GPA Featured in Canadian Architecture: Evolving a Cultural Identity

September 3, 2021

GPA is fea­tured in the mile­stone anthol­o­gy Cana­di­an Archi­tec­ture: Evolv­ing a Cul­tur­al Iden­ti­ty. 

The book explores the Cana­di­an design realm through the lens of dozens of the top Archi­tec­tur­al prac­tices in the coun­try. Each firm is ref­er­enced through pro­files of a select few of their most pro­lif­ic projects, GPA’s being Regent Park’s Block 22 and the Flaire Con­do­mini­ums. Block 22 is pro­filed as a pri­ma­ry exam­ple of high-qual­i­ty, human scaled sub­si­dized hous­ing with it’s play­ful town­homes and tex­tur­al mid-rise tow­er. Flaire is fea­tured for it’s inno­v­a­tive in-the-round form, which pro­vides an organ­ic shape and priv­i­leged views from all sides, unlike most tra­di­tion­al con­dos with an eas­i­ly iden­ti­fi­able ‘front or back’. Both projects show­case GPA’s approach to design at a vari­ety of scales, as well as the firm’s larg­er con­tri­bu­tions to the city of Toron­to as a whole – Block 22 being a part of the exten­sive revi­tal­iza­tion of the Regent Park com­mu­ni­ty hous­ing dis­trict, and Flaire being a part of the Shops at Don Mills rede­vel­op­ment.

More from the pub­lish­er:

“Cana­di­an Archi­tec­ture: Evolv­ing a Cul­tur­al Iden­ti­ty sur­veys the country’s most accom­plished archi­tec­tur­al firms, whose work enhances cities and land­scapes across Canada’s geo­graph­i­cal­ly var­ied expanse. Author Leslie Jen explores a num­ber of sig­nif­i­cant projects in urban and rur­al environments—private res­i­dences, cul­tur­al and insti­tu­tion­al facil­i­ties, and demo­c­ra­t­ic pub­lic spaces—that pro­found­ly influ­ence our inter­ac­tions with each oth­er and the com­mu­ni­ties in which we live. Accom­pa­nied by stun­ning pho­tog­ra­phy, Cana­di­an Archi­tec­ture is a tes­ta­ment to a thriv­ing, diverse and inno­v­a­tive design cul­ture that con­tin­ues to play an inte­gral role in shap­ing our nation­al iden­ti­ty.”

Cana­di­an Archi­tec­ture can be pur­chased here.