Yesterday my blog post was Doors Open Ottawa. Only Monday night did I realize we were in the middle of the virtual version of Doors Open. Click here for the full list of buildings included this year, some have virtual tours, some have videos, some have pics. My selection is of those that have clickable virtual tours. I did include one video, that is the visit of the US Embassy, hosted by my friend Katherine Brucker.

Click on the images to be taken to the virtual tours. From an architecture point of view my favorites are the Embassy of Hungary (if you only look at one, make it the one) and the John R. Booth Residence. From an artistic point of view, Enriched Bread Artists and the Ottawa Art Gallery are to be seen. In normal times, not to be missed is the Canada Council Art Bank which actually lets you wander and pull out the presentation racks revealing the treasures contained… Sigh!
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Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos (1870-1933) was an Austrian architect. He was very influential in the modern architecture style. Loos did not believe in exterior ornamentation; his interiors could be another story. Loos was born in Brno in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was a stonemason, a business his mother carried on after her husband’s death. After spending some time in the United States he returned and briefly associated himself with the Vienna Secession (the topic of a future blog post).
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Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895 – 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist. Fuller studied at Milton Academy and Harvard College. He was expelled from Harvard, twice. Once for spending all of his money on partying and another time for his lack of interest in non-conformity. That did not stop from obtaining 47 honorary degrees. Fuller is most famously known for the geodesic dome. He held 28 patents and authored 28 books, many of which are still in print. By many, he is known as the father of sustainability. He was also a poet and a philosopher. He was the second president of Mensa.
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Louis Kahn was an American architect (1901-1974). Subsequent to forming his own firm he also taught at the Yale School of Architecture as well as the University of Pennsylvania. His buildings were sculptural and massive. He was one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. His Parliament Buildings in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Jatiyo Sangshad Bhadan) was previously featured in Brutalist post.
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Sir Terry Farrell is a British architect. Farrell was born in Sale, Cheshire in 1938. He studied at Newcastle University and the University of Pennsylvania. His style is postmodern, for instance, the M16 Building. In 1980 he founded his own firm the Farrells. In 1991 he opened an office in Asia and created some iconic buildings there, including KK100, the Incheon International Airport, and the Beijing South railway station.
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A.M. Calderon is top right


Continuing our review of Canadian Architects today we discover Alfred Merigon Calderon (1861-1936). Calderon was born in England in. He was educated at Sevenoaks in Kent, the London University College School, and at the Royal Academy in London. He apprenticed with George E. Street in 1877. Next, he worked with Charles J. Ferguson. In 1887 he emigrated to Ottawa. He formed a partnership with King M. Arnoldi before opening his own practice. In 1902 he moved to the United States then returned to Canada in 1906 this time in Edmonton. After a couple of brief partnerships, he returned to working on his own. He worked in Alberta until 1930 then moved to British Columbia – where he is buried.
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In 2017 as part of the sesquicentennial celebrations, I attended a Heritage Ottawa talk by Rick MacEwen, a principal at Watson MacEwan Teramura Architects. MacEwen spearheaded the Ottawa Architects 150 project. Yesterday I pulled out the poster prepared for the event and thought, ok let’s see what we have. And so today we start with A.J. Hazelgrove.
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Michael Green, born in 1966, is a Canadian architect. In 2012, with partner Natalie Telewiak, he founded MGA / Michael Green Architecture. Their area of expertise is constructions made of timber. Green has written several books on constructing with timber. Here he shares his thoughts in a TED talk “Why we should build Wooden Skyscrapers”.
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