Daniels Alumnus Aaron Jacobson (MArch 2012) is receiving a lot of media attention for his new clothing line, Faan.

The gender-neutral clothing line is heavily influenced by Jacobson's background in architecture. "I'm not drawn to a red-carpet gown," he tells the New York Times Style Magazine. "I'm drawn to the proportions and shapes and construction details that you see every day."

After graduating from the Daniels Faculty, Jacobson went on to work in architecture firms in Beijing and Shanghai. It was in Shanghai's fabric district where he found himself drawn to the idea of clothing design. As the New York Times Style Magazine reports, Jacobson began designing pieces for himself; his early sketches more like architectural drawings. "I was even cutting sections through them, and blowing up details to try to explain the construction," he says.

Once his personal collection grew, he returned to the United States to continue expanding his line before officially launching Faan. According to Jacobson, his newest collection, Fall Winter 2016, is his "first collection that feels lived in."

A slideshow of the 14-piece collection can be seen here.

Alumnus Ben Watt-Meyer (MLA 2012) will be launching a new solo exhibit titled A New Archaeology for the Leslie Street Spit on March 3^rd at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse. The exhibit is based on a previous installation Watt-Meyer created for the 2015 Gladstone Grow-Op, where it won the Jury's Choice Award and the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects / GROUND Magazine Award. This new series is a collaboration with the Friends of the Spit, and is part of the inaugural Myseum Intersections festival launched by the Myseum of Toronto. 

From the Myseum of Toronto website:

"Toronto’s largest constructed breakwater is literally built of rubble from the demolished walls of its lost architectural heritage. To see this place as a burial ground provides a moment to mourn our losses. Yet to celebrate it as the material evidence of Toronto’s dramatic post-war urban reconstruction is an opportunity to rediscover the transformation of lake fill into a landscape. Putting together historical records of demolished buildings with maps of the yearly growth of the spit, the project hypothesizes the resting place of some of the city’s lost structures. Next, the geographic origins of the rubble are identified, tracing the material cycle of Toronto’s brick and building stone from quarry to city and back to landscape."

The exhibit will be on display March 3 to 13, Thursday to Sunday from 12:00PM to 6:00PM.

Opening reception: March 3, 7:00PM – 9:00PM

Artist talk: March 12, 2:00PM

For more information, visit: http://myseumoftoronto.com/event/new-archaeology-leslie-street-spit

Daniels alumnus Sywa Sung (BArch 1994) was featured in the February 2016 edition of Air-Canada's inflight-magazine enRoute as part of its monthly "Leaders of the Pack" series, which profiles Canadian business travelers — and what they pack in their carry-on luggage.

After graduating from Daniels in 1994, Sung went on to expand his career in experiential design. He has created themed attractions all over the world and served as creative director for the 20th Century Fox World theme park set to open in Malaysia later this year, and Dubai in the near future. Sung has also provided creative direction and brand stewardship for Fox's Aliens vs. Predator franchises' massive themed Halloween maze experiences at both Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando theme parks which debuted in 2014 to great success.

From the article by Caitlin Walsh Miller:

How did you get into this field?

I wanted to design in ways that you don’t get to as a traditional architect. One day, I was reading about Star Trek: The experience, a new attraction in Las Vegas. I light bulb went off: I realized you needed to draw and design for that kind of attraction - you needed an architect.

Sung's background in architecture and his connection to University of Toronto are highlighted in the conents of his carry-on, which include a custom-made U of T letterman jacket, a set square and scales, and the very same mechanical pencil he's been using since his days at Daniels.

Sungs profile can be found on page 38 & 39 of the February issue.

Williamson Chong, the architecture firm founded by Daniels Associate Professor Shane Williamson, his partner Betsy Williamson, and Daniels Alumnus Donald Chong (BArch 1994), was featured earlier this month in Architectural Record. The firm, which was established in 2011, has developed a design strategy that involves identitfying the latent value in less desirable urban spaces. Called "incremental urbanism," they use it as a guiding principle in many of their projects. In another unique approach contemporary urban living, the firm is exploring multigenerational living in a number of their residential projects.

