Friday Feature: Trey

Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Trey and I create spaces that, hopefully, have a positive effect on people.

What made you decide to go into your field?
As a young lad I wanted to fly A-10's for the US Air Force. Then my eyesight went south about the time I was taking a class in Architecture, and now here I am.

What did your family think of your chosen field?
They were very supportive of my decision. I think they wanted me out of the house too.

Who is the teacher who had the most influence on you and why?
Ezra Rice, my shop / drafting / Intro to Architecture teacher at Patch American High School. He was hard on us but fair, and he had a great outlook on life. He loved to tell us life lessons he learned from his great Gran Pappy, and how we will be better off for taking his class. He didn’t take any crap in the shop, “because it could get you killed!” or in the classroom, “because you will fail and end up living on the street with the bums!”

He also taught me the difference between a scale and a ruler.

What was the biggest hurdle you faced along your educational path? (academic, financial, motivational, family or peer pressure, outside distraction, etc.)
Well there was a little hiccup my second year where I did a little too much partying and my GPA slipped. That was a pretty big hurdle to overcome, but it did give me the opportunity to take some courses outside of the Architecture program that I otherwise would not have been able to. Other than that, financial obligations have probably been the biggest hurdle to overcome.

What inspires you?
Experiencing a well designed space, certain design magazines, a lecture by a favorite designer, and the biggest of them all, Mother Nature.

What schooling is required for success in your career?
A Bachelor of Architecture from Kansas State University.(Or a minimum of a 5 year degree from some “other” accredited institution.)

What kind of people are the most successful in your field? Are there any specific attributes?
I do not think there is one kind of person that is “most successful”. Pretty much any one can be successful as long as you work hard and stay focused.

What is the best advice you were ever given?
Aside from the life preservation advice, (don’t stick your tongue to that frozen metal!) and the ever popular “measure twice, cut once.” I would have to say it was when a bunch of my studio mates and I were trying to decide between doing an Internship at a firm or study in Italy for our 4th year Spring semester. Our professor said to us, “Go to Italy! You will get to experience work for the rest of your life.”
I still can’t figure out why we were having such a hard time deciding between the two.

Is your field growing? (ie. is there room for new entries and is there career growth?)
If the new billings index is correct, then yes, the field is starting to grow again.

What advice would you give someone considering a career like yours?
Be prepared to work hard. But also make sure you fit in time for your self. We don’t want you to burn out. Also, if you are still in school, Go to Italy! You will get to experience work for the rest of your life.

Friday Feature: Ivan

Who are you and what do you do?
Ivan – Intern Architect

What made you decide to go into your field?
I love to design.

What did your family think of your chosen field?
They were happy I chose something that makes me happy.

Who is the teacher who had the most influence on you and why?
He taught me to question everything.

What was the biggest hurdle you faced along your educational path? (academic, financial, motivational, family or peer pressure, outside distraction, etc.)
Learning how to write, again.

What inspires you?
Everything.

What schooling is required for success in your career?
Experience.

What kind of people are the most successful in your field? Are there any specific attributes?
That depends on how you define success. Money? Fame? Making clients happy? Making the world a better place? There are many examples of each, but they all share the same kind of drive.

Is your field growing? (ie. is there room for new entries and is there career growth?)
I don’t know. I guess Schools of Architecture are probably just as busy as when I graduated.

What advice would you give someone considering a career like yours?
Architecture is a vast field. Someone considering making architecture a career should understand what it takes to achieve what they are looking for, then find the most suitable path.

Let the Suburbs Grow Up

by Richard Borbridge, Urban Planner for VIA Architecture

That’s the call to action closing the TED lecture by Ellen Dunham-Jones. It encapsulates well the way we continue to coddle and misunderstand what the suburbs are and what they can or should become.

