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' 1-800-426-2255. Please include your business address and quote reference 211. 1. Estimated street price at time of printing, resellers may sell for less. Monitor sold separately. 2. Based on pre-rebate price. Available to qualified business customers only OAC. Lease price based on 36 month lease (tax not included) as determined by commercial rates and a 10% purchase option at the end of lease. Consumer rates may be higher. 3. MHz refers to microprocessor speed. Certain factors will affect application performance. PCs referenced in this ad include an operating system. 4. Graphics are model dependent. Fire GL 1 is a trade-mark of Diamond Multimedia Systems, used under licence. ' Model #655643N, 16" viewable image. Power Pumper, manufactured by Columbia­Inland Corp. Oregon City, OR, USA. Designed by Designhaus Inc., Seattle, WA, USA. Other company, product or service names may be trade-marks or service marks of others. IBM product names are trade-marks of International Business Machines Corporation. IBM and e-business are registered trade-marks of International Business Machines and are used under licence by IBM Canada. Intel, the Intel Inside logo and Pentium are registered trade­marks of Intel Corporation . © 1999 IBM Corp. All rights reserved.

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In this issue

Editorial A fi·iend of mine recently asked me i( I could help her out. She hod something in mind that she wonted to build, but needed to see it on paper: 'just draw what I'm thinking," she offered helpfully.

Drawing is, among other things, a way of working out on ideo. Whatever the source of that idea, external or internal, the drawing is the first impor1ant step in making it real, tactile and visual - a small step, but a critical one. As the idea develops, so does the drawing, becoming perhaps many drawings with, finally, enough information to create a work of or1 or to guide the construction of an ar1 gallery.

In his book Why Ar-chitects Dr·aw, Edward Robbins has written that drawing, not building, is the prime activity of the architect. The architect draws so that others may build and is thereby able to exist as a practicing professional rather than as an on-site master builder (see Domenic Meffe in "Digressions" (or an opposing opinion)

With the arrival of computers, has come a whole new range of visualizing tools. Somehow, the connection between hand and mind, office and site, drawing and building, has gotten much more complicated and much less personal. You con still draw with a computer and you con see your drawing but you con 't really touch it. In the end, is the drawing really even yours?

How has the digital revolution affected design, communication and the presentation of ideas? Is the sketch pad, in the office, the studio and the classroom a thing of the post? In this issue's feature, "Drawing to on End" we examine the purpose of drawing in architecture (!·om a personal point of view: first, in a brief editorial essay. second, in the sometimes

PerspecUves is the official jour-nal of the Ontario Association of Architects and is published quar·ter·Jy. Ar·ticles fmm PerspecUves may be r·epmduced with appmpriate credit and written permission.

Copyright © 1999 Published Spring, Summer; Autumn and Winter· in 1999 by: Canadian Association Publishers 5 12 King Street East, Suite 300 Tomnto, Ontar·io M5A I M I (416) 955-1550

PUBLISHER Jim Eaton

Canadian Association Publisher·s is a publisher of pmfessional association and specialty consumer magazines.

impassioned words and pictures of a dozen architects who love to draw and, finally, in the text of a symposium that was conducted last October at the NeoCon convention in Toronto. Unfor1unotely, we reach no conclusions but you are welcome to draw your own.

President's Message Architects are skilled and trained leaders. Chris Fillingham invites all architects to reach out into the community and assume leadership roles beyond the confines of pracUce.

International John Oto discusses the work of Unsung Heroes, Adamson Associates - an Ontario success story.

Practice Practice Advisor john Bobaljik re~ects on some of the changes in drawing practice during his career, (i·om rusty nail to ~oppy disk and beyond.

Digressions In the face of Edward Robbins's contenUon that the rise of drawing and the disappearance of the master builder has marked an advance in the profession, Toronto architect Domenic Meffe argues that a return to the Architect-as­Master Builder is the next logical evoluUonary step.

Ontario Places Steven Otto invites us to re~ect on the life ofWilliom Thomas (I 799-1860), founding president of the Association of Architects, Civil Engineers and Provincial Land Surveyors of Canada, the earliest professional body of its kind in the country. A plaque in his memory now resides in a quiet corner of St. james Cemetery in Toronto.

Drawing, today, is at the root of architecture. It is the insU11ment through wh1ch architecture is most often brought into virtual and actual existence.

- Robbins, Edward, Why Architects Draw, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 1997, 29

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Stephen Pope, Chair Cl iffor·d Harvey Rimes Mor-t imer· Alan Seymour· Alexander Tempor·ale Mar·y Ellen Lynch Comisso

ADMINISTRATOR, COMMUNICATIONS Jennifer· Conmn

COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST Mar·cia Wubben

EDITOR Gor·don S. Grice

DESIGN W rl liam Tibbles, Ralph Tibbles Tibbles, Bir·d & Company

ADVERTISING Paul Macygyn Tel: (416) 955-1550

President's Message

Network

Response

D1·awing to an End

International

People & Practices

Practice

Digressions

Ontario Places

The Ontario Association of Architects is an open and responsive professional association of members which regulates, suppor·ts, r·epresents and pmmotes the pr·actice and appr-eciation of ar-chitecture rn the interest of all Ontarians.

The Association was founded in 1889 and its pr·imar·y mle is to ser·ve and protect the public inter·est thmugh administration of the Architects Act. and thmugh leader·ship of the pmfession in Ontario.

For· fur·ther· rnformation contact the Administratoc Communications:

Ontar·io Association of Ar-chitects (OAA) I I I Moatfield Dr·ive Tomnto, Ontar·io M3B 3L6 Tel (416) 449-6898 Fax:(416) 449-5756 e-mail: oaamail@oaa.on.ca

To r-ecognize environmental concerns and promote envimnmental responsibilities, this journal is printed on r·ecycled paper· with vegetable <(1\

dye ink and can be !'ecycled. W

COVER IMAGES: detai ls of wor·k by Willem van den Hoed, Peter· Yeadon, Car· los Ott, A llan B. Jacobs, Laur·ie Olin, Tom Schaller~ Ken Fukushima, Ser·gei T choban, Bill Hook Chr·is Grubbs, Steve Oles, Eberhar·dt Zeid ler·

COVER BACKGROUND: Peter· Yeadon

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A1-chitects exe1·cise thei1· leade1·ship skills on a daily basis in thei1· practice and on thei1· pmjects. They a1·e trained to be leaders, having developed skills in team building, communication and negotiation. In traditional practice, the a1·chitect is the team leade1~ managing the st1·uctural, elect1·ical, and mechanical consultants. No matte1· what kind of p1·actice an a1-chitect has, leadership skills positively impact on success.

As OAA P1·esident, one of my personal objectives this yea1· is to encou1·age a1·chitects to seek leade1·ship oppo1·tunities within thei1· communities, beyond the confines of pe1·sonal business envimnments. Leade1·ship skills a1·e easily t1·ansfe1·able and highly desi1·able within a variety of o1·ganizations and can be put to good use in the bmader community.

Seeking leadership positions may include becoming active in schools and community o1·ganizations, on city counci ls, corporations, govemment agencies and pmfessional associations. You can sha1·e your leade1·ship skil ls with the OAA and local Societies by volunteering on Committees, Task Gmups, and fo1· special events o1· initiatives. Check OAA Oppo1·tunities on AE/A1·chitects Exchange for cu1Tent opportunities. Get involved in you1· association; p1·actice leadership in your pmfession.

Leade1·ship in the building indust1·y is enhanced by networking with othe1· associations and al lied o1·ganizations. This inte1·action is imperative to the st1·engthening of ou1· pmfession. Making things happen is dependent upon knowledge, planning, and negotiation. Leaming how othe1·s a1·e appmaching simila1· challenges o1· working togethe1- towa1·d common goals wil l help us to achieve positive 1·esults. By c1·eating an extended team we can benefit fmm the 1·ealization that we'1·e all in this togethe1~

To this end, the OAA is actively involved in netwo1·king with othe1· indust1·y gmups and o1·ganizations. We interact 1·egu larly with the Ontario Gene1·al Cont1:actors Association, Consulting Enginee1·s of Onta1·io, Onta1·io Association of Ce1·tified Engineering Technicians and Technologists, Pmfessional Engineers of Onta1·io and the Association of Registe1·ed lnte1·io1· Oesigne1·s of Onta1·io. We're also communicating with the Association of Municipalities of Onta1·io, U1·ban Development Institute, the Onta1·io Home Builde1·s Association, Joint Const1·uction Council and Council of Onta1·io Const1·uction Associations. The1·e is strength in wo1·king togethe1~

Another example of architects reaching out into the community and voluntee1·ing thei1· leadership is 1·eflected in the two CAUSEs (Community Assisted U1·ban Study Effo1·ts) scheduled fo1· this fall. This OAA pmg1·am is founded on the architect's leadership abi lities. It is a te1Tific way fo1· a1-chitects, planne1·s, landscape a1·chitects and architectUI·e students to voluntee1· thei1· skills to help a community tackle some of the development challenges they may face. It's a weekend of interacting with the business secto1~ 1·esidential assoc iations, municipal govemment and 1·esidents of an a1·ea to c1·eate a repo1·t which will pmvide direction fo1· possible futu1·e initiatives. The Village of G1·eely (a community south of Ottawa) CAUSE will be held Septembe1· 23 to 27. The Town of the Blue Mountains (focusing on the Thombury a1·ea) CAUSE will be held Octobe1· 2 1 to 25.

Taking on leade1·ship mles can add exponentia lly to personal development and can bmaden awareness and knowledge of a1-chitects and the profession of a1-chitectu1-e within ou1· communities. Help to st1·engthen the pmfession and wo1·k towa1·d ou1· goal "to be the best!"

