Justice Complex brick work

It’s impressive to see this sort of height covered by brick.  Of course the Justice Complex is designed so that the brick is balanced by glazing and other building materials to avoid a monolithic feel.

Interestingly designed social housing

Treehugger posted an article detailing the interesting architectural and green features of the Richmond Street Coop housing development in Toronto.  Apparently the Toronto Community Housing Corporation is really supportive of design going beyond the institutional feel of many public housing developments.

Green should be expected, not special

With the cancellation of the Irving Oil Long Wharf headquarters, Robert Stern’s architecture won’t be added to our waterfront.

I still watch for Stern’s name, as the IOL HQ inspired me into reading about this designer, who is the Dean of Architecture at Yale.

Earlier this week Treehugger drew attention to comments made by Stern about green building design.  Here’s part of their discussion of Stern, starting with a quote from the architect:

Stern argues "in 10 years we're not going to talk about sustainability anymore, because it's going to be built into the core processes of architecture." Advertising sustainability, he says, will be like an architect getting up in front of a room to "proudly proclaim how his buildings didn't fall down."

Buying a church

There is a brief but interesting article in the here weekly newspaper about  historic church buildings that are for sale in Moncton and Saint John.  The article quotes local real estate agent Bob McVicar as saying:

“It'll just take someone with the vision and deep enough pockets to turn this incredible building to a long-standing, sustainable asset to the community”

I was going to link to Bob’s Live Uptown blog, but it seems to be experiencing some difficulties at the moment.

The deep pockets comment reminds me of the desire of some to save the Paramount Theatre from demolition.  There seems to be plenty of vision, but its finances that will change the future of the building.

John Leroux presents "Saint John Architecture"

This might be worth checking out:

Title:
John Leroux presents "Saint John Architecture"

Type:
Presentation

Sponsor:
Bookstore

Description:
The “backtalk” series returns to Inprint with a “visual tour” of the city presented by architect and author John Leroux ("Building New Brunswick").

“Backtalk” is presented by the UNB Saint John Writer-in-Residence and Inprint Bookstore. For more information contact Inprint 648-2315 or email sjbooks@unbsj.ca

Backtalk: Taking the talk about literature and the visual arts to the community.

Campus:
Saint John

Admission:
Admission is Free. Everyone is Welcome.

Audience:
Public

Contact:
Pat Joas

Phone:
648-2315 or 648-5540

Email:
sjbooks@unbsj.ca

Times & Locations:
Friday, January 22, 2010, starting 19:00 at Inprint Bookstore, 16 King Street, Saint John

Architectural ideas to help Haiti

Treehugger.com has posted a few ideas about how architectural ideas could help Haiti.  One article is about how shipping containers could be used to rebuild communities, citing previous work where a Haitian medical centre was built from containers a few years back.

Another article is about Architecture for Humanity, and setting realistic timelines for reconstruction.

Long Wharf architectural article

Architecture columnist John Leroux has a column detailing the Long Wharf Fort Reliance Headquarters design.  A discussion of colour choices is one of the details included:

“Conscientiously choosing time-honoured and low-maintenance materials, Stern will be using many products from the region for the structure, such as the stone, brick and wood. The most prevalent cladding material will be light buff brick, which he felt is nicer and more appropriate for the climate since it's lighter and actually bounces light, while red brick wants to absorb light. Another reason for its selection was the long-established association with the Golden Ball building and current Irving Oil Headquarters tower.”

Other aspects of the project discussed include the use of natural lighting and potential public access points to the project.

Robert A. M. Stern

Since discovering that the architecture firm (Robert A. M. Stern) working on the Fort Reliance/Irving Oil Long Wharf development is also the firm working on the George W. Bush Presidential Library I have done a bit of research on the firm and the senior partner Robert A.M. Stern. 

According to Wikipedia (I know, horrible source for legitimate reportage, but I’m a blogger so cut me some slack) Stern’s work emphasizes “context and the continuity of traditions.”

Stern’s website notes that Mr. Stern was on the Board of Directors of Walt Disney.  Apparently the firm has done a lot of work for Disney including planning for Celebration, Florida – a planned community developed by Disney.

The Irving family worked with the firm in developing the KC Irving Environmental Science Centre at Acadia University.

Hopefully this bit of information is interesting to you.

Long Wharf architect designing LEED George W. Bush Presidential Library

Bush Library Sketch

I was reading TreeHugger and came across a story about the potential LEED Platinum certification for the George W. Bush Presidential Library.  When I saw the sketch of the building, I thought it looked a lot like the proposed Irving Oil/Fort Reliance Long Wharf headquarters design (and sketch).

Sure enough, the article went on to note that the firm behind the design is Robert A.M. Stern Architects, Irving Oil’s architect of choice. 

It seems ‘Oil Men’ like Stern – and that Irving really did pick a pretty major designer for the building.

Long Wharf Sketch

Tannery Court Moncton

I was in Moncton over the weekend to take in a concert and drove by Tannery Court.  Not that building aesthetics address local neighbourhood concerns about concentration of poverty in South End Saint John, but seeing the building did make me a little less concerned about the quality of Avide’s work.

I failed to snap a photo, so this is Bing Maps’ photo of the development.

Historic Places Walking Tours

The city’s heritage department is holding a series of walking tours and information sessions regarding historic properties, according to the brochure I received in my mailbox.  The letter on the back included only a phone number, and I didn’t find anything on the city website about it (I suppose the heritage department isn’t expected to be particularly high tech).