What are the suburbs? We’re vaguely aware of how the suburbs emerged from an era of burgeoning consumerism and opportunity after the second World War, sponsored by a infrastructure investment and a booming post-war economy. They promised to deliver the American Dream of 2.4 children, a private lawn for them to play on and a homestead, bucolic and isolated from the noise and pollution of the city-proper. The principle of building homes on the outskirts of cities to achieve a greener and more serene way of life is hardly new – just look at the turn-of-last-century Garden City Movement or even the villas of ancient Rome.

Today it is fair to ask “where are the suburbs?” It's remarkable how many different ideas people have of what “the ‘burbs” represent... In the case of a tightly connected metropolitan region such as ours the lines are especially blurred and “suburb” encompasses at least three meanings. To some, they are any of the cities outside Vancouver’s Central Business District. To others, suburbs include any primarily residential area outside higher-density commercial zones. Examples include neighbourhoods like Point Grey or Richmond’s Seafair neighbourhood – but the “inner rings” of Kitsilano or the City of North Vancouver, residential areas that contain their own vibrant business districts, tend to confuse this definition.

Finally, the third school of thought limits the definition of suburbs to the exclusive, often isolated residential enclaves of winding streets and cul-de-sacs like Thornhill in Maple Ridge or Coquitlam’s Westwood Plateau. This last concept illuminates the suburbs’ primary challenges – the separation and inefficiency that Dunham-Jones speaks of in her work.

So for the sake of clarity our working definition of the suburbs features:

• low density
• exclusively single family home neighbourhoods
• expanding the boundary of existing urban edges
• fundamentally dependant on the car for transportation

Now though, it’s time the suburbs learned to go out and pay their own way in the world. Just as the children of the suburbs eventually need to move out of their parents’ basement, it’s time for the suburbs to quit freeloading. After decades of direct and indirect subsidization the costs of maintaining the suburban way of life are becoming harder to defend in these times of financial austerity. In paying taxes on the 500 feet of roadway in front of your house, would you rather share the maintenance between 10 or 100 households? A facile argument, but one that illustrates the principle that per capita, denser is cheaper.

Demographically the suburbs are growing up, whether the built form reflects it or not. As she indicated in her TED lecture, two-thirds of American suburban homes do not have children and more of Generation-Y are choosing an urban lifestyle with fewer children. Perhaps most importantly, the suburbs are where the Boomers and Gen-X are starting to settle down for retirement, having achieved so much and bought into the American dream before the half acre lot became a lightning rod for environmental issues alongside its chariot, the SUV.

What this dream has also increasingly led to is the model of “drive ‘til you qualify” home ownership and housing sizes and features that would have prohibitive costs closer to the core. This means you pay less... and you get less in terms of an urban class of amenities. But the suburbs were invented and continue to propagate for good reason. People genuinely like living there. People also genuinely like living in 500 square-foot condos.

This raises a central question about of the suburbs: Do we have a real understanding of who lives there and most importantly why? The numbers Dunham-Jones presents show how the family-oriented impression we have of the suburbs is rapidly changing. With the pace of development and burgeoning environmental awareness it is clear that we need to build with the future in mind and keep questioning our assumptions about what constitutes good development, rather than relying on our perceptions of the present. Does this mean we should all be living in 500 square-foot condos in downtown Vancouver? No, and what Dunham-Jones brings to the discussion shows that adaptation and transformation - not migration - is the answer.

Suburbs are functionally unchanged since the prototypical communities of the era of Levittown, NY, North America's first purpose-built suburb. The suburban model of development and its economics are now readily understood and effectively self-reinforcing.

Levittown, NY (image credit)

What do we get out of this lifestyle? Well, 2.4 children, a private lawn for them to play on and a homestead, bucolic and isolated from the noise and pollution of the city-proper. But we also get pollution, obesity, diabetes, and –the stress of traffic, vehicle maintenance costs, and less time to spend with our 2.4 children.

