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AlvinofDiaspar

AlvinofDiaspar

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Upcoming event at the TSA:

FORUM | TSA Urban Affairs - Design Review in the GTA

DATES | 10 March, 6:30 to 8:30 pm

LOCATION | Great Hall, Arts and Letters Club, 14 Elm St, Toronto

INFORMATION | tsa@torontosocietyofarchitects.ca

DESCRIPTION | Join us for an evening of discussion examining the expanding role of design review panels in the development of new urban realms, landscape design and new building within the Greater Toronto Area. Is design review enabling municipalities and agencies to strive towards design excellence? Or do they present an unnecessary layer in the multi-faceted approval process of our built environment?

MODERATOR | Phil Goodfellow, Vice Chair, Toronto Society of Architects

GUESTS | Bruce Kuwabara, Chair, Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel | Sharon Mittmann, Urban Designer, Mississauga Design Review Panel | Robert Freedman, Director of Urban Design, City of Toronto

http://www.torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/?q=node/68

AoD
 
I was hoping this would get posted here :) tho shouldnt it be in out & about?
 
David Pontarini was a no-show, but Bruce Kuwabara and Ralph Giannone were quite engaging. (Robert Freedman and Sharon Mittmann were fine too, but did not speak at great length.)

Good to meet Xarina!

Darkstar 416, Simply Dan, and Urban Shocker were also in the audience. Anyone else?

42
 
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yes, that was my bad... I should have re-posted when I found out about the architect change to Ralph Giannone.

Nice meeting you too 42! Too bad I didn't meet the others.

Thx for the info on Urban Toronto - I look forward to diving right in!

Xar
 
unfortuently, i didn't make this. anyone want to make a coles notes version of what was discussed?
 
Sorry I didn't get to meet you, Xarina.

Giannone and Kuwabara spoke well. I'd have preferred a couple more architects on the panel though.

A delightfully engaging forum, centered on the local design culture that defines us as a city - with a few suitably derogatory references to lawyers, developers and marketing, and next to nothing said about Big Hair starchitecture.

Indeed, Ralph discounted "the trickle-down effect from foreign architects" as a model to follow, pointed out how Herzog and de Meuron were nurtured by a culture where few foreign architects get to build, and appeared to suggest that Toronto might consider adopting a similar approach.

Regarding the design review process, Ralph was delighted to be part of an approach that's free from "clients and regulatory framework" and Bruce added that "The crit. is a fundamental driver of knowledge ..." by which he meant a similar critique process that students go through.

There was agreement that we now have an architectural design culture that is no longer afraid to constructively criticise the work of others, one that avoids the "I like it / I don't like it" trap, one that is "an agency of city building". They spoke of the collegial nature of design review, how it works best when a design is in its early stages, and they gave a few general examples - including one ( as Ralph called it ) "pre-Modern" condo where the architect of the faux monstrosity was told to go back and "at least learn Georgian architecture and do it properly."

On the waning of faux-red-brick-developer-culture, Bruce said "Peter Clewes transformed the market" to a point where contemporary design is the norm - "The public intuits excellence", he said. There was some discussion of the need to focus on smaller infill residential townhose projects.

They spoke up for international design competitions, and hoped that one day we'll see a national architecture policy similar to the Danish one.

Kuwabara sees a city at a point in time where it is "a weird experiment" with opportunities to "make new exemplars" now that it has gained international attention and "the world is coming here". Regarding the waterfront development, he pointed out that the precinct plans may have been "inherited", but they can be worked within to achieve excellence and that the public realm is out front of the waterfront revival.
 
You're welcome. Of course, it's just one person's view ...

I hope that SimplyDan, Darkstar, interchange and Xarina will post their own versions of what happened.

We're simply everywhere, we UT forumers, aren't we?
 
Yes, though it was mostly about design as a process rather than as a finished consumable, so it might have had limited appeal for some ( there were a couple of passing references to "... buildings like OCAD and the ROM ..." that were a sort of shorthand for that "other" ).

The crowd wasn't huge, but the issues discussed were.
 
It was also great to finally get into the Arts & Letters club.

Xarina: Can you give us some information about joining the TSA? For instance, how much is a membership? I think some here might be interested.
 
Membership is $50 generally, except $25 for students/interns. (That's per year.)

Membership info is at this link: http://www.torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/?q=node/8

As for posting my own Coles notes on the talk, I wasn't planning to as I thought that US did such a great job, but am flattered you'd want my input so I'll post it on the weekend sometime.

Cheers.
 
Core's Babak Eslahjou, who lobbed in a few verbal grenades from the back of the room, is a real firecracker. I wish he'd been on the panel ... though perhaps a little goes a long way with him.
 
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