I cannot be an optimist, but I am a prisoner of hope.

- Cornel West

Finch Store has closed.

It’s only been five months since the owner, the mayor, the local councillor, and the chief planner posed for photos celebrating its new first-of-its-kind business license under the new neighbourhood retail paradigm. Now the shelves are empty, the lights are off, and the doors are locked.

From what I’ve gathered, a rent increase at their sister location, Martin Espresso, was the last straw. After two years of fighting against the City, the usual challenges of being a small business, and the lingering COVID burnout, this surprise was, understandably, too much. The owners have decided to call it quits and move to somewhere sunnier and more coastal. And, honestly, when we’ve talked about it, it seems to me they are genuinely looking forward to the next chapter.

In other words, at the moment you are reading this, you (and other members of the community) are probably more upset about the situation than the owners are.

It is understandable in light of this news to feel like the massive community effort to “save” Finch Store was for nothing–that our rallying against the anonymous complaint about their espresso machine and the archaic city zoning that prohibited serving coffee ultimately did not deliver the outcome we all so badly wanted.

But a sad ending doesn’t negate what got us here.

Forgive the navel-gazing, but here’s where I’ve arrived after nine years in twelve-step programs and doing work in the community: when you voluntarily engage in acts of service, the belief you are doing it for a specific someone or something is a trap. Trusting that the world will deliver you the outcomes you desire just because you did everything right is a recipe for disappointment and, ultimately, burnout.

Over the years I have been forced to ask myself questions like: how do you shake it off and fight again when a fellow in recovery you’ve been coaching suffers a massive relapse-inducing tragedy in the promising but fragile early months of recovery? Or the owner of a community cafe and art space you’ve been boosting receives a business-ending health diagnosis? Or a provincially elected government unilaterally undoes years of work you’ve been supporting at a local level?

I’ll make this even more simple: let’s say you spend an extraordinary amount of energy helping someone in need, get them on the right track, and then they get hit by a piece of falling space rock. Does that discount the work you did? Was the choice to help them any less moral?

Of course not. And that’s because, for me at least, you don’t fight to win. You fight to fight. And in this framework, you’ve won the moment you choose to fight on behalf of someone else.

This isn’t, of course, a new concept. There are many philosophies and religious concepts out there that touch on this to various degrees, grappling with the question, “How do you keep doing good when a good behaviour goes unrewarded?” I haven’t found one school of thought that answers that question for me, but over the years the little pieces I’ve borrowed from them have shaped my outlook on how I participate in activism and daily life.

Which is to say when I originally stumbled on Finch Store, I didn’t set out with a specific objective. Instead, I felt called to help by, at risk of sounding like a sober cliché, my higher power. In that moment, not listening to that call and doing nothing would’ve been failing myself, not any other person or cause. And then everything about my involvement flowed from there.

While there have been many moments along the way where external validation has certainly boosted my conviction (gratitude from the owners, nice comments from the public, the win at council, etc.), the initial and constant drive was internal, a desire to fulfil my own civic duties or live my own values. Relying on external validation alone would’ve meant being overly vulnerable to outcomes and situations that cannot be anticipated or prevented. It’s for that reason I was not particularly discouraged when we lost at committee (twice!) on this file—it’s much easier to stay the course when you’re not particularly tethered to external obstacles.

So while I am deeply saddened by this news, I wouldn’t change a thing about my participation or the community’s involvement. That so many participated in helping Finch during their hour of need itself was the big win to me. And in that process, people learned about how to enact change in their City, the owners got morale support during a hard period, and helped shift 50 years of zoning practice.

Finch Store is already closed, but this weekend Martin Espresso will be giving out treats and saying goodbye to its customers. For those of you who participated in this journey, I invite you to go and see the owners off, thank them for the opportunity they gave us to stand with them, and to reflect on what we learned from this fight. After all, it’s only a matter of time before one of us stumbles on another petition that is missing a champion or a neighbour who needs a helping hand.

The only question is whether you’ll answer the call.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

A small group of activists, myself among them, have been credited with saving Sneaky Dee’s, the iconic multi-generational dive bar at College and Bathurst that’s been in operation for almost 40 years, from a pending development application.

I linked to a fairly comprehensive story above that covers most of the main story beats, but like with any community organising, what happened on the ground was a lot messier and more interesting.

For instance, I ran into Marit Stiles at the sunrise ceremony on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and jokingly suggested we talk about the province’s ability to address Sneaky Dee’s issues in the “Chip Chat” podcast format Sneaky Dee’s uses… cut to a couple weeks later and us sitting down over a plate of King’s Crown nachos for about an hour talking about everything from the OLT to commercial lease reform to arts funding. It was a good convo, and I left that Thursday afternoon planning to release it on Tuesday, one day before the vote, to maximise…

…and then we won the next day.

My poor content calendar and best-laid plans notwithstanding, a win is a win. Since we kept things so high-level, the conversation is still relevant (and hopefully interesting), so I’m still putting it out there as a celebration of our victory.

Enjoy.

Two recent examples: a non-existent neighbour opining about bus lanes down the street and a misrepresentation of how corner stores would look post-neighbourhood retail initiative (the dude couldn’t even be bothered to render corner stores ON CORNERS?!).

I am fine disagreeing with people. I still patronise some of the businesses I debated with over the Bathurst bus lanes. Some of them I’d even consider friends and allies (on other issues, obviously). But having to fight the feverish inventions of a slop engine isn’t neighbourly debate or civic discourse. It’s bullshit. And everyone knows it.

So what I’m asking is for is this: a conversation about introducing guidelines governing Gen AI use by third-party advertisers and council candidates. I don’t want to curtail anyone’s legal right to express themselves or use tools, but once you sign up for the election process, you agree to many rules and limitations…so why not also add some basic guardrails against misleading people with technology that makes it easy, fast, and cheap to deceive.

If you agree with me, I urge you to sign my petition asking the City to consider establishing an exploration committee and asking those participating in the current election to disclose their own Gen AI use policies. It’s not much, but it’s a start in us tackling how this emergent tech impacts our local lives in a democracy.

Sign the petition today

As part of Jane's Walk Toronto, we'll be meeting on Saturday, May 2, at 11 AM just outside the Finch Store on Dewson. We’re going to explore some locations in the neighbourhood that have become flashpoints of contention and controversy, despite providing shelter, communion, and entertainment.