What all the ‘-urbanisms’ share is an attempt to make the place you are more worth being in. How and why vary by the flavour. Primarily, new “demi-urban” models drive toward the self-sufficiency of communities, illustrated by an emphasis on walkability and local amenities in urban design and development - creating places and communities where people are not required to drive 20 minutes, or worse: 2 minutes to get groceries, get to work and be entertained. Mixing land uses endeavours to take away at least a few of those car trips every day.

This leads to an argument for breaking down the urban/suburban dichotomy into a multitude of vital local centres. Metro Vancouver has championed this strategy for years, with a focus on Surrey's Central City and Burnaby’s Metrotown, for instance, as alternative regional hubs that have their own gravity, so that it’s not all about Vancouver.

In her various precedents and examples, Dunham-Jones cites various cities have used to reclaim suburban spaces that have outlived their usefulness or have been subsumed by the pressures of rising land values. These spaces are redeveloped to serve higher-density purposes and new audiences. Shopping malls as arts centres, seniors' complexes, big boxes as libraries or parking lots as reclaimed wetlands. She shows us the potential of transitioning suburban development patterns into a new hybrid and potentially fully “urban” form, though perhaps different than today’s image of urbanity.

The intention is to address the emerging demographic realities rather than simply expect the status quo to serve us indefinitely. Highest and best use is the trajectory for most parcels of land in our market-oriented mentality, which theoretically strives for efficiency in a world of scarcity. However, the inertia and subsidies behind the current housing model in combination with an insufficiently broad view of the housing market makes innovation risky and rare.

Despite being on the edge, surburbs represent the space between – the physical and social separation and the inefficiencies of ex-urban development. Technology has made the long view much longer and transformed our lives for the better, while it also demonstrating how our idyllic desires run counter to our collective long-term interest.

We would be wise to use the examples Dunham-Jones presents for improving connectivity, including effective ways to get around other than cars, and improved mass transit options to support large numbers of people who still need to travel between the urban hubs. In the end, Dunham-Jones asks us to reconsider our individualism and isolated thinking in favour of communities that serve the demographic and environmental challenges of the future.

Ellen Dunham-Jones is the author of Retrofitting Suburbia and a widely distributed TED lecture on the topic. She will be presenting next week at SFU’s VIA Urban Design lecture on October 26 (reserve your seats now).

ArtSpace St. Louis at Crestview

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TGIF!

No think piece and no Friday Feature this week? I know.. it's disappointing...

We've been implementing new Business Development programs and are involved in some big project deadlines, but we'll be back in full force next week!

Enjoy a great weekend, with some great weather (at least in Seattle...)

Monday News Roundup

BC Waste-collecting cyclists put a new spin on recycling (The Globe and Mail)
A street peddler of a different kind, Darren Douglas rides a $4,000, custom-built tricycle through the city’s downtown, picking up odour-emitting organic waste from businesses that is later converted into compost.

Celebrity sighting: Riding the bus with 'Mad Men' actor Vincent Karthesier (NYTimes)
A man is measured by his automobile in this city. But Vincent Kartheiser, the actor who plays the slick ad salesman Pete Campbell on “Mad Men,” is among the 10 percent of Angelenos who rely on public transportation. So on a Thursday night he and a reporter got around using his preferred, and for now, only, method of transportation: mass transit.

and

The Rise of the Bus Riding Celebrity (GOOD)
Why don't more eco-minded celebrities in Los Angeles take public transit?

Skytrain service expanded to accommodate cyclists (Vancouver Sun)
TransLink will keep three extra trains running at the end of rush hour to serve cyclists.

Why cheaper streets are smarter streets (The Tyee)
Rule 7 for sustainable communities: invest in lighter, greener, cheaper, smarter infrastructure.

Vancouver plans for more bike lanes (Vancouver Sun)
With the Hornby, Dunsmuir and Burrard Bridge separated bike lanes under its belt, Vancouver is now developing a master plan for how to increase the share of bicycles on city streets over the next decade.

