News & Events

NFB Screening One Millionth Tower Dec. 6

by admin

On Tuesday, December 6th the National Film-Board is screening its collaborative documentary, One Millionth Tower. ERA will be at the event discussing its involvement in the documentary, along with representatives from the United Way, City of Toronto, NFB and the Mozilla Foundation. All are welcome to attend the event, which will run from 6:00-8:00PM at...

Maple Leaf Gardens grand (re)opening

by ERA Architects

One half of the adaptive reuse of the Gardens is now open! People even lined up over night to be first into the new flagship Loblaws store. Public interest has been at a frenzy, and there is a lot of press about the event; Globe and Mail, CityNews, National Post, etc. A more thorough collection...

Oleleshwa Primary School phase 1 Complete

by ERA Architects

Last week ERA’s Alec Ring and his collegue Karl Sarkis, who recently left ERA to complete his Masters, gave us an update on the construction progress of their inspiring design project for Oleleshwa Primary School in the village of Ewaso Ngiro, Kenya. While in Kenya in the spring of 2010 Alec and Karl, working with...

Tower Renewal + NFB feature on Metro Morning

by ERA Architects

This week Graeme Stewart discussed ERA’s ongoing work related to Tower Renewal and working with the NFB of their film documentary with the metro morning team. You can listen to his interview in full here.

Remembrance Day @ the Brampton Cenotaph

by admin

For the past year, ERA has been working on the restoration of one of Brampton’s most cherished monuments – the War Memorial Cenotaph, which stands beside Brampton City Hall. Restoration was completed earlier this month, just in time for this year’s Remembrance Day service. Originally erected in 1928 to honour the sacrifice of Brampton’s fallen...

The Millionth Tower

by ERA Architects

The Millionth Tower web-based documentary has launched! This weekend the project was featured on the highly-respected Wired.com site, and is already making significant waves re-imagining the way emerging web-based technologies can help to tell highly personal stories in our increasingly connected world. We are all very proud to have been involved – please see the...

Tower Neighbourhood Renewal article in the APT International

by ERA Architects

ERA is featured in the summer edition of the International Journal for the Association for Preservation Technology (APT), in an article examining the Tower Neighbourhood Renewal initiative. From the introduction: In 2008 the City of Toronto initiated its Tower Neighborhood Renewal program. The program looks at the significant impact of post–World War II construction in...

North York Modern in the Standard

by ERA Architects

The Toronto Standard discusses North York’s emergence as a modernist heritage hub. Please also have a look at the full publication of ‘North York’s Modernist Architecture Revisited‘, produced by ERA last year.

Tar Creek Supergrid in the Standard

by ERA Architects

Amy, one of ERA’s latest recruits, was recently featured in the Toronto Standard. Her Master’s thesis (completed with Clint Langevin) was a large-scale, radical proposal to utilize toxic sites in North America for future ecologically-oriented development. The full description of the project makes for a very interesting read.

Toronto Heritage and Paul Oberman

by ERA Architects

Following the recent Toronto Heritage Awards, Bert Archer published an article in the Toronto Standard that questions the common usage of the word ‘heritage’, and pays tribute to the late Paul Oberman. The kind of work Oberman did is known as adaptive reuse, and its widespread practice here sets Toronto apart from most cities in...

Lang Tannery wins not one but two awards!

by admin

ERA was awarded the City of Kitchener Mike Wagner Heritage Award, in the rehabilitation & Adaptive Reuse category for the Lang Tannery Project, shared with Cadan, RAW Design and WalterFedy. Lang Tannery was also awarded a Canadian Urban Institute Brownie Award for the Best Overall Project. see more about the project here

ERA Wins Toronto Urban Design Award

by admin

ERA was awarded a 2011 Toronto Urban Design Award in the Visions and Master Plans category for the Avenues & Mid-Rise Building Study. Congratulation to team lead Brook McIlroy Planning + Urban Design/Pace Architects and project consultants Quadrangle Architects Limited, and Urban Marketing Collaborative. More information related to this project can be found here.

60MM

by ERA Architects

Michael celebrated his 60th birthday at the Carlu last night, with a great party and in high style. ERA assisted with the restoration of the heritage elements of the Carlu, and was awarded the Architectural Excellence by Ontario Association of Architects. Michael was surprised by a cake that replicated Sharon Temple, one of his favourite...

