ERA Initiatives
Toronto Zoning Reform to Empower Apartment Neighbourhoods
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As part of ongoing work on Tower Neighbourhood Renewal, the Centre for Urban Growth and Renewal (CUG+R) has been working with partners United Way Toronto and the City of Toronto to establish a new approach to zoning that will enable Toronto’s hundreds of Apartment Neighbourhoods to emerge as more complete and better-served communities. This work...
Read MoreToronto to Detroit
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Selection of photos by Lara Herald, Scott Weir, Alana Young, Sydney Martin, Graeme Stewart, Jordan Molnar, Julie Tyndorf, Alec Ring, and Brent Wagler. Recently a large group of us here at ERA spent a weekend exploring the amazing city of Detroit, Michigan. Founded in 1701, Detroit became a huge industrial and economic engine from the...
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Health and urban design: Two new reports released
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The Centre for Urban Growth and Renewal (CUG+R) is pleased to announce the release of two reports examining public health, urban policy, and neighbourhood rejuvenation in Toronto: Strong Neighbourhoods and Complete Communities: A New Approach to Zoning for Apartment Neighbourhoods, and Toward Healthy Apartment Neighbourhoods: A Healthy Toronto by Design Report In partnership with United...
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Health, zoning and urban design: Two new reports released
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The Centre for Urban Growth and Renewal (CUG+R) has announced the release of two reports examining public health, urban policy, and neighbourhood rejuvenation in Toronto: Strong Neighbourhoods and Complete Communities: A New Approach to Zoning for Apartment Neighbourhoods, and Toward Healthy Apartment Neighbourhoods: A Healthy Toronto by Design Report In partnership with United Way Toronto and Toronto...
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Youth build decking for Scarborough shade structure
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Beginning in early July, six youth from the Kingston-Galloway-Orton Park community were hired for a five-week period by the East Scarborough Storefront to continue work on a series of community-oriented landscape improvements. These features were designed as part of the Community Design Initiative (C.D.I.) program, to which these youth have previously volunteered hundreds of hours....
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Monocle covers Tower Renewal
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In the 2012 Quality of Life Issue of Monocle Magazine, ERA’s Graeme Stewart fields a few questions on Toronto’s Tower Renewal Project from Christopher Frey, Monocle correspondent and former Chief Editor for Toronto Standard. To find out more about this issue, see Monocle v.6, no. 55. An article in the Toronto Standard about Toronto’s absence from the Quality of...
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Rum Cake: An ERA bake-off report
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Like architecture offices around the globe, ERA Architects occasionally indulges in a bake-off. In these highly competitive events, contestants’ work is assessed and ranked by blind ballot, and the winner is proffered the prestigious Golden Whisk (pictured above, bottom right). Recently, Douglas de Gannes challenged former bake-off champion Sydney Martin to best him and his...
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Planting for an elevated bioswale in Scarborough
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On a recent pleasant day in June, ERA joined green roof expert Atom Cianfarani and a group of community youth to plant a nursery in preparation for the future construction of an unusual green-roof shade structure at the East Scarborough Storefront. Over the past year, we have been working with the Storefront, Sustainable.TO, ArchiTEXT, various...
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OCAD U visits ERA
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Recently, Toronto urbanist and OCAD U instructor Shawn Micalleff brought his “Cities for People” students to attend a presentation by ERA’s Graeme Stewart. Following some local history and international context, Graeme explained ERA’s position on Tower Renewal, a project we’ve been working on with United Way and the City of Toronto. Using a combination of imagination,...
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Community project in Brigus, Newfoundland
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Recently Alana Young and Andrew Pruss returned from Brigus, Newfoundland where they worked with a group of Ryerson students to study the interaction of culture, place, history, and landscape. This project was part of an ongoing initiative by ERA and Centre for Urban Growth and Renewal (CUG+R) called Culture of Outports, which investigates how architectural...
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United Way AGM: Graeme Stewart’s Keynote Address
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On Thursday, June 21, ERA’s Graeme Stewart addressed United Way’s AGM as keynote speaker. In 2010, ERA and CUG+R published Tower Neighbourhood Renewal in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, which looks at a broad range of historical trends, planning issues, sustainability concerns, social needs, and opportunity for renewal in and around Toronto’s tower block neighbourhoods. In...
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Micro-enterprise on Toronto’s streets
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In early June, Working Habitat and Scadding Court Community Centre (SCCC) hosted a charrette exploring opportunities for small-scale enterprise and pop-up vendors in Toronto. The charrette introduced important lessons and concepts from Scadding Court’s experiences with Market 707. Located just east of Bathurst on the south side of Dundas, Market 707 is a cluster of...