Bikes not welcome in Seattle (The Stranger)
Neighborhoods across Seattle have balked at having their streets changed to accommodate bike and pedestrian traffic, claiming that businesses will suffer and traffic congestion will spike. Now, Seattle's Manufacturing Industrial Council (MIC) has joined the fray with a new angle on this argument: Some roads just can't coexist with bike lanes and wider sidewalks, period.

World’s largest transit system is in … (Grist)
Well.. we're not going to give it away here. Go read it!

VIAVOX: Partnerships and Affordable Housing Part 2 of 2

By Naomi Buell, Marketing Assistant

-Continued from Wednesday-

HYADians at a picnic

HYAD was formed by a group of parents who had come to the realization that they would not be around forever and that there needed to be something in place for their children’s futures. The realization of their immortality created the motivation necessary to take on such a large undertaking. This passion was further fueled by knowing that their children would need stability and routines as change can be a huge disruption and even detrimental to their wellbeing. The idea of being switched from home to home was not something these parents were willing to stomach for their children so they thought they would try to find another solution. They needed something that would give their children the freedom of having their own place, the reassurance of being surrounded by their friends, the connection to their existing North Vancouver community and the safety and care needed for these young adults with disabilities. The parents had met each other through social events and gatherings for their children, and through these events their children had formed bonds with each other. After a few informal talks they formed a group and went to the City of North Vancouver to find out what their next steps should be.

They were told that the best way would be to form a non-profit group and then approach the city again with a goal and concept which is exactly what they did. The next step was to find a building that could accommodate their children. They had originally envisioned finding a developer and seeing if they could have the lower level of a larger building but could not find anything with a floor that would be large enough to accommodate everyone. They then learned of a property that was previously a school site in North Vancouver on 21st and Chesterfield. After considerable effort with rezoning and discussions with the School Board, it was clear that this would be the perfect site. An initial developer was interested in the site for market residential on one portion and the School Board was to redevelop a portion of the site for their Artist’s for Kids gallery and an administration building with a small portion was offered to HYAD as the community benefit. Things seemed to be on track but with the fall in the real estate market the developer had to back out of the proposal. Fortunately a year later another developer, Polygon, stepped in and after some creative redesign the site finally was rezoned and received an Official Community Plan (OCP) amendment.

VIA Architecture's design for the HYAD building

Currently things are ready to go but there have been delays with the funding from BC Housing. HYAD is currently “shovel ready” with the plans and design but they have not been able to access the money that was promised to them. The design includes 14 units for the HYADians, 2 manager suites and a communal kitchen and lounge. There will also be support for these young adults in the way of caretakers. Each young adult is allotted a certain amount of time per week so HYAD has asked that the group be evaluated as just that, a group. This will enable them to receive more hours as a whole and have someone on site more frequently.

Their model only costs about $220,000 a year which compared to $1.8 Million for group homes is a substantial savings for everyone, including the city. They came to realize that in order to make HYAD seem appealing there had to be a substantial cost savings, something they have clearly found a way to do.

In addition to all the work the parents have put in to organizing this, they have also invested a substantial amount of their own money. Because the group is still relatively small it can be hard for them to fundraise and as they cannot be a charity themselves they will have to form another society in the hopes of creating the funding needed. The only thing needed to move forward right now is funding from BC Housing so we are all rooting for them that this will happen soon.

HYAD car wash

Hearing more about HYAD was inspiring to say the least and I hope that everyone spreads the word about this great project. There was much gratitude to HYAD, the City of North Vancouver and the School Board for setting such a great example of how partnerships can be formed for the betterment of the community at large. It is partnerships like these that can help other groups achieve their dreams.