Fall is traditionally a time to regmup afte1· summer activities and get o1·ganized fo1· the busy season ahead. This time of yea1· p1·esents a teiTific oppo1·tunity to hamess the ene1·gy and enthusiasm that is inhe1·ent in the season! Get involved, the 1·ewa1·ds can be astonishing.

Ch1·istopher T Fillingham, A1-chitect OAA, MAA, MRAIC P1·esident

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IIDEX/NeoCon Canada September 23 and 24, 1999

At t he N ationalll-ade Centr-e, on the grounds ofToronto's Exhibition Place. A keynote speaker this year- wi ll be W illiam McD onough, author of t he " Hanover Pr-inciples," r-ecipient of the Pr-esidential Awar-d fo r- Sustainable D esign, Dean of t he Univer-s ity of Vir-ginia School of Architecture and founder- of t he school's Instit ute for Sustainable D esign.

Be sure to visit the OAA booth. for information: 800-677-6278

awar-eness on design in al l of its aspects and on its impor-t ance to t he quality of everyday li fe.

for information: Michele Burger; 305-532-7200; <AthenoMB@ool.com>

Heritage Toronto's Walking Tours through October 3, I 999

Free guided wal king t our-s of hist or-ic Tor-onto. W eekends.

for information: 416-392-6827*500; www. torontohistory.on.co

Design Exchange America's First Design and Architecture Day

continuing to November 7, I 999 Italian Design Festival

October I, 1999 In Miami Flo r-ida, to focus publ ic

DISEGNO - Winner-s of the 1998 Compasso D'oro - Italy's fo r-emost

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Celebrating our 15th year of serving the Engineering community

designer-s and manufactur-er-s - wi ll be on display in the Chalmer-s Design Centr-e MODA - In the Exhibiti on Hal l, OX pr-esent s " Kr-izia", an exhibition that t races the design house's wor-k from Mar-iuccia Mandelli 's 1954 debut to the present MACCHINA - The OX Tr-ading Floor­w ill featur-e 60 original r-ender-ings by the Ita lian car- design fir-m Pininfar-ina. Also on display, will be a 1967 Ferr-ar-i 275 GTB, a 1992 Ferr-ar-i F40, an A lfa D uetto Spyder- and sever-a l Ducati mot or-cycles.

for more info: Luigi Ferraro at <moilto:luigi@dx.org >

BUILD-Expo November I 7 & I 8

Th is event at Lansdowne Par-k, Ottawa, includes four seminars of par-ticular inter-est to archit ects: The Role of Public Ar-chit ectur-e o n N at ional Unity, Design Competit ions- Love 'em or Leave 'em, Wor-king on Both Sides of t he River-?, and Into t he Next Mi llennium w ith Design-Bui ld.

for information: Vol Kelly: 613-786-2623

Construct Canada December I to 3, I 999

Canada's largest constr-uction trade show, in Tor-onto, at t he Met ro Convention Centr-e.Th is year-'s feat ure is an Int egrated D esign CharTette.

Be sur-e to vis it the OAA booth. for information: 416-5 I 2-1 215 x 229; wwwhomeburlderexpo.com

The Interior Design Show January 20 to 23, 2000

Canada's Resident ial Design Event, featuring inter-national speaker-s, exh ibits, fun par-ti es and r-eceptions.

for information.· 416-599-3222; www.interiordesignshow.com

RETScreen Now Available . . . FREE The Canmet Energy Diver-sification Resear-ch Labor-atory (CED RL) of N at ural Resources Canada would like to dr-aw attent ion t o the r-elease of RETScr-een, r-enewable ener-gy pr-oject analysis softwar-e . The pr-ogram, which can be downloaded fr-ee from the w ebsite at http:/ ketscr-een.gc.ca can be used t o identify t he best opportunities fo r- cost-effective implementation of pr-ojects based on renewable ener-gy t echnologies (RETs). On top of the five t echnologies included in the or-iginal release (wind, small hydr-o, phot ovoltaics, so lar- venti lation air heating, and biomass mini d istr-ict heating systems) th r-ee new ones ar-e being added: passive solar space heating, solar domest ic water heat ing, and gr-ound sour-ce heat pumps.

T he three new techno logies ar-e pr-obably t he most usefu l fo r- arch itects.

for information: 1-450-652-4621; email: <rets@nrcon.gc.co>

Letters

Dear Gord; It has taken me a wh ile to 1·each the latest issue of Perspectives but here a1·e some thoughts.

Subu1·bs: This is a topical, scholady (I like ,-efet·ences), thought-pmvoking article that should get copied in popular magazines. Since 1959 we have lived in subu1·ban Ottawa (Lynwood in Nepean by Temn [Hon. OAA ]). It has been interesting to watch the evolution of the community. Modifications to the standa1·d designs are mostly tastefu l, the few oppo1·tunities fo1· infillless so. The comme1·cial side of the hamlet has evolved fmm gas stations, to st1·i p ma ll s with a pa1·ade of businesses coming and going, to fast foods, to restaurants and, lately. car deale1·ships. The a1·ticle on Don Mi ll s was interesting and Cliff Harvey identifies some familiar problems. I am wi ll ing to acknowledge t hat town plans never work out exactly as planned, especially over t ime, but I am convinced that a good plan plus good design cont1·ibutes a great deal to the quality of life in built communities.

P1·esident's Message: Mo1·e power to you for designing a program for pmfessional 1·enewal. Now if you could just get t he public to recognize the value th is adds to the pmfession, and more important. pay for it, you are away to the races. Incidentally, I read Perspectives to learn about current issues in the profession and how it is coping with them.

International: If on ly we could get a few hospitals like that here, wou ldn't we be lucky?

Practice: John Bobaljik poses some interesting thoughts. It seems to me that the suburbs expand by the multiplication of subdivisions but together they can never become city. The only encou1·aging thing about th is is that it is a lot better than the st1·ing of houses that line eve1·y mad within commuting distance of the city.

Dig1·essions I like Jay Levine 's ideas about the cont1·ibution of arch itectu1·e to 1·elated fields and I think he is right

Ontario Places I became aware of the heritage value of communities 1·ecently wh ile o·uising a settlement of tiny houses built for vete1·ans afterWW II. The veterans community is a coo1·dinated collection of little houses like these. The community should be p1·eserved. Thanks fo1· the photos.

Frank Pope, Ottowa

Dear Stephen'* He1·e is the photo I promised you (Financial Architects: Designing a bt·ighter futu1·e for you).

Persona lly, I don't have a big pmblem with this. I don't th ink physicians lose any business to "The F1·idge Doctor" and I don't see how this is any different Howeve1~ since you have a 1·unning commentary on this in the magazine, I figured you'd like a photo.

Debra Krakow, Kingston

ed. note: Debra is right. Tree surgeons, spin doctors and the like hove not sullied the medical profession. Remember that the medics themselves adopted the term (or allowed it to be adopted) fi·om its original users: teachers (hence: D. Litt., Ph.D., etc), also that in some countries, anyone with a professional degree is commonly addressed as "Doctor", architects included. *Stephen Pope is Chairman o( U1e Editorial Board

More Architecting Without Architects "A1-chitect of His Own Undoing" Title of a book review ofF W de Klerk's The Autobiog1·aphy; review by Suzanne Daley, New York Times, july 4, 1999

"It has no hips; it tape1·s like a can·ot; when it stands, it sp1·eads itself apa1·t like a detTick; so I think it is a repti le, though it may be at·chitectut·e."

a description of Adam, by Eve, taken from Mark Twain's Extracts from The Diaries of Adam and Eve, reprinted in Ha1·pe1·'s Magazine,June 1999.

ed note: The metaphorical use of the word "architecture" goes bock a long way In Twain's day, it was often used to invoke a certain sense of organic beauty. Today, unfortunately, "architecture" tends to imply a more mechanistic structural ordet: I blame this on the Modem Movement.

Strong Words Thanks to Jerry Markson for the following: "We needed strong swea1· wo1·ds, and so I wrote them down," Blinn 1·ecalls. "We came up with ordure (fe1·tilizer), fumier (shit), cure (priest) - they were a ll good, but the one which wo1·ked the best to make Vladimi1· shut up was orchitecte. It seemed to us the wo1·st insult that one could ever say."

quoted in Deidre Blair, Samuel Beckett, a Biography.

Pick a card.Any card At last, according to a recently­

mail ed advertisement, for a "beautiful environment" just "look through [t his] deck of 65 specially designed cards and select the ca1·ds that fit you1· specific living 01· wo1·k space, and your objectives.''

Wllll WilJm ... wma;Jw:s,...

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"Once you've selected your· car·ds -you simply do what each card inst r·ucts, one car·d at a time. That's all t her·e is to it."

It's Feng Shui: the latest design o·aze to hit the what -design-o·aze-are-we­on-now? subcu lture . You pmbably t hought that some myster·ies of the or-ient wer·e involved, or- at least a little t r-ain ing. Nah.

"When you walk into a mom, after· applying Feng Shui, you'll exper·ience the sensations of balance and visual beauty, as well as a natur·al and stimulating flow of ener-gy. All a simple matter· of the con-ect placement indicated by The Feng Shui Card System '"."

Encour·agingl>" the contact per·son is located in Canton. But it's the one in Oh io.

quotations and information token from a

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Feature Follow-up: More Saving the Suburbs

A Thanks once again to Michael Kester·ton, whose Social Studies column in The Globe and Mail (May 26, 1999) offer·s the following subur·ban update: "Fmnt Sight, a planned community in Nevada will ... offer- r-esidents a choice of I 3 shooting r·anges. Most of the str·eet names will have something to do with guns .... [ Ignatius Piazza, a former- Califomia Chimpr·actor· who heads the pmject] was attr-acted to Nevada because it's 'fir-ear-ms-fr-iendly'; for- instance, unlike in Califomia, Nevada citizens can own submachine guns."