Williamson Chong is further investigating innovative urban solutions by exploring wood technologies and computational design.

“Our architectural projects reflect the changing trajectories of cities,” Chong tells Architectural Record. “Toronto makes it easy for us, because people here are willing to try out new ways of living.”

Related:

• Williamson Chong Architects featured in the June issue of Metropolis Magazine
• Williamson Chong Architect's Howland Avenue Residence featured in Design Lines
• Williamson Chong Architects receives a 2014 Emerging Voices Award
• Williamson Chong Architects wins the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture
• Professor Shane Williamson and Williamson Chong Architects receive a 2011 Wood WORKS! Award for House in Frogs Hollow
• Shane Williamson featured in the Globe and Mail

Earlier this year, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) announced Monica Adair (MArch 2005) as the recipient of the 2015 Young Architect Award. This award recognizes a young architect for excellence in design, leadership, and service to the profession.

Adair is the co-founder of Acre Architects along with Stephen Kopp (MArch 2005). The firm believes in “the importance of creating our own stories,” and “how the power of the story can convey strong and deep-felt emotions that are key to the structure that form our lives.” In addition to her professional work, Adair has held multiple teaching posts including an Instructor position in History of Canadian Architecture at the St. Thomas University Fredericton, and the Gerald Sheff Visiting Professorship in Architecture at McGill University. She has also served on the New Brunswick Arts Board, and currently sits on the Saint John Waterfront Development Board.

“In choosing Adair, the five-member jury cited the consistent quality of her project work, commitment to her hometown and her work in the arts community,” writes the 2015 Young Architect Award jury. “They also recognized her teaching, advocacy, and contribution to regional collaboration in Atlantic Canada.”

Started in 2011, the RAIC bestows the Young Architect Award to one recipient every year. Adair received her award at the RAIC/AAA Festival of Architecture, which took place in Calgary, June 3rd to 6th. Previous winners include past sessional lecturer Taymoore Balbaa, and Lola Sheppard (Lateral Office co-founder). 

Related:

• Canadian Builders Quarterly features 23-page-spread on the Daniels Faculty and alumni
• Daniels sessional lecturer Taymoore Balbaa wins Young Architect Award
• Williamson Chong Architects named the recipient of RAIC's 2014 Emerging Architectural Practice Award
• George Baird recipient of 2010 RAIC Gold Medal
• Team North receives RAIC award | Innovation in Architecture

Indrit Alushani (MArch 2015) and Craig Deebank (MArch 2013) have had a behind-the-scenes look at the many things cities must do to make large sporting events like the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games possible. The two Master of Architecture grads scored contract positions doing Games Overlay — designing and overseeing construction of the temporary infrastructure required for venues hosting this summer's competitions. Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies student Josie Harrison tracked them down to find out more about their experience, what they have learned, and how the Daniels Faculty helped prepare them for their roles.

What exactly is “Games Overlay”?

Indrit Alushani (IA): Games Overlay deals with the temporary infrastructure that is needed to run the Games. This includes but is not limited to commodities and spaces that are necessary to meet the standards of an international sporting event. Overlay managers collaborate closely with stakeholders and others who will use the venue to ensure the space that meets everyone’s requirements.

Craig Deebank (CD): I was told when I started that no venue is 100% ready to host a game. There is always an alteration process that takes place based on the Game’s unique standards and protocol. There are a lot of different client groups you have to please at the end of the day within the design and budget parameters you’ve been given.  In some cases, venues are 100% overlay. For example, some venues are constructed over parking lots, such as the beach volleyball venue. The overlay team would bring in the temporary seating, sand, power, platforms, grandstands, broadcast stands and all of the other things required to make the venue and sport function. These commodities then get removed at the end of the Games and can be repurposed for other things.

Could you describe your role for the Games?

IA: I was first assigned to the East Zone team to help out six site managers who were in charge of designing and delivering the infrastructure of one or more venues. At first I would jump from one task to another, one venue to another. As things progressed I was assigned to assist in the delivery of the President’s Choice Pan Am Ballpark in Ajax where baseball and softball was held, as well as the General Motors Center in Oshawa for the Weightlifting and Boxing.

