The Babuk Report

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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 my wanderings around downtown Toronto, it really wasn’t bad at all. I’d compare it to a clean day in New York City. A train that I took, however, passed by one of the city parks turned into a makeshift dump – a rather surreal mountain of plastic garbage bags.

There were hand sanitizing stations everywhere you could imagine. It seemed that someone was handing me a “moist towelette” wrapped in foil at every turn.

Garbage collectors’ strike or not, it really wasn’t too bad. At least downtown.

The Porter Airlines thing

I flew there and back on Porter Airlines – a “retro” airline that flies in and out of Toronto’s Island Airport. The stewardesses are decked out in pillbox hats and pencil skirts, they even offer passengers food and beverages – just like the old days. And they too handed out those ubiquitous moist towelettes in foil packages. Toronto must be the city with the world’s cleanest hands.

It’s a veritable who’s who that fly on Porter. At their gala reception in Chicago last February, I had a lengthy conversation with Mike Harris, former Premier of Ontario. Last March, who happened to take a seat opposite me in the departures lounge at the Island Airport but Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada. This time, I had the pleasure of showing a reporter from the Toronto Sun how to take the El from Midway Airport into Chicago, and giving my “nickel n’ dime” tour of Chicago’s southwest side along the way.

From the Island Airport Ferry, going to the Mainland

The Island Airport is incredibly handy to fly in and out of, it’s only a couple blocks away from the Royal York Hotel and Union Station. At what other airport in the world is one required to take a ferry – across water – to the baggage check-in? Then, they drive you to the Royal York.

The Royal York Hotel (I’m not sure if it still is a Canadian Pacific owned property) is always a hoot – ever since they closed the Beehive Room and ended the perpetual Petula Clark show that was ongoing for years (I’m suspicious that she may not have had THAT many hit songs to sing), they still have Her Majesty’s portrait hanging in the lobby, looking quite excited at the prospect at camping out there once more. I could never understand.

July 18, 2009
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 of architecture contributed to the ambience.

Now, Oak Park is a nice town. Like any Chicago neighbourhood, it has nice, but not great, streets. I grew up with an insatiable admiration of Frank Lloyd Wright and that period of about twenty years or so that came to be known as the Prairie School. Now that I live in Oak Park, and am surrounded by landmark Prairie School architecture, I have an understanding of why it only lasted twenty years or so. It’s very formal, predictable and dare I say boring, after twenty years or so.

I’ve grown to like mid century modern design. Oak Park has a couple notable mid century modern houses, but they stick out like a sore thumb and it’s doubtable if these days that they would ever make it past the litany of committee approvals required in this town.

Come to think of it, neighbourhoods of mid-century modern design usually don’t have great, walkable streets, though they quite likely have streets that are sensational to experience at higher speeds, in motion.

Thinking of mid century modern in the Chicago area, we have Flossmoor, Lake Forest, the Illinois Institute of Technology campus – all wonderful communities, but hardly known for delightfully sensual, engaging and walkable streets.

A house in Las Vegas – lots of street presence, but no pedestrian interaction

Granted, the Chicago area isn’t really known for mid century modern. Some of the greatest mid century modern works appear in the “desert communities” – like Las Vegas or Palm Springs. Definitely not walkable streets, but sensational to drive at night.

British historian Reynar Banham used to refer to this as the “architecture of energy”, Regina architect Clifford Wiens described this as being “motion is the aesthetic of modern man”.

A gas station in Palm Springs, with pedestrian stairs leading up to the plaza level with filling pumps

Mid century modern buildings are quite fabulous to experience – they were big on defining spaces through abstract elements that could be imagined as all sorts of things. This concept of mid century modern supported exuberant stand alone buildings, separated by other stand alone and equally exuberant buildings by non descript space.

Palm Springs house with patio

Mid century modern spaces are inward and private, not public.

Even the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair – a very mid century modern event – defined its spaces in relatively private ways by turning its back to existing, defined streets and creating “plazas”.

