Tag / Blog
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Community Centres as Pivots of Our City
We are slowly getting tired of hearing news about new commercial and residential developments happening in Toronto, so let’s talk about community developments. How often do we hear about community centres opening? In 2015 only, merely two community centres opened throughout Toronto.
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Who is responsible: The OMB or City?
There is not a single week that goes by without having any news about condo developments happening and being proposed in Toronto. We’ve reached the point where questions like whether this is a matter of supply and demand have emerged and words like ‘housing bubble’ or ‘housing crisis’ are starting to hover around us. But…
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Scared of contractors? This will put things in Perspective
I am old-school when it comes to creating relationships…I believe in face to face meetings, making/receiving first impressions, possibly even hand shakes to decide whether I want to do business with the person or not. I know there will be many people who are rolling their eyes being in the age of just “googling” everything.…
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Success and Failure: Thoughts on OAA Awards
Last Monday on March 6th, the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) has announced twenty Design Excellence Finalists of this year’s OAA Awards. Scrolling down through the list, I experienced a spectrum of emotions: hope, excitement, bitterness, unease, a very mixed feeling, just like the other hundred or so architects!
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Sunshine & Rainbow Everywhere – How to Get The Most Of Sunshine
Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows Everything that’s wonderful is what I feel when we’re together If that classic song by Lesley Gore doesn’t give you a spring to your step then it’s time to learn how to get the most out of sunshine to brighten your day! Luckily, as makers of space, AKA architects, and designers,…
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Can architecture represent who we are?
Living in Toronto, the cosmopolitan and diverse city, you encounter a variety of housing types: Victorian, Post-war, Brutalist, Condos, Condos, and Condos (wait, did I mention condos yet?). It’s almost so laughable because our housing these days does not reflect our environment, climate or lifestyle and values at all. What are the approaches to “physically”…
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A Call For Action – Safer (& Prettier) Urban Streets!
It has been almost a year since we examined Bayview Avenue– we ultimately concluded that it was an unpleasant walk for three main reasons. One, it takes no advantage of being adjacent to a scenic creek. Two, it is an impersonal overall street width (5 lanes of traffic) causing an unsafe feeling. Three, it has…
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Leaping Forward From Historic Architecture
It’s no coincidence to address a step forward while thinking about a leap year. Although we don’t have that one extra day this year, it certainly has proved helpful previous years to contribute to what we have today. In fact, it was on a remarkable leap day of 1784 that an influential neoclassical architect was…
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Committee of Adjustment: Friend or Foe?
You have a brilliant idea for this new renovation project (that you almost feel genius!). The client wants to create a new lot for a fairly large detached house on a prominent residential street in this growing, hot real estate market right here in Toronto. Everything seems perfect, but does the City agree? Well, the Committee…
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Reimagining Our Streets
What are the words that come to your mind when you think of ‘metropolitan area’? Densely-populated, traffic congestion, crowd, noise, agglomeration… these words often involve negative connotations. Imagine then: What would a metropolitan city with a stretch of car-free road look like?