Topics of discussion include: the aftermath of the neighbourhood retail fight; lessons learned re: Toronto grassroots campaigning; the power of The Real in the age of misinfo; the death (and rebirth?) of Toronto nightlife; "Crank Voltron" and the ascendant NIMBY class; whether or not the City only gets worse; how to post about urbanism for a normie audience; and, most importantly, what comes next.

Here’s a link to the walk, hope to see you there!

My former employer, unfortunately, suddenly came down with a bad case of “Not Having Enough Money to Pay the People They Need to Pay Money”. So, after a sudden all-hands meeting with some surprise insolvency lawyer guests, I (and roughly 35 others) went home from the office that day jobless.

I’ve been continually employed in “the built environment” for about 15 years. This isn’t really how I wanted to take a break, but it has given me a chance to breathe for a second. If anything, this unfortunate event has taught me the tangible benefits of doing good work and maintaining a network. As it turns out, a high-profile and relatively rare bankruptcy is enough of a news event in the architecture world that people from every point of my 15-year journey have been emerging with offers of help, contract work, or longer-term opportunities for both myself and my former colleagues. If you’re one of those people and you’re reading this: thank you, truly.

I also now have some time to explore a couple of projects I have been sitting on, including a short series of documentaries I’ve wanted to do on unique businesses and stories in Toronto. The video above, about Alazar, the Dufferin Mall cobbler, who had his new machine crowd-funded by a loyal customer, is something of a pilot. I’m pretty happy about how it turned out and has been received, so I’m amped to do more.

I’m hoping to get a few more videos out in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, I have lots of time to chat about collaborations and projects; feel free to reach out. Otherwise, stay tuned!

It’s a Sunday, and I’ve already spent a lot of my weekend on this, so in full transparency, this is the same text I just posted over on the Change.org petition when I closed it for good—if you’ve already read that, you can skip this one.

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but it’s time to declare victory and close this petition down for good.

I am happy to report that yesterday, Mayor Chow, Councillor Bravo, and Chief Planner Thorne presented Finch Store’s owner, Yana Miriev, with her newly instated business license, granted under the new neighbourhood retail rules. It was a very surreal and joyous day; over the course of ~3 years, Yana went from having the City scrutinising her shop to celebrating it. She is so very grateful to you all for your part in that (and for a full rundown of how we got here since the last update, The Toronto Star did a nice summary).

While the City was already considering putting the rules that now allow Finch Store to operate, this petition and the ruckus we caused on behalf of Yana and her shop have been credited as the reason they moved forward; folks close to the issue have told me directly that the initiative had been on life support, and that we effectively resuscitated it.

So for that reason, closing this petition is bittersweet. I am overjoyed we won, but I’m also a bit sad. The groundswell of support I saw for Finch Store and Yana, across political lines and ideologies, was truly heartening in a time when polarisation, negativity, and misinformation run rampant. I am so grateful to all of you, both for your direct impact and for setting an example of how to actually implement positive change in Toronto, even if only incrementally (for now, stay tuned).

I hope that you will all carry this positive example of community support with you as we enter the upcoming municipal elections here in Toronto. Those negative and dividing elements I mentioned are going to become ever more prominent, so do try to hold on to this one fact: when we come together as a community and focus on what is possible, we can achieve so much more than just tearing each other down. And while they might be louder, reactionaries are doing exactly what the name implies: reacting. They are not building nor are they caring on a holistic or thoughtful level. Those of us who want more absolutely can win, and we should make every effort to do so with a message of pragmatic and open positivity.

Anyhow, I’ll get off my soapbox. Thank you again for your support--it’s been a joy to go on this journey with you all. I’ve left a number of giveaway postcards at Finch, so do drop by and say hello to Yana and her crew in the coming weeks. As for me, you can keep up with whatever niche urbanism issue I get into next at anotherglassbox.com or @anotherglassbox on most platforms.

Yours,

Dan Seljak
@anotherglassbox

…but we are so back, coming back strong with a free movie screening at City Hall!

On February 19th, in appreciation and gratitude for all the folks who signed petitions, deputed, posted online, or did whatever else for neighbourhood retail, Councillor Matlow and I are hosting a free showing of Changing Lanes. Directed by Ben Wolf, Changing Lanes is a documentary about civic change and what winning or losing looks like in our current age of misinformation/polarisation.

Here’s the link to the Eventbrite to reserve your spot and the film’s trailer.

That’s the important stuff. For the keeners and urbanism nerds, some navel gazing below on the following topics:

• Why Co-Host with Councillor Matlow?

• Why Screen Changing Lanes?

• Why City Hall?

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Why Co-Host with Councillor Matlow?

Councillor Matlow and I don’t always see eye to eye. Despite that, he’s always been a good sport. For instance, I spent a year straight musing online about how many marshmallows I could fit in his mouth, and he didn’t immediately block me/find a way to ban me from City Hall grounds.

On a more serious note, when it came to neighbourhood retail, he really stepped up to champion the cause. He voted yes (alone) when it first went to committee, joined a public tour I led of Seaton Village’s retail spaces, filmed a social media sting with me on the topic, and introduced a motion that would’ve allowed councillors to opt-in to allowing them on a ward-by-ward basis when it seemed the issue was dead in the water.

While the mayor and her staff certainly deserve recognition and thanks for the motion that ultimately got neighbourhood retail passed, Josh’s consistent, joyful, and public enthusiasm for the topic was unmatched. The core goal of the Another Glass Box project (and there is a goal beyond what so many of you refer to as “shit posting”) is to get people excited and educated about positive urban change in fun and engaging ways; Matlow and his staff participated in a way that was in close alignment with that goal. Which is why when I had the idea of “let’s have a nerdy civics movie night in the place where civics happens”, he seemed like a natural fit for co-host.

Why screen Changing Lanes?

To be clear, Changing Lanes is not about neighbourhood retail or even Toronto. Changing Lanes is, according to its official synopsis, primarily about traffic calming measures in New York City. But what it’s really about, to me at least, is trying to make a change at a municipal level in our current political moment.