Perhaps on of the best examples of exuberant architect and a walkable street could be Frank Lloyd Wright’s JC Morris Gift Shop on Maiden Lane in San Francisco. The street would be walkable regardless what someone built on it. Frank Lloyd Wright’s wall – however beautiful and elegant – really doesn’t contribute to the street in a constructive and supportive way.

While I’m a great fan of both walkable streets and exuberant architecture, finding the two together in harmony is a rare occasion.

July 12, 2009
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 & architectural history presentations. This presentation completely zapped every single word of french vocabulary I knew, as I’m sure that it did the same for Christophe’s english. An entry from Christophe’s journal follows, which can be seen at www.christopheloustau.com . Maintenant, en Français:

Darrel G. Babuk est un passionné de transport ferroviaire. Il est architecte AIA, membre de l’institut royal d’architecture du Canada, reconnu comme LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional) et associé chez DLK Civic Design à Chicago. Il travaille pour différents clients comme Chicago Transit Authority sur le développement de leur réseau de transport. Actif dans le milieu associatif local, professeur à l’école d’architecture de Triton College et féru d’histoire de l’architecture, il participe à de nombreuses conférences pour faire partager cette passion. D’origine canadienne, il a grandi dans les gares même de Grassy Lake et Vulcan, Alberta dans les prairies de l’Ouest canadien où son père était opérateur télégraphiste. Notre rencontre s’est faite ici, à Chicago où nous avons traversé en long et en large la ville et sa banlieue dans sa superbe Chevrolet Corvair de 1965. Chicago a toujours été la plaque tournante commerciale dans le transport des marchandises des Etats-Unis. Sa position stratégique au croisement des Grands Lacs et des canaux et le formidable essor de son réseau ferroviaire en ont fait le berceau d’innovations architecturales et techniques. Nos différentes escales nous ont menées à parcourir différents thèmes étroitement liés au réseau ferroviaire : gare, entrepôts de fret et ponts ferroviaires et, à l’incontournable Frank Lloyd Wright.

A la fin du XIXe et au début du XXe siècles, plus d’une vingtaine de compagnies ferroviaires convergées vers Chicago. Six gares principales les accueillaient. Aujourd’hui, sur ces six gares, il ne reste plus que deux d’entre elles : Dearborn Station qui a été reconverti en complexe de restaurants et de services et Union Station qui est toujours utilisée par Amtrak. Les autres ont été détruites pour faire place à l’appétit des constructeurs. Union Station est l’œuvre de la compagnie d’architectes Graham, Anderson, Probst & White exécutée entre 1913 et 1925. Elle est l’un des plus beaux exemples de l’architecte néo-classique de la ville. A l’origine, elle était implantée sur deux blocs avant que celui côté Est, le long du canal, soit en partie démoli pour implanter un tour de bureaux. De ce bâtiment, seules les voies en sous-sol sont toujours existantes et encore en fonction.
De ces gares majeures implantées en cœur de ville près du Loop, qui est le nom du métro aérien qui dessert le centre de la ville en formant une boucle, les trains se dirigeaient vers la proche banlieue où chaque gare formait alors le centre d’un nouveau quartier, d’une nouvelle communauté. Celle-ci se développait autour de la gare sur un rayon d’un kilomètre environ, distance pouvant être facilement parcouru à pied. Les gares de Riverside et River Forest, que nous avons visité, sont deux exemples de ce développement. Ce modèle a été étudié et promu par Sir Ebenezer Howard dans son livre « Garden Cities of Tomorrow » en 1902, basé sur sa thèse de 1898.

Du fait de son réseau dense de canaux navigables, l’accès à la ville par les voies ferrées nécessitait la construction de ponts permettant la libre circulation des bateaux. Après le grand incendie de 1871, de nouveaux principes de ponts métalliques sont construits par les compagnies ferroviaires permettant de libérer le passage. Plusieurs systèmes sont inventés par leurs ingénieurs : pont tournant (swing-span bridge), pont à bascule (bascule bridge), pont transbordeur (vertical-lift bridge), … Plusieurs de ces ponts ferroviaires sont en cours de protection par la ville de Chicago dont le pont tournant de la compagnie Illinois Central Railroad, le pont basculant de la compagnie St Charles Air Line, le pont basculant de la Pennsylvania Railroad appelé « Eight Track » et le pont transbordeur de la même compagnie. Tous ces ponts ont un fort impact dans le paysage, souvent industriel, dans lequel ils se trouvent. Leur préservation est un repère important de l’histoire ferroviaire de la ville de Chicago.