B. Fmm a review by Suzanna Lessar·d ofWitold Rybczynski's book on Fr·eder·ick Law O lmstead: A Clearing tn the Distance, in the New York Times Book Review of June I 3, 1999: "What got lost between [Olmsted's time] and the subur-ban pr-esent is the sensitivity: t he ar-tific ial cur-ves of mads in subur-ban developments, for· exam­ple, are der·ived fmm Olmstedian innovations, but on his plans, the cur-ves wer-e bar·ely per·ceptible. And of cour-se the creation of common land, essential to his vis ion, also fell by the wayside. Today there is a profound

contempt for- subur-bia in the wor-ld of high design, which has abandoned the terTitor·y almost completely to developer·s."

C. From Julius Caesar· by Wil liam Shakespear·e: Por·tia complains that, her· husband Brutus has left his bed without confiding in her· what is tmubling him:

"Dwel l I but in the suburbs/ Of your­good pleasur·e? If it be no mor·e,/ Portia is Br·utus' har-lot, not his wife".

Even 2000 year·s ago (or· 400, when these wor-d wer-e penned), subur-bia was synonymous with being left out of the r-ea l action.

Corrections Perspectives r·egr·ets that on p. 22 of the Summer 1999 issue, the middle initia l of the late Michael Plachta is given as "j". It should be "V" and the awar·d which bear·s his name shou ld r·ead: Michael V. and Wanda Plachta Awar·d.

On p. 23 of the same issue, Perspectives neglected to mention that Bar-bar-a Vogel is not just the client of the Residential Awar-d Winner~ but also co-author~ w ith Jacek Vogel, of the design.

On p. 26 of the issue, Perspectives also failed to mention that Vogel A r-chitect was one of the four· fimls that compr·ised the winning Ber· lin Embassy team.

100 Years The Strength of Experience

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In these pages, we are pleased to feature the work of twelve distinguished architects from Europe and North America. As their accompanying comments will attest all are devoted to the act of drawing.

Willem van den Hoed

An architect and illustrator based in Delft, Holland whose work, along with that of Tom Schaller, Sergei T choban and two other architects appeared in the exhibition "Fiinf gezeichnete We/ten" (Five Drawn Worlds) in June at the Aedes Gallery in Berlin:

"In my opinion the conception of an idea will always be influenced or even ignited by chance. It is when one is not paying attention, or when one misinterprets one of the ingredients, or when someone else makes an "irrelevant" remark, that a spark can unexpectedly be there and a building (for example) is born. Or when a pencil makes an unpredicted turn on the paper, just following its own lines of beauty instead of the angular lines of pragmatic functionality!

''The almost two-dimensional object (sheet+lines) can be carefully stored away and it will be able to communicate the overall concept, to whomever is interested, forever. The paper may turn yellow and the lines may fade but, if well

Gordon S. Grice OAA, FRAIC

preserved, the object will hold its worth and will represent an idea in a very pure and simple way. A sharp photograph of the designers brain!

"And what about chance? The computer is an excellent chance generator! It will do unpredictable (spatial) manipulations and it will surprise every designer. The obvious problem is that these chance-sparks or rather perpetually burning chance­explosions in the hands of a designer without a strong personal conviction

become the overall design concept and then all is lost! It is a tricky instrument. And I must say that I love the new possibilities but I hope I do not fall into its seductive trap.

"When I see a Rembrandt drawing. I recognize the pencil lines on the paper~ and I shiver from the closeness that I feel merely on the basis that he dealt with the same restrictions, and operated with exactly the same instruments, that he also held a pencil and drew on a sheet of paper, then still white."

So lange wir zeichnen, sind wir Architekten (As long as we draw, we are architects.)

draw attention to the absurdities of the world and, with any luck, make some improvements. Drawings in the form of doodles occupy our hands wh ile o ur minds are elsewhere.

a t-shirt slogan conceived by Michael Willis FA/A*

The days of drawings are over. Design is all digital now. It gives you so much more fi·eedom.

Los Angeles architect Thom Mayne, quoted by

Aaron Betsky in "Machine Dreams", Architecture, june 1997

D -awings are such useful things, it's hard to imagine life without them. The New Yorker cartoons entertain us. The diagrams with our knock-

Most people discover drawing quite early in their­lives. Among young children, the ability to draw well is highly r·egarded and can elevate individual standing considerably Childr-en who at-e good "dt-awer·s" can take their- place at the top of the pecking or-der- along with those who spell we ll , tell good stori es ot- ar·e good at sports. Those who do not enjoy drawi ng will abandon the exer-cise out of frustration or bot·edom

at some po int du ring their lives, down fu rniture inform us. Grafitti on a wall , does a little of both, and may upset us in the bargain. Fr-ancisco Goya used dr-awings to amuse people's passions. Fot- Saul Steinberg, dr-awings wer-e a way to

"We use CAD for everything we do ....

pr-obably far too soon, and may never pu rsue it again.Those for­whom drawing pr-ovides some pleasur-e may develop the skill to We seldom draw anything

except in early phases." The Globe and Mail. Thursday july 22. I 999.

"ArchiteCls draft a model (tJture ", by Peter Vamos,

quoting Todd Schlie mann. design principal at Polshek Partnership ArchiteCls LLP. New York City

a high degree and possibly channel it into a lifetime occupation.

Ken Fukushima OAA, MRAIC

An architect and artist, working with Moffat Kinoshita and Associates in Toronto:

"Most architectural drawings today are representations of something else, i.e. drawings that represent a simulated view of what a building should look like, or graphic instructions for how to construct that building.Architectural drawings are thus used in a codified manner to descri be an 'else':

someone else will use this type of drawing to build something e lse somewhere else.

" I draw room-sized drawings of a landscape that eventually becomes the landscape and the room. Directly on a "final" sheet, I construct an imperfect tracing of an imperfect place, complete with accidents and a visible but ambiguous 'archaeology'. Although ordered by specific graphic and the­matic structures, what the drawing will look like is not known in advance.

The drawings are determined through the act of drawing. They are at once big and small , and revealed by interacting in space and time (i.e. from up close and from far away) . They are intended to define a place that exists in the space between the paper and the viewer: a place that comes into being only through the interaction of the drawings and the viewer.

"I wonder if drawings can be the architecture, rather than simply about the architecture."

In the recent past arch itecture was such an occupation and a child with decent grades who was good at drawing might as a matter of course, be dir·ected toward an architectu ral education. In his book Why Architects Draw, Edward Robbins points out t hat for architects, dr-awing is not just a handy skill , it is t he qu intessent ial skill. Buil ding, he ar·gues, is

recent past an architect without a pen or a pencil was helpless and vi rtually speechless.

perfor-med by many hands, while drawing is the exclusive domain of the architect. It is the ab il ity to communicate through drawing - sketching, design drawing, technical drawing and contract drawing -that allows ar-chitects to maintain their position of leadership: "the symbol of what makes

The introduction of computer technology has had a dampeni ng effect on the prevalence of drawing. Computer-s offer exciti ng new means of creative expression that can sti mulate the imagination to explore three-dimensional for-m and space in ways that ar·e revo lutionar-y and beguiling. And, while computer­imagery invites a growing level of expectation, particularly in the realm of arch itectural representation, the level of interest in old-fashioned drawi ng withers correspondingly Drawing is passe - not the way to

express a hi-tech state-of-the art idea the architect unique". W hether you accept this position or not you must agree that for- ar-ch itects, drawing has always had a special sign ificance as a way to explor·e ideas and communicate them to other·s. In the

"The art of drawing is the beginning and end, or finisher of all things imaginable."

Robbins. Edward. Why Architects Draw, Cambridge. Mass .. MIT Press. / 997. p. 7.

quoting Gerhard Brugge. An Introduction

to the General Art of Drawing. 1684

- definitely not the wave of t he future. And, what about the future? As it

becomes more and more difficu lt to fin d a marking instr·ument among the digital detr·itus that incr-easingly clutter·s our desks, our briefcases and

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Steve Oles FAIA provides certain advantages in realistic prospective representation,

Leatherbarrow ("Showing What Otherwise Hides Itself", Harvard Design Magazine, Fall 1998): "Poets make poems, painters paintings and musicians music. Architects, however, do not make architecture; they make drawings and models of it­representations meant to direct the development of something conceived into something constructed."

A Boston-based architect and illustrator, founder and Past President of ASAP and a Fellow of the AlA and winner of the Ferriss Memorial Prize for architectural illustration:

"Architectural 'previsualization' is most useful when it is the most accurate. Although the computer

(this drawing was made from a wireframe), the most important considerations remain the traditional ones: viewpoint selection, format composition, value and texture determination which reflects an understanding of light and materiality."

Quoting Professor David

out- pockets, wi ll dt-awing become a ft-inge activity? W ill drawing opportun it ies cease to pt-esent t hemselves? Wi ll the love of dt-awi ng become anothet­victim of the digital t-evolution?

People who dt-aw tend to be fa it-ly pass ionate on the subject. Among the at-chitects and designet-s to whom I spoke in the pt-epat-ation of this at-tide, I fo und a del ightfu lly gt-egat-ious intensity, when dt-awing was being discussed. Thet-e is a sense of engagement with the real world that dt-awing enco ut-ages -the necessity fm obset-vation, analysis, explot-ation, t-efiection and intetp·etation -that is not pt-esent in out­pt-eoccupation with t he vit-tual world of t he compute t~

As t-ecent movies, such as Existenz, The I 3th Floot~ Matt-ix and othet-s demonstt·ate, the vi t-tual wm ld has an influence that is

To date, ru mout-s of the death of dt-awing at-e gt-eatly exagget-ated.Thom Mayne was perhaps a little hasty in his pmclamation. I don 't expect that interactive digital sketchpads wil l t-e place t he hat-dbound sketchbook or cocktail napkin any mot-e t han TV has t·eplaced the t·adio ot- the wot-ldwide web has t·eplaced TV Computing and dt-awing can coexist. But if you agt·ee, as I do, with Robbins's assessment that dt·awing and at-ch itectut·e at-e intet·twined, t hen as dt·awing changes, so does at-chitectural theot·y and pt·actice. As the value placed on dt-awing decreases, so does t he val ue placed on the work of architects.