I saw the film a couple of days after the vote on neighbourhood retail at the Architecture & Design Film Festival. I was so exhausted that I had arrived hours earlier at Bell Lightbox for the first film being screened that afternoon, which I slept through on a chair in the lobby… I woke up dazed, embarrassed, and tempted to go home and skip Changing Lanes, thinking it might end up being some hokey sentimental ode to bike lanes.

Fortunately I recaffinated because the film is fantastic. It feels indie and intimate, but still hi-fidelity with solid cinematography, editing and pacing. While that describes many documentaries, what really impressed me was director Ben Wolf’s ability to go beyond the core issue featured in the film, capturing the more universal dynamics of trying to enact local change in, at least, the contemporary North American context. I recall one of the interviewed activists expressing frustrations so closely aligned with those expressed by me, my allies, and the communities I’ve worked with that I teared up. That was the moment I decided more people had to see this movie.

I was able to catch Wolf after the screening and, in a state of burnout-induced hyperactivity, tried to both convey my appreciation and relay the story of neighbourhood retail before he got pulled away. Fortunately, he was gracious enough to give me his email. Even more graciously, in our resulting correspondence, he agreed to license the film to me at a discounted rate, which is why this screening is happening at all.

Why City Hall?

I want to encourage folks to not only visit the place where decisions are made, but to become comfortable using the institutions that are intended to be for the people. I think members of the public should feel entitled (within reason) to spaces like City Hall, just like they should feel entitled to spaces like the City Archives, the Ontario Land Tribunal public inquiry desk, and so on. Even with early sign-ups, it’s been very gratifying to hear people say this event will be the first time they go to City Hall. My hope is that people will feel a bit more encouraged to visit again, whether that be for events, activism, or just to enjoy the space.

This screening is also an iteration of my experiments around urbanism, pedagogy, and public engagement. A general challenge in the “city-building” world is that knowledge isn’t so much kept behind gatekeepers as there isn’t even signage directing people to the gates. Or what’s behind the gate isn’t positioned to be of interest to the general public in the first place.

While I’ve been thinking about this for a while, my first attempt at tackling this challenge was accelerated by luck. Last fall, Tony Price, a local DJ, approached me to help put on a panel on architecture and cultural spaces to celebrate the release of his sonic eulogy to the Ontario Science Centre. The event featured big names in the design world, but was primarily geared to Tony’s fans, which resulted in the exact mix of people and conversations I’d been hoping for.

Based on attendance and the enthusiastic feedback for that event, this year I’m hoping to continue experimenting with events and initiatives that combine novelty, fun, and joy with learning about Toronto. You can stay tuned for events beyond this screening, but if you have your own ideas and are looking for a collaborator, my inbox is always open.

In closing, two thank yous.

Councillor Matlow and staff: Thank you for not only taking such an interest in a niche zoning issue, but for modelling how positive urban leadership can engage the public to enact positive change. There are a lot of negative voices in Toronto right now, so it’s refreshing to have a politician try to embrace a vision of a positive urban future. Purely from a pragmatic viewpoint and in addition to the public benefit, if Mamdani’s success stateside is any indication, it’s an approach that I think will pay dividends for politicians who lean into it.

Ben Wolf: Thank you for this film. I think it’s a real gift to any of us who have lost folks to preventable traffic deaths, fought for any number of small changes at the municipal level, or just wondered “why the hell is my city like this?” And thank you for entertaining the ramblings of the scruffy sleep-deprived urbanist who ambushed you post-screening in the Bell Lightbox lobby—I’m so happy you facilitated us screening this film again here in Toronto.

As for what’s next, I’m still deciding what the future of this Substack will look like, but for now… I hope to see you all at City Hall on Feb 19!

Grab Your Ticket

On my way to Do West Fest last year, I came across a small corner store on Dewson that had a hand-drawn sign in the window.

Help us save the Finch Store. Sign the petition. We are a law-abiding small family business, serving the community with honesty and integrity.

I spoke to the cashier and learned that the store was under threat because they’d installed an espresso machine, technically changing their designated use and creating a zoning issue. What I knew, and the owners did not, was that there was an entire online community actively supporting the City’s Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON) initiative, which included a component that would potentially allow retail use in neighbourhoods. In other words, there was a chance Finch Store was six months away from having its problem disappear. It also meant the store had an army of informed and active supporters waiting in the wings; they just weren’t engaged.

After contacting the owners and getting their consent, I supplemented the petition with some more technical language and an ask for supporters to also fill out the City’s related survey. Then I shared it online and posted about the topic incessantly.

Then came TV cameras, radio interviews, and articles. For a very intense week, there was a spotlight on the issue, but it was enough—we won what was essentially a stay of execution for the store, with the local councillor and the mayor publicly saying the store would remain open despite its questionable zoning status.

Now

A few days ago, walking home from this year’s Do West Fest, I stopped by the Finch Store again. They’re still there, doing no harm and in limbo, but fundamentally, the store is unchanged despite all the commotion.

The commotion and its fallout, however, have changed me. I’ve alternated between overwhelmed, excited, frustrated, and grateful during the many twists and turns this story has taken over the last year. While I could probably write a few dozen essays on what I’ve learned, here are five high-level reflections and lessons from a year of being exceptionally annoying on the internet about one particular and granular issue.

1. Read the Room

The second I heard Finch Store’s story, I knew it would resonate. With an audience of urban leftists and rabid YIMBYs, I was confident a tale of local resilience and zoning hijinks would appeal across political and philosophical lines. As expected, the online discourse of “pervaisive NIMBYism is why Toronto can’t have nice things” meant a scrappy paper petition from a small business could have outsized impact on the public, media, and City Council with a little online promo in the right places. In less than a week, we moved the needle on the conversation significantly.

But I’ve also seen how not knowing your audience or the online mood can have negative consequences. Recently, an initially anonymous group called Protect Bathurst emerged on the scene, speaking out against the introduction of dedicated bus lanes on Bathurst. They used relatively sophisticated methods, with well-designed posters, a website, and even AI-generated testimonials. Rather than earning them credibility, this level of sophistication set off alarm bells immediately, and a host of terminally online urbanists (no offence intended, I was one of them) went full detective mode.