De cet intense transit, les entrepôts de fret de l’Union Freight Station sont encore visibles. Ces imposants bâtiments de plusieurs centaines de mètres de long sur une cinquantaine de large et sur cinq étages de haut montrent l’impressionnante capacité de stockage que devait avoir la ville de Chicago. Aujourd’hui, ces bâtiments sont en majorité utilisés pour leur fonction originale. Toutefois, pour quelqu’un d’entre eux, des reconversions en loft commencent à se faire.

D’autres traces restent toujours visibles comme les silos de stockage (grain house). Ils sont les précurseurs des premiers gratte-ciels. Suite au grand incendie de Chicago, le bois avait été abandonné au profit du béton armé, leur donnant cette silhouette qui a inspiré Le Corbusier dans son livre « Vers une architecture ». Aujourd’hui, ces ouvrages sont à l’abandon.

More of Christophe Loustau’s journal may be viewed at http://www.christopheloustau.com/

July 9, 2009
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 railway & architectural history presentations. One of those sites was Riverside, Illinois, one of the first – and currently best preserved – transit oriented development, or classic American suburbs, in existence. On the way to Riverside, we happened to stumble across the Route 66 Car Show in Berwyn, Illinois. Christophe politely asked if we could stop to take a look, I think that he underwent a form of culture shock. An entry from Christophe’s journal follows. Maintenant, en Français:

J’ai rencontré à Chicago une véritable personnalité, architecte et passionné de gares. Darrel est d’origine canadienne, où il a grandi dans une gare avec sa famille, son père était opérateur télégraphiste. Notre rencontre c’est faite un vendredi en début d’après-midi. Nous devions nous rencontrer pour un café avant de se revoir le lendemain pour parcourir la ville sur différents sujets tournant autour des gares. Mais le café, c’est très rapidement transformé en road trip dans sa superbe Chevrolet Corvair bleu turquoise de 1966. A l’intérieur, des tapis blancs à petits pois noirs donnent un effet rétro.

Nous sommes parti vers la banlieue de Chicago pour flâner autour de Oak Park et pour voir les différentes maisons de Frank Lloyd Wright tout en discutant. C’est impressionnant de voir l’effet que peuvent produire de simples maisons que l’ont a étudiées, vues dans des livres et de se retrouver là, en face d’elles. Il faut dire que cet architecte est le plus célèbre des Etats-Unis. Son architecture est tout simplement remarquable. Le soir, la pause café à continuer en dîner avec Darrel et sa femme dans un très agréable restaurant.

Le lendemain, nous sommes partis à nouveau à l’assaut de Chicago au volant de sa superbe américaine. Nous avons traversé de long en large tous les endroits les plus intéressants pour mon étude. C’est formidable de rencontrer quelqu’un passionné par un sujet et prêt à vous le faire partager. En chemin, une autre surprise nous attendait sur la célèbre route 66. Une manifestation de voitures américaines anciennes était organisée. Nous nous sommes arrêtées une petite heure pour voir toutes ces magnifiques voitures avec leurs lignes extravagantes, leurs intérieures grands luxes et leurs chromes étincelants. Quelques unes sont de véritables cultes à la culture des années 60 et 70. La célèbre expression “mettez un tigre dans votre moteur” était mise en scène ainsi que le plateau repas haut en couleurs des drive-in.

More of Christophe Loustau’s journal may be seen at http://www.christopheloustau.com

July 9, 2009
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 reverse serendipity in a way.

For some years, I’ve been promoting the virtues of smaller houses, and expounding on my theory of how we’ve designed our neighbourhoods around cars, and that the size of our cars has directly influenced the size of our houses.

