The Globe and Mail

Moshe Safdie stood up for the profession of architecture the other day, and, for having the guts, he needs to be thanked. He did what too many architects fear, or can't afford to do: He quit. He quit working on the master plan of the $1.6-billion McGill University Health Centre, a once-in-a-lifetime commission that would have returned the prodigal son to his hometown. Who could blame him? He was being treated like an ordinary schmo. "When I was invited to come into this, there was a lot of bravado about ways to think about the hospital for the 21st century - five hospitals merged into one building," says Safdie, over the telephone during a stopover in Jerusalem. "That really excited me." But engaging architects capable of the kind of clarity that Safdie recently displayed as design architect of the new Terminal 1 at Toronto's Pearson International Airport is becoming a rare reflex these days. Instead, architects are being asked to work as foot soldiers to major developer consortiums whose interest is turning an offshore profit, not inspiring human-based design.