This was genuinely a surprise to the people behind the campaign, who didn’t know what astroturfing was (let alone that they’d be accused of it) or that Toronto urbanists are generally ornery at the moment thanks to proposed bike lane removals by the province. Not knowing the vibe had real and serious impacts on their campaign. In short: if you’re not confident you have a bead on how your campaign will land, enlist someone who does.

2. Stay Positive…

When the Finch Store petition was active, I was determined to keep the conversation constructive and solutions-oriented. The objective of Another Glass Box is to make people feel more assured in civic participation through edutainment. Every so often, I get righteously angry about something, but anger and fear are not the emotions I generally leverage. So while Ben Mulroney used the opportunity to tell Mayor Chow she should be embarrassed by the situation, I stuck to my script: this situation is wrong, but we have tools available to us, and together we can enact change. It evidently resonated with people and it was so exciting to see people rally in the meat space instead of just interacting online.

An additional unexpected and rewarding facet of that approach was that I remained on good terms with the City and the folks working on EHON. Which is why I got to tag along when they gave their Jane’s Walk down Dovercourt and when they reached the last stop, the Finch Store, I got to give a little stump speech. Then an EHON staffer joined the Jane’s Walk I was co-running on neighbourhood retail to give our group the City’s take on the subject. I’m looking forward to keeping that positive energy going as the conversation continues (more on that later).

3. …but Hold Grudges

In the interest of honesty, while the prevailing narrative was that I was some kind of good Samaritan passing by Finch Store, I wasn’t just motivated by benevolent intent.

Several years ago, I passed the vacant storefront of No. 211 Coffee House on Avenue. A quick Google revealed the store didn’t close but had never opened–the local residents group had leveraged a 1949 bylaw to shut it down.

I learned about No. 211 Coffee House too late to help. But after years of festering resentment, I had cultivated a powerful well of energy to draw from to fuel the many, many posts I made about Finch Store. I’ve learned that knowing the consequences of inaction is a strong motivator to fight for something better—I probably have a small list of similar slights filed subconsciously in the reptile part of my brain, just waiting to be unearthed by some future perceived injustice.

4. Ride the Wave

One of the weirdest things about helping Finch Store was that I ended up positioned or perceived as an expert of sorts on neighbourhood retail. To be clear, I am not–while I may be a bit more informed than the average person, mostly I’m just a guy who keeps seeing upsetting things while walking his dog and then won’t shut up about it.

Despite my lack of qualifications, I figured that in order to advocate for the store and my petition, I would need to lean into that narrative. So I resolved to say yes to every request, whether it was for an interview, a written statement, or a coffee chat. After setting something up, I’d inevitably panic and do a deep dive on the specifics of whatever I’d just agreed to talk about. So, without any real intention, there was a self-fulfilling element to the whole thing—I may still be unqualified, but less than I was a year ago, thanks to this pattern of agree-panic-research-repeat.

After the 15 minutes of attention faded, I kept saying yes to things, yielding all sorts of weird and unpredictable results over the last year. I was invited to an urbanism-themed hackathon. Someone bought me a year of premium Twitter to support me in reaching a wider audience. I co-led a Jane’s Walk on the subject with ~150 people attending across two sessions. I was exposed to new subcultures and networks far outside my own, where I’ve made genuine friends. Most rewardingly, I gained an unusual and powerful bond with the owners of Finch Store that regularly reminds me that the hard parts of this type of advocacy are worth it.

Basically, my policy (and my advice to anyone who asks) continues to be: yes to things even if you’re mildly terrified and confused why you’re being approached. But make sure you do the work to back it up.

5. It’s not Over ‘til it’s Over

Unfortunately, it’s not all warm fuzzies. Finch Store was “saved” at the time, but is still in limbo and now for sale. This continuing uncertainty stems from a council vote last December to defer the retail in neighbourhoods initiative for further study, in spite of very positive feedback on the public survey.

A lesson learned for me is that you can’t be too confident about these things. Between the social media buzz, the initial promise that Finch Store would not be closed, and the overwhelmingly positive public feedback on the survey, I got a bit cocky and assumed the matter was settled. But I was reminded that Status Quo Inertia is the true Mayor of Toronto and their worship is not easily swayed.

That said, there is still a chance for some movement on this file. EHON is gearing back up for public consultations with the first two meetings already announced. The intent is to bring something back to city council for the fall, so there will be a number of other engagements and steps in the months to come. As I try to regain some kind of publishing cadence, expect more updates.

Before we Wrap up, Let’s Talk About Grudges Again

In the motion that deferred the decision on neighbourhood retail, Councillor Stephen Holyday (Deputy Mayor to Status Quo Inertia) included that the renewed initiative would have to be accompanied by a “communications campaign through mainstream media channels to explain the proposal and gather…opinion”. While I imagine he meant a campaign run by City staff, I just wanted to conclude with:

Challenge accepted, Councillor. See you online. 😇

It turns out that if you trust your message and community to some random billionaires, they can get kind of weird with it. Consequently, I’ve been having a less-than-stellar time with the ol’ social media apps. And since I last wrote to you, my dear loyal subscribers, I’ve grown old and set in my ways. The idea of adapting to a new platform or even changes to old ones (Instagram posts aren’t squares anymore?) is exhausting.

Things have changed.

Social media has given me a lot. I’ve been lucky enough to earn a community, constant sources of trivia/news, and even the power to enact positive change.

But being at the mercy of the whims of an unseen hand willing to game the algorithm for profit or ego-stoking has taken its toll. But subscriber lists? While the delivery system still requires tech, ultimately all that complexity and curation is distilled to something beyond the reach of vile social media moguls or market fads: a locally saved Excel spreadsheet of email addresses.

So I am slinking back here—where it all started for Another Glass Box—to the newsletter format. Let’s get right into it, yeah?*

*For those of you just joining us, this is how it used to work normally: a pithy little intro, snarky headers introducing a series of aggregated design/ architecture/ urbanism news loosely organized into buckets of my choosing. But this week is a Very Special Edition centred around DesignTO (and related events).

