education building is taking shape at Centennial College in Toronto

2022-01-10T14:04:00-05:00

The first mass timber academic building in Ontario is taking shape at Toronto’s Centennial College. Located at the college’s Progress Campus in Scarborough, the A-Block Expansion Building will have the potential to be the province's first net-zero carbon, mass timber, LEED Gold higher education facility when completed in 2023.

Image: Dialog

First unveiled in February 2020, the $82 million building was designed by Canadian architecture firm Dialog, in collaboration with Smoke Architecture, and EllisDon as contractor. The design for the expansion was based on the Indigenous concept of “two-eyed seeing,” in which people view the world through an Indigenous lens with one eye or perspective, while the other eye sees through a Western lens. The new campus building aims to embody the college’s commitment to truth and reconciliation, Indigenous education, and sustainable design.

Image: Dialog

“The two perspectives amplified each other,” said Craig Applegath, Principal-in-Charge at DIALOG. “F...

Canada wants to make federally-owned heritage buildings more accessible

2021-12-24T12:07:00-05:00

Inclusive design consultancy Human Space has been commissioned by the Canadian government with the aim of making the country’s federally-owned heritage buildings more accessible. The two-and-a-half-year project will seek to improve accessibility for users with disabilities without compromising the buildings’ heritage value.

The project will begin with an environmental scan of federally-owned heritage buildings as well as an outreach program to establish dialog with disability groups, heritage professionals, and other relevant parties.

Archinect Feature: Unpacking The Spatial Implications Of Architecture's Accessibility Failures

The research will also involve the study of national and global precedents on accessibility guidelines in heritage structures, and a series of on-site workshops with focus groups, including users of mobility devices, and people with hearing or vision difficulties. The design team will then test solutions with user groups and publish a public report includin...

A new proposal for 55 Yonge Street will bring much-needed vertical space to burgeoning downtown Toronto

2021-05-25T12:31:00-04:00

An ambitious proposal for a new 66-story mixed-use tower in downtown Toronto has been released as developers H&R REIT eye an approval looming late next year.

55 Yonge is the product of a collaboration between Canadian groups PARTISANS and Quadrangle, which was acquired by the UK group BDP at the beginning of 2019.

55 Yonge Street, rendering by Norm Li

The tower will have retail spaces and over 180,000 square feet of office space easily accessible by the nearby King Street TTC subway station. The design also features space for nearly 500 one-, two- and three-bedroom residential units for lease at a site that currently hosts a 12-story 1958 building by modernist master Peter Dickinson.

Anchored by a cavernous base, the lattice facade stretches into an elongated high-rise that provides an updated take on podium typology and the mid-century modern style once popular in Canada’s largest city.

55 Yonge Street, rendering by Norm Li

Toronto is changing, in part because of COVID-related vaca...

University of Waterloo School of Architecture's former GM on trial for fraud

2016-03-30T12:50:00-04:00

A University of Waterloo employee secretly arranged for his mother to be paid $148,000 from the school’s coffers, his fraud trial heard Tuesday. Jeffrey Lederer is charged with fraud, theft and uttering forged documents. He was employed by Waterloo until 2011, when he was asked to leave his position as general manager of the university’s architectural school.

Although he's no Bernie Madoff, just how does the former General Manager's illegal fund finagling rank in the annals of architectural rip-offs?

Here's a tour of recent questionable architectural appropriations:

Get Lectured: Carleton University, 2015-16

2015-10-30T15:03:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2015

Archinect's Get Lectured is ready for another school year. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Next up, the Carleton University's Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism from Ottawa, Canada shared the details to their annual year-long "Forum" architecture lecture series. Additionally, the "Open Forum" series intends to be a more intimate affair, ranging from focused roundtable discussions to collaborations with other Carleton faculties.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Listed below are upcoming events.

FORUM SERIES

Nov 16
Siamak Hariri / Hariri Pontarini Architects - Toronto, Canada

Jan 18
Ricardo Carvalho / Ricardo Carvalho + Joana Vilhena Arquitectos - Lisbon

Feb 8
Mana...

Ontario, California fighting for a stronger airport in Los Angeles' mega-region

2015-01-30T13:49:00-05:00

While American airlines carry more than 700 million passengers annually, nobody wants to fly out of his own backyard. Nobody that is, except the citizens of Ontario, California. [...] Ontario wants as many of those potential 30 million passengers as it can get. And it has been pleading, negotiating and suing for the right to do so. [...] “The Ontario Airport is the largest economic engine in the Inland Empire ... It generates jobs, revenue to the city and to the entire region"

MAD completes the Absolute Towers in Mississauga

2012-12-14T13:53:00-05:00

Encountered on the street, they are enigmatic and shifting, even voluptuous. They appear carefully controlled, but their underlying geometry is far from obvious. Driving or walking by causes the towers' profiles to change continuously, and it would require significant mental acrobatics to map the relationship between profiles and construct a complete mental model of the building. From a closer vantage point, the geometric enigma remains, but a feature at another scale begins to dominate.

Domus on MAD's Absolute Towers

2012-11-07T18:52:00-05:00

For over a century, a simple dilemma has vexed architects. How to escape the formal monotony of a series of identical stacked plates, without losing the efficiency of the canonical high-rise formula? Through a series of astute formal moves, and by evoking empathy, Chinese architecture practice MAD has achieved a rare breakthrough.