Architecture
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BOOK REVIEW — Portraits of Queen West: Spadina to Bathurst, by Kevin Steele
Portraits of Queen West: Spadina to Bathurst is being published through a crowdfunding campaign that launches today. Check the campaign website for...
By Ian Darragh -
What’s really happening at Ontario Place? (Part 2)
Sequel to Part 1 of “What’s really happening at Ontario Place?“ Ontario Place was conceived by Conservative Premier John Robarts in 1968 as an...
By Ian Darragh -
What’s really happening at Ontario Place? (Part 1)
The investigation by Ontario Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk into the Ford government’s removal of 7,400 acres of prime farmland and wetlands from the...
By Ian Darragh -
Re-imagining laneways in Toronto
What’s missing in the media coverage about laneway suites is a discussion about the laneways themselves. Currently, they are primarily used for driving...
By Dean Goodman -
Book Review: Exploring Vancouver – Ten Tours of the City and its Buildings
Written by Harold Kalman & Robin Ward, Fifth Edition (Harbour Publishing, 2023) This fifth edition of Exploring Vancouver brings the city’s...
By Sean Ruthen -
S101S: Explaining Transit-Oriented Development: Benefits and Drawbacks
What is Transit-Oriented Development and what are its benefits and drawbacks? Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has become so common within urban...
By Erick Villagomez -
West Coast Modernism in LEGO: Recognizing its heritage value
For artist and master LEGO builder Paul Hetherington, his love for architecture began with a train set. It was his first opportunity as a child to observe...
By Iris Leung -
Lost heritage on Queen West
According to a recent CBC News report, the gable-roofed wooden commercial storefront at 520 Queen Street West was about 170 years old when its new owner...
By Peter MacCallum -
S101S—Understanding Residential Density: FSR, Building Setbacks and Height Regulations
What is Floor Space Ratio (FSR) and how does it interact with building setbacks and height regulations to create building forms and the ‘look and feel’ of...
By Erick Villagomez -
Field notes from a parks conference
From green roofs on new buildings, to quantifying visitors (beyond counting toilet paper rolls), to how much to mow, here are some notable ideas to emerge...
By Ian Darragh -
News from Calgary and Banff
This past month in Calgary, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada held its first in-person conference since 2019, showcasing the recent opening of...
By Sean Ruthen -
Farewell to Malabar, Toronto’s former costume emporium
Malabar Limited, the famed costume emporium, closed in March 2022. Although it had been a fixture of downtown Toronto’s cultural landscape for 99 years...
By Peter MacCallum