I am Never Going to Another Party Ever Again

DesignTO is on and I fully recommend this incredible festival to everyone. The website has a full calendar and continues into the first few days of February. Sadly for us in the industry, this happy time also means a lot of Seeing People You Know in a Professional Capacity, which is lovely but also very tiring. Regardless, here are my highlights:

• DesignLines held their inaugural awards and it was a blast. For me the exciting piece here is the projects are much smaller and more intimate—while its hard to argue fancy houses and hospitality spaces benefit the public good, there’s a lot of recognition for homegrown talent that gets overlooked in the bigger programs. A few standout things about the awards:

  • Drew Mandel Architects placed in virtually every eligible category and won in one...a testament to their talent (or awards submission budget, that’s not cheap!).

  • Daphne by Paolo Ferrari won in the hospitality category…this restaurant was not on my radar but I can see why it won and I need to go ASAP.

  • The winner of the Emerging Talent Award, Sam Tibbs, actually made a Toronto basement apartment look…great?

    

• Urban Progress magazine launched its second issue after a long hiatus (understandable) at a venue where you had to take off your shoes (not understandable). Originally published by a team of two real estate developers, they quickly learned what all of us Arts students already know: there is no money in journalism. But with a fresh lease on life courtesy of the Neptis Foundation they’re shifting to a semiannual publication schedule. The vibe is wonky but approachable with a heavy market urbanism slant. Some big and smart names in this one include Naama Blonder, Graig Uens, and Toon Dreesen.

  • As part of this renewal, Urban Progress named Benjamin Parry as their Managing Editor, meaning that he was ultimately responsible for the venue selection and, by extension, the shoe removal rule. Ben also recently started an org called the Toronto Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge that’s holding a lecture series called The Viaduct. The idea is to expand Toronto’s collective imagination when conceptualizing the city’s future. Despite being new and unaffiliated with any previous orgs, it’s been a hit and gotten some nice media play. There is only a single lecture left in the current series—based on the ones I’ve seen I’d recommend it.

• On the opening night of DesignTO I hit up my friend Dema’s DeadProjects project, a recurring artist showcase set in a virtual gallery set in a physical gallery…basically, you can visit it at TMU or on the internet. The theme this year pertains to cartography and mapping, featuring Mahmoud Alhaj and Kasra Goodarznezhad.

• That night I also attended the festival’s official opening party at the Harbourfront Centre. A great party and a reminder of how much this particular festival centres artists.

  • Design highlight: Revive, an exhibit on endangered creative practices around the globe wherein traditional methods that are fading to history were used to create entirely new objects. The exhibit continues into March, go see it!

  • Non-design highlight: Mayor Chow insisted on joining the massive coat check line with us plebs despite her handler’s objections…only for the festival staff to hurridly extract her and take her coat as soon as they noticed. Sorry Olivia, but you’re truly one of the elite now.

• Finally, dropped by Devansh Shah’s gallery show, Open Studio. While the acrylic toys and pen art from the other artists were impressive, the star of the show was Shah’s home-produced 3D-printed Pearl Lamp. I was not the only one who thought so—I was there as a DesignLines editor dropped off a “Heart Tag”, naming it a festival highlight.
  

This week is lot quieter (thank god) so we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming next issue. Stay tuned!

The Subscriber Zone

Congrats, you’ve technically reached the end of this week’s newsletter! Past this point is some bonus navel-gazing since I need to give the generous paying subscribers a little treat.

Read more

quiet — Andrea Oppedisano wrote a cool piece about quiet spaces in urban settings. I think quiet is extremely underrated, especially considering the benefits to those with sensory sensitivities.

r-hauz (in the middle of the street) — A new firm, R-Hauz, looks like it’s going to try and bring modularized wood buildings to the city of Toronto in the form of mass-produced designs. It’s an interesting model and it could be an extremely efficient way of getting new homes built faster.

critical mass — Toronto Star’s architecture critic emuteris took a veiled jab at The Globe and Mail’s deep thinker, Alex Bozikovic (which I totally spelled right in the original email and did not hastily correct for the online version), in his article about different buildings he doesn’t like. Looking at Alex’s response, I will say I am firmly #TeamAlex on this one — even if the call on One Spadina wasn’t the right one, the rest of the article…isn’t saying much of anything.

• I do think there is something to be said for the question of ‘Whomst Critiques the Critics?’ Alex was very gracious in his acknowledgment of how he could better assess the accessible components of his subjects this year; with the student reaction to One Spadina, perhaps this is another cause for reflection.

networking diversity — I saw this chart/paper from Albert-László Barabási about artistic careers; essentially the networks you have access to in your early career do in fact impact your overall success. This, in turn, reminded me of Curbed’s article on cultural/ethnic diversity in architecture — things are changing when it comes to architects in their early years, but seniority seems to take its toll largely on under-represented cultures and identities. I think it’s important to consider what access we’re granting internally to juniors and who is being given what opportunities to reach audiences and clients.

giant backlash — Amazon is going to split its second headquarters into two parts: one in Virginia and one in New York. Cities were clamoring for this project and now that it’s been decided, negative takes are coming out (et tu, Richard Florida?). Google meanwhile continues to struggle selling Toronto on Quayside with negative media attention still dogging them, even internationally.

toilet talk — I spoke with Coach House’s Editorial Director tonight and was reminded that they put out a book about the politics of the public toilet. I am super excited about reading it, especially since the subject of toilets so often intersects with accessibility.

+ They have a lot of other great books about urbanism and Toronto, including my fav, Subdivided.

play for all — Jumpstart is a program bringing accessible playgrounds to different cities in Canada. The Toronto one is slated to open in Spring 2019, but Gil Meslin tweeted some photos and it looks really amazing. The Atlantic also published a piece by Alexandra Lange about toy libraries, an amazing initiative giving greater access to toys.

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conflicting designs for the aged — ArchDaily published a thoughtful piece on not looking to the past for designing for the elderly. But I also started reading an academic paper on how the archetype of Western architecture, that of ancient Greece, may have actually had structures and design in place for aging and disabled populations that were lost in history.

• The Atlantic published a piece on Smart Cities and accessibility that was extensive, highlighting the opportunities and challenges digitally-enabled cities pose for regarding accessibility (also a note that this link and one in the section below came from the truly excellent Twitter feed of @mssinenomine, an individual I highly recommend following).

