August 2024

 

In our August issue

Our August issue celebrates the 12 winners of the Governor General’s Medals in Architecture. This year’s Medals went to projects from coast to coast, from the SFU Stadium by Perkins&Will in Vancouver, BC, to Cabot Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop by FBM Architecture | Interior Design in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

We also take a look at a cluster of past Governor General’s Medal-winning-buildings, situated around a single intersection in downtown Waterloo, Ontario. Jake Nicholson considers the impact of four buildings at this corner: the Seagram Museum by Barton Myers (GG, 1986); the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery by Patkau Architects (GG, 1997), the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics by Saucier+Perrotte (GG, 2006) and the Centre for International Governance Innovation by KPMB Architects (GG, 2014).

Further afield, Peter Sealy takes us on a visit to artist Kapwani Kiwanga’s installation, entitled Trinket,  in the Canadian Pavilion at this year’s Venice Art Biennale—which he describes as a “stunning delight” that is also “a provocative commentary upon the exploitative imbalances which fuelled colonial commerce.”

The Moriyama & Teshima-designed Ontario Science Centre was abruptly closed by the Province of Ontario on a Friday in late June, supposedly because of public safety concerns linked to the presence of RAAC (Siporex) roof panels. I was one of the first with architecture-trained eyes to thoroughly read the engineers’ roof report, and to see that it didn’t recommend full closure—as well as realizing that the suspect roof panels weren’t even over key exhibition areas.

In the following weeks, I’ve become deeply involved in advocacy calling on the Province to reopen, repair, and reinvest in the Ontario Science Centre at its current location. A selection of the articles I’ve written on this topic are included in the August issue of Canadian Architect, including my analysis of the RFP for a temporary space, and a synopsis of how we could start paying for long-term repairs by using the money it’s taking to close the building. I’ve since written about the true cost of repairing the Science Centre—which is much less than the numbers the Province has cited—and debunked the Province’s additional reasons behind closing the Science Centre. The closure is based on a manufactured crisis, which wrongfully posits that instead of maintaining this major public building, it should be vacated and demolished.

I would invite readers to consider signing and circulating this petition opposing the closure, including if you are outside of Toronto—and for readers in Ontario to consider writing to your MPP and calling the Premier at 416-325-1941 (lines open 24/7).

-Elsa Lam, editor

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