Ontario Association of Architects
111 Moatfield Drive M3B 3L6 Toronto, ON, Canada

We are proud to introduce the five selectees of our 2021 SHIFT Architecture Challenge, who have been recognized at our virtual SHIFT Awards and presentations today! Biannually, we invite Ontario architects, interns and students (as collaborative teams or individuals) to tackle an urgent and complex social concern this year the theme was resiliency. A respected jury reviews all the submissions we receive, choosing five that best reflect the challenge. This year's participan...ts explored the intersection of architecture and resiliency, developing innovative concepts that could both advance design thinking and be applied to built environments. SHIFT is an aspirational challenge, meaning its focus is big picture ideas, not necessarily built solutions (though they can be included as examples). The 2021 showcase projects are all relevant, socially innovative, inspirational, promote social change and empower public well-being. Please review the comments to this post to learn more about each one

The Woodruff House, whose conservation won the Peter J. Stokes Heritage Award, is situated in the place of honour and positioned at the axis of both entries to the site. On this tour, sponsored by ETG Exterior Technologies Group, Burgess will walk through this $15 million three-phase project with Paul Harber, Chef Proprietor and Co-owner of Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery.

If you’re an Ontario Architect or Licensed Technologist OAA, you have FIVE WEEKS to ensure all your ConEd hours are recorded before the cycle's end on December 31. Avoid fines & possible disciplinary action. Don’t delay; check your transcript today at https://secure.oaa.on.ca/Transcript

Laurentian University @laurentianu and the McEwen School of Architecture @mcewenarchitecture invite you to view the Public Presentations for the Sudbury2050.ca Urban Design Ideas Competition held on Monday, November 23 and Tuesday, November 24. There are 5 finalists in the Student Category and 8 finalists in the Open Category. To see the full schedule and to vote, visit www.sudbury2050.ca

Toronto researchers examined the association between nursing home crowding and COVID-19 across the entire nursing home system of Ontario during the first months of the pandemic. Check out this article from the Journal of the American Medical Association at https://jamanetwork.com///10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.6466

In the months since the police killing of George Floyd, protests and demonstrations across the United States and beyond have called for an end to racial injusticeand led to difficult, necessary conversations about the insidious ways that racism has unfairly shaped our world. Read this piece by Architectural Record at https://oaa.on.ca//news-and-i/Black-Voices-in-Architecture

The Practice Advisory #9 is now available on the OAA Website: https://oaa.on.ca//Practice%20Advisory%20-%20November%2020. Check out URL to read our newsletter, with updates on digital bonds, pro-bono services, qualifications-based selection, and the latest excerpt of Practice Tip 39.1 on RFPs and Contract Language! This bimonthly e-newsletter brings to OAA members’ attention topics that have an impact on either management of the practice or of the project.

Calling all #Artists, #Architects, #LandscapeArchitects! A design competition for the LGBTQ2+ National Monument has been launched by #GC, in collaboration with LGBT Purge Fund. Know someone who would be interested? Tag them in the comments. #LGBTQ2 Link to RFQ -> https://bit.ly/31xL2rG

Recognizing the interconnected aspects of a person’s experience and identity that may create barriers for them in the workplace is essential the continued development of your D&I practice. On November 3 at 1 PM, join CCDI on the webinar: The importance of intersectionality in diversity and inclusion. For more info visit https://oaa.on.ca//The-importance-of-intersectionality-in- and share your thoughts on OAA.chat!

OAA Council Elections are happening NOW! Visit oaa.on.ca/elections to learn more about the candidates and use your ballot to make your selection by Monday, November 23.

