Category: Architecture
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House of Terra Cotta
Our house is somewhat like a “Chicago Bungalow” format from the 1920’s, though there are various things about it that are unlike other Chicago Bungalows. For starts, it has one of three “boomtown fronts” found in Oak Park, which disguises a full second floor. It also has a preponderance of terra cotta briq-a-braq. We embarked…
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Traditional Media vs Social Media, and it’s Similarity to Urban vs Suburban Design
The recent passing of Walter Cronkite and the commemoration of the Apollo 11 lunar landing spawned much commentary about how as a culture, we’ve lost not just trusted voice and a collective goal, even the ability to dream. There are many indicators supporting this notion, even some directly related to the design of our cities.…
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Ten Hours in Toronto
Spending ten hours in a city usually happens unexpectedly when your airplane connection is delayed. This wasn’t the case here; this was planned in advance. I had a promotional plane ticket given for me, one that was going to expire this month. It had to be used, City of Toronto garbage collectors’ strike or not. In…
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A Perfectly Suburban Afternoon
Christopher Hume, the architecture critic for the Toronto Star newspaper, recently wrote of his ten most favourite streets in the “905 area code”, a euphemism for the Toronto suburbs. True to the title, he wrote only of the streets, not of specific buildings on the streets, but of the streets themselves, and how the backdrop…
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Rencontre avec Darrel G. Babuk – Architecte, spécialiste en réseau de transport
Publié le 9 septembre 2006 In english: some time ago, I was recommended to Christophe Loustau, Recipient of the prestgious Richard Morris Hunt Fellowship. Christophe’s research project was to document the original New York City – San Francisco transcontinental railway across the United States. I did an amalgamation of many of my usual railway &…
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Deux journées de folie en compagnie de Darrel Babuk
session du 8 au 9 septembre 2006 In English: some time ago, I was recommended to Christophe Loustau, Recipient of the prestgious Richard Morris Hunt Fellowship. Christophe’s research project was to document the original New York City – San Francisco transcontinental railway across the United States. I did an amalgamation of many of my usual…
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Big People. Little Cars. Tiny Houses. The Scale of our Neighbourhoods
It was an odd conversation over the July Fourth barbeque. One side started talking about the increasing waistlines of various people. The other side was talking about my Mini, and their new-found interest in Microcars. Then – like a flyswatter hitting a mosquito – the two groups found out about each other. A sort of…
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Land Development Strategy on Autopilot
First we shape our buildings, and then they shape us” Sir Winston Churchill “Motion is the aesthetic of modern man” Clifford Wiens Maybe it was driving through a crowded parking lot, looking for a parking space. In amidst the row of SUV’s there appeared to be an empty space, only to come upon…
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The “Architect – Comedian” as the next new comic sensation
At a farewell party last night, one fellow picked a conversation topic started expounding on “lawyer-comedians”. Now, I can count lawyers as being among my best of friends, however: a “lawyer – comedian” sounded as oxymoronic as would an “architect-comedian”. I somehow doubt if anyone could find comedy in issuing a change order or an…
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Sustainability and recent wood technology
It was fascinating to see a recent proposal for the Sears Tower to include all glass ‘look out pods” – a cantilevered glass structure of nothing but glass on five sides including the floor and all supporting structure. No apparent supporting structure – or at least what we would think to be supporting structure, like…