A building with people, built to the scale of jetliners

Think of an airport terminal, and how gates need to be spaced far enough apart to allow adequate space between airplanes, and enough internal space to accommodate enplaning and deplaning passengers and supporting areas. Same kind of idea.

1957 Chrysler 300

There is fresh, new interest in smaller houses, as I predicted in “The Rise and fall of the McMansion and other Midwestern Housing Trends”. The most notable example of interest in market driven, small houses – like the line of Katrina Cottages marketed by Lowe’s Home Centers.

1972 Fiat 500L

While this change was driven for reasons other than our taste in automobiles, it’s ironic that this is just in time for Chrysler – formerly known for very large cars – to become part of Fiat – known for very small cars.

Land uses and traffic along the Chicago River

During the age of canal building, substantial monetary capital was invested into building canals. Land along the canals – a manmade feature – became very valuable because of the uses one could put beside this new transportation artery. This concept was magnified with the advent of railroads and became known as “frontage”. Build the largest building possible on the smallest of frontage, for economy and efficiency’s sake. This concept was extended to a hierarchy of roadways, and gave rise to “skyscrapers”. Not every land use wants to be in a neighbourhood of tall, closely built buildings. Dwellings – where people live – need sunlight, and a connection to land.

The type of transportation used between places defines the physical area covered by a neighbourhood of places.

A “mews” or backstreet, in London

Walking between places usually led to places located within a half mile or a kilometer of each other. These neighbourhoods are more apt to have a variety of services on a smaller scale, built closer together. Think of how many groceries one could carry while walking – this may define how many grocery stores one could find within the radius, while that radius area needs a certain population density to support these stores. At one point in history, to support a walkable economy, grocery type items were sold in “general stores” – increasing product lines to allow financial viability. And likewise, to maintain this density, dwellings were closer together. In Chicago, we have “bookend” neighbourhoods – blocks of single family houses that are terminated with walk up flats.

An unknown regional mall in an unknown city

Personal, mechanized transportation – the automobile – exaggerated this notion to an extreme; in doing so, this scale of neighbourhood – the scale of the automobile – dedicated the most amount of land necessary for transportation uses while increasing the area of our neighbourhoods. One won’t bat an eyebrow to travel more than a mile to shop at a store where one could purchase an entire week’s worth of groceries. In dispersing the apparent neighbourhood so sparsely over such a great area, the social fabric unwinds. People become anonymous. Driving everywhere cuts down on exercise opportunities, just as a loose urban fabric doesn’t seem to care as much about physical appearances – like obesity.

Light rail transit on sodded trackbeds in Grenoble, France

The perfect compromise seems to be public transit – capable of carrying large numbers of people varying distances.

The coming of smaller cars to North America may create denser, closer knit neighbourhoods. Anyone who has spent any amount of distance in my Mini will attest to its lack of comfort, one shies away from travelling far. One would tend ot patronize closer services, or use transit. The smaller dimensions may give way to smaller streets. Chicago neighbourhoods were a mass of two way streets until cars came to be so large that only one drive aisle – not two – could fit on a roadway. Yet, one still needs streets to allow travel between places. Movement between places is an important concept in this era.

The small house movement is an interesting one. A sustainable community needs a critical mass – a density that will allow a certain number of people to be within a certain distance of employment, cultural and shopping services to support the same. A hallmark of land planning since the industrial age has been the importance of movement between places, manifesting itself in transportation.

Federal Hill, Baltimore. These houses measure sixteen feet (about five metres) wide

And certainly, smaller houses with smaller footprints could use far less land than McMansions. Smaller houses could be placed together in relatively dense groupings and achieve the same sort of – whatever openess – one may achieve in low density, large footprint dwelling configuration.

An interesting study could be the ratio of transportation right of way area per capita of a post war suburb vs. a pre war neighbourhood to find efficient and effective land use. Further, my gut feeling is that some of the more effective land uses may be more livable neighbourhoods.