Maybe, all is not lost. Some months ago, I t·eceived some encout·aging news fmm a yo ung gt·aduate looking fot- wot-k in an at-chitectut-al office. She had

been phoni ng am und tt·ying to get mot-e than al ienating. It is possibly tyt-an ni cal as wel l, seeki ng mot-e to t-eplace t·ea lity than to t-epresent it.

"The computer is everything now. It's our pencil."

interviews. W ith het- pmfi ciency in AutoCad and a vat·iety of othet­pmgt·ams, she should have been a

Vamos. quottng Sc/Jiternonn ogam

Allan B. Jacobs

Sketcher, author, Professor of Planning at the University of California in Berkeley.

"Regardless of their training, I require that city planning students draw. I require of myself that I draw, though for years, I did not. For me, as for the students, the exercise, the habit, the pastime has to do, primarily, with seeing. The act of drawing makes you see, be it the physical reality in front of you or that which is in the mind's eye. There is no better way to see than to draw. Seeing, really seeing, is crucial to understanding the physical environments we live in as well as those that we propose to create."

shoe-in, but there was a problem: several of the offices to w hich she had applied asked if she knew how to draw. Where, she wondered, could she acquire this skill?

W riter Paul Auster once said " If there's a pencil in your pocket, there's a good chance that one day you' ll feel tempted to start using it." ["Why W1·ite" New Yorker Magazine, Decembe 1~ 1996.] My advice to the young g1·aduate and to a1-ch itects everywhere would be to put down you1- laptop fo1- a wh ile, find a pencil somewhe1·e and st a1·t ca1Tying it around. The futUI·e of ou1· profession could easi ly depend on it.

~In Ar-chitecture in Perspective 14 [Sarasota. Fla.: Design Books International.

1999]. Michael Willis wrote: 'T his motto came about from an interview I had

with a graphics supply store ownerc I was to

design a window for· him for an Architects Week

ar-chitects from the fi r st figures drawn in clay up until yesterday - the

unbroken set of skills we have been passing on to succeeding gener·ations,

t he act of taking stylus or· pen o r· stick to descr·ibe the built wol'ld. I just

tr·anslated it into German to make it sound mor·e myster·ious."

Sl<etchpad vs Mousepad On Octobe1· 2, 1998, The Second Annual OAA/ARIDO NeoCon Seminar was held at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto. The fo llowing repo1·t is condensed from notes taken by the autho1~ Notes we1·e simultaneously being taken by Lo1Taine

Johnson, whose analysis appeal-s

celebr·ation in San Fr·ancisco, so I asked him what

the focus of his business was. "We'r·e just a basic

supply house. No computer gr·aphics. nothing

electronic. just pens, ink, pencils, paper·s." I had an

epiphany. He was talking about our· heritage as

"George Lucas, he's the very picture of the kind of guy who buys a No.2 pencil"

in The journal of the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario, Sp1·ing/ Summe1· Issue, 1999.

Dave Young. swte manager at Randolph Office City. Chicago. commenting on the fact rhat rhe maker of

high-tech (1/ms des1g115 \'IHh a penctl

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Carlos Ott OAA, MRAIC

Designer of the Paris Opera House, principal in the Carlos Ott Partnership, Architects, with offices in Toronto, Paris and Montevideo:

Carlos Ott has been drawing since his undergraduate days in Montevideo, Uruguay, where his 50-person head office is now located. There also can be found his treasury of hardbound sketch

books: dozens, maybe hundreds of them. With a sketch book, nothing is discarded. Every thought is preserved. There is a linear quality to these sketchbooks whereby it is possible to trace the evolution of ideas and the process of design from whim to finished concept.

Carlos enjoys drawing and does

figure drawing studio work whenever he can. But he enjoys designing even more, so the combination of the two activities, as recorded in his sketchbooks (and frequently accomplished during the quieter moments of airplane travel), allows him moments of the sheer contentment that only committed sketchers can know.

The Panelists are seated at a raised table facing a small audience. The members of the audience have been supplied with sketch pods and pencils and encouraged to draw while the seminar is in progress. The panelists are, from right to left:

offices in Toronto, London, Berlin, West Palm Beach and Washington; author of two books and the subject of one: Eberhard Zeidler: In Search of Human Space; and a prolific sketche1~

George Baird OAA. FRAIC. principal in Bai1·d Sampson Neuert A1-chitects Inc. in Toronto; Professo1· of A1·chitecture and Directo1- of the Maste1·s of Architecture I and II programs at Harvard University; co-editor with Charles Jencks of Meaning in Architecture and author of the recent book The Space of Appearance.

Eberhard Zeidler OAA, FRAIC,

Tom Schaller AlA. illustrator and architect based in New York City; autho1- of two books, Architecture in Watercolor and The Art of Architectural Drawing, Past Pl-esident of the Ame1·ican Society of A1-ch itectural Perspectivists; recipient of the Society's Ferriss Medal and the only illustrator to have appeared in all 14 of ASAP's annual exhibitions.

FAIA (Hon.), one of Canada's best-known and most highly­respected a1·chitects, senior pa1·tner with Zeidler Roberts Partnership, A1·chitects, with

"Drawing is an archaic skill. . .. I'm more interested in moving people through space."

Roger McWatt ARIDO, an lnterio1- Designe1- and principal in McWatt Anderson ofToronto; responsible fm developing the ARIDO CADD Standards fol­pmfessional enginee1·s, architects

The Globe and Mail, Thursday December 3, /998. "Architect school has designs on the (uwre",

by Ray Conlogue. quoting }aegap Chung. architecture student at Uo{T

· .. =-.'=

and designer·s and an exper·t on the subject of computer drawing.

Joe Pettipas ARIDO, an inter·ior designer· with HOK in Toronto; Past President of ARIDO; r·ecipient of an ARIDO Gold Award and President's Citation; with a special interest in digital imagery and animation.

After introducing the panel and the special "Artist-in­Residence", Andrew Ng of IT/ Technologies, Toronto, Moderator Gordon S. Grice makes some brief introductory remarks. During the Seminar, Andrew sketches on a prototype Sketch I 4 digital sketch pod from IT/, a new wove of digital technology that is interactive and very nearly intuitive. As he draws,

Peter Yeadon

An intern architect and artist, recent winner of the Prix de Rome, otherwise living and working in Toronto:

Drawings can be fact or fiction . Some drawings of the fictitious variety approach poetry. To try to describe them in a pragmatic way would be counterproductive and· probably impossible.

"Having escaped the fall ofTroy, Aeneas put in at Carthage to seek refuge from the sea. Entering the temple being constructed in Juno's honour, he felt comfort as he moved along the great walls at which the artificers toiled.Eventually, he found a depiction of the battle from which he had just been delivered. He wept as he surveyed the scene and recognized the destruction of his homeland and his friend, Priam. As he considered the shared sorrow of fallen peoples, he arrived at his own image fully engaged in battle. It is at this point that Aeneas becomes enthralled with the image itself and must, at once, confront the heroic depiction before him and humbly reflect upon his decision to abandon Troy.

"When drawing, one is involuntari­ly at play with possibilities. Unfettered by gravity, only drawing is regarded as "architectural projection". While building is evidence of what is, or what was, drawing proposes what might be. Architectural movements are born from drawing, but ·eventually die with building. I think of drawing as an act of revealing things unseen, as in drawing blood from the body or attention from sleep."

one of the great cr-ises facing civilization: the loss of intuitiveness. People just don't seem to draw much anymore.

Why should they? We have computer·s now, and they can do anything. The drawings they can do are amazing. But I have a feeling that the act of drawing is a very special human activity.

People have been drawing now for· at least thirty thousand years. Recently discovered cave drawings in souther·n France are at least that old . Some drawings in Australia ar·e thought to be even older~ Remember~ these drawings are on the walls of caves. Nobody knew how to build anything, but they knew how to dr·aw.

Then, about five hundr-ed

Andrew's electronic sketches ore projected onto a screen at the front of the room.

Today we are going to examine

"Drawing, today, is at the root of architecture. It is the instrument through which architecture is most often brought into virtual and actual existence."

years ago, some Italians discover·ed the r·ules governing perspective and flat projection (or-thographic) dr-awings. With linear perspective, a person

Robbrns, 29

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could create the illusion of for-m and of space itself that ever-yone could understand. With or-thographic pr-ojection, an architect could cr-eate accur-ate draw­ings at a r-educed size and send them to the building site without having to actually be ther-e. With these new r-ules, ar-chitectur-al drawing was born, and fmm that moment, design and dr-awing were inextr-icably linked. In Italian, and Fr-ench the same wor-d ( disegnare and dessiner) ar-e still used to mean dr-awing and designing.

But drawing is not entir-ely about rules. Dr-awing con be r-efined and highly technical but it can also be highly intuitive and inter-active.

Chris Grubbs

San Francisco-based architect, illustrator and teacher:

Like Carlos Ott, Chris did his graduate work in architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. Chris is now one of the West Coast's best known architectural illustrators. The drama and excitement of his finished drawings are the product of an enthusiasm for drawing.Watching Chris at work is almost like watching a performance.

