Award

AUGUST 2015 | 7 a u g u s t 2 0 1 5 | V o l u m e 2 9 | N u m b e r 4 publisher Dan Chapman editor Natalie Bruckner-Menchelli art director Scott Laurie contributing writers Robin Brunet Godfrey Budd Peter Caulfi eld Matt Currie Stefan Dubowski Jerry Eberts Laurie Jones Jessica Kirby Stacey McLachlan Susan Pederson Peter Stenning production manager/print Kirsty Senior (on leave) production manager/studio Kristina Borys assistant studio manager Mandy Lau advertising design Chris Sherwood production technicians Ina Bowerbank Sheila Stewart imaging technicians Mandy Lau account manager Alexander Sugden advertising coordinator Allie Davison award magazine – head office Phone 604.299.7311 Fax 604.299.9188 chairman, ceo Peter Legge, obc, lld. (hon) president Samantha Legge, mba chief content officer Charlene Rooke vice president/sales Rebecca Legge vice president/marketing Holly Pateman executive creative director Rick Thibert director of information technology Mike Packer director of production Kim McLane director of digital media Raymond Yip director of accounting Sonia Roxburgh director of human resources Joy Ginete-Cockle director of circulation Tracy McRitchie digital media Ariane Fleischmann Debbie Jiang James Marshall Candice Ui marketing Kathleen Almeida Casey Crawford Allyson Wickham senior support analyst Peter Rensen application support analyst Eileen Gajowski accounting Eileen Gajowski Jenna Marinescu Terri Mason Jocelyn Snelling circulation manager Ashley Cleggett circulation Millie Coskun Kelly Kalirai Heather Vince executive assistants Heidi Christie Janice Cheer office manager Heidi Christie Award magazine is published six times a year by Canada Wide Media Limited. Head offi ce: 4th Floor - 4180 Lougheed Highway, Burnaby, B.C. V5C 6A7. Phone 604.299.7311, Fax 604.299.9188. Send covers of undeliverable copies to address above. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40065475. © 2012. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. Award is distributed to architects, interior designers, landscape architects, consulting engineers, specifi cation writers, development companies and major construction companies throughout Western Canada and Ontario. For subscription information call 604.299.1023 or email: awardsubscriptions@canadawide.com National Library No. ISSN 1202-5925. Printed in Canada by Transcontinental LGM Graphics. Award magazine welcomes your letters, corporate announcements or company information. The statements, opinions and points of view expressed in articles published in this magazine are those of the authors and publication shall not be deemed to mean that they are necessarily those of the publisher, editor or Canada Wide Media Limited. The acceptance and publication of advertisement of products and services does not indicate endorsement of such products or services. The publishers cannot be held responsible for unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. by ALLAN TERAMURA, FRAIC RAIC VP and Regional Director for Ontario North / East / Nunavut PersPeCtIVe T he federal government is proceeding with plans to erect a National Memorial to the Victims of Communism in the judi- cial precinct beside Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Whatever one might think about the need for such a commemoration in the nation's capital, the choice of site is regrettable. One hundred years of urban design thinking has informed the growth of the parliamentary and judicial precincts, and this national site has always awaited a major public building. This planning process currently fi nds its mature expression in the award-winning plan by a consortium led by DTAH Architects, referred to as the Long Term Vision and Plan, or LTVP. In the LTVP, the proposed site of the commemoration is intended to be dedicated to a new building for the Federal Court, designed by NORR more than 10 years ago. This building would complete a "Judicial Triad," consist- ing of Ernest Cormier's Supreme Court of Canada to the north, fl anked by the Justice Building to the east and a federal court on the parcel to the west. It is meant to com- plement the "Parliamentary Triad" of the Centre, East, and West Blocks; together they create a cultural landscape that represents Canada's core democratic institutions. The proposed memorial will perma- nently render this plan incomplete. The architectural promenade that is Wellington Street, in continuous development since Confederation, will forever lack its conclud- ing element. It is disheartening, to say the least, that Canada's government would delib- erately choose to disfi gure the cumulative work of many generations of the nation's most talented architects, urban designers and landscape architects. Another concern is that the memorial includes a donor recognition feature, where donors' names can be inscribed for a minimum donation. Until today, the only individuals deemed to be worthy of the privilege of being individually recognized on a government monument in the capital are those who gave their lives in the service of the nation. And even this is a relatively modern practice, beginning after the Second World War; none of the names of the thousands of Canadian casualties of the First World War are included in any federal outdoor marker in Ottawa. It's diffi cult to fi nd a positive side to this story for the architectural community, but this may be one: following public statements on this issue by the RAIC, architects Shirley Blumberg and Barry Padolsky, and allied professional associations, all urging the government to heed the expert advice of the National Capital Commission and locate it elsewhere, the memorial project has triggered a national public debate on architecture and urbanism unlike any in recent memory. The range of people who have expressed either opposition or support for this project includes many of the country's leading pub- lic fi gures and commentators on national affairs. Among them are Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, the Globe and Mail's Jeffrey Simpson, CBC's Rick Mercer, Conrad Black, and David Frum, to name a few. The Ottawa Citizen newspaper has dedicated a great deal of space to the issue, as have CBC Radio and CTV Television. Other groups have also engaged. The Canadian Institute of Planners, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and the Ontario Association of Architects have issued public statements. A letter to the Globe and Mail signed by 17 past presidents of the Canadian Bar Association included this statement: "It is ill-conceived, however, to add an imposing sculpture signalling a strong political message, controversial or not, literally in the face of the very institu- tion which is the fi nal arbiter in Canada of disputes involving Canadians, the federal and provincial governments, and foreign litigants." Clearly, the lawyers understand the signifi cance and power of symbols, and the need to apply them responsibly. Architecture, they argue, matters. An important lesson of this affair is that architects have cred- ibility on matters of the built environment and the public realm. Both the RAIC and the individual architects who expressed their concerns were cited in the many media reports. While issues with a national profi le do not come along every day, at a local level there are many opportunities for architects to be advocates. If there is a positive outcome of this controversy, it would be that a few more architects are emboldened to speak out when they see the public interest placed at risk. A Politics & architecture " While issues with a national profi le do not come along every day, at a local level there are many opportunities for architects to be advocates. "

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