The walking tours are in the Mount Pleasant Area (north of the throughway toward Rockwood Park) (May10); Lower West Side (May 17); Old North End (May 24); and South End (May 31).

According to the letter on the back (below), there are “no strings attached” to a property being added to the Register of Historic Places, leaving out the fact that the city’s heritage bylaw does a mighty fine job of attaching string to many of these properties.

Container-ed living

I just read an article that demonstrates twelve ways shipping containers can be converted into residential properties. Some are pie in the sky, others seem a bit more practical. Among the clever designs is a beach home that uses space with frugality. The article, Crate Expectations: 12 Shipping Container Housing Ideas, is posted by the website Treehugger.

My father has been talking for years about this concept as a neat way to use empty containers in areas with a container-traffic trade deficit.

In-fill housing

Originally posted 12/04/06 on PersonPlaceorThing.blogspot.com

I am attending a meeting tomorrow regarding the Saint John In-fill Housing Guidelines that were given to the city by a consultant in 1994.

I thought I'd type up a few thoughts on them before the meeting and see if they change after tomorrow evening.

First, the consultants talked about a rush of infill housing in the uptown, lower west side and north ends of Saint John that needed to be controlled by proper guidelines. I'm not sure if the guidelines were the major player, but it seemed for the majority of the following decade the tide of new construction was definitely controlled (if not kept completely at bay).

Second, the document talks about how the city's zoning rules at the time were too constraining for the in-fill areas because of set-backs and other siting issues. While this was likely the case I find it odd that the rules were made to help take limits away from developing infill site and then proceeded to suggest a number of limitations for these properties including front yard allowances (you have to be similar to neighbours), privacy requirements, sunlight blocking requirements along with numerous facade and design considerations.

I respect the fact that the people that live in these areas want to protect the value and life style afforded to them by their homes, but the rules seem to strict and the process by which developers have to go through for infill and historic areas seems to slow to allow for new growth in these areas.

From what I understand, there are some architects going to be at this meeting, perhaps they will better explain to me why the aesthetics are so important, because from a market analyst's perspective, I am not in favour of some of the rules in these guidelines.

I’ll be back tomorrow to let you know if I have learned anything new on this.

If this post meanders and rambles a bit I apologize, it was not proofread that thoroughly.

The Architecture of Happiness

Originally posted 11/18/06 on PersonPlaceorThing.blogspot.com

I look forward to reading Alain de Botton's book The Architecture of Happiness (http://www.alaindebotton.com/architecture.asp). I first heard about the book on a CBC show a few weeks back and am interested in getting my hands on it . In the interview with the author I heard on the national broadcaster he complimented Canada's relative freedom in design regulations as it allows for interesting combinations of buildings. The author went on to explain that it was irresponsible to force ideals of architectural design on neighbours who might want to create buildings different than you idea of beauty.

Less restrictive

Originally posted 10/24/06 on PersonPlaceorThing.blogspot.com

I am encouraged to hear city councillors on the radio this morning and at noon explaining that their proposed regulations of building exteriors will not be as
restrictive as similar rules in Moncton and St. John’s, NL. Nor will they be as restrictive as Saint John’s current Heritage Preservation rules. This is good news because the heritage preservation rules are restrictive and help sustain a culture that shuns developments that don’t strictly adhere to narrow ascetic tastes.

Saint John city council should seek input from more than architects and history buffs in deciding about this building exteriors policy. Property value experts should be consulted to find out if neighbourhood property values are negatively impacted when a building with pealing paint is sided with “cheap” vinyl siding. Also, socialists and economists should give input to ensure that these rules don’t hurt the community and the poor and working poor living in these neighbourhoods.

Still, the city should put greater priority on getting building interiors livable than on getting building exteriors looking like a 1880’s painting.

Email to city councilors

Originally posted 10/24/06 on PersonPlaceorThing.blogspot.com

The following is an email I sent to city councilors Michelle Hooton and Stephen Chase after they were on CBC radio talking about their proposal to keep landlords for improving delapitated buildings with vinyl siding and modern windows. I decided to not try to change their opinions, but rather use them for a project in the works.

Councilors Hooton and Chase,

I heard your talk on the CBC this morning. After hearing your appeal for buildings with quality character I would encourage you to support the zoning application for Leinster Court at the corner of Leinster and Camarthen (notice in today’s Telegraph Journal).

This development will add to the character of the neighbourhood - a neighbourhood that needs improved architecture due to the intrusion of a large functional but unattractive school, a fire station with an uninspiring designed and a large vinyl sided tenement on the corner of Camarthen and King Street East (I believe it to be owned by [name since removed for privacy of owner]).

Leinster Court may not be identical to the design of some historic buildings in the neighbourhood, but it has a number of great qualities that Saint John Non-Profit Housing Inc. has tirelessly demonstrated to our citizenry.

The builders of our historic neighbourhoods would likely scoff at the idea of building using the design standards of 1600’s Saint John – and the builders of the 2000’s should not have to exactly emulate the designs of the 1800s.

The vernacular architecture of Saint John that celebrates function (housing low income citizens and demonstrating the ability to develop significant projects in the city centre, in this case) and form (quality construction).

Vinyl debate

Originally posted 10/23/06 on PersonPlaceorThing.blogspot.com

If maintained this wood siding might look more historic, but the newly vinyl sided building below looks better maintained to the untrained eye. Here is a photo of a building in central Saint John that is being improved with vinyl siding.