Allan Teramura

A bowdlerized version of this place isn't conservation; it's morbid and embarassing. Let it go.

Photo of York Street as it is today: a parking lot with a dramatic view

Thumbnail sketch of York St with cars removed

Taking this news as an excuse to re-post a now 10-year-old sketch of York St as a pedestrian precinct. Thought at the time 2017 celebrations would justify a legacy project and pitched this to various councillors. Instead we got the baffling shipping containers. tinyurl.com/35rrjam4 #urbanism

Northern Italy, 1988

Saint John NB, on a hill overlooking the harbour

View of a masonry wall undergoing conservation

View of underside of a brick vault with cracks

Work well under way on the interior masonry of the Carleton Martello Tower, as the forest of shoring posts start to be removed. #heritage #saintjohn

Architecture no longer considered a "professional degree" in USA Students in the USA will receive lower loans under the terms of the One Big Beautiful Bill as architecture will not be considered a professional degree.

The AIA’s appeasement campaign under Trump 1.0 made me wonder just how MAGA the profession is in the US, or if it’s just that organization’s leadership. Hope they’re not still employing that strategy but if they are it’s clearly not working for students: www.dezeen.com/2025/11/24/a...

Photo of spiral ramp in Ottawa Train Station (Architizer)

Favourite journey: travel here by train from Parkin's Ottawa Train Sration

There will only be one viable option: more intense commercial development, whatever that looks like then.

Lansdowne 3.0 happens when the waterproofing under the roads protecting the parking structure fails and we’re told the structure cannot be saved. Likewise the retail will be “at the end of its service life.” By then no-one will be sorry to see the deteriorating, unloved box stores go.

Rendering of timber screen on north side stands at Lansdowne Park

Rendering of timber screen on north side stands at Lansdowne Park

At least the costly promised-but-never-built timber screens on the north side stand do not have to be demolished to make way for more condos in 2.0.

If this can be made to work it could help bring about the revival of the 1920s walk-up apartment building – single stair, no parking – which would be a great thing.

From the firefighting perspective this would need to be sorted out. Not that it’s insurmountable, but I haven’t seen this part of the discussion anywhere.

Her response was that it was probably worth studying, but also informed me that in places where single exits are permitted, the response to fire alarms is to shelter-in-place, not evacuate as we have been drilled to do. Integrity of exits is therefore less critical.

Years ago I floated this idea with a fire protection engineer I hoped to enlist in a pilot study for this type of housing solution. Like most architects I wondered why this was possible in Europe but not here.

Not an original idea, but I used ‘Moving Surfaces’ to frame the Aberdeen Pavillion for the ‘Lansdowne’ photo in Andrew Waldron’s architectural guidebook, ‘Exploring the Capital’. The piece does act as a visual and imaginative anchor for the place.

Original proposed site plan for Lansdowne circa 2008

How it started. Would not be surprising to see towers populating the "Great Lawn" someday.

Rendering of an unbuilt public square at Lansdowne Park

Rendering of an unbuilt public square at Lansdowne Park

Rendering of an unbuilt public square at Lansdowne Park

@bsky.app A few images of Lansdowne 1.0 as depicted by OSEG 15 years ago, and approved by Council. The promised public space was not provided, but is instead large format commercial space. #Ottawa

Ariel with Isabel

I am thrilled to introduce Isabel Teramura to the Somerset Ward team as a policy and planning assistant. Isabel has a Master’s degree in Geography, Planning and Environment and specializes in housing policy.

The Terms of Reference for the architectural competitions that produce these kinds of results are extremely easy to find, even in Canada.

Photo of faded supergraphic mural on the Burton Cummings Theatre in Winnipeg

Early mural by my 1st year studio prof Winston Leathers now turning into a ghost sign, posing a #conservation question: let it fade away like many others around it or restore its original 70s pop intensity? #modern #heritage

Finally building that monorail, I hope.

Photo of Avenue du Mont-Royal, Montreal on a weekday afternoon, full of people walking, no cars

However, we broke it, which means we can fix it. #urbanism

View of downtown Ottawa today with some cars but characteristically few people. Nobody wants to be here unless they're being paid.

The narrow sidewalks, signage clutter, harsh lighting, traffic signals and of course all the parking infrastructure are retrofitted coping mechanisms to deal with a bad personal transportation solution we've all bought into. #baddesign #carsruincities

19th century downtown Ottawa, street scene with several people on bikes, two streetcars, and more people than you typically see walking on a downtown street today.

We are constantly told streets are designed for cars. While this may be true of areas built after WW2, it's obviously not true of central areas which were planned well before their invention. Easy to forget that downtown streets were optimized for walking, riding #bikes and public #transit #Ottawa

Watson hated the NCC for "micromanaging" city projects. Those of us who work with the NCC in a professional capacity know this practice as "complying with quality standards." Not difficult if you share the committment to good design.

Could it be that regular people, unlike contracting officers, know instinctively that capital costs are dwarfed by operating costs over the life of a building?

The NCC is effectively the municipal government as far as the quality of the public realm is concerned because it has a mandate to actually care about these things

Ottawa seems to be governed as though the area a couple of square kms around City Hall is a kind of DMZ that suburban politicians grudgingly traverse by car and as quickly as possible.

Jesus Christ.

A standing ovation — from Liberals too — for Charlie Kirk in the Canadian House of Commons.

You can (and should) oppose political violence without doing all this, you know.