July 7, 2009
Two National Holidays, One Week

What could be more cumbersome to get things done and to maintain a schedule than two national holidays – one mid week, one on a weekend – in the same week?

Independence Day celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, signaling the creation of the United States of America. It happens on July 4. Many towns, like Chicago, have their giant fireworks displays the night before, on July 3. July 4 is a Saturday this year; I guess that everyone is observing their day off from work on Friday, July 3 – no?

Dominion Day (or more recently, Canada Day) celebrates Queen Victoria signing the British North America Act and creating Canada. It occurs on July 1. Knowing that this somewhat British element had to compete with mammoth American celebrations on July 4, the thought was to try to upstage this all by having the Canadian celebration a couple days earlier.

Dominion Day is Wednesday this year. I guess that people are putting their unused vacation days and comp time towards Monday and Tuesday, not being able to wait to enjoy time off in sunshine – ? Maybe it’s just convenient to take the whole week off.

Who knows? It’s challenging to schedule anything this week.

July 3, 2009
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 it and discover that it’s simply a smaller car packed between the Escalades. Or maybe it’s noticing the difference in scale between neighborhoods built at different decades; and that their scale varies directly with the size of their garages. Whether we want to acknowledge this or not, we’re designing our housing stock around our taste in automobiles.

“In the Industrial Age: first we build our cars, then build our communities around them”

                Darrel Babuk

A Forward Thinking concept at the time

Take the ’51 Ford as example. In retrospect, it might seem to be something akin to a lunchbucket on wheels; yet in it’s day, it was a Ford’s first revolutionary design of the modern automotive era. Revolutionary in more ways than one; as the embodiment of the GI Housing Bill and the Interstate Highway Act of a few years later, it conquered countless acres of former rural farmland and helped populate these territories with people and commercial strips.

Levittown was another Forward Thinking concept of its time

In 1951, the sought after housing stock was a single family home of two, maybe three bedrooms with only one gathering space not related to food. These houses were probably configured as two separate levels, one being built inside a roof attic space to conserve materials, thus price. It allowed its occupants to spend more money on other things, like fancier cars…

Cars had smiles in this era – this was our dentist’s car

Later on, by the late 1960’s, it was commonplace to expect our cars and houses to be exuberantly flamboyant. Houses had grown into sprawling ranches and split levels; despite experiments with swoopy rooflines, they still weren’t too large in floor area.

Note that the roofline of this house creates the same sort of smile as did our dentist’s car

Instead, individual houses sat on large plots of land, requiring cars to ferry their occupants back and forth. The idea of a two car family had just entered American lexicon, a two car garage proudly displayed to the street was a status symbol to behold. Cars enveloped similarly swoopy masses of sheet metal, they were difficult to manouever through city street. Chicago reverted many of its neighborhood streets to one way traffic, to accommodate these vehicles.

The freshness of sixties design got a bit tired, then mired in the seventies. Maybe it was the energy crunch, or maybe it was by a series of laws that controlled, rather than encouraged design. By the time the eighties came to be, a book by Jane Jacobs “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” came to be better accepted, and we sought ways to do more with less. A few indulgences came in small packages. Sudden interest in condominiums and townhouses were met by happy buyers in BMW 5 Series sedans. Oddly, while we learned to drive more fuel efficient cars, we started to drive more cars, it really didn’t stem our consumption of resources. We rebuilt our cities, yet kept developing new suburbs. We simply found ways to use more resources.

These days, we have McMansions and SUV’s of all sizes, though the family units that live inside the McMansions are smaller than what lived in the 50’s or 60’s tract homes. The McMansions lack design originality, though they boast rare and expensive finishes, like kitchens with granite countertops. Didn’t the original marble cladding of the Amoco Building mine out one of Michelangelo’s historic marble quaries? Our freeways are constantly choked with traffic. Our expectations have become supersized as we simply want more of everything – good design doesn’t really count, just that there be more of it! The car enveloped by a swoopy mass of sheet metal in the late 1960’s is no larger in floor area than a 21st century full size SUV, yet our SUV’s take up considerably more volume and weigh substantially more. And about the original marble cladding of the Amoco Building – once it was removed due to damage, wasn’t it pulverized and used as roadbed gravel for an extension of the Stevenson Expressway?