Chris also sketches whenever he can so that "what he brings to drawing that is unique will not atrophy." He feels that it renders a confidence in expression.

Regarding digital imagery, Chris says, "Computer imagery is still too rudimentary. Between ones and zeroes there is a world that is too subtle for the computer to duplicate." It tries for "verisimilitude" but drawing is experiential: part objective, part subjective. Drawing is a way of seeing and assessing a "real" not a virtual environment. "Expression is for people. Replication is for computers."

school" usually found it impossible to explain some­thing without a pencil or- pen in their- hand.

But we have entered a "new school" with a new agenda. The wor-d "analogue" has enter-ed our- ever-y­day vocabular-y, because the wor-ld it descr-ibes is being left behind. This is the digital age. Our- cr-eative output is mor-e often "input" and subject to the re-inter-pretation of sophisticated machines, capable of "mor-phing" our- ideas, rotating them, tr-ansmitting them, animating them and cr-eating vir-tual wor-lds ar-ound them. Our- new cr-eative wor-ld is not an intuitive wor-ld . Intuition is a r-omantic ideal. Our- Brave New Wor-ld is

a modem interactive wor-ld - one Gener-ations of designer-s, ar-chitects and ar-tists have exploited the intuitive quality of dr-awing to help in the r-ealization or- development of countless pr-ojects. Ar-chitects and designers fmm the "old

"A painstaking watercolour rendering now takes its place alongside the Blacksmith's art- admirable but irrelevant

of extr-aor-dinary capabilities and pr-omises. Much has been gained. But, possibly, someth ing has also been lost.

Let me offer- two points of view. First, that of Br-itish aut hor-

Canadian Architect, February. /999,

"The Elecuic Horsepower Loncllbox ", by Douglas McLeod

Bill Hook

Seattle-based architect and illustrator, Past President of the American Society of Architectural Perspectivists (ASAP):

In this year's Architecture in Perspective 14 Competition, Bill Hook's drawing of the Hall of Still Thought won the overall Sketch Category Award. Bill called the drawing "a rare opportunity to bring verbal ideas to paper for the first time .... a design-feedback drawing, which is what sketches are supposed to be. It was a fun process because it was about the basic quality of space, scale and light."

Jury Chair Michael Willis , in describing this drawing, describes all good architectural sketches: "There aren't a lot of strokes. It is simple, strong and evocative."

and Professor of Computing at t he Royal College of Al-t, Robin Baker:

" In looking at the creative use of t he computer in art and design. I am unable to detect any fundamental problem with its imaginat ive use. I find little evidence that t he compute1- inhibits ueativity, 01- implies a nan-ow 01- constricted way of working. Nor do I see it as a t hl-eat except in the minds of those whose cl-eativity is all-eady suspect."

Robin Bake1; '"Designing the Future: the Computer 1innsformation

of Reality," London: Thames & Hudson, /99 3

nature. We are unique cl-eatures in t his respect, and it is t he possibi lity of having object relations w it h nature that , paradoxically. opens our senses to its beauty It is fo r t his reason that I suspect that compute1-s w ill be recognized as the too l most 1·esponsible fo l­reconnecting us t o nature. People a1-e able to make wo l-se al-t w ith compute1-s t han w ithout them." Joron Lanie1; ft-om "Music, Nature and Computers" in the "Summe1; /997

issue of Terra Nova, and quoted in Harpers Magazine, March, 1998

The discussion begins with the comments of George Baird.

George, principal of a smal ler firm that has become computerized only wit hin the past 18 mont hs, feels

t hat t he compute1- is a "development Second, that of American computer scientist w rite1- and musician Jaron Lan ie1· :

"The ability to cl-eat e .. . ugly object s is one of the high expl-ess ions of ou1- ab ility to stand apart from

"The pencil is integral to the act of design . ... Watercolour is the next logical step."

tool". He doesn't "see it as a miracle wol-kel- in concept ualizing terms." Even 30 modelling packages al-e developmental rathe1- than

Timmos Schaller in Sketchpad vs Mousepod

or the Metro Convenuon Cenue, October 2. /998

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Eberhard Zeidler OAA, FRAIC, FAIA (Hon.)

Architects need to have feeling too and not suppress the emotional in favour of the rational. Since computers are only rational, they can only ever provide half of a solution.

"In order to reach the concept, you have to go through the sketch:'

conceptualizing. "Speaking as an obse1·ve( he says, "computers are not 1·eally tools for design conceptualization. Conceptualization is something that precedes the keyboa1·d and monitor and to some extent even p1·ecedes the pencil."

As a pmfessor of a1-chitecture, Geo1·ge raises the possibility that schools may, in the nea1· futu1·e, impose as a condition of admission that a student have his/her own compute1~ There may also be a requisite course in computerization. Cun·ently, the freehand drawing courses at the Ha1·vard GSD a1·e a big hit.

~. f1Ar-f'1AJ - tO ·'f'l.of>-t:f6-WS

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His office has 120 "draughtsmen" and no draughting boa1·ds. Eb prefers to do "a lot of freehand sketching because it is faster that way." He finds that freehand sketches of two or three minutes are much less wasteful of time and ene1·gy than are computer images. For Eb, sketching is a necessary step in the development of a concept: "In o1·der to 1·each the concept, you have to go thmugh the sketch." While compute1· drawings don't necessarily save time, they do give considerable va1·iability. But their lifelike image qualities can create othe1· kinds of problems: an

incomplete o1· um·esolved Next to speak is Eb Zeidler. Eb has brought some slides of his drawings which he uses to explain the evolution of some of his firm's designs.

Eb has been involved with computers for about 14 years .

"If tools like 3D virtual reality can take our imagination and invest it with the same intensity and emotion, we may never have to lift a pencil again. ... We can gain back whatever 'emotionality' we lose."

solution can be made to look complete and resolved. With 1·egard to computer artist1·y, "It's always the pe1·son behind

the computer; not the compute1~··

joe Pettipas in Sketchpad vs Mousepad

Tom Schaller AlA

"The act of drawing something that you think is being discussed, but is not, leaves the door open to other creative avenues that were not there before.

"In the 'good old days', it was expected that architects could draw. This is not necessarily the case any more." These days, "people who can think with a pencil are much more in demand.

"Far more tangibly than the discipline of constructing buildings, it is the act of envisioning an as-yet-nonexistent world that defines architecture to me. Here, where pencil meets paper for the first time, unconstrained by the imitations of history, is the genesis of the future ."

Tom Scholler is proud to represent the "/a-tech analogue" side of the discussion. A few ofTom's exquisite easily recognizable woterco/our renderings ore on display.

Typically; Tom wil l sit in a cl ient's office, sketch for a half-day or a day; then sit with a computet· model let· to select an appmpt·iate view for a rendet·ing. Much of his current work is a mot·e co llaborative and "intet·active" process involving architect, developer; computer artist/mode ll e1~ and illustrato1~ Design decisions can be reached much more effectively this way and the design process is enriched. 'The act of drawing someth ing that you think is

~ I I

book The Art of Architectural Drawing ("A Dl-awing is Not a Building"). Creating a drawing is not the same thing as creating a building and exploring a building is different fmm experiencing a drawing. But a great strength of drawing is its abi lity to al low a viewe1· to expet·ience some of the feelings that a building evokes.

Concerning the futut·e of hand-done dt-awing, Tom says,"in the 'good old days', it was expected that at·chitects cou ld draw. This is not necessarily the case any more." These days, "people who can think with a pencil are much more in demand."

Roger McWott is the first of the Interior being discussed, but is not, leaves the door open to other creative avenues that were not there before."

Tom stresses the difference between dt·awing and building, a topic to which he devoted a chapte1· in his

" ... no matter what the machine may be, it was people who thought it up and it's people who make it work."

Designers to speak

Roget- agrees with the sentiment that something intangible is being left behind, with the advent of computers. But time pt-essut·es on pmduction dt-awing are a majot- factor in the

Rogers. Fred (Mr). You Are Special, New York: Penguin Books./995. p. 6LI

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dominance of computers in t hat realm. Technology is becoming more soph isticated, therefore more specialized. In Roger's office, as in many others, designers are distinct from operatot-s. He has at least integrated them physica lly and removed the pat·titions between them. Roge1~ w ho hasn't yet sold his drawing boat-ds, misses the intuitive nature of hand-done dt-awing. "Bt·ing back the romance," he pleads.

As the last speaket; joe Petti pas has prepared a computer video animation to accompany his remarks.

Sergei T choban

A Berlin-based architect and illustrator, partner in NPS und Partner, appeared in Aedes show:

" In my vision concerning the occupation of an architect, the creation of new ideas thmugh the means of hand drawings is deeply integrated. Discovering the architectural idea includes not only the analytical decision of choosing one or the other concept but also a chain reaction of unexpected inspirations throughout the process of drawing. The form is "created by hand" as Berlin journalist Gerwin Zohlen appropriately said. Additionally, a hand-drawn architectural fantasy or sketch contains a property, a characteristic power and appearance that no computer-generated picture can achieve."

soundtrack wol'i<s just fin e. Speaking extempot·aneously, without electron ic backup, Joe concedes that in other areas too, computers can promise more than can be delivered. They pass on a lot of data, raisi ng expectations: an incomplete scheme may look complete and believable in a computet- model/simulation while the idea itself may be incomplete.

Joe also expt-esses some concern about computet· techn ica l dt-awings. It's 1·eally easy to pu ll out a standat·d detail and incot-porate it in a set of contract drawings without understanding the connection w ith the rest of t he scheme.

At last, the "presentation Inadvertently, Joe provides the audience w ith first-hand expet-ience of a common computer charactet·istic: the glitch. His video computet"­animation refuses to provide visua ls, although the up-tempo

"The changes in technology within the architecture profession over the last IS years are minor, compared to the tremendous innovations that are coming."

sales tool" video begins wot-ki ng and we at-e treated to a state-of­the-art video animation of a development scheme.

