Habitations Saint-Michel Nord. Photo by James Brittain
As Canadian cities slipped in and out of lockdowns over the past year, architecture firms have been periodically turning to virtual site visits to limit in-person contact at meetings. Here at Canadian Architect, we?ve also been looking at new ways to review buildings. This was particularly the case for the current issue, written and produced entirely during a full lockdown in several Canadian regions.
In non-pandemic times, Canadian Architect insists that writers visit the buildings they are reviewing. But the current stay-at-home order in Toronto, and similar guidelines elsewhere, made that it impossible for us to undertake even this basic step as we were preparing the present issue on the theme of Houses and Housing. Fortunately, the pandemic has opened up new possibilities for reporting on architecture. One of the projects featured in this issue?Joey Giaimo?s South House?is part of an ongoing virtual Home Tours series hosted by the Toronto Society of Architects on Instagram Live. The online tours, recorded as cell phone camera walk-throughs, have so far attracted some 5,000 views. The half-hour tour of South House?along with architectural drawings, historical research and interviews with Giaimo?provided writer Monica Hutton with the basis for her review.
Another of the articles in this issue?Odile Hénault?s review of Habitations Saint-Michel Nord, a social housing complex in Montreal revamped by Saia Barbarese Top...