Thank you to everyone who came out to the opening of “April 30, 1904” byTung>. It was great to see everyone! Thank you as well to Charlie from theToronto Distillery Co. for the awesome Junction-distilled gin and rye! Here are some pictures of the event.
Tung’s installation will be up at 386 Pacific Avenue all month in the window. Swing by during the day to see the timeline and map of the old bars inside our storefront gallery.
Thanks again, see you soon!
Studio Tung’s Installation “April 30, 1904”, hosted by Coolearth, was profiled this morning on BlogTO’s: “10 events to catch at Toronto Design Offsite 2015”
“Toronto Design Offsite (TO DO, for short) is once again poised to celebrate local design talent for another year, bringing a packed calendar of gallery exhibits, interactive installations, and design-oriented talks and panels… This window installation at Coolearth Architecture Inc. commemorates a little piece of Junction history – the day 10,000 residents packed local hotel bars to enjoy the last day of drinking before Prohibition was enacted in the neighbourhood. The installation features a mosaic of 10,000 shimmering bottle caps, as well as a supplementary exhibition exploring the history behind the event.” Via
Checkout the remaining profiled events to catch at the Toronto Design Offsite 2015 here
The installation will be up from January 19th to the 25th. If you are in the area swing by.
Join us from January 19-25, 2015 for the installation “April 30, 1904” by Tung studio as part of this years Toronto Offsite Design Festival. Swing by the office during work hours, or walk past the storefront at any-time to see the window installation!
On April 30, 1904, droves of thirsty Torontonians swarmed the Junction en masse for one final day of libatious celebration. According to The Toronto Daily Star,
“fully ten thousand men crowded the street cars to and from the city” and “in every one of the five hotels the drinkers were packed like sardines, and an extra force of bartenders worked like mad to supply their wants. The liquor flowed like water.”
The neighbourhood had just voted in favour of alcohol prohibition and this was the last day of legal alcohol sales in the Junction. Few could have predicted that the dry local option would be a drought lasting for nearly a century.
‘April 30, 1904′ is a site-inspired installation that pays tribute to this fascinating piece of Junction history. The alcohol ban, which was put to a referendum in 1997 and finally overturned in 2000, defined the neighbourhood for over 90 years. While in recent years, the Junction has undergone a dramatic revitalization, with a plethora of new bars and restaurants popping up, it is important to remember these past events to fully appreciate how the neighbourhood has transformed and where it is headed.
The focal point of the installation will be a large-scale, 10 ft. hanging grid of 10,000 metal bottle caps – a nod to the 10,000 Torontonians who coalesced in the Junction on that last “wet” day.
Seen from a distance, the gleaming round surfaces of the mass of bottle caps, in combination with the date of the commemorated event – will be an intriguing sight, encouraging curious passersby to stop and learn about that day. An accompanying exhibition where visitors can read more about this unique period of time in Junction history will be held in the Coolearth foyer, behind the installation.
Installation by Tung.
Hope to see you there!
Last Firday Sheena Sharp, a principal at Coolearth was elected to be the Ontario Association of Architect representative on the Toronto 2030 District Advisory Board. 2030 Districts are urban areas that have committed to meeting the energy, water, and transportation emissions reduction targets of the 2030 Challenge for Planning.
2030 Districts are unique private/public partnerships that bring property owners and managers together with local governments, businesses, and community stakeholders to provide a business model for urban sustainability through collaboration, leveraged financing, and shared resources. – Jeff Ranson (via)
2030 Districts are public/private partnerships that bring property owners and managers together with government, businesses, and community members to create a business case for urban sustainability through dialogue, financing, and resources. The are groups of building owners, mangers, and stakeholders who are taking initiative to reduce the environmental impact of buildings in their area.
These initiatives, in combination with legislation such as Energy Disclosure By-laws will work together to address and mitigate the emission of buildings.
Congratulations to Sheena, and best of luck in her role on Toronto 2030 District Advisory Board.
After a successful run during the Centre for City Ecology‘s exhibit “How does your City Grow?”, the AoUC’s (Agents of Urban Change) interactive density model has been relocated and revised for operation in the Junction! Now located at Coolearth’s office in the heart of the Junction, the installation will be running for the month of December. Stop by on Sunday December 7th during “Santa in the Junction” for cookies, cocoa, and discussions with AoUC’s Craig England.
Agents of Urban Change developed this interactive density model as a hands-on tool to explore the impact of density in our neighbourhoods. Drop by the exhibit and see how density impacts your neighbourhood. How does increasing density affect public transportation times? How much energy do we consume? Manipulate the blocks on this interactive display to build your neighbourhood and visualize the impacts of different building typologies and densities in our city.
The intent of the model interface is to kickstart conversation regarding density through interaction with the installation. Participants can select building blocks from the inventory and place them on the aerial plan. As the blocks are placed, their respective typological information is projected in real time so that the user can visualize the impact of their development beyond just the physical aspect of the building form.
The AoUC are continually evolving this tech interface for future exhibits and interactive planning opportunities, and welcome any constructive feedback or support.
The City of Toronto is looking at implementing an Energy Disclosure Requirement for Large Buildings in 2015.
Based on the research findings, and subsequent stakeholder engagement process, a proposed by-law and implementation plan will be presented to City Council for consideration in 2015 – City of Toronto Staff Report, July 2014
At Coolearth, to help building owners, managers, and users understand how this Energy Disclosure By-Law will impact them we prepared a research paper. The paper surveys energy disclosure and benchmarking laws from cities around the United States, Europe and Australia with the aim of demonstrating how stakeholders, as well as the environment can benefit from these by-laws.
The heating, cooling, and servicing of buildings accounts for over 50% of the overall greenhouse gas emissions in Toronto and represents 30% of a typical US office building operating costs, according to the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (1).
At first it may seem paradoxical that these by-laws can benefit owners, but by making energy use apparent and by plotting energy consumption trends owners can actually reduce utility costs without capital expenses: by changing the behaviour of occupants and encouraging sustainable practices. These by-laws further allow owners to better allocate capital for upgrades and improvements in order to find more value for their dollars. And perhaps most importantly, in cities where these by-laws have been implemented there has been found a market demand for “sustainable buildings” which makes them more valuable then their “non-sustainable” peers.
To learn more please visit the research paper or call us at 416-868-9774 for more information.