CD: As an Overlay Site Manager in the West Zone, I was involved in managing the design of several venues and delivery phase of the Cisco Milton Pan Am / Parapan Am Velodrome. It’s a high-pressure environment. One day you’re working on coordinating the Velodrome cycling track; the next day you’re trying to plan the Cycling Time Trial Race. During the design phase you jump around from venue to venue, sport to sport, so there’s a lot of learning that takes place. A lot of the people working in our overlay department are architects or architecturally trained. It’s very much like a studio environment. We don’t do physical models, but we sketch a lot and use similar software. So it’s like being in a studio, but you are putting on the Games.

Indrit Alushani, at the President’s Choice Pan Am Ballpark

What attracted you to this position?

IA: I come from a heavy design background, and previously worked in offices that taught me a great deal of things about design, but I wanted to implement my knowledge in practice. It was the perfect opportunity for me to be on site and be part of the building phase. As architects, we are often caught up with perfection and achieving the “ideal” design. We often forget that what is designed in the office and what is built on site are two different things. You can plan so much before going on site and building, but there will always be unforeseen contingencies that will need you to think on your feet. The experience was truly enriching, working with so many professionals, architects, project managers. I learned a lot from them.

CD: I grew up just outside of the City of Toronto in Pickering, and I have always been very passionate about sports and design. It seemed natural and was a great opportunity to be part of something unprecedented in the city that aligns with my interests.  Because it is a temporary position, there was a low risk aspect from my end. It was an opportunity to see if it would be something that I’d like to continue.

What have you learned from your experience working on overlay for the Games?

IA: Where do I even begin? This has been such a unique experience, and I consider myself lucky to have been part of it. Project management is one of the first things that comes to mind: being able to work with schedulers in order to have contractors build on time, meeting budgets and legal requirements, ensuring that the work is conducted safely, communicating and delegating work to a large number of people, from your own contractors to your colleagues. It is a huge role with great responsibility.

CD: It’s a very high tempo, fast paced, social, and collaborative environment. You have to be able to think quickly and be adaptable, and that’s been a fun challenge. I worked with many great people who have experience with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the World Cup in Brazil. Hearing what they did in these particular locations and the challenges they faced — be it a labour shortage or the need to use local materials — and how they problem-solved in those cases was really interesting. You learn more about the sports as well. I have spent a lot of time at the Cisco Milton Pan Am / Parapan Am Velodrome in Milton, so I learned a lot about track cycling; it’s incredible what the athletes can do. You don’t know how steep those curved walls are until you see it in person. And then you see the athletes ride at 70 km or more around it — it’s really cool.

Craig Deebank, in the Cisco Milton Pan Am / Parapan Am Velodrome

How did your time at the Daniels Faculty prepare you for this role?

IA: The Daniels Faculty is a world-class school of design in part because it emphasizes collaboration and creativity. The Faculty welcomes people from different backgrounds both cultural and academic because diversity and collaboration is key to successful design ideas. The Toronto 2015 office has been one of the most diverse offices I have been to. People were coming from all ends of the world with different career backgrounds, working together to create one unique and remarkable final product, the Pan Am / Parapan Am Games.

CD: The Daniels Faculty really promotes the city as an organism, understanding the city, and where architecture and design fits within it. This has stuck with me, and I try to apply it wherever I go. The Faculty also provides a diverse and collaborative environment between landscape architecture, visual studies, urbanism, and architecture, and people coming into these programs with completely varied academic backgrounds. There is a cross-disciplinary approach to problem solving. That, I think, was very applicable to this job. I’m really thankful for what I’ve learned at Daniels, and how I’ve been able to apply it in a professional setting.

So, what’s next?

IA: I hope to find a position in an architectural firm, and I plan to become an OAA member. One thing is certain: I will need a vacation first.

CD: I am hooked; there is a desire to travel and work on other games around the world after this one concludes. But right now we’re in games operation mode with the Pan Am Games closing and Parapan Am Games beginning August 7th, so I’m just thinking about the immediate objectives for the day. I would like to do another games in the near future.

