ERA Initiatives

Culture of Outports to Botwood, NL

by ERA Architects

The Culture of Outports program is about to start up again, for our very first winter community build, in Botwood, Newfoundland. Culture of Outports is a series of projects that uses research, design, and planning to make modest interventions that engage with, and help support, livable communities undergoing economic and cultural change after the decline...

Detroit-Toronto Party & Symposium: Carlu, Oct. 25

by admin

Oct. 25 @ the Carlu, Toronto: A special presentation of the Toronto the Good party: It normally occurs in the spring or summer but has been moved this year to coincide with the Detroit + Toronto Symposium. Attend one or the other, or both! 8:30 am to 5:30 pm Detroit + Toronto: Drivers for a...

Transformative potential of Tower Renewal: Globe & Mail

by admin

Alex Bozikovic, Toronto-based writer on architecture and design, recently provided an update on Tower Renewal efforts in the GTA. The article describes the uniquely Canadian and Torontonian inventory of high-rise post-war tower apartment neighbourhoods, and recent efforts by local architects, not-for-profits, and city departments to rethink these neighbourhoods. With aging buildings in need of maintenance...

Shipbuilding in NFLD: a book

by admin

ERA’s Philip Evans and grandfather Calvin Evans are about to launch Master Shipbuilders of Newfoundland and Labrador, Vol I, a detailed account of one of maritime Canada’s oldest traditions. The book, published by Breakwater Books, will be launched at 3:30 on Sat. Sept. 14 at the St. John’s Chapters. Philip and Calvin Evans will be...

Slabs vs. points

by admin

A new article in Satellite Magazine on Toronto Towers by ERA’s Graeme Stewart, Josh Thorpe, and Michael McClelland. The article compares Toronto’s two high-rise housing booms, which have generated housing in volume and distribution unlike anywhere else in North America: first, the suburban tower boom in Toronto’s post-war period, and next the contentious condo boom...

ERA BBQ, 2013

by ERA Architects

We smoked cigars, blew bubbles, told humourous anecdotes, ate, drank, chased after obstreperous children, and mopped our brows in thirty-plus weather. On the menu this year: hara bhara kebabs (“full-of-green” kebabs), “new age” watermelon salad, and several competing varieties of gourmet potato salad. For dessert: Greek honey balls, Newfoundland blueberry puff, Trinidadian rum cake, and...

Concrete Toronto on spacing.ca

by ERA Architects

ERA is pleased to announce that this summer spacing.ca will be republishing several articles from our book, Concrete Toronto: a guidebook to concrete architecture from the fifties to the seventies. The book, published by Coach House Books in 2007, reconsiders Toronto’s large inventory of concrete buildings and infrastructure from the perspective of a diverse group...

Port Union Community Build

by ERA Architects

The Culture of Outports program has just concluded its third year of “community build” projects in Trinity Bay North, Newfoundland. The project uses planning and design thinking to bring new ideas and energy to outport communities experiencing economic and social change post-fisheries. This year ERAers Andrew Pruss, Alana Young, Shelley Ludman, Douglas de Gannes, traveled...

ERA in Nfld.: Update

by ERA Architects

This week in Trinity Bay North, Newfoundland, the 2013 Culture of Outports project got a great start on its community build process. The community is fantastic and we’re having a great time. In its first week the team has toured the local landscape and architecture extensively, held several community engagement meetings, mounted a historical slide...

Rapid Response at Harbourfront Centre

by admin

Harbourfront Centre Architecture Gallery, Toronto June 21 to Sept 7, opening June 21, 6 to 10 p.m. The design duo known as Captains of Industry, which consists of ERAer Amy Norris and Clint Langevin of architectsAlliance, are collaborating on a project for Rapid Response, an exhibition exploring architectural responses to natural disaster. Amy and Clint...

ERA to Port Union, Nfld. mid-June

by ERA Architects

The Culture of Outports program is about to begin again, this time in Trinity Bay North, Newfoundland. Culture of Outports is a series of projects that uses research, design, and planning to engage and help support livable communities undergoing economic and cultural change after the decline of the Northern Cod Fishery. This year our student...

Seoul: its heritage and its future

by ERA Architects

ERA’s Sharon Hong was recently published in Transforming Asian Cities, a new book edited by Nihal Perera and Wing-Shing Tang for Routledge. According to Perera and Tang, Asian cities are too often thought of as “following global models” and “Western-dominated urban hierarchies and spatial structures.” This new publication, however, aims to provide “inside-out” interpretations of...

