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06 Oct 08

" Montreal's many benches make people welcome," by Christopher Hume (TheStar.com)

Ever since my "corner-making"/proxemics article for FOCUS, I've been meaning to write an article about the dismal unavailability of seating in Victoria's downtown. We seem more concerned with making it impossible for homeless people to sit down or sleep on benches than making it possible for housed people to take a rest. The streets are unfriendly and cheerless in that regard, and it doesn't matter how many flower baskets the city hangs up.

MORE BENCHES, please!

www.thestar.com/510899 - Preview

thestar christopher_hume street_usage street_furniture benches montreal cities

It's not that the city is so much greener than others; the difference lies in the ease with which it can be inhabited.
What does that mean? Well, to begin with, benches – and lots of them.
Compared with Toronto, where finding a place to sit out on the streets is next to impossible, Montreal positively invites visitors to sit down and watch the passing parade. Benches are everywhere you turn.
- Toronto and Victoria sound more and more like close, like-minded and similarly afflicted, siblings. In spirit, and in fact. - on 2008-10-06
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- Simply put, benches allow us to inhabit a city. They help transform a place into a destination. They tell us we're welcome and give us a chance to be spectators as well as participants.
  Here in Toronto, it seems benches are regarded with suspicion; perhaps our attitudes are vestiges of a time when this was a city that associated sitting and relaxing with slothfulness and indolence. To sit is to loiter. Even now, there are plenty of signs reminding us that loitering is forbidden. The devil makes work for idle hands, and, in Toronto, idle feet.
- Montreal goes even further and attaches benches to utility poles throughout the downtown core. Again, the message is clear: The street isn't just a way to get from A to B, but a place to be.
  - interesting... images? - on 2008-10-06
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- And you'd think Toronto, which likes to make a big deal of its commitment to pedestrianism, would latch on to the bench. In the grand scheme of things, benches offer a cheap and easy way to demonstrate its seriousness about getting people to walk.
  But the culture of official Toronto is one of fear and loathing. From the bureaucratic point of view, benches are risky business. They attract the homeless, drunks, drug addicts, and worst of all, skateboarders. They are dirty, dangerous and, well, to be avoided.

20 Dec 07

BLDGBLOG: Church of God, Elevator

- starts with a great story about Mark Twain, and asks a trenchant question about the adventurousness (or absence thereof) in architectural design today

bldgblog.blogspot.com/...church-of-god-elevator.html - Preview

architecture bldgblog innovation montreal

- - Chartres, not Montreal... - on 2007-12-20
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When Mark Twain visited Montreal in 1881, he said that it was the first time he'd ever been in a city "where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." Montreal, you see, has lots of churches.
Twain was then told, however, that the city would soon build another church – and perhaps another, and another – and "I said the scheme is good," Twain responded, "but where are you going to find room? They said, we will build it on top of another church and use an elevator."
Church of God, Elevator.
Does this off-the-cuff remark from a 19th century novelist exhibit a more adventurous sense of space and structure than the buildings which pass for architectural design today?
- - ha! brilliant good old Mark Twain! - on 2007-12-20
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19 Nov 07

CCA - Canadian Centre for Architecture

www.cca.qc.ca/...Niveau3.asp - Preview

1973 architecture canadian_centre_for_architecture energy energy_crisis exhibitions montreal

This major exhibition is the first to study the architectural innovation spurred by the 1973 oil crisis, when the value of oil increased exponentially
and triggered economic, political, and social upheaval across the world. Featuring over 350 objects including architectural drawings, photographs, books
and pamphlets, archival television footage, and historical artefacts, the exhibition maps the global response to the shortage and its relevance to architecture today.
Sparked by the combination of reduced oil production and drastically increased prices, the oil crisis marked the end of a period of constant growth in Western
countries following the Second World War. Along with social and economic adjustments such as energy-saving measures and reduced activity came the understanding
that unlimited development based on unrestricted oil at low prices was no longer feasible. Taking its title from familiar signs at gas stations throughout
North America during those years, 1973: Sorry, Out of Gas investigates how architecture and urbanism responded to this new reality. In contrast to
the era’s sense of austerity it was a time of significant developments and intense experimentation in the field of architecture.