WeAllWork — CBRE, the brokerage, is getting into the office share game. Their own spin on the genre will allow them to compete with WeWork and other powerhouses in this arena (side note: the image above is a CBRE office housed in a former Masonic temple, a project by my firm)

the robot trolley is going to kill you — Here’s a quick primer on the trolley problem. And here is a quick look at how survey respondents think an autonomous vehicle should choose who to kill/injure in the case of a potential collision with more than one individual. A few takeaways: people hate cats, they also hate fat large and old people, and they think cars will be able to identify criminal elements. That said, maybe these robot cars will identify wheelchair users as strollers, which might help the fact that human drivers kill them 33% more often than walking pedestrians.

disappearing trick — This article about a rich white community trying to build a town out of land and facilities owned by a town that just elected a black mayor and all-black city council reads like a morbid comedy (the election is over, it isn’t going to happen or it may well have been a tragedy). There’s a bit in here where a woman tries to justify these action by arguing that the nice part of town deserves, I kid you not, a Cheesecake Factory or a PF Changs.

+ There’s more shenanigans afoot. In a Florida neighbourhood, Habitat for Humanity has been allowed to build affordable housing on the condition that they build a wall around the new homes. As astutely noted in the article, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a wall has impacted the number of people the charity can house.

a house for books- The new Calgary Central Library got a TON of press this week. Fair enough, it’s sleek as heck and it seems to check all the good civic boxes.

+ another nice library is the one recently unveiled at Concordia. This one is an interiors job rather than an architectural project — really impressive use of the space.

+ The library in Calgary’s commitment to recognizing local Indigenous peoples is part of what people are recognizing in its opening. Other architects are continuing their attempts to better reconcile the design profession’s relationship with colonialism — Brook McElroy designed a series of Indigenous cultural markers at Humber College that will be unveiled tomorrow. Some of the work by the firm’s Senior Associate Ryan Gorrie has already been on display as part of the UNCEDED pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale.

double duty — Curbed published a cutting article about a parking garage in Berkley that is being celebrated for its…sustainable elements?

bye-car market — DCA voluntarily put forward a potential plan for the Byward Market in Ottawa that would see car traffic substantially reduced. Byward is a gem and deserves better than what it’s got now — I really like it (though Dreesen, if you’re reading this, I am grouchy about the legibility of the text in the report proper).

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“Disaster” — Canadaland’s podcast was taken over by the folks at The Logic, an investigative tech outfit. The EiC interviewed the investigative reporter who has been investigating Sidewalk Labs in Toronto and their take was…not entirely positive. Despite that, I saw Ken Greenberg speak last week, and he was still enthusiastic (but vague) about the design elements that have yet to be made public — I’m looking forward to seeing them

Queer Space — Two things I’ve read recently that are a bit dense and academic but really good: Jack Halberstam recently wrote a piece on Trans* embodiment and the built environment and I only just discovered Éloise Choquette’s piece on Queering Architecture (this is just an excerpt) from the Feminisms issue of Site magazine.

Graffiti Wayfinding — I was fascinated by this article about a grassroots life-saving signage strategy in Vancouver, where someone is spraying addresses in alleys so EMS services can be deployed to the site of overdoses more quickly.

Post-Toronto — I missed the debut of Biidaaban: First Light but it is currently on tour. It’s a VR experience crafted by Lisa Jackson and Matthew Borrett that imagines the future of Toronto through an Indigenous lens. It looks really cool. Keep your eyes open for when it’s here next.

Wood Precipice — John Lorinc did a deep dive into tall wood using 80 Atlantic as a springboard. It’s a good summary of all the wood stuff in the city so far and what may be on the way. Still notably absent? A tangible residential project.

Dam Daniels — The new Daniels facility at UofT is getting some negative attention as students are bringing their troubles with the space to the press. I’ve been hearing whispers of this since opening and there have been some folks noting troubles along the way, like the students upset that the faculty was selling them $30 lap desks to make up for lack of seated desks.

Subscriber Zone: Wow, it is basically November. No idea how time went that fast. Anyone else feeling like this?

I attended Azure’s Inclusive City event last week. It was a pretty great event, but I would’ve liked to see them explore topics outside of transit and affordable housing, especially since it was hosted in a venue (OCAD) that has a world-renowned inclusive design program.

I also had coffee at the new Wallace Espresso on St Clair last weekend and learned about what Dubbeldam has been doing in my neighbourhood. They gutted an old building and fitted it their own offices on the third floor, a creative coworking space called Lokaal on the second, and retail at grade (where the coffeeshop is plus a “soon to be announced” space). It’s been a real pleasure to see it take shape — the paint treatment is really cool.

Reading: Mismatch, the book on inclusive design I featured last week, arrived in the mail and I’ve almost finished. The excerpt I shared is a pretty solid representation of the book’s quality, and it’s a beautifully designed and realised physical artifact too.
Watching: I’m really enjoying Hilda, the new animated show on Netflix that’s all about spooky critters in the city.
Listening: Robyn released a new album and I’m stoked.

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Monotony — Is everything in the city — every new bar, every new hotel, every new coworking space — looking the same to you? Apparently, it does to some. @alexbeca wrote a really interesting thread on the trend of aesthetic “flatness” in cities that I think touches on a lot of great points, from AirSpace (AirBnB-inspired everything) to The Devil Wears Prada.

+ I think I’ve linked this before but it’s a favourite of mine — CityLab tracked the gentrification of Brooklyn by mapping the use of trendy Edison bulbs and it’s wild to see it visualized.

Design for Moms — Christine Murray wrote a short examination on what a city would be like if it actually took into account the needs of mothers and child rearing. Once again, the example of curb cuts comes to mind — designing for a greater plurality of people could create tangible benefits for all.

Not a Design Magazine — The Canadian Centre for Architecture put out a highly critical, thoughtful and funny guide on how not to make another design publication. The format is a bit difficult to parse, but there’s a lot to think about in there.

Landscapes — George F. Dark was awarded a Governor General’s Award in Landscape Architecture. This is essentially the country’s top prize. Dark is a partner at Urban Strategies, but a lot of his time and energy has been focused on interdisciplinary projects like the Evergreen Brickworks and Centre for Social Innovation.

