Shane L.'s List: Ideas & Research

• Between Bleeker and Sherbourne is a raised space that connects the three apartment towers along here in much the same way public spaces do in Toronto's Crescent Town or the Barbican in London, England

• to expand the common understanding that transforms mere physical proximity into something approaching citizenship and shared identity.
• We spend so much time on the outside looking in that even the most privileged among us might be forgiven for feeling left out.
• this year, given that the theme is "Sacred Spaces, Sacred Circles."
• Let's be honest: Most of us are uncomfortable with the idea of entering buildings that are sacred to various religions, perhaps even our own.
• some of the most remarkable new structures in the city
• building is divided into two sections, one dedicated to religious purposes, the other for social uses.
• could almost be mistaken for a concert hall.
• adds a social dimension to the complex
• religious building as landmark, the designated centre of a community, physical as well as emotional.
• Designed by Quadrangle Architects
• synagogue seeks to meet community needs in addition to the sacred
• this has emerged as the new template for religious architecture, no matter what the religion
• meant to announce the arrival of a particular community into the larger context.
• a billboard, a declaration in architecture
• Toronto was a Gothic city
• in the 19th century spoke of Englishness, Anglicanism and high moral purpose
• Chapel of St. James-the-less, located off the beaten track in St. James Cemetery. Built in 1860, and designed by Cumberland and Storm
• National Historic Site
• Few buildings in Toronto are anywhere as picturesque as this one, which sits on a small hill near the entrance to the cemetery

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• nomadic Australian tribe, called the Achilpa. Their divine founder had fashioned and anointed a sacred pole, which the tribe carried with them on their wanderings. Its bending told them in which direction to travel and its very presence ensured that wherever they were they had cosmos, 'their world', around them. At the same time, the pole linked the people with their founder, above them in the heavens: after making the pole, he had climbed up it and vanished into the sky.
• Religious man might understand his world as being at the centre of the world on three scales: country, city, sanctuary. That way, Palestine, Jerusalem, the Temple were all seen as the centre of the world.
• Consequently, when he undertook new construction work, religious man, by analogy, organised it outwards from a central point.
• Eliade finds a chronological progression in sacred space from that created by the sacred pole of the nomadic Achilpa, to that of fixed dwellings, to that of religious architecture.

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• It is extremely difficult to believe that such a person's experience was not that of the wholly familiar.
• it could be that one of the causes of the Reformation was that familiarity had bred contempt in the churches, with people using them to get out of the rain, meet friends, or whatever. Don't I recall something in Chaucer about people going to church to see and be seen?
• people become familiarised with stories of miraculous happenings as they do with most things they are exposed to long term.

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• critique can itself be a violent thing. It destroys everything in its path with a smug wave of its hand, and leaves nothing in place of what was there.
• Finally, instead of focusing on problems, I’m shifting my perspective to look at their potential solutions
• But rather: How are we responding to situations, what kind of an impact are we creating, and how can create strong relationships that set ourselves up for future successes?

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• Any teacher who has spent weeks reviewing how to identify reliable, appropriate sources just to find themselves reading through hundreds of pages of crap thanks to last minute internet searches will likely be nodding vigorously