Would we have a different urban infrastructure design if we had started to drive vehicles like this?

It makes one wonder about the preponderance of human nature to simply go on autopilot without question: where would we be now if during the fifties and sixties, we had stuck not to the large cars but rather to concepts like the original Austin Mini or Fiat 500; the concepts being produced in Detroit as Ramblers or Crossleys. Would our cities be much more geographically compact, would we be using public transit more often, and would we be living our lives in public rather than in the cocoons of gated communities?

“How often I found where I should be going, only by setting out for somewhere else”

                Buckminster Fuller

June 29, 2009
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 Expression of Interest document.

Thinking of it, until very lately, the only architects ever depicted on prime time television programs were the likes of Mr. Brady of “The Brady Bunch”, or the owner of “Mr. Ed – the Talking Horse” – all these characters being rather contrived. For television, the images of lawyers have been dressed up by inserting a bit of drama into their daily routines – a procedural time out while appealing a stay of execution, for example. We architects could never inject excitement into a Contemplated Change Notice addressing plastic laminate countertop surfaces.

The only group less likely than “lawyer – comedians” or architect – comedians” may be an “accountant – comedian”, perhaps developing comedy in changing the standard office ledger paper from six column to five. A cost effective move, no doubt.

Fortunately, we found a more entertaining conversation topic that involved commenting on wine from Ontario vineyards.

June 27, 2009
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 steel – at all. An architect who interned under me years ago became fascinated with all glass structures and developed this into a market segment, designing things like all glass stairways and all glass trusses – very showy stuff. The way he explained it was simple: glass is a material whose structural qualities are much like concrete – excellent in compression, limited in tension, not great in shear. A major difference between glass and concrete is that one can’t cast an eight inch thick slab of glass in whatever shape with reinforcing bars, the fabrication method is that different.

Glass Stairway, Chicago

One only need to look at the glass staircase in the Macintosh computer store on North Michigan Avenue, an all glass stairway whose stair treads are perhaps an inch thick. Imagine a slab of concrete one inch thick, and one probably could envision patio blocks. Not the sort of material that one could use to span an entire stairway width.

The same comparisons are true for wood products. I was invited to attend a seminar held by the Canadian Wood Council and the Forest Products Association of Canada last Thursday. Wood has good compressive and tensile properties. In Chicago, it tends to get overlooked due to this fire we had back in 1871, before the days of building codes and fire-resistivity research. A professor of mine once described it this way – if you were given a choice a sitting under a flaming steel beam or a flaming wood beam, which would you rather? Steel melts when heated, whereas heavy timber develops a protective char, preventing further damage. When used properly, wood can be safer than steel.

While wood may be a piece of tree shaved down to a dimension, modern wood technology is based on taking smaller, perhaps scrap pieces of wood and gluing them together in a way that aligns the direction of wood grain to perform to specifications. Wood itself is composed of directional fiber and cellulose, the cellulose acting as glue. Today’s methods essentially take wood fiber and glue them back together with engineered resins.

2010 Winter Olympics Speedskating Oval, Richmond, BC

The new 2010 Winter Olympics Speedskating Oval in Richmond, BC is the world’s largest all-wood structure. Its graceful, curving roof is made up of many pieces of wood, glued and bolted together. By understanding the importance of structural shape and direction of wood grain, the graceful curves allow impressive spans. A “V” truss shape incorporates fire sprinklers.

Murray Grove, London, UK

One of the more dramatic displays came with a British project, Murray Grove, a nine story apartment building in London, constructed entirely of cross laminated timber panels. Imagine plywood but six inches thick. This system could be constructed to be even taller; it offers many sustainability advantages over steel or concrete systems.

Murray Grove Construction

Murray Grove, Panel Diagram

This system met or exceeded all firecodes, provided ease of constructability and negligible construction waste.