VIAVOX: Partnerships and Affordable Housing Part 1 of 2

By Naomi Buell, Marketing Assistant

Last Thursday we had our first VIAVOX which is a reoccurring event we created to bring people together and discuss topics they are passionate about. The name stems from the Latin word for voice so it seemed appropriate. Our first topic was partnerships and affordable housing and we had a great turnout which included people from Housing for Young Adults with Disabilities (HYAD), the Vancouver school board, Pacific Arbour, the City of North Vancouver, our own VIA staff and many other great people.The VIAVOX’s main presenter was HYAD so it was no surprise that Clay Knowlton, the president of HYAD and his wife Susan were the first to arrive. This allowed me the time to chat with them a little. Not only is what they’re doing inspiring but they are both extremely nice people and Clay has quite the sense of humor, just try to find out if he prefers to wear a nametag on his lapel or on the back of his jacket. Vera Frinton of HYAD arrived shortly thereafter followed by Cavan Stephens, HYAD’s vice president and I was able to show them the poster which we had created for the event.

The poster highlighted one of the fundraisers they had held, their website, a news article on their new location, the sketches of the new building and pictures of the various HYADians, as they are called. Because HYAD was created by the parents of young adults with disabilities, it was nice for Susan, Clay and Vera to see the poster which had pictures of their children, who as they pointed out are really young adults. In the pictures were Clay and Susan’s daughter standing in front of the future location of HYAD and Vera’s daughter as a torch bearer for the Special Olympics. People began to flow in shortly thereafter and some great networking ensued.

Armed wish sushi, assorted cheeses and tasty beverages, some great conversations took place. Some people were just catching up while others congratulated HYAD on their great work. Cavan and David Sachs, a VIA employee working on the HYAD project, discussed updates Cavan had about BC Housing. Cavan trained as a mechanical engineer but now works as a builder and does consulting work. David also shared with me Cavan’s background in construction which took him from the UK to Saudi Arabia and eventually to Vancouver where he and his wife have been raising their son, a future HYAD resident.

Lorenzo, also a VIA employee, had an interesting conversation with Ian Ambercrombie of the North Vancouver School board. They discussed, among other things, urban planning and our reliance on personal transportation, namely cars. This conversation evolved into a talk about the price of oil and what will happen when it becomes so scarce that it is unavailable. Will certain cities that have been built around streets and highways - cities that rely on vehicles, find it difficult to adjust to mass transit? Will they even think to adapt or will they look for alternate fuel sources?
After waiting for some of the last invited guests to arrive, a brief informal presentation was made by Charlene Kovacs, the director of Community Architecture at VIA and of course by HYAD. Charlene started by saying that VIA believes in connective communities, in ways to bring people together and that our VIAvox’s are one of the ways we can accomplish that. She discussed her involvement with HYAD for the last 5 years and HYAD’s hardwork over the last 25 years. She then passed it over to HYAD at which point Cavan discussed how HYAD started.

- More to be posted Friday -

Monday News Roundup

UBC researcher expresses streetcar desires (Vancouver Courier)
Silas Archambault, who studied the Olympic streetcar line for his master's thesis in community and regional planning at UBC, said streetcars not only shape how neighbourhoods develop, but they also appeal to riders who might not catch a bus.

Building on Strengths (Planetizen)
In Lowell, Massachusetts, planner Jeff Speck painted a picture for locals of a transformed city that capitalizes on the strengths of the city to move forward with a greater vision.

Metro Rail: The Solution for India? (The City Fix)
According to Parisar, an environmental organization that works on sustainable development with a focus on urban transport, India is expected to spend 40 billion dollars in metro rail over the next 10 years.

A competition to transform 9,600 aging buildings (GOOD)
Metropolis magazine's Next Generation competition is an annual showcase of bright ideas from emerging designers focused on a major sustainability challenge.

Fascinating slideshow of various landscapes (particularly sprawl) shot from a helicopter (Infrastructurist)
The New York Times Opinionator blog has a fascinating slideshow of the work of Christoph Gielen, a German-born photographer who has been shooting various landscapes — particularly, sprawl — from a helicopter for the past five years.

A free sparkling water fountain in Paris (GOOD)
The average person in France consumes about 40 gallons of bottled water each year. That means they're buying and throwing away a lot of plastic. But what's the alternative when they demand sparking water?

