Category: Architecture & Design
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A Public Art Tour of Ottawa’s Light Rapid Transit (LRT) O-Train Stations
I’m walking past Pimisi Station on LeBreton Flats wondering why I’ve waited so long to explore the treasure trove of public art in Phase 1 of Ottawa’s LRT O-Train stations. (Oh, right, there’s been that year of Covid and all). A few days later, on the coldest day of the year, I buy my first… Read more
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Mid-Century Modern Ottawa: Briarcliffe
Briarcliffe’s twenty-three houses represent mid-century modern domestic architecture at its best… This is one of Canada’s first protected heritage areas of midcentury modern architecture. ~ Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region I turn left off Montreal Road and onto Blair, coast down the hill, brake and turn into the wooded subdivision.… Read more
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Architecture of Salvation – St. Clare’s Catholic Church
A friend and follower of Frank Lloyd Wright, [Francis Conroy] Sullivan designed this impressive church [St. Clare’s Catholic Church] in his mentor’s Prairie School style, incorporating flared overhanging eaves and geometric wood accents on stucco to emphasize a strong horizontal form. ~ from Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region If you… Read more
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A Psycho House on Top
While most people who drive the I-81 through Syracuse, New York are focussed on the gargantu-signs that foretell their arrival at the state’s largest shopping complex, I am fixated on another architectural curiosity: a decrepit Victorian house on top of an abandoned warehouse. Read more
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Guerrilla Art for Curious People
It took 18 years of rural living for Guerrilla Art for Curious People to appear. The idea popped into my brain because I love nothing more than discovering public art in unexpected places. Every time I’m surprised by an installation – turning a corner or driving through a neighborhood – my body vibrates, my head alights and I am consumed by… Read more
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What I See When I See Smiths Falls – Part 2
This is the second in a series of visual love letters to Smiths Falls, one of my favourite towns in Eastern Ontario. You can find the first installment here. Read more
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What I See When I See Smiths Falls
This is the first in a series of visual love letters to Smiths Falls, one of my favourite towns. I’m from Vancouver, and while there are great things about the westcoast, I have called rural Ottawa home for the past 20 years. The single best thing I love about living in the east is the riches of… Read more
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New York and the MTA Underground Art Museum
I love riding New York’s subway system – just not as much as I love walking the city. Riding necessitates paying attention to lines and stops and tracks – my mind can’t wander for fear of ending up in who-knows-where – but walking favours mental and corporeal freedom, especially when time holds no sway. However, my penchant for perambulation has its downside: walking New York… Read more
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The Sham of Highest and Best Use
This triplet of houses in Québec City defies the modern logic of “highest and best use” and its inherent rule of being “maximally productive.” It flaunts every last morsel of economic thought except one: It is a keeper of history, and provides a vital and extraordinary point of interest in the city’s viewscape, arguably contributing to the profits realized by the city’s… Read more
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Capital Building: A View from Washington – Part 3
Click here for Capital Building: A View from Washington – Part 1 Click here for Capital Building: A View from Washington – Part 2 Not Set in Stone: Memorials for the Future The National Park Service (NPS), the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), and Van Alen Institute collaborated on Memorials for the Future, an international ideas competition that took place… Read more