The Parapan Am Games begin on August 7th, 2015. For more information, visit www.toronto2015.org

Ja Architecture Studio recently received fourth place — out of 831 proposals from around the world — in the Bauhaus Museum Competition in Dessau

. A number of Daniels Faculty alumni and students worked on the winning proposal as part of the Toronto-based office's team.

Participants in the two-stage international competition were challenged to design a Bauhaus Museum for Dessau, Germany. Thirty firms were shortlisted firms to continue to the second phase.

“The design is characterized first and foremost by its polygonal and self-contained structural shell that sensitively addresses its urban design position," Wrote the jury in its citation of Ja Architecture Studio's proposal. "It shows a clear-cut edge towards Kavalierstrasse and a ramp forms a clear transition to Friedrichstrasse. All in all, the draft design convinces with its sculptural approach which demonstrates a strong commitment to the museum as a municipal building.”

Team Members included:

Architect:
Nima Javidi (MUD 2005, Daniels Faculty Sessional Instructor), OAA M.Arch LEED A.P

Landscape Architect:
Behnaz Assadi (MLA 2008), MLA BFA

Project Team:
Hanieh Rezai (MUD 2004), M.Arch MUD
Zhou Tang, M.Arch Candidate at the Daniels Faculty
Sally Kassar, M.Arch Candidate at the Daniels Faculty
Kyle O’Brien, M.Arch Candidate at the Daniels Faculty
Goldie Schlaf, M.Arch Candidate at the Daniels Faculty
Arittro Noor, BBA, University of Western Ontario

Professional Consultants:
AMA Design, Structural Design
Thomas Technical, Technical Building Services

Earlier this year, the firm was also recognized with an Honorable Mention, amongst 1715 international proposals in the Guggenheim Helsinki Competition.

For more information about Ja Architecture Studio, visit: http://www.jastudioinc.com

For more information about the competition, visit: http://bauhausmuseum-dessau.de/en/home.html

News & Media

• OAA
• Archinect
• Bustler
• Canadian Architect
• Archdaily
• Dezeen
• Afasia
• Beta Architecture

Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture program Alissa North served as a guest editor of the most recent edition of Landscapes|Paysages magazine – the publication of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. The issue focused on the teaching and the practice of landscape architecture, and featured articles by several members and alumni of the Daniels Faculty.

“In this issue, we are particularly interested in those areas where knowledge is flourishing, and especially the exciting and productive interstices between academia and practice,” writes North.

Shelley Long (MLA 2015) wrote an article about “hybrid practices” — a strategy used by some practitioners that combines teaching with practice as a way to incorporate theory into their built work and practicality to their theory. The recent graduate, who is now working as a Landscape Designer at Hapa Collaborative in Vancouver, highlighted North Design Office — the firm of Professors Pete North and Alissa North — as an example of a innovative teaching-based practice.

“Whether the project is a residential garden or international competition, Alissa and Peter North of North Design Office seek out such opportunities to further their investigations into regenerative and performative landscape,” writes Long. "Both professors at the University of Toronto, the Norths’ temporary public art installations experiment with new materials and technologies in a temporary situation for two-to-four years, testing and monitoring them with the intention to apply the principles in future larger public space projects.

Long also described Claude Cormier (BLA 1986) as a designer dedicated to educating clients about good practice, writing, “this type of design leadership through risk-taking is a prevailing attitude at Claude Cormier + Associés (CC+A) in Montreal, where a strong conviction to do only public work and to do something new on every project brings with it the ongoing challenges of getting inventive designs built in low-bid and risk-averse public environments.”

In the article titled "Entangled with the Real World," Jordan Lypkie (MLA 2016) profiled the participation of Daniels Faculty Master of Landscape Architecture students in a design charrette at the Evergreen Brickworks.

