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Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Brandon DonnellySlate at NE 3rd & Davis, Portland
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I just stumbled upon the above project. It’s in Portland. It’s called Slate. It’s 147,000 sf. It sits on a 100′ x 200′ site. It was completed last year. And it was developed by Beam Development and Urban Development Partners.
Besides having two very cool facades (the east and west facades are the ones that push and pull), I was surprised to see the building clad in unitized curtain wall (as well as composite metal panel). That kind of glazing comes at a premium and this is not a large building. I’m curious about the numbers.
It’s also a post-tensioned concrete building, which is uncommon in the Toronto market.
Here’s a close-up of the facade:
Also noteworthy is the fact that I’m fairly certain the architects inserted a couple having sex in one of their renderings:
For those of you who did not attend architecture school, there’s a fairly long tradition of hiding “easter eggs” within your renderings. Or at least that was the case when I was in school.
On that note, happy Easter weekend all.
All images via Works Progress Architecture (W.PA). Photography by Joshua Jay Elliott.
I just stumbled upon the above project. It’s in Portland. It’s called Slate. It’s 147,000 sf. It sits on a 100′ x 200′ site. It was completed last year. And it was developed by Beam Development and Urban Development Partners.
Besides having two very cool facades (the east and west facades are the ones that push and pull), I was surprised to see the building clad in unitized curtain wall (as well as composite metal panel). That kind of glazing comes at a premium and this is not a large building. I’m curious about the numbers.
It’s also a post-tensioned concrete building, which is uncommon in the Toronto market.
Here’s a close-up of the facade:
Also noteworthy is the fact that I’m fairly certain the architects inserted a couple having sex in one of their renderings:
For those of you who did not attend architecture school, there’s a fairly long tradition of hiding “easter eggs” within your renderings. Or at least that was the case when I was in school.
On that note, happy Easter weekend all.
All images via Works Progress Architecture (W.PA). Photography by Joshua Jay Elliott.
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