Stefan Novakovic

Train brain is an expensive affliction in Canada Two days of my life are spent travelling 450 kilometres and back. That's just crazy in this day and age.

I took Via Rail from Toronto to Ottawa and back. Not a big deal, you would think, except it took up two days of my life and cost me hundreds of dollars on top of the ticket. lloydalter.substack.com/p/train-brai...

Multiculturalism Shapes Canadian Life. Does it Shape our Architecture? — EXPO the magazine As the country’s diverse, multi-ethnic population now finds proud expression in arts and culture, the built environment stands at the precipice of a quiet evolution.  

"Multiculturalism Shapes Canadian Life. Does it Shape our Architecture?" Read the inaugural essay in my new monthly series of Canadian architecture criticism — EXPO. www.expothemagazine.com/expo-essays/...

What the Data Center Boom Means for Planners It’s tempting to write off the havoc that data centers are wreaking in communities across the country as an IT problem. The truth? It’s a planning problem.

'Based on estimates I’ve seen, a single data center campus would have an annual carbon footprint equivalent to the emissions of about 80,000 passenger vehicles in a year.'

so... that means capturing waste heat from data centers is not circularity.

www.planetizen.com/blogs/137025...

Members of Canada's military may have been involved in planning U.S. strikes on Iran, retired general says | CBC News A retired Canadian major-general says personnel on exchange with U.S. Central Command were likely involved in planning and targeting airstrikes on Iran unless Ottawa explicitly barred participation. A...

So it looks like Carney not only supports this US-Israel illegal war against Iran, but that he was dishonest when he said that Canada isn’t participating militarily. Yet, Canadian army, airforce and navy members are actively engaged in the targeting efforts and in this attack as “exchange officers.”

An Architectural History of the Condominium — EXPO the magazine As pre-construction sales and project launches slow to a trickle, is the end of Canada’s condo era in sight? And what comes next?

In the second issue of EXPO, I look at the history of the condominium in Canada. Why did condos become the primary mode of delivering multi-unit urban housing? Why did we build so many? And what happens now that nobody's buying?

The Role of Historic Preservation in the Rise of New York Mega-Mansions Ultra-rich buyers are carving out mega-mansions in historic NYC neighborhoods. Also: Oslo’s new government quarter aims for openness

The final form of historic preservation is a Gilded Age mansion where 10 apartments used to be: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Thanks!

An Architectural History of the Condominium — EXPO the magazine As pre-construction sales and project launches slow to a trickle, is the end of Canada’s condo era in sight? And what comes next?

In the second issue of EXPO, I look at the history of the condominium in Canada. Why did condos become the primary mode of delivering multi-unit urban housing? Why did we build so many? And what happens now that nobody's buying?

A chart I just want to bring to every housing conversation in the city of Toronto. H/T to @jensvb.bsky.social

Many people in South Africa, where Elon is from, died to create a genuinely multiracial polity. They were killed by people who thought like Elon.

The people who thought like Elon also lost. Seems their “common culture” of white supremacy wasn’t enough.

bsky.app/profile/alan...

(3XN’s Fish Market does seem lovely though.)

I can’t believe we’re already circling back around to the Bilbao Effect…

📢 @brenttoderian.bsky.social

Rubbing digital shoulders w/ @mbonsma.bsky.social @novakovicto.bsky.social @ianwalker.bsky.social @jaypitter.bsky.social @sgoodyear.bsky.social @davidzipper.bsky.social @modacitylife.com @tomflood.bsky.social @jasonthorne.bsky.social & @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social !✊🏾

We know gentle density can work; replace a single detached with a few townhomes, adding SDUs, even modest 4 st apartments that are well designed doesn’t alter the overall community, creates housing opportunities and sustainable #PlacesForPeople
@novakovicto.bsky.social
@alexbozikovic.bsky.social

that's riiight

“If we want to create change in Canada - if we want to have more people from communities who aren't only represented - the answer isn't to move towards tokenization and propping people up. The answer is to give people the tools to prop themselves up.” Sarah Jama Former Member of Provincial Parliament Hamilton Centre MPP Independent

February 11th of #BlackHistoryMonth in #TorontoDanforth Who were Lucie and Thornton Blackburn?

The Blackburns: Freedom seekers, entrepreneurs, anti-slavery activists and community benefactors and that was before they really got down to the business of transforming their new home of Toronto.

Important job alert! Toronto’s City Planning Division is looking for a new Director of Urban Design. If you have a passion for cities and for the importance of architecture, urban design, art and heritage in successful city-building, you should check out our job posting at tinyurl.com/3e8s3br8

Reading that there are only 5 fulltime salaried books critics now bsky.app/profile/adam...

It's been a while since we did the architecture critic headcount but I think it is about the same

A wonderful piece on how our ideas of self and society are always being made and unmade.

View from inside of Eglinton Crosstown LRT above ground with doors open

Excited to ride the Eglinton Crosstown LRT! First take: it’s a lot better (faster, more comfortable) underground than above ground. It gets way slower, and you’re stopped outside in freezing February with doors open. A subway underground, a streetcar above. 1 hr 7 min end to end for 19 km. Too slow.

Don’t let anybody tell you that developers won’t build single-stair buildings on larger sites. Three right in a row.

One of the ironies is the system (such as it is) is ostensibly built around protecting urban context, yet it fails to understand that a college campus is not rooted in the context that it's trying to protect in the first place. This has no connection to the Anglo-American collegiate language...

The end result is something the feels completely non-contextual to a college campus…

I don’t hate it but it’s a weird project — if we need a big new campus building let it be a big new campus building.

This is the “condo language” of Toronto architecture translated to an institutional setting. All the same moves — set backs, breaking up the massing, replicating the rhythm of varied storefronts at grade — in a different context. 1) It’s kind of forced. 2) That’s not what campuses feel like anyway.

thanks for tip, excited to see, just subscribed. Great stuff @novakovicto.bsky.social & @jacquelineloch.bsky.social 💯.
I've appreciated related @spacing.bsky.social magazine for yrs, esp while unplanned staying in TO in Sept-Dec. Got stack of old issues at Spacing store!
bsky.app/profile/alex...

Multiculturalism Shapes Canadian Life. Does it Shape our Architecture? — EXPO the magazine As the country’s diverse, multi-ethnic population now finds proud expression in arts and culture, the built environment stands at the precipice of a quiet evolution.  

. @novakovicto.bsky.social returns to the field with a new publication, Expo,
and an excellent essay on diversity in Canadian architefture. www.expothemagazine.com/expo-essays/...

Toronto cyclists frustrated by snow-blocked bike lanes week after record storm Biking advocate Michael Longfield of Cycle Toronto is calling on the city to communicate a clear plan for removing snow from bike lanes

Yes, we had a major snow event.

Yes, the city is triaging, and many sidewalks in particular still need work.

But it's been a week and arterial bikeways are remain unrideable and worse appear to be dumping grounds for snow-clearing.

What's the plan, Toronto?

www.torontotoday.ca/local/transp...

We are all immigrants. Unless you came over on the Mayflower. I am an immigrant to Canada having grown up in the US. America was built by immigrants. Some people have forgotten that.

Multiculturalism Shapes Canadian Life. Does it Shape our Architecture? — EXPO the magazine As the country’s diverse, multi-ethnic population now finds proud expression in arts and culture, the built environment stands at the precipice of a quiet evolution.  

"Multiculturalism Shapes Canadian Life. Does it Shape our Architecture?" Read the inaugural essay in my new monthly series of Canadian architecture criticism — EXPO. www.expothemagazine.com/expo-essays/...