I happen to be in New York today, and this extraordinary piece will be be on my mind: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Clear evidence of the fiscal advantages of building infill. We need this research for Canada.

A lot of people assume that the housing market circa 1975-2005, when urban housing was cheap even without new development thanks to rapid sprawl and white flight, is the natural state of the world and not an historically anomalous period shaped by housing and transportation policy choices.

“If I were mayor, my first executive order would be to apply exterior solar shading on all buildings.” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

I reviewed the Obama Center as a whole a few weeks ago, but now that it's open, I had to tell you more about the playground www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

note it does not gave vehicle lanes on 3 sides

The 2026 GG medals are out. A strong list, IMO. A decent number of public buildings. A strong showing for 5468796. Three firms have, I think, been among the winners every time for 30 years: Patkau (x2), Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple, and Shim-Sutcliffe. raic.org/news/the-202...

"A punk venue with a decades-long history and a market of people who actually want to be there. Cheap land made it possible. The system, doing what it does, is now making it impossible." venat.substack.com/p/the-purpos...

And just out of frame to the right, a closed pedestrian bridge that is going to take 20 years to fix. The City That Works™️

“I know there’s a consultant report. Make it public,” Chow told reporters Tuesday morning... “Why are they trying to hide it?” www.thestar.com/news/gta/may...

“A representative of the Haudenosaunee Development Institute says it looks like the expansion might be a done deal, and any further consultation is just ‘window dressing’”

Five Summer Outfits That Will Make You Look Like A Sexy Little Reflecting Pool

What would it cost to build “family friendly rentals”? Extraordinary that critics keep attacking the Canadian government for failing to build housing that, today, would cost ~$1-million a unit to produce and subsidize. Things cost money! www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

Obama's 'library' shuts itself off from America's problems. My review (gift link): www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/90421fe...

you, naive: seattle and NYC elect democratic socialist mayors and win championships me, wise: seattle and NYC elected pro-single stair mayors and win championships

A perfect emblem of how establishment Canadians talk about architecture: This is a good building because people were listened to, the architects said the expected things, I imagine this area could be a hub, and [vague or incorrect claims about the actual architecture]

Context is everything: “The lavish US$850-million project stands apart from the surrounding low-income neighbourhoods. It honours a leader whose career began with community organizing, but delivers architecture that is oppressively monumental.” – by @alexbozikovic.bsky.social

Obama's 'library' shuts itself off from America's problems. My review (gift link): www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/90421fe...

I witnessed a talk by Condon once. He implied that building an affordable home in Vancouver cost $15,000. You can’t make my mistakes like that, or do things like this, and expect to be taken seriously as a policy thinker

One of my favourite architecture accounts on this site. @katewagner.wehwalt.net

Public land should serve the public. Sadly in Toronto, the parks department and library actively resist this kind of deal and no one makes them cooperate.

As someone who teaches the history of Toronto’s urban form, I think this might be the single worst decision in its 250-year evolution. Number two would be the railroads cutting off the city from the lake, but at least the railroads were useful.

“Public consultation” on Billy Bishop expansion. These survey questions suggest to me that this is a done deal. tc.canada.ca/en/corporate...

love the way these iron balusters work with the stone of Thomas Fuller’s Carleton Place Post Office, the oxidization of one referring to that of the other, the ovate form echoing the eroded corners, touching the smoothed surfaces and then the rock-faced walling

This seems pretty loaded framing.. "Would you support changes to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport? This could include optimizing airport infrastructure ... allowing for different aircraft types, generating economic development and job creation, improving connectivity, increasing passenger flow"

“Public consultation” on Billy Bishop expansion. These survey questions suggest to me that this is a done deal. tc.canada.ca/en/corporate...

It took two years for America to “show up” to WW2. What a punk.

The Obama Center. Review to come.

Me: never venerate a single design professional. every project is a result of a collaborative process Also me: Claude Cormier was a genius

I’m catching up with bookmarks and read this great piece where @alexbozikovic.bsky.social goes to the V&A East in London to talk to my curator friend Brendan Cormier, the Canadian who got away.

CN Tower from the OCAD Sharp Centre

The greatest piece of criticism I have read this year. Thomas de Monchaux on Adjaye, cruelty, overbuilding, and a kinder future architecture. nyra.nyc/articles/deb...

You see, just like exposed aggregate is is made up of many different kinds of pebbles, held together by concrete, and is found in cities across Canada, it’s like the country itself. Different people held together by concrete. Brutalism is good and in this essay I will

The Squamish people of what is now Vancouver were illegally dispossessed of their land 100 years ago. They sued, got the land back, and used their sovereignty to ignore local zoning and build 6,000 new homes over the loud objections of nearby wealthy NIMBYs. Now other tribes are getting in the game.

The Andrews Building at University of Toronto Scarborough, John Andrews, 1966. Absolutely astonishing. I had forgotten how great it is.

Mecanoo mass timber at @uoftpress.bsky.social Trinity College. It’s good.

fly on, o great one. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/m...

So the AGO, the biggest art museum in Canada, is renovating its gift shop. For designers they’ve chosen a mediocre corporate firm, B&H. Design is culture. Hiring designers is patronage. For this you hire a) emerging local architects b) Yabu Pushelberg, or c) a global innovator. A huge failure.

“Gentrification is now the main form of neighbourhood change occurring within the pre-World War II inner-cities of Canada’s four largest cities.” newhousingalternatives.ca/tracking-the...

Fantastic work from @anotherglassbox.bsky.social. This rightwing Astroturf group is pathetic. None of you on this platform need to be convinced, but:

This claim about the new Science Centre is false. It’s not bigger. It is smaller than the old one, by a lot. And the government hasn’t shared drawings, so the details may be even worse than they seem. #onpoli #ontario

@utsc.utoronto.ca Indigenous House today.

Fantastic panel to end Doors Open Toronto. Thank you @tosoarch.bsky.social

Repulsive. Public money paying for fascist propaganda. Encampments are rare; they are not a danger; this government is doing nothing to help the people who live in them or to solve the underlying problems.

The V&A has created radically open museums that welcome a broad public and give them much to think about - thanks to the inclusive vision of @brendanpcormier. My piece: www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/art-...

For pinup mag I wrote about the last 25 years of architecture most of which were underwhelming www.pinupmagazine.org/articles/arc...

Since @alexbozikovic.bsky.social reposted this dashed-off bit of snark, I'll unpack the flaws and elision Florida's op-ed in a thread. He opens with the anecdote below, about an American-educated "software consultant" delighted to bike-then-fly to work in NYC. Why does this matter? 1/x

Ookwemin Minising will be a good place. And a near-total refutation of City Of Toronto’s planning and urban design thinking over the last 25 years. Big congratulations to Jason Thorne and the city staff who moved along this new plan, but without Waterfront Toronto, it would not have happened.

Buses have been the backbone of Toronto transit since the 1950s. They are everywhere.

“CIBC Square,” the elevated private public space by Union Station Toronto. Landscape by PUBLIC WORK.