Bad Buildings recently had the unusual ambivalent fortune (that is to say, neither good nor bad; we're reserving judgment lest you get the impression we're an urbanity snob—heaven forbid) of traveling north on Hurontario Street in Mississauga, past the intersection of Burnamthorpe Road. For the urbanity snobs among you, this would be Mississauga downtown—a nifty bit of urban planning that says, hey, we CAN build a "city" out of nuthin'. (Note ambivalent tone torquing only-and-ever-so-slightly)... [continue]

Vancouver Central Public Library photo by lindn. Bad Buildings has always looked around this town of ours and bemoaned its lack of architectural cojones. For the most part, our buildings are safe, functional and dull (Four Seasons Centre, we're looking at you). Now and again, though, we've been graced (or cursed) with real bursts of boldness—risky designs that challenge the monotone drabness that pervades our built environment. The question is, though, is it enough... [continue]

Robarts is sinking. And no, we're not talking about Sam, the actor, and the dwindling of his already-iffy reputation since a stint on the stinkiest of stinky TV shows, CSI. Besides, he's spelled Robards, but if we must stretch for the metaphor, we'll do it. No, we mean John P. Robarts, as in the awful main humanities library on the otherwise (largely) splendiferous University of Toronto campus. We mean not to dogpile on poor Robarts,... [continue]

Ladies and gentlemen, your humble critic is a little verklempt. Quite touched, were we, by the outpouring of support for our endeavour, and the flood of new Facebook friends we’ve open-armedly received since our maiden voyage on Torontoist last week. We have, it seems, touched a nerve; we're grateful to Torontoist for helping us, er, touch it. But on with the show. All the wishes Bad Buildings received were not sunshine and roses. Oh, no.... [continue]

Welcome to Bad Buildings, Torontoist's new resident (anonymous, outspoken) architecture critic. Bad Buildings will appear every Wednesday. Hi there. So glad you could make it. Then again, you didn't really have a choice, did you? This being Toronto, bad buildings, alas, are all around you. Which is why we at Bad Buildings exist—not merely to chastise, decry, ridicule and spite (though there will be plenty of that) but, ultimately, to make our own selves obsolete.... [continue]

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