Category Archives for "Architecture"

While watching Hockey Day in America, I was struck by how the city of Detroit had integrated its outdoor ice-skating rink into the very fabric of its downtown. Most of these things are done badly; in fact, it’s surprisingly hard to create vibrant street life. Most cities and towns fail at it. Loneliness soars as […]

As folks get older, they tend to earn less even before they officially retire. Many people will recall the “Freedom 55” slogan from an old advertising campaign. I tell young people I coach, “Don’t pay any attention to the idea of retiring any time soon… if ever.” Why? For two main reasons: I believe human […]

A friend’s 500 sq ft (approximate), 3-room apartment in a Hong Kong tower in a  desirable neighborhood is worth $4 million CAD, but rents for “just” $4,000 a month.  Cap rate?  About .8% pa. Conclusion? Real estate investing in HK brings poor cash returns, which means CDN real estate looks mighty tempting with cap rates […]

The Pit If you want your building interiors to be highly animated and increase collisionable hours, you could do (a lot) worse than copy the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism’s “pit” on the main floor of their building on Carleton University’s campus… What’s it used for? -speeches -parties -presentations -charettes -teaching -gatherings -random meetings/collisions -concerts […]

Years ago when I was teaching at Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism (a 14-year sentence), I was on campus walking to my office one beautiful early-fall day when I saw dozens of vans parked along a main road. From these behemoths, hundreds of excited freshmen and their parents scurried across the road […]

It was cool to see a tiny house parked by the Rideau river yesterday at my old stomping grounds–near the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism, where I taught for 14-years. But it would have been a heck of a lot nicer to see it inhabited. And for that matter, how about parking a few […]