April 25-27: Exhibition on landscape

by admin

Please join us for the opening reception and exhibition of Gladstone Grow Op, an exploration of landscape and place curated by Victoria Taylor, OALA. Thursday, April 25 to Sunday, April 28. Opening reception: Friday, April 26, 7–10 pm Our contribution, Hoarding Suggestions, situated at the Gladstone Art Bar and sponsored by the Friends of Allan...

Apr. 25 event: T.O.’s Priority Neighbourhoods

by admin

ERA is pleased to be joining the University of Toronto’s Cities Centre and United Way Toronto for “Closing the Gaps,” a special event exploring how we can continue to work together to support Toronto’s Priority Neighbourhoods. This event will examine the journey since 2005, lessons learned, and steps moving forward. Thursday April 25, 2013 Innis...

Micallef: Canada’s identity, modernist architecture

by ERA Architects

If there is a character that unites Canada across its many regions, says Shawn Micallef of Spacing, it could well be our huge stock of post-war modernist architecture. From well-known innovations such as Montreal’s Habitat ’67, Toronto’s CN Tower, or Burnaby’s Simon Fraser University; to the thousands of lower-profile urban and suburban low-, mid-, and...

I thought there were limits: An art show

by ERA Architects

This month and next, ERAer Josh Thorpe is participating in a group exhibition at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at Toronto’s Hart House. The show, I thought there were limits, curated by Julia Abraham, brings together five Toronto artists whose work plays with space and architecture: Karen Henderson, Yam Lau, Gordon Lebredt, Kika Thorne, and...

Canada Screen Award to NFB’s “Highrise”

by ERA Architects

Last week the NFB’s Highrise: One Millionth Tower won a Canada Screen Award for “Original Program Produced for Digital Media, Non-Fiction.” ERA and the Centre for Urban Growth and Renewal (CUG+R) had the pleasure of working with the NFB on this remarkable series, directed by Kat Cizek, which examines the current conditions and future potential...

ERA in Port Union, Nfld.

by ERA Architects

ERA has begun consultations with the William Coaker Foundation and Port Union, Newfoundland, as part of the Culture of Outports program, and will be leading an exciting on-site project there in June 2013. Culture of Outports is a series of projects that uses research, design, and planning to engage and help support livable communities undergoing...

ERA in Buffalo

by ERA Architects

Recently, ERAers Alana Young and Josh Thorpe took trips to investigate the fascinating city of Buffalo, New York. Less than two hours from Toronto by car, Buffalo is a city of major historical significance to the region and has some stunning work in planning and architecture. Buffalo City Hall (1932), a prominent feature in the...

Gladstone Grow Op

by admin

We are pleased to announce that ERA will be participating in Grow Op: Exploring Landscape and Place, a special four-day event and exhibition to be held in late at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel April 25-28, 2013. The exhibition, curated by landscape architect Victoria Taylor OALA CSLA, will involve a wide range of interdisciplinary practices and creative...

Graeme Stewart interviewed on The Urbanist

by ERA Architects

Monocle Radio recently interviewed ERA’s Graeme Stewart on The Urbanist, a weekly program on the people and ideas that shape urban life. In this week’s edition, Andrew Tuck speaks with Graeme about Toronto’s modernist legacy and the Tower Renewal program. You can listen to this interview online at Monocle.com #61.

Tower Renewal Panel and Keynote Speaker

by admin

When: Tues., Dec. 11, 2012, 5:30 to 7:30 PM Where: Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue Recently we shared updates on the ongoing work of the City’s Tower Renewal Office, discussing new research in the field, and engaging with our special guest from Melbourne, Dr. Rebecca Leshinsky. The expert panel included: PEDRO BARATA, Vice President,...

Append & tweak: Rethinking heritage in our suburbs

by ERA Architects

An article by ERA associate Joey Giaimo was recently published in the latest APT Bulletin of the Association for Preservation Technology International. The article, “Append & Tweak: An Approach for Preserving the Evolving Suburban Landscape,” asks us to re-evaluate how we regard and manage heritage resources in suburban contexts, and argues for a cultural landscape...

Silo 5 in Old Montreal

by ERA Architects

This summer and fall, as part of Heritage Montreal’s Architectours program, ERA’s Jan Kubanek presented four walking tours of Silo 5, a monumental grain elevator complex at the mouth of the Lachine Canal in Old Montreal. The Silo 5 complex encompasses three separate buildings: Elevator B, dating to 1906 and built of steel plates; the...

Graeme Stewart on “Imagine a City”

by ERA Architects

This autumn, United Way’s Imagine a City blog is hosting a series of guest writers to discuss a number of important programs related to Toronto’s future as a livable city. Recently ERA’s Graeme Stewart blogged on his vision for Tower Neighbourhood Renewal, a program we have been working on in collaboration with partners including the...