Cambridge parking tickets get yogic redesign (GOOD)
This fall, the city printed 40,000 tickets that feature "citation salutations"—illustrations of calming yoga poses for the driver and the parking enforcement officer to do together.

Two block diet turns Vancouver neighbours into urban villagers (Vancouver Sun)
Neighbours Kate Sutherland and Julia Hilton have hatched a mini-revolution that has transformed two blocks of east Vancouver into a true urban village.

Struggles for Olympic Village low-income housing (Vancouver Sun)
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said the city will proceed, if necessary, to find operators for social housing units at the Olympic village without the logistical assistance of the province.

Why is Portland so much cooler than Seattle? (PubliCola)
That is, of course, not an original observation, and if you’re among the throngs who are similarly puzzled, there’s an event this Friday evening that you ought not to miss. Alex Steffen’s sustainability non-profit Worldchanging is hosting a fundraiser, starring the mayors of Portland and Seattle, details here.

Saving shrinking cities (Huffington Post)
Now comes the 'theory' that the salvation of distressed cities is to once again 'shrink,' as if shrinking had been tried before and succeeded somewhere but who knows where.

Can anyone point to one city, just one, where any of these 'renewal' schemes have worked to regenerate, rather than further erode, a city? Just one. No theory please; just real on the ground success.

Map of commuting made worse by sprawl (GOOD)
Americans spend many hours in traffic each year, slowly crawling between work and home. And while most commutes are unpleasant, some are far more congested. Why? A new study by CEOs for Cities has found that what creates traffic jams isn't more cars and fewer highways. It's sprawl. This is a look at the 10 metropolitan areas whose citizens spend the most and least extra time in traffic due to sprawl.

Friday Feature: Shelley

Who are you and what do you do?
I am the first Canadian born (Calgary) in our family who emigrated from Scotland. I live in Squamish with my partner, Ernie, and 2 dogs. I am an intern architect.

What made you decide to go into your field?
It was a matter of finding what seemed to be the right fit…and came down to a choice between music and architecture. I had a Fine Arts degree but Architecture had the potential of satisfying my urge to sculpt spaces that have a positive impact on people in their daily lives… and it appeared to embody other interests of mine as well.

What did your family think of your chosen field?
Mixed. My father was a physician who saw architecture as art (not good) and thought it was something I should do ‘on the side’! His opinion changed over time.

Who is the teacher who had the most influence on you and why?
I think the most memorable one was my grade 4/5 teacher. While she was big on discipline, she had a big heart and brought creativity and music to the classroom, and got our classroom connected with one in Australia. We would send tapes back and forth of music, readings etc. We learned to knit [something resembling] squares for a quilt we donated to the red cross. She was inspiring in how she got us working together and connected with strangers. She also had a great sense of humour.

What was the biggest hurdle you faced along your educational path? (academic, financial, motivational, family or peer pressure, outside distraction, etc.)
My biggest hurdle was finding confidence to present my ideas and avoiding the cinnamon buns at Yum Yums.

What inspires you?
Beauty, music, travel, great architecture, good stories, going on wilderness adventures, good company, belly laughs, being on the water in some form and really good food!

What schooling is required for success in your career?
A degree in Architecture, and perseverance to get through registration exams.

What kind of people are the most successful in your field? Are there any specific attributes?
Depends how you define success. I see successful architects being those who demonstrate innovation, are inspiring, team people, good leaders and listeners, have a good sense of humour, among other attributes!

What is the best advice you were ever given?
It comes from a quote by Goethe.. in which (in short), he says that it’s not until one is fully committed that providence moves…

Is your field growing? (ie. is there room for new entries and is there career growth?)
So long as people need places, buildings age, a community’s needs change and there are people with a commitment and passion, there is room for new entries.

What advice would you give someone considering a career like yours?
Go for it! You never know what doors will open up for you.