142 & 146 Fergus Avenue | 7 fl | Proposed

[creative]

Can I ask an architecture/planning history question?

How did the market incentivize “beauty” in the past but we have completely lost it now? What’s in our current business model that allows developers to not build things for humans to actually enjoy? How did people 100 years ago make tenements for lower income residents that were beautiful and lasted for decades?

I guess I just wonder about design committees - since we didn't need them in the past, so what's special about now?

Beauty in architecture has been at a loss due to the evolution of capitalism and individualism. As the decades went on, money became all that mattered in the world. The economic and philosophical shift in Western societies has resulted in what we see around us these days. Now of course there is still wonderful architecture - probably now more than ever - but there is also an abundance of buildings, meaning so many of them are designed without putting any necessity on the aesthetics. The failure of social democracy to really get a foothold in the 1960s within Western democracies also resulted in capital being seen as more important and more useful. With that, became less willingness to design projects for the people. Now, it's all major multinational corporations, investment banks, real estate trusts, unchecked foreign investment now that foreign people see Canada as just a place to buy up properties, developers who genuinely do want to build midrise or highrise projects in cities like ours but who are confined by budgets and so on.

We still design gorgeous housing, factories, offices, single detached homes and have them look incredible. Here are totally random examples...

• A small home in Montreal: https://divisare.com/projects/445183-pel...-residence
  
• A warehouse in Spain: https://divisare.com/projects/460163-man...vation-hub
  
• A swiss prison: https://divisare.com/projects/338287-arc...brenaz-100
  
• An incredible French parking garage: https://divisare.com/projects/447700-rau...ve-housing
  

Compare that to a project like the one this thread is about, you know for sure the developer didn't give 1 shit about what this looked like. They had a parcel of property and then spent as little money as possible on it with the only real goal being to earn money. Because that's all so many developers care about. The profit they make.

Midrise buildings can be nice. Very nice. Just check out these:

• Here's a nice one in London (England): https://divisare.com/projects/475329-ree...in-barking
  
• Here's a really striking complex of high tech looking buildings but with lots of gorgeous wood in Luxembourg: https://divisare.com/projects/474665-ama...luxembourg
  
• Here's a great one in Nantes, France. I adore those balconoies on the white buildings: https://divisare.com/projects/474228-dea...jerez-onyx
  

There's no reason we can't have that here other than it would appear we have no standards. A design review panel is looking like a great idea going forward. And us citizens need to be vocal and integrated into our communities more. Let's face it, the average person doesn't really give a shit about this stuff - but they should. We need to bring back a sense of community pride amongst those who live here, who can demand (even more than we do now) more parks, rest areas, bike infrastructure, recreation, shops and nice homes to live in and which can harmonize within our existing communities. It shouldn't just be a handful of decision makers sitting in council chambers, rich developers and small brigades of NIMBYs who get to have the most impact on this place.

I would say, apart from the capital issue, is that there is no will to see this stuff created. At least not here. You can find plenty of beautiful buildings in Europe and there is some higher degree of standard expected and which people must oblige by. I've worked many years in Germany, France and Ireland. Also many years in Canada. I just feel like we don't care as much in North America. We're an apathetic people.

I would love to see your portfolio of projects that you have designed/worked on. If one exists I and I’m sure others would love to see your work.