“For second and third year students from the Daniels Faculty at the University of Toronto, an Evergreen Brickworks design charrette provided a platform for students to make connections with notable practitioners, including many local landscape architects and national and international icons,” writes Lypkie. The article explored other design/build opportunities for students, including an elective course taught by Professor Pete North on phytoremediation technologies and regenerative landscapes.

In "Gleaning an Ephemeral Wilderness," MLA candidate Kamila Grigo argued for a closer collaboration between native plant nursery staff and landscape architects.

From the article: 

“Form in native nursery landscapes is typically considered aesthetically irrelevant: people and machines must produce crops as efficiently as possible. Nonetheless, within this industrial farming lies potential for closer collaboration between native nursery professionals and landscape architects, not necessarily to aestheticize, but to uncover new typologies. Our practices can be optimized, not only to jump-start succession at sites further afield, but also to magnify a key characteristic of these nurseries not iterated often enough: namely, that they create habitats for local species."

Assistant Professor Elise Shelley wrote the featured article, "Designing Play," on the nuances of playground design in light of stringent Canadian Standards Association standards that have transformed the playing field since their introduction in the 1980s. “In this context, custom designed play spaces which take advantage of unique site characteristics are unaffordable luxuries,” writes Shelley. “Nature is ignored in favour of the tabula rasa, out-of-the catalogue method of playground design.”

Michael Good (MLA 2015) was one of four authors – along with Leila Marie Farah, Mark Gorgolewski, and John Han – of the article "Vivarium: A Sky Condo," which describes the team’s submission to the NYC Sky Condo idea competition. “The Vivarium proposal, our submission to the NYC Sky Condo competition, demonstrates how humans and bugs can coexist and how the latter can be a source of income, ecological regeneration, beauty and protein.”

An article by Robert McIntosh (MLA 2015) and Joanne Proft, explored three university landscapes in various design stages, including the University of Toronto’s St. George Campus, the subject of the Landscape of Landmark Quality competition that was launched in 2015. “The proposal [by KPMB Architect, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA), and Urban Strategies] makes simple, bold moves that unveil the landscape’s hidden potential, by creating new gathering spaces connected by wide, granite-paced pedestrian walkways, and respecting and building on the rich history throughout the campus,” writes McIntosh and Proft. “By opening the door to new ideas, it has shifted the focus back onto engaging landscape and design.”

Daniels Faculty graduates working as part of the Toronto-based office Ja Architecture Studio received an Honorable Mention for their submission to the Guggenheim Helsinki Competition. The competition was launched in June 2014 to invite design proposals for the new Guggenheim museum located on Helsinki’s harbour. With 1,715 submissions, the event set the record in attracting the most number of entries for a design competition.

Team Members:

• Nima Javidi (MUD 2005)
• Behnaz Assadi (MLA 2008)
• Hanieh Rezaei (MUD 2004)
• Thomas Mustel, Master of Architecture student at École National Supérieure d’Architecture (Intern)
• Sarah Hunter, Bachelor of Architectural Studies graduate from University of Waterloo

Ja Architecture Studio was the only studio from Canada to win an Honorable Mention. Their entry is currently part of Guggenheim Helsinki Now, an exhibition showcasing the top submissions, which will be on display until May 16^th at the Kunsthalle Helsinki. Their submission can also be viewed at http://designguggenheimhelsinki.org/stageonegallery/view/#!/stageonegallery/view/gh-33457384

For more information about the competition, visit http://designguggenheimhelsinki.org/en/

Designed by Finish architect Viljo Revell and completed in 1965, City Hall is one of Toronto's most iconic landmarks — but a decade earlier, in 1955, City Council had a different building in mind.

That November, Council presented residents with a proposal for a modernist stone slab edifice that would face a civic square. Architecture students at the University of Toronto wrote an open letter to then-mayor Nathan Phillips stating their opposition to the plan, calling the proposed building “a funeral home of vast dimensions” and an “inhuman pile of stones.” (Ouch.)

U of T’s student newspaper, The Varsity, reported on the students’ outrage and call for an international competition. It’s been said that the architecture students influenced the plebiscite that rejected City Council’s original proposal, leading to the world-wide competition that was ultimately won by Revell.

