Why do some buildings cost more to build than others? And how is it that some cities, as a whole, seem to build more cost effectively than others? Without getting into the specifics of how different markets work, I thought it would be valuable to… Read More
I was in Montreal for the long weekend and I decided to take the time off from writing. I don’t do that very often, but it was the right thing to do this past weekend. Montreal is one of my favorite cities. I spent quite… Read More
I’m not a very good golfer (probably because I don’t golf), but this clubhouse in Montréal has me wanting to try my hand at the driving range again. Designed by Architecture49, the clubhouse itself is 855 square meters, but the roof area is around 1,800… Read More
Over the years on this blog I have posted the occasional “Project Profile”, where I have shared a noteworthy development project, an interesting piece of architecture, or some other kind of project that I thought would interest all of you. Everything is now a project. This… Read More
This past summer, an IGA store in Montreal’s Saint-Laurent borough erected “the largest organic green roof garden in the country.” It is about 25,000 square feet and it has a soil depth of only 150mm. They also claim that it’s the first supermarket in Canada to sell… Read More
This is what it looks like in Mont-Tremblant right now: It’s currently -11 degrees celsius and it’s expected to snow for most of the day. It’s starting to come down right now. But this evening it’s supposed to warm up to +1 degrees celsius, which… Read More
I woke up this morning at 5:30 am in a hotel in Ottawa. I then drove to Brébeuf, Quebec to meet some friends for a ski and snowboard weekend. (It’s beautiful here.) Upon arriving I was faced with a large hill that my rear-wheel car… Read More
One of the things I noticed this past weekend when I was on my Porter Escape in Quebec City was that there’s still evidence of the seigneurial land use system. I saw it on île d’Orléans. Established in 1627 in New France, the seigneurial system… Read More
I just checked into the Chateau Laurier Quebec after a busy day touring the city. I don’t have a ton of time to write this post before dinner (though I have a few post ideas brewing). I did however want to share some of the… Read More
Towards the end of last year I received a one line email from a reader asking me what I thought about Porter (the airline that operates out of Toronto’s island airport downtown). I followed suit and responded with one line: “I’m a big fan.” I… Read More