Lime Mortars for Traditionally Constructed Brickwork

by ERA Architects

ERA, in cooperation with Historic Restoration Inc., hosted one- and two-day workshops for Heritage Professionals and Masons, titled Lime Mortars for Traditionally Constructed Brickwork, lead by Dr. Gerard Lynch. The workshops, held at the Evergreen Brick Works, included both theoretical and practical components, and covered such topics as; binders in historic mortar, historic forms of...

Culture of Outports _ Burlington design/build

by ERA Architects

As part of the Culture of Outports project, ERA taught an intensive two-week design/build course in the small outport of Burlington, Newfoundland. The course was run through Dalhousie, and began with a lengthy road-trip from St. John’s, where students had the opportunity to study and immerse themselves in the local and material culture. Then, working...

ERA and Dalhousie Complete Newfoundland Free Lab

by admin

As part of the Culture of Outports project, ERA Architects taught an intensive design/build course with six Dalhousie University School of Architecture students in the small outport of Burlington, Newfoundland. A filled-in pond is currently serving as the only public site on Burlington’s waterfront, allowing for camping and social gathering. The studio course engaged with...

Kipling Community Build

by ERA Architects

In July, ERA got into the building spirit as part of the Tower Renewal project at the Kipling Towers in North Etobicoke. Kipling Towers is one of the City’s great apartment neighbourhoods, with a cluster of nineteen towers perched along the western bank of the Humber River. Previous posts with more information about the neighbourhood...

The Red Mason at the Brickworks

by admin

ERA Architects, in cooperation with Historic Restoration Inc., is hosting one and two day workshops for Heritage Professionals and Masons, titled Lime Mortars for Traditionally Constructed Brickwork, lead by Dr. Gerard Lynch. Dr. Lynch is an internationally acclaimed and highly respected historic brickwork consultant, master bricklayer, educator and author, considered the world’s leading authority of...

New Orleans

by ERA Architects

New Orleans is emerging from a long process of rebuilding following the devastation brought on by the hurricanes of 2005. And while much of this gorgeous city has regained its vitality, 6 years later some families have still fallen between the cracks of of insurance payments and official funding, struggling to repair or rebuild their...

ERA wins a PUG Award!

by admin

ERA, in association with Rounthwaite Dick Hadley Architects, Shoalts and Zaback Architects recieved the Paul Oberman Award for Adaptive Reuse and Heritage Restoration, in the commercial category. The PUG Awards, this year in their 7th edition, are the people’s choice awards for architecture in Toronto. For more on the Bloor Gladstone Library, please click here.

Solstice at the Brickworks

by ERA Architects

DSAI held their annual Solstice party at the Evergreen Brickworks last night. The weather on the longest day of the year was beautiful, and the venue was perfect. The party gets bonus points for a Jeanne Beker appearance.

Raw bread

by ERA Architects

RAW Design held their annual party at the Polish Ontario Bread Company, in a back alley off of Ossington. Despite the torrential downpour, there was a strong turnout to this unique venue, which RAW is hoping to develop into a complex of town houses. The party featured a Glenfiddich scotch-tasting bar, and delicious food all...

Brick work

by ERA Architects

Andrew and Philip took a group of recent ERAers out for a quick tutorial on assessing the existing conditions of a masonry building, and on how to better understand Toronto’s nineteenth-century architecture. They discussed the various styles of brick treatment of the period, and the differences between the 1860’s style and 1880’s style. They also...

Baist’s Detroit

by ERA Architects

Like Goad’s Fire Insurance Maps in Toronto, the Baist Real Estate Atlases were produced for insurance underwriters who used them to evaluate a site’s degree of risk and establish premiums. These maps were adopted by city planners and local developers to understand the city, as they showed an accurate demarcation of buildings with materials, use,...

The Millionth Tower Teaser Trailer

by ERA Architects

At the Toronto the Good party last week, the National Film Board screened a teaser trailer for the upcoming Millionth Tower documentary. The Millionth Tower is the latest installment in the Highrise project, which looks at the experience of living in post war concrete towers around the world. As a part of the Millonth Tower,...