At this point in the discussion the

Novirsk1, B.) .. ArciJ!tecwrol Record. Feb. 99. "Dig, tal Arc/meet"

Laurie Olin FASLA,AIA (Hon.)

Sketcher, landscape architect, principal in the Olin Partnership, Philadelphia:

"To me drawing is both integral to and expressive of various aspects of thinking, in some ways analogous to writing. Good drawing of whatever sort is an outward sign and representation of successful thought. Poor~ weak, confused or cliched

drawings are accurate expressions of poor~ weak, confused or cliched mental activity.

"Drawing from life , whatever the subject or manner~ forces a person to see more carefully, to really look at some aspect of the world. In doing so, only a fool would not learn something.

"I always tell students to stop worrying about self expression and style. Drawings are transparent. In

drawing, they can't help but express themselves, and a style that is natural to them will come as they work through other, more important issues regarding content, form and feeling, light and movement, complexity and perception.

"Most Americans today have the graphic literacy of a twelve year old which is about when they stopped drawing. It makes me sad, for dr·awing is such a pleasure. I can't imagine not drawing:'

moderator asks George Baird whether he sees any similarities between the hand vs machine drawing dilemma and the technology vs croft discussion ft·om the tum of the lost century.

In reply, Geor·ge says that t he machine age had a lot to do with mechanical r·epmduction and t he mechanization of r·e petitive tasks, but computers don 't r·equir·e standar-dization. Par·aphr·asing aut hor and pr-ofessor- Bill Mit chell, George says that if standar-dizat ion had pr·evailed in the ear·ly stages of computer· t echnology, none of the r·ecent innovat ions would have been possible. A lthough " Ruskin and MorTis were on the losing side . . . The

only r·at ional solut ions counted. W ith t he "rati ona l mind" you could solve any pr-oblem. N ow, even scient ists concede t hat t her·e is often an emotional component to scientific explanations. Ar-chitects need t o have feel ing t oo and not suppr·ess t he emotional in favou r· of t he rational. Since computer·s ar·e on ly r·ational, t hey can only ever provide half of a solution.

wor·ld in 50 year·s w ill be less like we know it now and mor·e like the way Ru skin and MorTi s saw it."

Eb Zeid ler· extends the discussion a few years to the Bauhaus er·a w her·e

The Moderator asks Tom Scholler about the use of computers in his work.

Tom str·esses t hat drawings t el l stor·ies and t hat we have the abi lity to choose the best medium t o t ell

"The world in fifty years will be less like we know it and more like the way Ruskin and Morris saw it."

George Bawd in Sketchpad vs Mousepad

those st or·ies. " If Hugh Fen·iss had had a computer~ [how] wou ld he have used it ?"Tom wonder·s aloud . Clear·ly, the duty to tell "the w hole [ar-chit ectural] t r·uth", about w hich Fen·iss wrote so eloquently, included

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what a building FELT like, as well as looked like. Computers ar·e not so successful in dealing with such abstr·act qualities. "The pencil is integral to the act of design," Tom states. "Water colour is the next logical step ... using tones instead of edges, nuances of light:' Tom: has been summoned many times to save a project fi·om a computer r·endering.

Returning to the quotation ft·om Joron Laniet; Roger is asked to comment.

"We are losing something," he said, "and I think it's spiritual."

But Joe disagrees, giving the last word to the pro-computer· forces. "If tools like 30 vir·tual reality can take our imagination and invest it with the same intensity and emotion, we may never have to lift a pencil again .... We can gain back whatever 'emotionality' we lose."

At this point, the panel and the audience disperse leaving behind a few illusions, some unanswered questions and a number of drawings and doodles scattered among the chairs. In the end, the discussion evaporates but the drawings remain.

Gordon S. Grice is editor of Per·spectives. He is Past President of the

American Society of Architectural Perspectivists and the editor of eight

books on the subject of architectural illustration.

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Selected Bibliography

Jacobs, Allan B., Great Streets, Cambr-idge Mass.: MIT Pr·ess, 1993 (one of the best arguments for· sketching that I have found and it isn't a book about dr-awing)

Oles, Paul Stevenson, Architectural Illustration, New York, Van Nostr·and Reinhold, 1979. (the book me that got and many others started in the business)

Oles, Paul Stevenson, Drawing the Future, New Yor·k, Van Nostr·and Reinhold, 1988. (more examples of Oles' distinctive dr-awing technique)

Olin, Laurie, Transforming the Common Place, NewYor·k: Princeton Ar-chitectural Pr·ess, 1996 (contains many fine examples of Laur·ie Olin's sketches)

Olin, Laurie, Across The Open Field: Essays Drown fr·om the English Landscape, Univer-sity of Pennsylvania Pr·ess, due October· 1999.

Pier·son, William H., Jr~. American Buildings and Their Architects, Gar·den City, NY: Doubleday, 1978 (includes an inter·esting account of the beginnings of ar-chitectur·al dr·awing in Nor·th Amer·ica)

Saunder·s, William S., ed., Harvard Design Magazine, Fall 98: "Repr-esentations I Misr-epresentations" (a series of essays discussing the meaning of ar-chitectural r·epresentation: drawing and photogr·aphy)

Schaller; Thomas W, The Art of Architectural Drawing: Imagination and Technique, New York: Van Nostr·and Reinhold, 1997 (includes a ver·y good survey of imaginative dr-awing in the ser·vice of architecture)

Schaller; Thomas W., Architecture in Watercolor, New Yor-k: Van Nostr·and Reinhold, 1990 (the definitive book on water-colour r·ender·ing)

Smith, Peter; ed., The Architect's Sketchbook: Current Practice, Montr·eal: Canadian Centr·e for· Ar-chitectur·e, 1992 (a peek inside the sketchbooks of a number of architects)

Steele, James, ed., Architecture in Process, London: Academy Editions, I 994 (examples of process drawings by a number· of ar-chitects)

Essential Reading

Robbins, Edward, Why Architects Draw, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press, 1997 (a br·ief histor·y and well-developed argument for the impor-tance of dr-awing in architecture)

Three defrnitive books on linear perspective and 1ts importance to architecture and society:

Damisch, Huber·t, The Origin of Perspective, Cambr-idge Mass.: MIT Press, 1994

Panofsky, Erwin, Perspective as Symbolic Form, New Yor·k: Zone Books, 199 I

Perez-Gomez, Alber·to and Pelletier; Louise, Architectural Representation and the Perspective Hinge, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press, 1997

The American Society of Architectural Perspectivists (ASAP), with headquar-ters in Washington DC, helps to foster· communication among those inter-ested in ar-chitectural drawing, worldwide. for information: 202-737-440 I

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by John Oto with notes supplied by Jim Bagby OAA

In an ar·chitectur·al wor-ld dominated by fashion and glamour~ "Unsung hemes" best descr·ibes Adamson Associates Architects.

With a long list of pr-estigious inter-national

projects, the latest and biggest notch on their- belts is the Petmnas Tower~ the tallest building in the world, which opened in August 1999 in Kuala Lumpur~ Malaysia. Although only 88 stor-ies, the slender- steel

and glass twin tower-s are str·etched by elongated spir-es to r·each I ,483 feet (452 metres). As the design ar-chitect for the job, Cesar· Pel li incor·por·ated the r·epetitive geometries of Islamic architectur-e into the skyscr-aper· to r·eflect the cu ltur·e of the pr-edominantly Muslim countr·y. And while Pelli is cr·edited with the design, full production dr·awing ser·vices on the pmject wer·e supplied by Adamson.

"We were r-esponsible for· ever·y single architectur·al constr-uction document on the pmject including wor-king drawings, shop dr·awings, design development, specifications and coor·dination of consultants," says Jim Bagby, par·tner·-in -char·ge. The role of associate architects is a comfortable one for

Adamson and they've played this position on other­intemational pmjects such as Battery Park City in New York, Canar-y Wharf in London and cutTently, the Inter-national Air·por·t in Tomnto. As a quiet contr-ibutor­

to mega-pmjects amund t he wor·ld, Adamson Architects might be Canada's best kept secret. How does an ar·chitectural fir·m from Mississauga scor-e these jobs?

"We don't do any public relations,'' says Bagby "Almost all of our· wor·k comes by r·efetTal or· fmm

repeat customer·s. The pmjects come fi·om indir·ect wor-d of mouth. It starts with developer-s and then

we keep getting r·e introduced,'' he says. While Bagby is r·eluctant to r·eveal tr·ade secr-ets,

there ar·e a number· of r·easons for· Adamson's success.

The first is good customer· ser·vice with full par-ticipation from the fir·m's par·tner-in-char·ge. "In our

or-ganisation the par·tner· gives full service,'' Bagby confides. "At some fir-ms, the client meets the partner­at the fi r·st meeting and then a junior· per·son picks up the job. In our· office, the partner· is the contact per·son and stays intimately involved with each pmject. We tr·y to keep clients happy and they seem to come back to us."

This commitment to good ser·vice paid dividends in snagging t he Petronas Tower­project. Lehrer McGovem Bovis (LMB), a pr-evious client with Adamson, called Bagby and asked if he would be inter-ested itl join ing their- team in a proposal to build the tallest

building in the wor-ld. It didn't take long for· Bagby to answer· yes. With a tr-ied and tr-ue

r·elationship w ith LMB on a pr-evious job,

Far left : classical performance of sight and sound Centre: detail of the glassworks Left: reflecting the culture and piercing the night sky in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Adamson had impi"essed them

enough to partnel" up again. Sophistication of technology

is anothel" a1"ea where

Adamson has developed an edge. "Du l"ing t he Kuala Lumpul" (KL) we became obsessed with impmving our technology. Befo1"e the job we had made a commitment to computers, but during KL we upgraded all OUI" systems for drafting and communications," says Bagby. "With it we feel that we have a new

sophistication and depth in doing large buildings." Consistency of staff is another plus for Adamson.