Read MoreA successful Toronto the Good, 2012
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On Thursday, June 7th, we got together with Torontonians at Fort York to reflect on the city and toast its built and cultural environments, past and future. Close to 1000 guests joined us in enjoying great food, drink, dancing, and stimulating discussion about the place we live. Thank you very much, all who attended –...
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ERA goes to Brigus, Nfld.
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We are pleased to announce the second installation of our Culture of Outports project, developed in collaboration with the Centre for Urban Growth and Renewal. ERA’s Andrew Pruss and Alana Young have just arrived in Brigus, Newfoundland, which, dating from 1612, is one of the oldest European settlements in North America. Over the next two...
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We’re celebrating: June 7th at Fort York
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When: Thursday, June 7th, 6:30–11pm; Where: Fort York, Toronto; How much: Free Entry, Cash Bar Each year we get together with Toronto Society of Architects, Spacing Magazine, and other partners to hold our Toronto the Good event, a chance to mingle, chat, and compare notes about what has been and what will come to be....
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East Scarborough Storefront: Wood Inventory Part II
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As we have mentioned previously on this blog, ERA Architects is collaborating with ArchiTEXT and Sustainable.TO on the exciting Community.Design.Initiative at East Scarborough Storefront. Over the course of an intensive 19-week mentorship semester we worked with community youth on the design of a kitchen garden and patio, a unique green-roof pavilion, a bee and butterfly...
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Allan Gardens: a new public space design competition
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E.R.A. Architects is pleased to announce its participation in Friends of Allan Gardens (FOAG), a group of neighbours and citizens concerned with actively promoting the vitality of Allan Gardens park. This volunteer group’s mission is to revitalize the park through creative strategies that will improve open spaces, nurture local culture and attract a larger and...
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The Growing Old City
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Image courtesy of OpenFile. Interesting article on the population of the Old City of Toronto in Open File: We finally have more people living in pre-amalgamation Toronto than in 1971 With 736,775, we’ve now surpassed the Old City of Toronto’s peak population in 1971 (it dipped by 100,000 in the 70s and 80s) – but...
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Miles Glendinning Lecture, May 3rd, 2012
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ERA Architects and the Toronto Society of Architects present the 2012 Modern Heritage Visiting Lecture, Miles Glendinning: The Hundred Years War: A Century of Mass Housing ‘Campaigns’ Across the World. Join us May 3rd at the Art and Letters Club at 6:00pm for cocktails and lecture at 6:30. For more information and to RSVP, click...
Read MoreCarrot Cake Bake Off
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Another delicious bake-off was held in the ERA office last week. This time the challenge was laid down by newcomer to the office Julie Tyndorf, to three time winner Sydney Martin. There was added scandal when an anonymous entry mysteriously appeared on the table. Who won? Miss Martin took the trophy once again to become...
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East Scarborough Storefront – WOOD INVENTORY
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Starting in January 2012, ERA and partners ArchiTEXT and Sustainable.TO have been leading the 5th semester of the Storefront’s Community.Design.Initiative (CDI), a weekly mentorship program for youth in the Kingston – Galloway – Orton Park (KGO) neighbourhood of East Scarborough. This semester the team is working with the youth to design a shade and naturalization...
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Metro Morning on Tower Renewal
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Matt Galloway with Priti from the NBF’s HIGHRISE, Image Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada This week CBC’s Metro Morning is taking to the Kipling strip north of Finch to talk tower renewal, in an area of aging concrete towers that were typical all across Toronto during the early 1950s and ’60s. On...
Read MoreERA Excited to be in Montreal!
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ERA is pleased to announce that associate Jan Kubanek has relocated back to Montreal and has established a practice in Quebec, creating the collaboration of ERA+KUBANEK Architectes. Prior to joining the ERA team in 2006, Jan lived in Montreal where he worked in architectural and construction settings, so he’s excited to be back home and...
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Concrete Ideas
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The book Concrete Ideas: Material to Shape a City was launched in January, 2012. Edited by Pina Petricone, the book considers new approaches to concrete architecture by exploring a variety of new technologies and possibilities for the material. First introduced by Pina’s article in Concrete Toronto, the book is a compilation of ideas, articles and...
Read MoreERA EXCITED ABOUT MONTRÉAL
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ERA is pleased to announce that associate Jan Kubanek has relocated back to Montreal and has established Kubanek Architecte, enabling the potential collaboration of ERA and Kubanek Architecte for projects located in Quebec. Prior to joining the ERA team in 2006, Jan lived in Montreal where he worked in architectural and construction settings, so he’s...
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