The research and innovations of thirty years ago are of particular relevance in the context of contemporary concerns about diminishing energy resources.
While influential at the time, much of the innovative work of architects, engineers, and activist groups of the period was forgotten once financial markets
and energy distribution systems adjusted, and political focus diminished. Today, however, a new sense of urgency is emerging, provoked by the reality of
a deteriorating environment and a finite supply of fossil fuels. “It is of vital importance to consider the radical yet, in many cases, little-known work
from the 1970s as architects today struggle to address similar issues,” said CCA Director and exhibition curator Mirko Zardini. “By providing insight on
the forerunners of many contemporary approaches to sustainable living, the exhibition aims to increase public awareness and encourage contemporary research
in the field.”
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- The impact of the crisis on Western popular culture is represented by a selection of the era’s
  board games, whose themes and titles capture the anxiety of a new lifestyle and reflect the profits of oil suppliers, as well as promotional materials such
  as advertising campaigns and brochures.
- Occupying the CCA’s main galleries, 1973: Sorry, Out of Gas is curated by Mirko Zardini, CCA Director and Chief Curator, with Giovanna Borasi, CCA
  Curator of Contemporary Architecture. The exhibition is organised along interrelated themes, including Austerity, which reflects the impact of the
  oil crisis on habits and lifestyle. Passive Solar surveys efforts to adjust building design to take advantage of solar heat, while Active Solar
  addresses the evolution and application of technologies to capture and convert the sun’s energy. Geopolitical Consequences examines the reactions and
  initiatives in the political, commercial, and cultural realms. Insulation and Underground Buildings presents attempts to conserve energy and integrate
  buildings within their natural surroundings; and Wind maps the evolution from earlier wind turbine designs for rural areas to new applications. Finally,
  Integrated Systems outlines projects that operate on scales of greater complexity involving food production and larger societal groups. Rather than
  providing a complete historical overview of the period’s research, the materials on view have been selected based on their relevance to contemporary
  architectural concerns.
- Among the exhibition highlights are individual projects by such architects as Steve Baer, Michael Jantzen, Douglas Kelbaugh, Michael Reynolds, and Malcolm
  Wells, who designed and built innovative homes to gain independence from existing energy distribution networks. Their little-known work broke new ground by
  allowing alternative concepts of energy use to guide the formal and functional design of their structures. Also featured are the contributions of key engineers
  George Löf, Maria Telkes, and others, whose development of active solar power technology facilitated major architectural advances.
- many parallel explorations addressed the question of energy independence in urban environments. Among the most influential is a 1979 design by
  Oswald Mathias Ungers created in response to a government-sponsored competition for a 400-home community in West Germany. Another, more independent urban
  project is the 519 East 11th Street cooperative in New York City whose tenant-owners installed solar panels and a wind turbine on the rooftop to provide
  energy for public spaces in the building. This successful effort to gain independence from the urban power grid led to a legal battle with the local
  supplier and prompted a lively public debate still relevant today.
- A new typology of architectural publication evolved during this era: Do-It-Yourself books and guides described not only how to construct a home,
  but how to integrate the necessary energy supply. Among those featured in the exhibition are the instructive Practical Guide to Solar Homes, The
  Self-Sufficient House, Michael Reynolds’ influential series Earthship, and Jay Swayze’s unusual Underground Gardens and Homes.
- The ideas and innovations brought together in 1973: Sorry, Out of Gas culminate with the projects of several maverick groups including The New
  Alchemists, Montréal-based Ecol Operation, Farallones Institute, and Integrated Life Support Systems Laboratories. Their efforts focused on expanding
  the scale from individual housing to long-term sustainable communities. Described as “integrated systems,” their work incorporates food production,
  housing, and waste-management. These projects offer the most complex architectural responses to the energy crisis due to their focus on developing
  sustainability on an urban scale, and form a vital foundation for contemporary planning of future ecological viability.
- Created by Montréal-based architect Gilles Saucier of Saucier + Perrotte Architectes, the exhibition design employs an imposing, dark structure
  that links the different galleries and establishes a continuous flow among the content. Visitors can choose different paths through the space, where
  thematic ideas are centered in certain areas but the presentation of material reflects the mixing of concepts and research of the period. The graphic
  design is by Zab Design & Typography of Winnipeg, Canada.
- The accompanying catalogue, Sorry, Out of Gas, is a unique publishing project combining the diverse materials assembled for the exhibition with a
  specifically commissioned children’s component by illustrator Harriet Russell. In her 32-page story entitled “An Endangered Species,” Ms. Russell
  introduces the exhibition’s subject to a broader audience of young readers. With her distinctive drawings and hand-lettered text, Ms. Russell uses
  humour to describe the role of oil in daily life and to suggest alternatives to this rapidly diminishing resource.
  
  An essay by curator Mirko Zardini follows the introductory children’s component, while specific themes and projects are highlighted throughout the
  book in short texts written by co-curator Giovanna Borasi along with Adam Bobbette, Daria Der Kaloustian, and Pierre-Edouard Latouche.
  
  Many of the architectural projects in the exhibition are represented through the photographs of Jon Naar, who traveled extensively across North
  America to document buildings and their architects and engineers in remote as well as urban contexts. His work disseminated their ideas through
  publications of the time, and forms an essential contribution to the CCA catalogue and exhibition.
  
  Co-published by the CCA and Corraini Edizioni, Mantua, and designed by Massimo Pitis with Bianca Baldacci, Sorry, Out of Gas reproduces over
  200 colour and black-and-white images on 232 pages. The volume is available at the CCA Bookstore for $49.95 CAD.
- 1973: Sorry, Out of Gas is the first exhibition curated by Mirko Zardini in his role as CCA Director and Chief Curator, which he assumed in November
  2005. As Visiting Curator, Mr. Zardini previously curated the CCA exhibitions Sense of the City (2005) and Out of the Box: Price, Rossi, Stirling +
  Matta-Clark (2004). His research, writings, exhibitions, and architectural projects engage contemporary architecture, its transformations, and its
  relationship with the city and landscape. A former editor of Casabella magazine and Lotus International, Mr. Zardini also served on the editorial board of
  omus magazine. He has taught at prestigious architectural schools, including the Swiss Federal Polytechnic University in Zurich, Harvard University, and
  Princeton University.
  
  CCA Curator of Contemporary Architecture since 2005, Giovanna Borasi curated the exhibition Environment: Approaches for Tomorrow (2006) on the work
  of Gilles Clément and Philippe Rahm. Before joining the CCA, she co-curated House Sweet Home, Different Ways to Live, Spazio Ventisette,
  Milan (2000), and collaborated on several exhibitions including Asphalt, The Character of Cities at the Milan Triennale with Mirko Zardini (2003). Ms.
  Borasi was an editor and writer for Lotus International and Navigator. She served as Assistant Editor for the book series Quaderni di Lotus; and was member of
  the editorial staff of the graphic design magazine Lettera, a supplement to the architectural magazine Abitare.