On avel"age, staff have WOI"ked fo1" the fi1"m fol" twe lve years, an unusually long time in a pmfession where employees shift around on a l"egular basis. W hen a pmject lands in the office, staff know what steps to take and they can swing into action immediately. "Developers and trades feel comfortable WOI"king w ith our staff because they've been around long enough to have bu ilt up a l"e lationsh ip."

Adamson's staff people in KL were John Abols and Br ian Lodge OAA, MRAIC, who were l"esponsible for construction documents on site and co-OI"dinating consu ltants such as structural, mechanical, security and traffic, many of whom came fmm diffel"ent parts of the world. "I loved WOI"king in Malaysia," says Lodge. " I became attached to the country, the food, the

people and I began to learn the language. Consultants fmm other compan ies cou ld hardly wait to leave.

While I had to endu1"e t he heat (KL is one deg1"ee off the equator) living in anothel" count i"Y and learning about another way of life was an incredible expel"ience."

Even though bragging l"ight s for the tal lest building in the world belong t o Adamson, Bagby speaks modestly about the image of his fi rm. "Evel"yone has theil" own mute to success. Oui"S is to have an excellent reputation of help t o OUI" clients w ith in the industry."

And wh ile Bagby doesn 't mention it, a final seCI"et of Adamson 's success is simple. With refresh ing ease,

they'1"e able to check thei r egos, leave them at the dool" and do what they'1"e hil"ed t o do: WOI"k with the client, co-operate and get the pmject built.

john Ota is Education Technical Advisor with the Ministry o( Citizenship, Culture and Recreation

and Chair o( the OAA Honours and Awards Task Group

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OAA President Chris Fillingham with AlA Michigan, President, Gary Skog, ...

.. . twenty-five year award winner, Eb Zeidler, . . .

.. . Master of Ceremonies, David Wagner, . . .

. .. Honorary member Lome Mitchell, . . .

. .. Honorary member Doug Neville ...

. .. and Honorary member Harry Nixon

Order of da Vinci recipient, james W Strutt

Kenneth Neumann, AlA Gold Medal winner

Celebration of Excellence In joint Celebration of Exce ll ence th is yea t~ the OAA and the Michigan chapter of the AlA convened at the Cleat·y lntemational Centt·e in W indsor on the evening of Ap t·il 30. In addition to the many awat·ds pt·esented fot· design exce ll ence, (see Perspectives, Vo l. 7, No. 2, Summet· 1999), both the AlA and the OAA t·ecognized the ach ievements of a numbet· of its members. Among the OAA awat·ds wet·e t he following:

OAA Cet·tificates of Appt·eciation , fot· significant contt·ibution to the OAA and the pmfession wet·e awarded to: Louis Cooke OAA, MRAIC, RIBA, fot·met· Chait· of the Committee of Society Chai t·s and Chait· of the London Society of At-ch itects, holdet· of a numbet· of OAA Chait·s and committee positions, incl uding the Communications and Outreach Committee and the Steet·ing Committee fot· the 1997 Review; James N. Nowski OAA, FRAIC, 1997 OAA Pt·esident, OAA representative on the Committee of Canadian At·chitectut·al Councils and the National Council of At·chitectut·al Registration Boards, fot·met· Chai t· of the Discip li ne Committee; Susan Ruptash OAA, AlA, membet· and Chait· of sevet·al committees includ ing the Pathway to the Profession Task Gmup (Chait·), membet· of the Canadian contingent to the Summit on

Dealers for:

At·chitectut·al lntemship. OAA Honot·at·y membersh ip is

awat·ded to persons not otherwise eligible for membersh ip but who have given distinguished service to the pmfession o t· its allied arts of sciences. Added to the Honot-at·y Members List wet·e: Douglas Herbert Lee, Hon. OAA, FRAIC, at-ch itect, engineer. U of T Pmfessot· Emet·itus and 1980 OAA Pt·esident, Maxwell Miller, Dip. Arch, Hon. OAA, FRAIC, FRIBA, 1977 OAA Pt·esident and RAIC Vice President in 1978 and 1979; Lorne Mitchell, P. Eng., Chait·man ofThe Mitchell Partnet·sh ip, mechan ical consultants; G. Douglas Neville FRAIC, 1990 OAA Pt·esident; J. Harry Nixon FICA, Chat·tered Accountant, founding pat·tner of Smith Nixon, and freq uent pmvidet· of business education to students and pt·actitionet·s of at-chitectut·e.

The Ordet· of Da Vinci was established in 1985 by OAA Pt·esident Alft·ed Robet·ts to 1·ecognize outstanding cont t·i butions to at-chitecture in Ontario. This yeat·s t·ecipient is James W. Strutt OAA, OAQ, RCA, FRAIC formet· Director of the School of At·ch itectut·e at Carleton University, 1960 Pt·esident of the OAA, Jim has been a noted innovatot· of hous ing solutions in Canada and abmad.

Also of considet·able note is the presentat ion of the AlA Gold Medal to Kenneth Neumann FAIA, Chair of the AlA Jury of Fell ows and a lecturer at Lawt·ence Technological Univet·sity.

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Governor General's Awards The at-chitectut·al team of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects has been awat·ded its second Governot· Genet·al's Awat·d this year for their Led bury Park redesign. The fi t·st GG was granted in 1994 for their Laneway House. In addition to theit· two awat·ds, Brigitte and Howat·d have also been honoured with th t·ee merit awat·ds, fo t· a gat·den pavilion in 1992, for a house on Horse Lake in 1994 and for the populat· Ct·aven Road House of Robet·t Hill in 1997.

Also t·eci pients of an awat·d wet·e Levitt Goodman Architects Ltd., fot· Strachan House, a 19th century warehouse renovated to provide shot·t- and long-tet·m shelte1· fo t· chronically homeless people.

Historic Park Plaza Gets New Addition The fi t·m of Harry Christakis Architect Incorporated has just completed a t·enovation and addition to the New Pat·k Hyatt Hotel at Bloot· Stt·eet and Avenue Road in Tomnto. The histot·ic (and designated) main structut·e designed by Hugh Holman in 1929 1·etains its exte t· i o t~ vit·tually intact. The northern addition designed by Petet· Dicki nson of Page & Steele in 1956 has been completely revamped. Pmject contributot·s wet·e: intet·ior designet· Lynn W ilson, VOA lnte t·iot· Design Associates, the Yol les Pat·tnet·sh ip, Landscape At-chiteds Ferris+ Quinn and mechanical and electrical consu ltants MCW.

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Drawings John Bobaljik OAA, FRAIC

Two short decades ago we did not have fax machines in our- offices, nor­were we comfor-table with voice mail, email (or~ for- that matter~ wer-e we ver-y comfor-table with any kind of mail). Dr-awings were mainly dr-awn by hand on paper- or- mylar and you had to make a choice between Lemy and Letraset for- titles.

Computer-aided dr-awing was exceptionally expensive and painfully slow (but we r-ationalized that it was wor-th the expense for the impr-oved accur-acy, the tremendous r-eduction in paper and, after- all, it was the way of the future). Virtual r-eality was virtually unheard of. and we wer-e busily lear-ning new meanings to old wor-ds. Words such as "vir-us", "crash", "book­mar-k", "layering", "plot" and "Window" as well as some new words such as "hyper! ink", "tool bar-s" and "megabytes" o-ept into our- vocabular-ies. Rapidly fading wer-e memor-ies of H and F leads, and the familiar- hatching standby, the 6H ( or- as the r-eally old timer-s called it "r-usty nail"). I mused that the cur-r-ent gener-ation of dr-awer-s of dr-awings employing the state-of-the­art electronic mode would look as blank in expr-ession when hearing talk of the "good old days" when drawings wer-e on a toothy mylar- or- I OOOH

Clear-print, vellum or- sketching paper (sometimes referred to as "thinking paper-") as wer-e the dr-aftsmen of two decades ago when talk was of the really toothy medium called linen and blue prints really were blue with white lines and text. Pencil on linen took some pr-actice to master~ and the ultimate was ink on linen. If you wanted the dr-awing to last "for-ever-",

you drew it in ink on linen, and this maxim lasted over- a century.

Imagine going back yet further- in time when at the ear-ly stages of linen, they asked, "Can you remember- when we had to draw on that fiimsy and inconsistent papyrus ?"And even further- back before that when they asked, "Do you r-emember when we had to have the drawings carved in stone ?"When you compar-e the various media used in the gr-aphic r-epr-esentation of our- pr-ofession against a time line, it can be r-eadily obser-ved that the acceleration of change is r-apidly ino-easing. As much fun as it is to look at the past, it is o-itical to look to the futur-e (which will happen a lot faster- than most ar-e pr-epar-ed for- if the r-ecent past is an indicator-).

As we str-uggle day to day with the fear-s of the unknown in r-eleasing dr-awings in electr-onic for-mat (e.g. What can other-s do to my drawings? How will I know what they have done?

etc. ) we may lose sight of some little-known uncer-tainties. For- example: It is generally known that magnetic discs of electr-onic drawings deterior-ate. However~ no one seems to know what the extent of the deter-ior-ation is, or- how long it will take for- discemable deterior-ation to occur~ If it doesn't occur, how long will it be before the then-cun-ent computer-s will no longer- be able to r-ead the discs? This has already been exper-ienced by people whose sr;4 inch fioppy discs ar-e no longer- accepted by curTent machines, and the older ones were not r-eplaced in favour of newer~ cheaper~ bigger~ faster equipment. Reminisce on the past, enjoy the present but keep an eye out for the futur-e!

john Boboljik is the OAA Practice Advisor

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by Domenic Meffe, OAA, MRAIC

Architectut"ai Digt,essions; here lies out" sotTy fate, only architects would considet" new roles (i.e. new markets) a digt·ession. At DOMUS At·chitects, we aggt·essively digt,ess.