Using proper connections, wood construction of this type offers superior seismic resistive cabilities, as entire panels can absord twisting without breaking.

Some people think that wood is like taking a chain saw and killing a tree. Not so. The amount of energy, water and carbon involved in making wood from seedling to reforestation in a properly managed forest is less than what it would take to make a unit of steel or concrete. Trees are most efficient at producing oxygen up to a certain point in their lifespans. A properly managed forest respects this and will target selective trees for harvest while supporting the ecosystem, much like how nature takes care of itself.

Canadian forests consistently rank among the world’s best managed and best documented, managing a small portion of forest while leaving the majority of forests in their natural state. This approach makes wood a highly sustainable building product that is just beginning to be recognized by the “green” industry.

June 26, 2009
The Illinois Saint Andrew Society Highland Games British Car Show

The good hostess favours of rain ponchos the evening previous was an omen indeed. Unprecedented 70 mph winds and heavy downpour rains swept through the area. Upon checking email at 430 on Saturday morning, a note read “.. the Games will go on..”

Just a wee bit of the 7000 pounds of this 1953 Bentley R-Series

The Illinois Saint Andrew Society is the oldest and longest continually operating charity in the State; it’s like a Scottish benevolent society. For the past twenty-three years, it has staged the Highland Games – heavy athletics, rugby, soccer, dancing competitions, shortbread baking contests, dog shows, sheep herding… For the past few years, the program has been expanded to include a British Car Show. I am honoured to Chair the committee that organizes the car show within the overall Highland Games Committee. The British Car Show Committee led to the formation of the Scottish Motor Club, an organization that can continually promote the Highland Games, the Illinois Saint Andrew Society, and offer moral support to anyone relatively new to Lucas Electronics.

Looking down the Car Show Row, early in the morning

The Highland Games were held at the Oak Brook Polo Grounds. The grounds are being converted from polo accommodations to soccer; a seemingly insignificant though very major change is that soccer fields have longer cut grass that tends to retain water. The thought that came to mind is that kilts are always preferable to trousers when marching through wetlands. The grounds were awfully soggy at 6AM.

Lotus Europa (left) Lotus Super Seven (Right)

Nightmarish thoughts of low-slung Lotuses (Lotii ? ) and 7000 pound Bentleys came to mind. The Village of Oak Brook was quick to disallow cars on the main field; the car show had to quickly relocate. After an impromptu committee meeting, a well drained site along the main walkway to the admission gates was chosen. Though a bit tight in area, it had exceptional visibility and even offered shade. The Highland Games are highland games first and a car show second, so cars are never a major bill. This year however, despite overnight flooding and fallen trees leaving neighbourhoods in disrepair, some seventeen cars appeared. None sank in the mud, as our site had no mud to sink into.

Not a Sunbeam Imp, but rather a 1973 Land Rover Series III

The Arts & Culture Club of the Saint Andrew Society invited me to make a presentation describing Scottish cars. There were Scottish Americans who formed automobile companies like Winton, Buick, then General Motors; and there was the Rootes Group who built a factory at Linwood, Renfrewshire, Scotland that manufactured Hillman Imps (mainly) with the occasional Sunbeam Alpine and Humber Scepter coming off the line.

1963 Sunbeam Imp, photo from the 2008 Highland Games British Car Show

Midway through the afternoon, a friend’s Sunbeam Imp (as badged in the US) appeared, making the display complete.

Another friend contacted me earlier, I had asked if he could bring his 1929 Austin, as we didn’t have any pre-war British cars showing. He returned the contact indicating that a friend of his was letting him use his racetrack to try out his McLaren F1. This constitutes quite an acceptable reason for not attending the Highland Games British Car Show.

Lotus Elise

Early in morning however, my daughter won First Place for dancing the Flora, and Second Place for the Sword Dance!

A good time was had by all, with the Lotus Corps Chicago attempting to convince me that my next car should be a Lotus M100, while people from New Zealand approached me, actually recognizing my car as a Clubman Mini, and sharing stories.

June 21, 2009