The Globe and Mail

The best Canadian architecture is fundamentally aligned with the landscape; this idea is the impetus for Up North. Lisa Rochon made this discovery in 2002, when she was sent across Canada as the architecture critic for The Globe and Mail, in search of "architecture that mattered." I don't believe that you have to search to find architecture that matters, whether good or bad. The built environment is inescapable and plays an intrinsic role in the lives of all Canadians wherever they reside. The text on the inside cover says of the book: "A spirited manifesto to radicalize the public, Up North harnesses the passion and anger that bad architecture provokes and challenges all of us to demand more of our cities." This goal is both admirable and necessary. The book strikes a nice balance between the purely laudatory and the negative. Rochon shows how much good architecture there is in Canada, but also makes no bones about finding a great deal of room for improvement.