Serving on OAA Council is an excellent opportunity to participate in the privilege of self-governance that has been entrusted to the architecture profession. With the privilege of self-governance, comes the responsibility to govern accordingly through an effective Council. The Ontario Association of Architects is pleased to announced the candidates running for Council. (While elections are based on geographic representation, it is important to note Councillors do not represent members, but rather the public interest.) Ballots will be sent to eligible voters on Monday, November 9. For more info, visit https://www.oaa.on.ca//news-an/OAA-Council-Elections-2020-

Regenerative architecture goes beyond reducing greenhouse gasesit means understanding buildings as part of complex local & global ecosystems to design in support of Earth's continued habitability. OAA VP Andy Thomson is presenting a webinar on Dec 1: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/tsa-technical-series-towards-an

On November 3 at 12 PM, Join TSA for a 1.5 hour webinar as Building Life Cycle Assessment Consultant Anthony Pak shares an overview of embodied carbon in the building industry including: - Why Embodied Carbon Matters - How Embodied Carbon compares with Operational Carbon - Policies and Standards that address Embodied Carbon... - Comparison of LCA Software Tools - Design Strategies to Reduce Embodied Carbon (concrete, steel, wood, aluminum, glass, insulation, refrigerants, MEP systems, interiors) For more info and to register, visit http://torontosocietyofarchitects.ca//tsa-technical-lectu/

Architects of African, Caribbean and Black descent represent less than two percent of licensed practitioners in North America. Black women architects represent less than 0.3 percent of the industry. It’s no wonder why many of them feel there isn’t a spot for them at the table, says Nigerian-Canadian architect Sam Oboh, a past president of the RAIC. Read this piece by Canadian Architect at https://oaa.on.ca//news-and/Editorial-Lets-Talk-About-Race

Visit the blOAAg on our website to read a selection of stories submitted by OAA members about their mentors! You can also find lots of mentor-related resources, including Find or Become a Mentor and Working with a Mentor for OAAAS Technologists. https://oaa.on.ca//Check-Out-Amazing-Mentor-Stories-on-the

Have you ever been called an Intern? Share your thoughts about the Intern Architect title via anonymous survey sent to you by email on October 21 before the link expires! (If you’re an OAA member and haven’t received the link, send us a message!)

If you’re an Ontario Architect or Licensed Technologist OAA, you have SIX WEEKS to ensure all your ConEd hours are recorded before the cycle's end on December 31. Avoid fines & possible disciplinary action. Don’t delay; check your transcript today at https://secure.oaa.on.ca/Transcript

NOTICE: Due to some work on the OAA Headquarters’ photovoltaic system, the Association’s server will be shut down today (Tuesday, October 6) from 3:30 pm until midnight. Online member services, including Transcripts, the events page, and the secure.oaa.on.ca portal will be affected.

The pandemic has put a spotlight on how we live. CBC host, Amanda Parris speaks with architects and thought-leaders about the successes and failures of community spaces. Visit https://gem.cbc.ca//s/d41fe322-9fe9-4a70-9773-e191bb4bdc6f to watch the 1 on 1 interview with Architect Moshe Safdie.

The OAA is looking for Student Associates who are interested in joining the Comprehensive Education Committee for a two-year term, kicking off this January. Deadline is December 4. More info at https://oaa.on.ca//Comprehensive-Education-Committee-Vacan

Meet the OAA, a virtual event organized by the OAA Interns Committee to explain more about the Association’s regulatory role to students, as well as to demystify the path to architecture licensure in Ontario, is now available for on-demand viewing via the OAA’s YouTube channel. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NMUT4lfKEY to watch! And to learn more about becoming a Student Associate, visit https://www.oaa.on.ca/registration-licens/student-associate.

We need to provoke discussion, not anger, when it comes to talking about diversity, says Michelle Ogundehin, who shares her personal experiences with racism, views on positive discrimination and ways in which individuals can make a difference. So, let's talk about diversity in design.. Read this piece by Dezeen at https://oaa.on.ca//news-and-insi/Lets-talk-about-diversity and as always, visit OAA.chat!

According to architect and academic Frank Locker, in architectural education, we keep repeating the same formula from the 20th-century: teachers transmitting a rigid and basic knowledge that gives students, no matter their motivation, interests, or abilities, little to no direction. In this way, says Locker, we are replicating, literally, prisons, with no room for an integral, flexible, and versatile education. Read this piece by ArchDaily at https://oaa.on.ca//The-Same-People-who-Designed-Prisons-Al and check out OAA.chat!