+ Bentway celebrated the opening of the park’s first stage with a massive block party. I hope the energy and excitement of the launch carries through to their next projects. Shout out to my friend Rob, responsible for the Bent Parade, and my coworkers, responsible for Kendra the two-storey-candy-spewing giraffe. Next up for The Bentway is IdeasCity, which looks like a really great (free) day of programming (not to be confused with Moses Znaimer’s IdeaCity, which was largerly bitcoin, free speech agitators and weed this year).

+ Alex Bozikovic spoke to MVVA about the new parks that will help protect Toronto from future flooding. They look so great, and the thesis of his piece — that thoughtful artificial and natural landscape integration is a necessary component of future city-building — is really important considering what’s been going on the past few weeks.

+ Darnel Harris’ master’s thesis got some attention this week — the Mobility Greenway would add more transportation options along the Finch LRT.

Eco Office — The Globe and Mail profiled Travel Corp’s office, a space that is using green strategies to make more…green (I’m talking about cash for the second green). My favourite part of it was learning about the Kyoto wheel, which is essentially a constantly spinning sci-fi prop from a pulpy TV show that, in this context, cools the space using less than a quarter of the power traditional AC uses.

Correction — Showing my Ontario roots, I totally botched the geography of Atlantic Canada last week. Acre Architects is based in Saint John, not Halifax.

+ Also, Shaun Majumder got the boot from This Hour Has 22 Minutes, which is a shame. But it reminded me of Majumder Manor, the space Acre designed for him that is meant to attract folks to Burlington, his hometown.

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Knot News — Michael Green Associates (MGA), the BC designers of big wood projects, has been bought by Silicon Valley giant Katerra. I’ll leave it to people smarter than me for analysis, but put simply the purchase of one of the Canadian leaders in wood construction by a big tech/construction firm is going to make waves. So much so, that MGA put together a simplified FAQ.

+Here’s a slightly deeper dive into what Katerra is.

+ Speaking of vertical integrations of design into a greater “new economy” framework, WeWork has brought BIG into the fold, naming Bjarke Ingles their chief architect (despite his ubiquity, not everyone is a fan).

Ve(h)ry Tall — Frank Gehry is bringing two new towers to the Toronto skyline and one of them is set to be the tallest residential tower in Canada. The main article detailing the work is behind a paywall, but you can get a taste on The Globe and Mail’s Instagram.

Ama-zoning — Erin Hudson did a deep dive into the opaque real estate practices of Amazon. There’s a lot of interesting stuff in here considering Toronto’s potential to be the home of HQ2. Did you know almost 20% of all office stock in Seattle being taken up by just Amazon?

More like CRAB-bage Town — Outrage over new wayfinding in parks is the latest in a long saga of NIMBYism in Cabbage Town. I’m so tired.

Zero Vision Zero — In a year of 16 pedestrian fatalities, Toronto’s Vision Zero Initiative (an international road safety program originating in Sweden) is getting a shot in the arm with a new $118k public challenge. But many feel that there are already design solutions that have been proven to help.

Chat-Oh-no! Laurier — architectsAlliance is showing another design for an addition to the historic Chateau Laurier and it…isn’t being received well. Embedded in the CBC’s article is video coverage of all four versions of the design that have been proposed. Note that the third revision was accused of being just another glass box.

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On to Week Two! It’s been a busy week with some major announcements. Here’s the index:

1. 50,000 reasons to read this section
2. “Shitty Architecture Men”
3. Mod squad
4. Behold! The gates to the underworld
5. You too can live in a box
6. Bench press

Content warning: some of the articles under 2. “Shitty Architecture Men” include detailed accounts of sexual assault and harassment.

1

50,000 reasons to read this section — Jennifer Keesmaat, Toronto’s former city planner, never really left but now she’s back on the public stage in a big way with a non-profit called the Creative Housing Society (more on that below). They’re proposing a new partnership that would see cooperation between the private sector and all three levels of government to deliver affordable housing — 50,000 rental units between Toronto and Vancouver. Some people see the advantages, while others are definitely not in support of private involvement, and others had some important questions.

+ So who is the Creative Housing Society? The names associated with it so far are:

• Jennifer Keesmaat: the former city planner of Toronto. A popular, but polarizing, figure who ultimately left her position last year.

• Westbank: a big developer with work mostly in Vancouver. You’ve likely heard their name before. They’re the ones behind the new Mirvish Village project (formerly Honest Ed’s) with Henriquez Partners Architects.

• Allied: Allied is a REIT — a real estate investment trust — which means they’re about the long term, with a number of leasable properties all over Canada.

• Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation: a Crown corporation mandated to help Canadians find affordable housing.

​​

2

“Shitty Architecture Men” — Last week I cited a number of articles about whether #metoo would be coming to architecture. This week, the New York Times published allegations from five women who came forward with allegations surrounding Pritzker award winner Richard Meier. He’s taken a six-month leave from his firm along with a rote, Well, I don’t remember it that way apology. NYT also published a collection of reader responses to their initial piece.

+ “We do not comment on the personal lives of our laureates.” The Pritzker’s response was…not great, especially for a prize so often lauded for awarding humanitarian efforts. But others have taken action, including Sotheby’s and Cornell.

+ These allegations have provoked the creation of an anonymously crowd-sourced Shitty Architecture Men document and a corresponding interview with its creator. The interview is extremely compelling; I’d really recommend reading it.

+ Eva Hagberg Fisher wrote a strong piece for Fast Company about how to combat harassment in the design industry. You should read this too.

3

Mod squad — Alex Bozikovic, the Globe and Mail’s architecture critic, is promoting 50/60s modernist architecture again with a joyous celebration of this under-appreciated style. You may remember Alex’s previous efforts to get modernism some love with his recent profile of Trent University and his arguments to preserve a 1960s school building. He might need a couple more articles — I don’t know if the public thinks ‘heritage’ is anything but what is seen in period pieces.

+ Bozikovic’s latest is illustrated beautifully by Daniel Rotsztain. He’s got some nice colouring books based on Toronto’s’ libraries and historic buildings, which you can see here.

+ Also credited in the article is Jocelyn Squires, who assisted Bozikovic with his update to Toronto’s architecture guide. She’s an Executive Assistant for the Toronto Society of Architects, a fellow architectural marketer and has her finger on the pulse, so I recommend following her on Twitter.

+ Kate Wagner (also known as McMansion Hell) penned a beautiful essay on why all buildings are worthy of consideration which is definitely worth a read.

