After touring other parts of Canada, Arctic Adaptations — the award-winning exhibition curated by Lateral Office for the Venice Biennale in 2015 — will make its debut in Iqaluit. Founded by Associate Professor Mason White and Lola Sheppard, Lateral Office received a “special mention” at the Biennale for the exhibit, which provided an “in-depth study of how modernity adapts to a unique climatic condition and a local minority culture.”

The exhibit, which explores the past, present, and future of architecture in Nunavut (Canada’s youngest territory) was curated by Associate Professor Mason White, Lola Sheppard, and Matthew Spremulli (MArch 2011). Local community groups in Nunavut as well architects and architecture students from across Canada contributed to the display.

The exhibition in Iqaluit will, as CBC News reports, feature “soapstone carvings of existing buildings in Nunavut, scale models of each of Nunavut's 25 communities, and a series of 15 architecture models of future possible structures.”

"The exhibition was for us a chance to say that architecture really matters," Sheppard told the CBC. "It's a way to reinforce culture and a sense of place."

For the full article, visit the CBC’s website.

Drawing on considerable experience on the subject, Professor Brigitte Shim was recently interviewed by Better Dwelling for her insights on laneway housing in Toronto.

From Better Dwelling: 

'Laneway housing is an idea whose time has come,' explains Brigitte. 'Living in a laneway enables you to feel like you are live in a village in the heart of an enormous metropolis. Laneways have the potential to create intimate community clusters which operate at a smaller scale within a large, thriving city.'

For those that don’t know, Toronto has 4,109 laneways, that stretch an estimated 294 km behind homes, and businesses. As the city becomes less car dependent, these former service corridors are becoming less relevant in their current form. Laneway homes take 2-3 laneway garages, and through the magic of a great architect, they can be turned into small, but beautiful sustainable homes.
 

For the full article, visit Better Dwelling.

In 1993, Shim and Howard Sutcliffe gained approval from the Ontario Municipal Board to design their laneway house, which won the Governor General Medal for Architecture from the RAIC and the Wood Design Award from the Canadian Wood Council. Additionally, Shim and alumnus Donald Chong co-edited the book titled Site Unseen: Laneway Architecture & Urbanism in Toronto: "a small but catalytic venture in post-urban (or re-urbanizing) adventuring in the city’s inner frontier," according to Gary Michael Dault of Canadian Architect. 

A residential design completed by Ja Architecture Studio — the office of Daniels Faculty alumni Nima Javidi (MUD 2005), Behnaz Assadi (MLA 2008), and Hanieh Rezaei (MUD 2004) — was recently given favourable review by The Globe and Mail.

From the Ja Studio Blog:

“Split-Semi is a renovation project on Dovercourt road that transforms the original semi-detached house into two units with a walk-out basement. The facade of thebuilding has been removed and replaced with an architectural relief. A landscapeintervention creates multiple zones in the front yard of the house that allows a more efficient use of the frontage as well as a livelier streetscape. The design of the facade addresses the original fold on the mansard roof while a modern bay window opens up the project onto the street.”

The house was bought by developer Laleh Rouhani of Luloo Boutique Homes — a family-run remodeling business — with the intention to separate the building into short-term AirBnB rental units. This property was one of the first steps in Luloo’s long-term ambition to create a boutique hotel, Rouhani told Toronto Metro News in an interview earlier this year.

Located steps away from Queen Street’s bustling corridor, the house attracts visitors with its proximity to one of world’s “15 coolest neighbourhoods,” according to Vogue Magazine, and its “abstract, urbane” façade, as described by John Bently Mays for The Globe and Mail.

“The subdued, sombre tone of the copper cladding is a close match, as far as colour goes, for the elderly, reddish-brown brick fabric round about,” writes Mays. “The geometry is not timid about its poetic, radical pedigree – it is a leaf on Le Corbusier’s tree – but neither does it brag about its lineage in the company of the blue-collar Victorians up and down the street.”

Alumnus Salim Bamakhrama (MArch 2010) has opened Hailed Coffee in Toronto, an Arabic café with a speciality called the Hailed shot.

From the Hailed Coffee website:

“Hail in Arabic is cardamom, an essential condiment added to Arabic Coffee. This aromatic and precious ingredient is gently cracked and added at the right time to the simmering coffee. Hail adds a delectable smoothness and aroma to the coffee. Leave it in too long and it turns bitter. Keep it in for just enough and you have the perfect dallah, a.k.a pot. Hail is then carefully filtered out after it has released its natural flavors.”
 

The café was recently featured in online blogs Goodhood and BlogTO. The environment of Hailed Coffee was given special mention by BlogTO.

“Owner Salim Bamakhrama, an architect by trade with a Masters from UCLA and UofT, pulls inspiration from Scandinavia, with freshly painted white walls, mid-century furniture and trendy maple countertops,” writes Sarah Brown. “Intentionally sticking out like a sky-scraping condo in an old borough, Hailed is self-consciously flashy in a way that boisterously catches attention.”

Located along the border of East Chinatown and Leslieville, Hailed Coffee complements its unique beverages with traditional Arabic dates and fresh croissants from Delysees.

Raymond Moriyama (Barch 1954; Hon. 1994) — architect of the Ontario Science Centre, the Toronto Reference Library, and the Canadian War Museum among other buildings of note — was recently profiled in the Toronto Star. Published on Canada Day, the article explored the beginnings of Moriyama's early career, alongside notable architect Moshe Safdie, and compared the support given back in the 60s to today's architectural climate.

"Ottawa's main contribution to [Canada's sesquicentennial] celebrations [taking place next year], the $210-million Canada 150 Fund, is largely supporting transitory events like a tall ship regatta; a travelling, 360-degree cinema and live arts festival; and a commemoration of the Montreal Expo," writes Joseph Hall. “The numbers pale in comparison to the 1967 fair, which alone cost its federal, provincial and municipal backers some $280 million, a huge sum back then, with many tens of millions more being spent on the international and corporate pavilions that it hosted.”

Moriyama was hired to design the Ontario Science Centre at the young age of 35. Dean Richard Sommer, who was interviewed for the article, said such "such support for young, adventurous architects would be unlikely now,” writes Hall.

The project was also noteworthly for the fact that it allowed Moriyama to disrupt the “old boys’ network” by being one of the first minority architects to receive a commission of such scale.

“In his design, and his determination to own it, Moriyama was tilting at the staid and overwhelmingly white milieu that had housed the profession in Canada for decades,” writes Hall. The success of the Ontario Science Centre design allowed Moriyama to “join a new, more adventurous and cosmopolitan cadre of Canadian architects, tuned in to the international beat drumming through the profession globally. This group would include Arthur Erickson, Moshe Safdie and Douglas Cardinal, among others.”

To read the full article, visit the Toronto Star's website.