Mot"e specifical ly, we have become the dt"eaded contt"actot~ Yes, that steel-toed, self-made expert of t he constt·uction industt"y; risky perhaps, but I believe that t he at·t of architectut·e can only lie in t he building of buildings.

In The Gutenbut"g Galaxy, Marshall McLuhan hypothesized that the technological 1·evolution would take out· perceptive senses t hrough a unpt·ecedented journey only to lead us fu ll cit·cle back to out· mots, returning us to OUI" mot·e pt"imitive and integrated selves - t·andom and lateral th inking -more akin to generalists than specialists. As odd as it may sound, architects being contt"actors is, in my view, a logical and despet"ately needed next step, in th is technological t·evolution.

The historical evolution that began with the mastet" builder - artist/scient ist/ buildet· who, w ith a group o f at·tisans, built bui ldings - has thus far ft"agmented and compartmentalized the at-chitectut·al and constt"UCtion industt"Y to extt·aot·dinat·y levels.The atThitect is perceived o f as more of a permitting agent, along w ith othet" specialists such as, interiot· designers, decoratot"S, plannet·s, marketing consultants, code consultants, lobbyists, constt·uction managet·s, etc., not t o mention the endless groups of design committees and political bodies. It could even be argued that t he architect has become little more than anothet· subt t"ade, along with cat·pentet·s and plumbet·s. To some extent the t ypica l Design­Build scenat·io is the ultimate expression of th is subtrade mentality, having even further fragmented not only the consultant team but also the sub-trades. But as architects, we at·e high ly educated, the most liable, and the best able to bind al l these groups

into a single vision. In the McLuhan model, we have

entet"ed the second phase of the revolution w here, I believe, t hat fot· the vast majot·ity of t he wot·k, the concept of t he Master Buildet· is more technologically relevant than evet· befot"e.

I would define a Master Builder as an architect who likes to build, who, with the ownet~ tenders out work to the sub,trades dit·ectly. and employs no genet·aJ contt"acto t~ The Master Bui ldet· constt·uction method has a great many advantages as well as t·isks. Issues such as budgeting, coordination, schedul ing etc, become simplified, however, one of the greatest advantages lies in the Mastel" Buildet-'s ability to deal dit·ectly with t he t rades (the actual "bu ildet·s"). The long term benefit of th is dealing direct process, is that relationships between ownet~ designet~ and actual builders can now develop, so t hat quality wot"kmanship and price become the basis of pt·equalificat ion, t·athe t· than insut,ance and administrative capacity

So if maste1· building sounds so logical, why at·en't we doing more of it? Fit·stly, because we find it rathet· dit·ty wot·k compared to t he Prismacolot· atThitectut"e we all dt"eam of. Secondly. as a t"esult of this dt·eam, we at·e unpt·epared and even afraid of this new ro le. A nd lastly, w ho would believe t hat the best -trained expert s in the const t·uction industt·y could actually build?

The solution lies in tht"ee wot·ds: acceptance, wi llingness and awat·eness.

By acceptance, I mean, shattet·ing t he dream of being designers only. Like it or not we play one of the most significant roles in the building of buildings. Those w ho wish only t o dt·aw or write about architecture should be given different titles, perhaps at-chitectural t heorists or critics. Once we accept the fact that we are buildet·s, t hen too, we must accept , w ith gt,eat enthusiasm, all those mundane yet popu lat" tools, such as

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budgeting, bui lding codes, coot"dination, supet·vision, wot·king dt·awings, specifications, etc.

By wi ll ingness, I mean taking t·isks, in order to survive in an economic battle of the centut·y In the well-known on-line gt"aduation speech attributed to Ku t·t Vonnegut, advice included: "Do[ing] one thing evet·yday that scat,es you." It seems to me that with architecture being eroded fi·om all sides, the only way to return some meaning to t he pmfession and its role in out· society is to t"eclaim its p lace as the most influential membet· of the constt·uction team, and put back the at·t in at"chitecture. If nothing else out" role as the great general ist, should help us 1·eclaim this esteemed posit ion.

Lastly, by awat·eness I t"efe t" to both professional training and public awakening. In an AIBC survey of the popular perception of at·chitects, conducted near ly ten yeat·s ago, two memot·able points emet·ged. When t"espondents wet·e asked whom they would call fit"St if they wanted to bui ld a build ing, the answer was: (over" whelmingly.) a contt·actor. And when asked whom they would ca ll fi r st if they wanted a permit, the answer was: an at-ch itect. We need to regain the public 's confidence and undet"­standing of our expel'tise as builders, not just pet·mit facili t atot·s ot· designet·s.

This of course leads us to the issue of professional tt"aining. First, we need to convince out·selves that we are in fact buildet·s, even Mastet· Buildet·s, not just designers or pet·mit fac il itat OI"S. Then we need to establ ish some sot·t of post-graduate ot· pre-professional appt·enticeship pmgt·amme as an intensive uash-cout·se in bu ilding. Maybe we could cal l it the Post-At·c Centt·e for Maste1· Builders.

Some may argue that th is Mastet· Builder idea is a desperate gt·ab at mat·ket shat·e, ot· a na·ive historical t·evival ism. My view is that it is neithet· of these. It is the next logical step in the technological revolution, and that its promise of value-added management of construction is most surely in the public's interest. The nineties will pmbably be remembet·ed as the decade of but·eauo·atic, corporate, industt·ial and political rest t·uctut·ing - streamlining, and integration. Why not refot·m one of the single largest industt·ies in the western wodd, and bt·ing t he at·t back into building, sut·ely it cou ld use it!

Domenic A Meffe is Principal of Domus ArchiteclS

and President of Domus Build.

As always. Digressions expresses the opinions of ilS

author and not necessarily those of the OM or the

Pe1·spectives Editorial Committee.

(./)

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by Stephen Otto

The Monument to William Thomas

A pmject has been unde1· way fo1· the last few years to 1·estore the monument on the plot in St. James Cemetery,Tomnto, where a1-chitect William Thomas and his family a1·e buried, and to erect a plaque the1·e .

William Thomas ( 1799- 1860) is almost too well­known to need intmduction. After emig1·ating fmm England in 1843, he settled in Tomnto and was 1·esponsible for designing such notable city landmarks as St. Lawrence Hall, St. Michael's Cathedral and the Don Jail. His many other Canadian works include Brock's Monument at Queenston, as well as churches and public buildings in Guelph, Halifax, Hamilton, London, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Quebec City. He was founding president of the Association of Architects, Civil Engineers and Pmvincial Land Surveyors of Canada, the earliest pmfessional body of its kind in the country.

Thomas was the subject of a handsome book by Glenn McA1·thur and Annie Szamosi published in 1996, an entry in vo lume VIII of the Dictionary of Canadian Biog1·aphy, and a National Histo1·ic Sites Board plaque on Granville Street in Halifax, N.S.

In his will, Thomas left fifty pounds fo1· the e1·ection of a suitable Gothic monument on his grave, "the design for such monument to be selected from my own wol'i< on Monumental designs." His book, Designs for Monuments and Chimney Pieces, appeared shortly before his depa1·tu1·e fmm England. Sadly, notwithstanding his request, his wishes were not can·ied out even though two of his sons, William Tutin Thomas and Cy1·us Pole Thomas, were a1-chitects themselves. Thomas and his wife Martha were bu1·ied unde1· a stone he had designed about 1850 for the graves of three of thei1· ch ildren who predeceased them, but thei1· names were not added to the inscription on this marker.

By the eal'ly 1990s the monument was in poo1· shape. Fo1·med of fou1· great monoliths of Ohio sandstone sitting on a base and held together by morta1· and a capstone, it was soiled with grime and damaged by seeping 1·ain and melting snow. The su1iace of the stone had spa lied so much that the inscription was nea1·ly illegible. In places, the mo1·tar had fallen away and in the hollow interio1~ a squirrel or chipmunk had made its home.

Clea1·ly, something needed to be done. Happily, a gmup came together under the leadership of Steve

Left to right: Micheal McClelland, Ann Lawson, Bill Greer, Alan Seymour, Spencer Higgins and Michael Lazure, great, great, great grandson o(William Thomas.

Otto, and arranged to have the monument restored gratis by some of the most skilled practitione1·s in their 1·espective fields. Thomann-Ham·y of Montreal sent men and equipment to Tomnto to clean the stone; A1·contest ofTomnto did specialized gmuting, 1·epairs and conservation; Cliffo1·d Restoration of Tomnto dismantled and 1·e-erected the monument using a special lime mortal~ Unilit, supplied by Liner Rolpanit ofToronto. Plewman Roofing donated and installed a heavy sheet of lead directly below the capstone to prevent moistu1·e fmm seeping into the verticals. The count1·y's leading firm of resto1·ation architects, Spencer R. Higgins, A1-chitect, Incorporated, pmvided specifications and supervised the work at every stage.

Donations to the pmjett have been made by the Onta1·io Heritage Foundation, the Ontario Association of Architects, the A1-chitectural Conse1·vancy of Ontario, seve1·al membe1·s of the Thomas Family and other individuals.

A plaque commemo1·ating Thomas's accomplishments and noting that William and Ma1·tha Thomas we1·e bu1·ied the1·e with foul- of thei1- child1·en was unveiled on 6 June 1999, the 200th anniversary ofWilliam Thomas's bi1·th.

Stephen Otto is a professional consuiUng historian

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