Republished below are the two articles printed in The Varsity in 1955. The first reports on the architecture students' open letter. The second — by School of Architecture Instructor Richard Grooms, and students Pete Richardson and Harvey Cowan — outlines in great detail the students’ criticisms of the original proposal.

Thanks to The Varsity for permission to republish both articles.

Tuesday, November 22, 1955
Architects Say New city Hall Just Inhuman Pile of Stones
The Varsity, Vol. 75 – No. 41

Toronto’s proposed new City Hall was condemned in an open letter to Mayor Phillips from students at the University of Toronto’s School of Architecture.

“Why have we been presented with this monstrous monument to backwardness? Should the Toronto City Hall become another member of the insipid collection of Insurance buildings on Bloor St.?” asked the Architectural students, calling the planned building a “funeral home of vast dimensions.”

“These two colourless and inhuman piles of stone do not satisfy our feeling for beauty,” said the students.

“This structure represents nothing more than a monument to our city Fathers rather than a symbol of the progressive attitude our administration is supposed to support in a democracy.”

The students’ letter referred to the Massey Commission report that all civic buildings should be the object of competitions to ensure good design and free enterprise.

They recommended a national competition for Toronto’s City Hall. If a competition is impossible at this time, the letter continued “a special Architectural committee of critics could be chosen.”

The Toronto City Council has just approved the construction of a new multi-million dollar city hall.

Monday, December 5, 1955
The Varsity, Vol. 75 - No. 46

Editor’s Note:

The design of Toronto’s new City Hall has aroused much controversy. On this page The Varsity attempts to present some students’ opinions on the topical question.

While a new City Hall, whatever the cost, seems desirable, we must calculate the risk of having the present design foisted upon us. Is the booming city of Toronto to put up with the minute merits of the present design?

The succession of city fathers in Toronto’s notoriously inefficient administration has done a sloppy and haphazard job of presenting the new building. Our choice is whether we ought to condone for the sake of expediency or condemn in order to promote greater efficiency in the civic government.

The material on this page was submitted by Richard Grooms, lecturer in first year basic design, School of Architecture; Pete Richardson, President Arch. IV; Harvey Cowan, IV Arch.

City Bungles Civic Centre; Designs Cloudy, Fuddled

We all agreed that a new city hall is a good idea. In this election referendum these two issues must be kept separated:

1. Should $18 million be approved for a City Hall?
2. Should the City Hall be designed as the artists’ rendering has shown it?

This design has not been approved by the City Council, and has only been used as bait to entice the voters into approving the $18 million. To drag this architectural red herring across the path of the issues in question, does nothing to acquaint the public with good civic design.

First, there should have been a programme of requirements drawn up for the Civic Square, outlining the functions the Civic Square should include, and the buildings necessary to satisfy these requirements.

Secondly, a detailed programme should have been prepared analyzing the specific requirements of each individual building in the Civic Square.

Third, these programmes would have served as the basis of a national or international architecture competition for the design of the Civic Square in general, and the buildings in particular. The facilities or the rules and judging of such a competition are provided for by the Ontario Association of Architects.

The city, in its usual bungling manner, has failed to adopt a definite course of action. To our knowledge, these are the steps the city has followed to date.

1. In a plebiscite in 1947, the expropriation of land for a civic square was approved by the voters.
2. In June, 1953, the Daily Commercial News reported that 3 firms of architects, Marani & Morris, Mathers & Haldenby, and Shore & Moffat were retained by “the City.” The three architectural firms have also assumed the role of designers of the Civic Square. This would seem highly irregular in light of the fact that we now have a City Planning Board that should supervise all civic design.
3. We are now asked to approve the issuing of $18 million in debentures for the construction of a City Hall in the Civic Square.

The manner in which this was achieved was similar in putting several carts before the horse.

1. The City Hall was planned.
2. Now it is necessary to decide what a city hall should include and what is needed.
3. Then a Civic Square will be arranged around the completed City Hall.
4. After that, it will be decided what a civic square should include.

Does this not seem a very peculiar procedure, to do a thing first and then think about it? A bold, fresh design, unencumbered by any previously misconceived buildings, is what is needed.

