‘IT’S VERY ECLECTIC’
Architect sees potential
A leading Ontario architect thinks Windsor is on the right track with redevelopment of its core urban areas, but says there’s still a way to go. John Stephenson, the president of the Association of Architects of Ontario, met for lunch with about 30 members of the Windsor Region Society of Architects at Vito’s Pizzeria on Wyandotte Street East in Walkerville on Wednesday and was taken on a tour of some of the city’s more interesting recent projects.
“It’s very eclectic, actually. There’s an interesting collection of older buildings, heritage buildings, that are getting paid attention to in various cases,” said Stephenson, who is based in Thunder Bay and became president of the OAA in March 2017. He also visited Windsor last fall and is somewhat familiar with the area because he has family in Sarnia.
The OAA oversees more than 6,000 architects and related professions through 13 regional associations across the province. Every fall, the sitting president visits each of the associations. “The area where we were for lunch, Walkerville, is interesting to see,” Stephenson said after his Windsor visit.
“Some nice fine commercial buildings, 100 years old or so — that make for an interesting landscape. Some really interesting modern buildings I saw walking around in that area as well.” Stephenson also got a tour of the University of Windsor’s new downtown School of Creative Arts complex — the former Windsor Armouries — on University Avenue East. “I was really impressed with that,” Stephenson said. “That’s a really nicely done adaptive reuse of an old heritage building, and then the new building adjacent to it, for that program, is a really interesting modern building.” Stephenson said there is promise for Windsor going forward, but there are no quick fixes.
“It’s a mix,” Stephenson said. “It’s like most communities of this scale, it’s a real grab bag, it’s a real mix. “I think it could benefit from more of an urban design approach. Particularly the areas we visited, they seemed a little disjointed, not connected, not well-connected to each other and not part of an overall system.
“But what I saw were areas that were indicative of transition, areas where redevelopment is starting to happen and investment in older buildings is staring to happen and perhaps it just needs more time.”