Looks like home EDITORIAL GLASS CANADA October 2017 Volume 29 • Number 5 Annex Business Media P.O. Box 530, Simcoe, Ontario N3Y 4N5 EDITOR | Patrick FLANNERY pflannery@annexweb.com 226.931.0545 SALES MANAGER | Danielle LABRIE dlabrie@annexweb.com 519.429.5187 ACCOUNT COORDINATOR | Stephanie DeFIELDS sdefields@annexweb.com 519.429.5196 | 888.599.2228 ext. 257 MEDIA DESIGNER | Alison KEBA DIRECTOR OF SALES/GROUP PUBLISHER | Martin McANULTY mmcanulty@annexweb.com COO | Ted MARKLE tmarkle@annexweb.com PRESIDENT & CEO | Mike FREDERICKS Publication Mail Agreement #40065710 Printed in Canada ISSN 0843-7041 CIRCULATION email: asingh@annexbizmedia.com Tel: 416-510-5189 Fax: 416-510-5170 Mail: 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Canada -1 Year $36.75 (includes GST) ($39.55 includes HST/QST) U.S.A. -1 Year $50.00 (in US dollars) Occasionally, Glass Canada will mail informationon behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above. Annex Privacy Officer privacy@annexbizmedia.com Tel: 800-668-2374 No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permis-sion. ©2017 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions. All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval. Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the prod-ucts or services advertised. Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of the publication. Building facades need to change for urban environments. Canadian author Margaret Atwood has been in the news lately over her opposition to a modest three-storey high-rise development proposed in her posh Annex neighbourhood in Toronto. It’s a leafy suburb that is one of the few remaining areas in the city with big houses, big yards and relatively convenient access to the downtown core. The papers love the story because of the whiff of hypocrisy. Atwood (author of The Handmaid’s Tale ) is a noted liberal and envi-ronmental activist who we would presume is a proponent of urban densification. But when those densely packed masses are looking down into her multi-million-dollar back yard...not so much. It’s easy to chuckle over the prospect of Canadian royalty like Atwood looking out her kitchen window and seeing a guy like me doing Tai Chi in his Speedo on his balcony (Have you seen the Home Hardware commercial? Cracks me up every time). But I can muster up some sympathy because some substan-tial money is at stake here. Houses in her part of the Annex go for anywhere from $3 to $6 million. Having bought your little chunk of paradise, a high-rise getting plunked down next door could strip hundreds of thousands or millions off the value of your asset in NEXT ISSUE one stroke. Even for people who can afford it, this • Energy seems a harsh fate. Yet conflicts of this kind will only efficiency become more common as cities struggle to balance their mandate to stop sprawl with the rights of exist-• Adhesives and ing homeowners. sealants Maybe there is something our industry can do to help. Judging from the aesthetics of the condos flying up along the Gardiner, I wonder if we are putting enough thought into how our new buildings look and how they integrate with the existing built environment. Would someone like Atwood complain if the new building was attractive and architecturally interesting? Well, probably, but maybe less. After all, she does live close to Casa Loma, which is quite a bit more than three stories high but could hardly be deemed an eyesore. Short of building faux-medieval castles, perhaps there is an opportunity for more creative and attractive facades using custom-made curtainwall, windows and window wall solutions. Maybe the harsh straight lines and glinting metal of standard high-rise construction can give way to something more muted and homey that works on a suburban boulevard. It would seem the opportunity is there for anyone who wants to try, as multi-family residential projects continue to surge in all metropolitan areas. If you are experimenting with new window wall designs, you’ll want to check out our cover story in this issue by the good men of Morrisson Hershfield, George Torok and Yvon Chiasson. Last issue, they told us how window wall has changed over the years and what the codes and standards are calling for now. This issue, they’re telling us how to go beyond the codes and achieve results that will meet the approval of even an angry novelist. • @GlassCanadaMag www.glasscanadamag.com 4 October 2017 | GLASS CANADA
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