Toronto must learn to act in the grand manner, have the courage of its convictions and not be misled by specious economic considerations.

A government such as ours, which is supposed to support free enterprise and fair play should have seen the necessity for a competition. If the Massey Report on Arts & Sciences, and the Ontario Association of Architects statement of 1952, on the necessity of competitions for public buildings, had been heeded, we would have stood a chance of acquiring a better design.

If the City Council must accept a design from these 3 firms, then it should ask the Council of the OAA and the City Planning Board to appoint a committee to evaluate and pass on any design submitted.

The whole issue is at best cloudy, and befuddled. To be handicapped in the future by what has been done already is not the best way to proceed in these matters.

What’s Wrong With The New Design?

Specifically then, what is wrong with this proposed City Hall? Let us take its aspects one by one.

1. It lacks any dignity or true monumentality. Sheer size is not the same as monumentality. Bulk alone is not a substitute for character. At least the old City Hall has character. It could never be confused with just another office building. It looks like a public building.

This new City Hall has been called a “dehumanized pile of stones” and “anonymous.” It is more than this. It is dull and uninteresting and indistinguishable from all the other insurance buildings these firms have hacked out.

1. The relation of the masses of the building is poorly conceived. The great slab of the office building is not pleasingly proportioned to either the buildings near it, or to its own lower part. It is sheer size and bulk without meaning.
2. As to bad details, these are almost too numerous to mention. The little services addition tacked on the top of the big slab is ludicrous. It ruins whatever silhouette the slab possesses. The silliest detail is the use of false columns for effect on the lower 4-storey section facing the square.
3. One of the main criticisms of the large slab is the monotonous heaviness of its appearance, due to poor window placement. They have just omitted every other stone and put in a window. If used properly, windows can be a good source of natural light, and can afford a pleasant view for the office dweller.

The placement of windows should also be related to the site and climate. This building has not been oriented from the standpoint of wind direction and climate control. It has just been planted on the site to survive as best it can. It supposedly has the latest of air-conditioning systems. This is fine for it will need it. It will be a huge stone oven to cool in summer, and a huge stone cellar to warm in winter.

1. Economically this building for $18 million is a farce. It is much too costly for what it will accomplish. It shows no structural imagination or inventiveness. Nothing new is being tried in any sense. It has no consideration of future needs or requirements.
2. As the interior plans have not been made public, it is not possible to comment on circulation or services. But it is unlikely that the building will be related from the standpoint of interior and exterior space. Almost no interior space could be related to the exterior of this building.
3. As to the important relation of building masses to open spaces, almost no thought has gone into this. It is but a token gesture to put in a few rows of trees and a few stagnant pools of water. Would it not be pleasant to have color and flowers and flowing water, fountains and a sidewalk café? Must we create a space only for the vagrants and bums to snooze and booze?

This is the most conspicuous waste of space possible because it says and does nothing.

1. On the matter of color and texture there is a stultifying monotony and drabness in using stone exclusively. Could not a more pleasant, colorful series of buildings be constructed so that a play of light and shadow could be enjoyed?

The use of colored lights at night could highlight or play down various aspects of the scene.

Toronto will probably agree to spend $18 million on this building and never again shock itself or anyone else. The spirit of Casa Loma is dead. For all the castle’s folly, it was at least different and visitors from other cities remember it.

This is more than our proposed city hall will ever accomplish. We will be confronted with the external monstrosity for at least 75-100 years.

PDFs of the original articles:

Tuesday, November 22, 1955
Architects Say New city Hall Just Inhuman Pile of Stones
The Varsity, Vol. 75 – No. 41

Monday, December 5, 1955
City Bungles Civic Centre; Designs Cloudy, Fuddled
The Varsity, Vol. 75 - No. 46

Image, Top:
Proposal for City Hall, Toronto
Marani & Morris, Mathers & Haldenby, Shore & Moffat, 1955
Rendering by Schell Lewis
City of Toronto Archives, Series 1188, File 5, Item PT 344-C-5