What news to wake up to. 💛💙💔

🦌🦌🦌

The northern lights over Sápmi (also known as Swedish Lapland). Simply magical. 💚

Winter may not be my favorite season, but this year it is delivering some pretty beautiful skies.

My obituary for Frank Gehry: www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and...

Another year, another @tosoarch.bsky.social BASH! So much fun to catch up with people in such a gorgeous venue. Limberlost Place by @moriyamateshima.bsky.social and Acton Ostry was the perfect place to set off and explore when I needed a break.

Twice in my Toronto life I have lived in apts built during that mid century boom, thankfully. The decision to slow it was correct *at that moment & context* but it led to a disastrous political climate & Toronto’s critical problem today.

Last night I hosted a special trivia night for the Architecture and Design Film Festival Toronto exploring brutalist architecture in film—perhaps one of the most unique events I've gotten to do! So much fun (and so much concrete!)

if you choose your friends well someday they may MC a brutalism x film trivia night and it will be fun (the friend in question is @joelleondanis.bsky.social and this was for ADFF + @tosoarch.bsky.social at TIFF)

Great to see this idea getting momentum. Church St at The Village is a truly unique place and pedestrianizing it for at least part of the year would go a long way in supporting its vibrancy. Already events like Pride and Halloween show its potential to be a gathering place.

Streets are for people. Great to see Church St. once again packed for Halloween 🎃. This is a yearly event we should really be investing in as a city—so much cultural and tourism potential!

I know it's not a shining point in the game but I love how much the Jays are bringing the city together. It's not exactly warm, and the outdoor stage at @utoronto.ca King's College Circle is packed with people. ❤️

day 2: dodger stadium's 16,000-spot parking lot is so huge, it could fit ~10 more dodger stadiums in its place. a monument to socal's asphalt addiction more than to baseball. meanwhile in toronto, an actual walkable, bustling city exists around the stadium

Today in Ottawa: Library Archives Canada, Mathers Haldenby, 1967. This is just the lobby. What a feast of details.

Had the mindblowing opportunity to go up to what will soon be the tallest building in Canada. What a view!

Let’s talk about procurement (no seriously, it’s a really important topic!). The Toronto Society of Architects and the Ottawa Architecture Foundation are both hosting talks on public procurement processes and how to achieve better design outcomes.

Big News! The Toronto Society of Architects is now doing architecture boat tours! I got to ride along for the first one this weekend. Details at torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/events/

My favourite waterfront hidden gems

Yesterday I took a fantastic architecture boat tour organized by Toronto Society of Architects. More to come - see their listings & sign up. torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/events/

That was fun! Let's do it 9 more times. You've got next weekend and the weekend after to catch on the @tosoarch.bsky.social boat tours as part of the Water/Fall festival! Thank you to @waterfrontoronto.bsky.social and Waterfront BIA for making this possible 🩵🛥️ torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/tours/

Here with a bunch of other awesome architecture nerds for the inaugural Toronto Society of Architects Architecture Boat Tour!!! @tosoarch.bsky.social Looking forward to seeing @joelleondanis.bsky.social keep up this level of excitement for 90 minutes!

Oooh and view now:

The massive construction of apartments in postwar urban Canada – principally Toronto – produced homes for the middle class and the working class. Millions of people to date. Density isn’t a magic wand, but: It made a difference, in the real world, in living memory.

Are you, like me, excited about PROCUREMENT?!! Then attend this panel discussion, presented by @tosoarch.bsky.social, featuring reps from Montréal, Edmonton, and New York to talk about procurement 🤝 design excellence. Oct 14, 12-1:30, online, FREE! torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/events/tsa-f...

Scarborough Civic Centre, Scarborough 1973, Raymond Moriyama Architect. An architectural and graphic design gem that has been (for the most part) very well preserved. The civic centre still features the old City of Scarborough logo, as well as the departmental supergraphics.

A great piece by Fadi Masoud with actionable items to make our city parks more beautiful and resilient (including dealing with those horrible bins).

Chipperfield comes to Toronto. An apartment tower that also saves a critically important Modern building. 40parkroad.ca/documents/

Harbour Terrace, Toronto 1987, Li Architect. 1990 Award of Merit Governor General's Awards for Architecture

Exploring some of the art and history in and around Grange Park with the Toronto Society of Architects. (Learn about the TSA’s walking tours at torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/tours/ … they’re great!) @tosoarch.bsky.social

Postcard perfect views of Toronto at the newly opened Biidaasige Park with the new mouth of the Don River taking centre stage.

Celebrate public infrastructure 🎉

Thank you @anotherglassbox.bsky.social for sharing about this important new space in our city.

An open letter published by the Toronto Society of Architects (TSA) expresses concerns over Ontario Bill 5 and Bill 17.

This is the kind of research we need to build a better city. Kudos to the teams at Giaimo and Ha/f for digging into this important topic. Now let's make the changes that need to happen so we can both add density and keep all those main street small businesses that make Toronto so special.

Humbled and grateful for this article by @novakovicto.bsky.social of Make Good's small but mighty Little Blue House. 💙🩵 It might be a modest build in both scale and budget, but it's packed with all the values of our young practice. www.azuremagazine.com/article/a-li...

A few captures of last night's Appreciation Party, an annual event to say THANK YOU to the over 300+ volunteers, sponsors and partners who make our work possible. We're grateful to be part of this generous, kind and dedicated community wanting to make a better city and profession. ♥️ 📸 Kurtis Chen

Speedy and efficient construction does not need to come at the expense of sustainability and long term planning. Read our letter regarding recently passed Bills 5 and 17 torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/announcement...

A joyful and meaningful afternoon marching as part of the 2025 Toronto Pride Parade🏳️‍🌈, celebrating and remembering our city's queer spaces. Thank you to those who represented us so well, and to the 1000s who cheered us on. 📸 Kurtis Chen

Happy #Pride Toronto! Come visit our booth at the Street Fair this weekend to learn more about our city's queer spaces (including our triangular obelisk featuring 250+ spaces) and get some limited edition queer spaces merch!

Today's sunset was such a gift 🌇

Sakura season 🌸

An amazing opportunity

An endangered Modern masterpiece in Toronto. In 1960 Isadore Sharp, founder of Four Seasons, commissioned this house from British-Canadian architect Peter Dickinson. It recently sold and is threatened with demolition. 36 Green Valley Rd.

The courtyard gardens of Toronto's 1972 Sheraton Centre Hotel. Who knew trees could grow so well 4 storeys up!

A reminder that Toronto is home to some truly beautiful spaces: from the sublime #brutalist masterpiece that is the UofT's rare books library to the interior gardens at the collision of old and new of the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Biomolecular Research.

If you ever needed proof that these stairs/seating combos don't work, here it is. Jam-packed library tonight with every seat taken, except for these which are too uncomfortable to work at or spend any amount of time on. Add proper tables and chairs though, and they are packed.

Zelenskyy demonstrating the integrity and courage any political leader should have. Diplomacy doesn't mean abandoning your morals and values.

Ontario, go vote! The provincial government has a huge impact on your daily life, from housing to transportation, yet only 44% of eligible voters participated in the last election. Let's change this! You have until 9PM to cast your ballot.

There is so much negativity online that I try very hard to remain positive, but I can't let this one go. TTC is running a shuttle of line 1, which is fine, but I don't understand why it hasn't shoveled where the bus stops. Why force users to climb over piles of snow to get in and out?

I have been remiss to posting on here, but I figured my first visit to Rideau Hall is a good occasion to get back on track. Pictured here are the appropriately named Tent Room and the ballroom.