On Friday (October 9) at 6:00-8:00 PM, join the nycoba | NOMA and the AIANY Diversity & Inclusion Committee for an annual design talk in memory of J. Max Bond, Jr., FAIA, NOMA, an architect, advocate, teacher, and trailblazer of his time. The Bond Lecture addresses issues that were important to Max Bond: equity, inclusive design, communities, and global cultures, in particular Africa. Photo caption: June A. Grant, RA, NOMA, Founder and Design Principal, blink!LAB architecture. Photograph by Bryon Malik For more details, visit https://oaa.on.ca//eve/J--Max-Bond-Jr--Lecture--IMPATIENCE and visit OAA.chat to add to the discussion!

TOMORROW (October 27) at 6 pm, join us for a free, online event. Learn about the Association, student membership, and the path to licensure for the architecture profession in Ontario. To register, visit https://us02web.zoom.us//register/WN_VXnwn2oQSCWI-Y5HWFeKUw

Check out the virtual chat hosted by University of Toronto Daniels Faculty on The Great Indoors: Environmental Quality, Health and Wellbeing in a Quarantining Society. This online talk brings together experts on the indoors from research scientists to building engineers and architects all examining how buildings should be designed to encourage health and wellbeing. Speaker(s):... Kellie Chin (Workshop Architecture) Simon Coulombe (Wilfrid Laurier University) Steven Lockley (Brigham and Women’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School) Alejandra Menchaca (Thornton Tomasetti) Lidia Morawska (Queensland University of Technology) Manuel Riemer (Wilfrid Laurier University) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E1emj46aro

How are hospitals, and particularly the way they are designed, contributing to healing, or not, in this time? How can rapidly deployable, modular hospitals present some clues as to how we can build better healing spaces from here on out? From Mass Design Group to Carlo Ratti Associati, new guidelines and models have been proposed. And now, Toronto architect Tye Farrow has also come up with an ICU concept that could influence how we design these spaces for salutogenic results. Read this piece by Azure Magazine at https://oaa.on.ca//The-Hospital-of-Today--and-Tomorrow--is and check out OAA.chat!

The City has committed to creating 1,000 new modular homes in Toronto within the next ten years. Modular construction is an effective way to construct quickly. While this commitment won’t necessarily solve the crisis of housing for Toronto, it could be an effective vehicle to house chronically homeless populations and those in need of supportive housing. Read Spacing Magazine’s article by Kellie Chin and Naomi Shewchuk at https://oaa.on.ca//A-case-for-compassionate-design-in-hous Kellie Chin and Naomi Shewchuk are intern architects. Their research into health and housing has been supported by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC)’s Foundation Bursary, the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) and WORKSHOP. Photo by Michael Swan

Excited to partner & invite green building colleagues to attend @sustbldgcan’s signature #greenbuildingfestival online Oct 14-16. Where the most innovative minds in sustainable building meet! www.gbf20.com #GBF20

The main characters that bring about the gentrification of racialized neighbourhoods are often hidden. Architect Reza Nik raises the curtain on how they work together and how marginalized communities can play a bigger role...The story I am telling here focuses on disenfranchised communities and the urgent circumstances they face as they endure continual displacement due to real-estate investment in their up-and-coming. Read this piece by Azure Magazine at https://oaa.on.ca//A-Change-is-Proposed-for-this-Site-A-Sh and share your thoughts on OAA.chat!

Check out the podcast of the week: Culture and Race Within Landscape Architecture by Authentic F&F @auth.ff. In this episode, Ujijji Davis, a landscape architect and urban planner discusses how she aims to promote change through landscape architecture, urban design, and an awareness of African American history across landscapes. Her current research regards the importance of arts & culture and race & vernacular landscapes in the urban realm. https://authenticff.com//podcast-culture-and-race-with/amp

Check out the book of the week: Design for Diversity by Emily Talen The city is more than just a sum of its buildings; it is the sum of its communities. The most successful urban communities are very often those that are the most diverse in terms of income, age, family structure and ethnicity and yet poor urban design and planning can stifle the very diversity that makes communities successful. ... Just as poor urban design can lead to sterile monoculture, successful planning can support the conditions needed for diverse communities. Emily Talen explores the linkage between urban forms and social diversity, and how one impacts the other. Learning the lessons from past successes and failures, and building from detailed case studies of different neighborhoods, Design for Diversity provides urban designers and architects with design strategies and tools to ensure that their work sustains and nurtures social diversity.