4

Behold! The gates to the underworld — Getting underground (or staying above ground) is apparently quite complicated. “Reliability issues” have plagued the TTC’s new PRESTO automated gates to the point where the whole thing has been put on hold. And design solution after design solution (bollards, rumble strips, and signage, oh my!) haven’t been enough to keep (often drunk) drivers out of the Queen’s Quay streetcar tunnels, so it looks like it’s time for a different kind of gate.

5

You too can live in a box — A new nightclub with shipping container inspired decor provoked a couple responses from Sheena Sharp, Principal at Coolearth Architecture. While containers might not be great for housing, a couple successful non-housing implementations in Toronto include RAW’s sales centre for Cabin condos and the extremely excellent Market 707.

+ Toronto is supposedly getting shipping container market called Stackt this year, designed by LGA Architectural Partners. They’ve got a website and Twitter but judging by the number of followers
they still might be flying a bit under the radar…presumably it will become just as much of a phenomenon as every other trendy festival Toronto hosts.

6

Bench press — DTAH just unveiled the early version of a new type of bench at Yonge and Church that acts as a social space and tree protector. It’s inspired by the concept of an “urban fire-pit”, with a circular design that positions users inwards towards an LED light show. This bench is one of the many public space projects in Toronto right now, including the recently announced Public Space Incubator run by Park People and championed by celebrated urban designer Ken Greenberg.

+ As much as I liked DTAH’s bench design, based on what I saw mobility devices wouldn’t be able to enter that inner circle and an absence of handrails could make getting into the seated position difficult (not trying to call DTAH out here, accessibility has been addressed on many of their projects). I hope future iterations and the Public Space Incubator prioritize public accessible design as it sometimes seems we only talk about it when convenient.

+ Speaking of benches, you can follow the adventures of urbanists advocating for public seating by using #sitTO and following its founder, Josh Nelson.

What I’m reading: The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman — I loved Pullman’s original trilogy and am so happy to be revisiting this world. Also, a new TV adaptation of the original series has been announced and it sounds promising.
What I’m watching: Get Out — This movie was exceptional and I think that Jordan Peele’s screenwriting Oscar was well-deserved. I also watched Keanu (which he co-wrote) almost immediately after. It wasn’t as affecting but did contain cute cat action.
What I’m listening to: Baralku by Emancipator — I love Emancipator, and this latest album is the most mature and robust offering from this artist yet.

The last thing: I made a form where individuals can send feedback, questions or concerns anonymously. I welcome your input.

Thank you for joining me for the inaugural issue of another glass box, on this, the morn of reported ableist homophobe Doug Ford’s ascension (which is not without challenge, it seems). Apparently, every day gets a bit worse, so let’s get to it before the next news story breaks.

1

Piano piano — The renderings for Ontario’s new courthouse were recently in the news. The new building is being designed by acclaimed Italian architect Renzo Piano, who won the Pritzker in 1998 (architectural’s biggest international award). Reactions are…mixed. The building is pretty plain, but the lobby looks pretty nice and the quality will likely be very good .

- Renzo Piano’s most recognizable recent works are probably The Shard in London, Paris’ new courthouse and The New York Times building.

- NORR is acting as the local architects. On the one hand, having world-renowned designers create important space is probably good…but it’s a hard pill to swallow when designs from international firms are celebrated on our national currency (but the Viola Desmond addition is aces).

2

#IWD2018 — Architecture has historically been shit in regards to gender parity. That might be changing but some are asking if the industry will see a significant #metoo moment. This is especially prevalent as the abhorrent behaviour of old heroes is examined through a contemporary lens.

- Here in Toronto, BEAT and the ULI’s She With He are two orgs that are both composed of and promote some really talented women within the local industry.

- Susan Ruptash recently retired. She has been an important part of the AODA and universal design in Ontario, and I’m so happy I’ve had a chance to work with her these past few years.

- If I had to cite a single writer shaping my current thinking, it’s probably Jay Pitter. Her writing about spaces designed to protect human dignity is extremely powerful. In Subdivided, she writes about it within the context of social housing, but it’s a versatile and beautiful concept that should be examined by designers working in the realms of healthcare, accessibility, incarceration, and education (among others).

3

Come down to weed town — The Ontario government unveiled the logo for its new weed retail outlet and a $600k price tag. A lot of people hate it, but I think it’s pretty standard.

- Graphic design and architectural design are different but I can guess the steps to this dance.

- The usual suspects among the pundit class went full austerity police on what is a guaranteed revenue generator. Meanwhile, their bosses went to the feds with hat in hand to buoy their industry. Maybe they could use a rebranding?

4

You get a prize, you get a prize, everybody gets a prize — Awards season is in full swing. Big ups to my former colleagues at RDHA who won the RAIC’s firm of the year. Why did they win? In short, because they know how to make public projects look great within the same budget and time constraints as everyone else. Even their operations yards are a tier above.

- Remember I mentioned the Pritzker? Most years it goes to an office with a humanitarian bent (last year was a bit off brand) and this year it was just awarded to Balkrishna Doshi. He’s an Indian architect who trained with Le Corbusier and completed dozens of projects with inexpensive local materials. His prize is going to be awarded here in Toronto at the Aga Kahn Museum and will be paired with a public lecture at UofT on May 16.

- The OAA Finalists were announced this week. They’ve switched things up recently — awards will be presented every two years and finalists are now announced publicly, so you can’t resubmit a longlisted application hoping for a more sympathetic jury the next year. As for the list — lots of private homes and public sector work. No surprise Hariri Pontarini’s Bahá’í Temple of South America is on the list — it’s wild.

5

Hip to be (Young Dundas) square — Young Dundas Square got some new signs. The original designers are not impressed. There’s a cool article about the original implementation on their site that shows how little they wanted it to be a Times Square. I biked past it — IMO it’s overwhelming but not world ending.

What I’m reading: Vacationland by John Hodgman — amazing book and got it signed last weekend. He remembered my fan letter from when I was 15 (or at least claimed he did, he is famous for making stuff up), which was cute.
What I’m watching: Black Panther — Love it and recommend it whole-heartedly.
What I’m listening to: Diablo Swing Orchestra — It’s a metal band with brass section…I’m not going to say anything else.