On Oct 7 at 6:00-7:30 PM, join AIANY on a webinar, TORCH Mentorship Program - Social Responsibility and Community that will explore conversations between the client, the community, and the architect during the design process. The panel of Fellows will share their stories and personal experiences before joining virtual breakout rooms for intimate conversations with participants. For more details, visit https://oaa.on.ca//TORCH-Mentorship-Program--Social-Respon and check out OAA.chat!

If you missed the digital Celebration of Excellence, you can now watch the video to see who won People's Choice & Lieutenant Governor's Award for Design Excellence in Architecture & celebrate our award-winners! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ccTfhL-Qy0Q

TSA is currently looking for individuals and practices wanting to participate in outreach and mentorship activities as part of the Toronto District School Board’s Specialist High Skills Major Program and TDSB Welcoming Communities (Newcomer Services). Deadline to apply is November 2, 2020. To see a complete list of opportunities and to apply, visit http://torontosocietyofarchitects.ca//call-for-volunteers/

Join us TODAY (Oct 1) at 4:30 pm (EST) for our first-ever digital Celebration of Excellence! We’ll honour this year’s Design Excellence and Service Award winners, and help showcase some of the most exciting projects by Ontario architecture practices! Head over to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxpvDOM7_kA or https://oaa.on.ca//OAA-Celebration-of-Excellence----Virtua around 4:20 to check out this year’s Design Excellence Finalists and get ready for our event.

The atomization of architecture offices during the pandemic presented an immediate and profound change that no one could have anticipated. It’s come with immense challenges, but also opened new opportunities for equity in our workplaces. Read this piece by Canadian Architect at https://oaa.on.ca//Pandemic-effect-Equity-in-architecture- check out OAA.chat!

Tomorrow (Oct 2) at 12:00-1:30 PM, @wia.nyc will be hosting a webinar with De Nicolas, design strategist and activist who will share insights and a collective call-to-action for womxn designers to further activate our vision, voice, and power during the current moments of economic, public health, and racial crisis. For more details, visit https://oaa.on.ca//Womxn-to-the-Front-Design-Activism-and- and share your experience on OAA.chat!

Meet the OAA! Join us for a free, online event on Tuesday, October 27 at 6 pm. Learn about the Association, student membership, and the path to licensure for the architecture profession in Ontario. To register, visit https://us02web.zoom.us//register/WN_VXnwn2oQSCWI-Y5HWFeKUw

On Oct 6 at 2:00-3:00 PM, The American Institute of Architects (AIA) will be hosting a virtual event with guest speaker, Courtney Stanley, an award-winning speaker and creator of the Dare to Interrupt podcast, who will walk you work through the five stages of a setback and show you how to increase productivity, nurture virtual relationships, build a powerful professional brand, and transform losses into opportunities. For more details, visit https://oaa.on.ca//ev/-Transform-losses-into-opportunities

Join us tomorrow (Oct 1) at 4:30 PM (EST) for our first-ever digital Celebration of Excellence! We’ll honour this year’s Design Excellence and Service Award winners, and help showcase some of the most exciting projects by Ontario architecture practices! https://www.oaa.on.ca//OAA-Celebration-of-Excellence----Vi

On October 2nd, @riba will be hosting a virtual event on the importance of ensuring that access and inclusion are considered from the very outset and at every stage of a building project. The panel will feature a number of experts in the design, construction and maintenance of accessible buildings including access consultants Jean Hewitt, and CEO and Founder of Motionsport, Ed Warner. Friday (Oct 2) at 7:00-8:00 AM (EST)... This event is by RIBA’s Disability Executive Champion Avril Chester and panel chaired by Jane Simpson, architects and access consultant. To learn more, visit https://oaa.on.ca//Disability-and-Design-what-makes-a-buil