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Don Cooper:
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+ With Don moving on to new things at the end of June 1999 I sat down with him and we traced his first steps into the office and recounted some stories from years past. From 1956 to 1959 Don was enrolled in the Architectural Science program at Ryerson. His classmate was David Vickers. At that time Raymond Moriyama, who had opened his architectural practice in May 1958, was lecturing at the school on certain days each month. After the lectures Ray would chat to the students, including Dave and Don, in the hallways. It was during their last year there, 1958/59, that Dave and Don got to know one another. Dave had started to work part time with Ray in his newly opened office at 71 Yorkville Avenue that was shared with Klein and Sears Architects. Later Ray partnered with Fraser Watt but Fraser left before the office moved to 711 Church Street in 1961. Don never met Fraser but was impressed with his drawings. In the meantime, after graduating from Ryerson, Don had taken a job with Howard Vandewater in North York. After a time they were running out of work. Don got a call from Dave Vickers. He was working with Ray on the competition for the Father's of Confederation project in Charlottetown. Don started helping out in the evenings just before Christmas 1960. Dave was building a model and Don worked on the drawings for the presentation. A young student from the University of Toronto, Ted Teshima, was also on the team. In the middle of the night in early 1961, the team was hard at it and Ray had brought in some noodles to feed the hungry workers. During this well deserved break Ray asked Don if he would like to come and work full time at the office. The answer was yes.
The next project Don worked on was the Civic Garden Centre at Edwards Gardens. A feature of this project was the river stone used in the walls. With deeply recessed mortar joints pushed back so you could not see them, it looked like dry laid stone. Don worked with Ray developing the wood screens and Dave worked on a wood shelter that was also built there. During the 711 Church days Don started taking drawing courses at the Three Schools at night taught by the artist John Gould. Then things slowed down a bit at the office. Ray encouraged Don to take some day courses in life drawing. Don added to his skill set and gained some new perspectives. If you have ever seen drawings produced in the office during this era the detail is impressive. They are very intricate, accurate and quite artistic. Don remembers that the drawings produced in 1959 for the Crothers Used Equipment Centre set the standard that everyone aspired to attain.
During the Science Centre project, the office was working with the structural engineer Rolly Bergman from Morden Yolles' office. Don and Dave idolized Rolly. Don recalls learning so much about structures during this period as they all worked closely together. One of the great challenges was the roof over The Great Hall. Supported on three large concrete cylinders the pre-cast roof had to move in three directions and Rolly came up with a system of rollers that allowed this.
To say the office was busy working on the Science Centre was an understatement. Don was spending endless long days and nights doing working drawings and needed a break. He took one that extended to eight months in total. First, Don went to England. He worked there for a short time but the work was not challenging enough to keep him interested for too long. So what did Don do? He got a bicycle, went to the north of Finland and cycled from there to Denmark, through Sweden, went to Germany and finally ended up in Paris. During this adventure Don grew his beard and started to smoke a pipe.
Also in 1966, Don's wife at that time Barb, worked at Pet Milk. There was an accountant there by the name of Aubrey McIntosh. When things slowed down at Pet Barb suggested that Aubrey check out the architect's office where Don worked. Aubrey came in and Ray convinced him to come on board in October. Always looking to learn new things, Don enrolled in a film making course at night school taught by Morley Markson who had an architect brother named Jerome. At this course he met a fellow who had come to Toronto from the southern United States. This guy drove an old Bell telephone van with worn out springs that leaned to one side rather drastically. His name, George Stockton. George remembers one of Don's films. Don set up a black and white 8mm camera pointing at the revolving doors in front of Eaton's. As the doors spun around, the glass reflected the people walking by, the cars driving on the street and the surrounding buildings. Every second of film was unique. George was working for a landscape architect, but before long Don brought him by the office. George talked to Ray and Ted then started work at M&T soon after. Don remembers the bursts of energy and enthusiasm coming from George were just as intense then as now.
First Don made a quarter scale model to work out the construction details. Then five separate full sized boats were started at once. Collaborators on the boat project included Anson, another new employee Tom Motomochi, Clive Grout and Bruno Maki, who worked on the addition to 32 Davenport where George, Jason and Daniel sit today. There was an incredible amount of dust from sanding and fumes from the fiberglass resin filled the office. Perhaps Aubrey was wondering what kind of crazy architect's office he had joined! When the time came, the boats were sprung into shape and the masts, also made in the studio, were ready to install. One Saturday, with the paint not quite dry yet, Don and Tom went to Grenadier Pond with their labour of love. Will she sail? There was a brisk breeze and Tom went first. Having never sailed before Tom and the boat quickly disappeared from sight. Don chased him down and talked him in. On another occasion, Don and Anson launched one of their creations just off the Boulevard Club. By the time they were out on the water it was dark. They did not have any lights as they sailed out towards the concrete breakwall. All of a sudden, out of the dark, a rowing shell was headed straight for them, about to slice their little craft in half. They ducked under the oars as a collision was barely avoided. What Don found exciting during these early years was how he could apply the talents he had grown up with, including drawing and model making, to make a lasting contribution to architectural projects.
Many years after first working with Rolly Bergman on the Science Centre, Don would marvel at Rolly's genius once again while collaborating on the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo. The huge cantilevered structure suspended over the fourth floor Canada Garden is a marvel of engineering in an earthquake zone. Don worked alongside Sheila Penny and myself in the newly renovated back studio area developing the design to fit within the strict shadow envelope that could not impact the Imperial Gardens across the street. Then Don helped us prepare the presentation boards. When Don travelled to Japan during this time he was exposed for the first time to non-western culture. He remembers the first night there, when at 4:00 in the morning, he was shaken out of bed by a very intense earthquake. Don also recalls one Sunday walking through Ueno Park with George Stockton just as the cherry blossoms were in their full splendour. Don had his sketch book with him and did some pen and ink drawings documenting what he saw. As Don told me it has been an adventure from beginning to end. He has truly enjoyed working with the many talented people he has come across over the years.
Walking by Don's desk the last few weeks there has been a familiar sight that we won't be seeing much longer. Don and Ray at the drawing board, working it all out for the Bank of Montreal office expansion. Good luck Don. Your talent, dedication and demeanor will be missed. We were all honoured to be able to work with you. |
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Not long after this Ray took a trip to Japan. He had been working on concepts for the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. As Don recalls most of the early concepts borrowed from traditional Japanese structures. When Ray came back from Japan he had come up with a more non-traditional approach. Ray built a crude but clear plasticine model of his idea. The concept was developed further in collaboration with Don and Dave. Then Dave built a more finished model. After some area calculations, the design was compacted and the final form emerged. Then it was on to working drawings, and Ted Teshima was back in to help again. As Don recalls, it was an exciting time and he was constantly learning.
In 1964 the office got the commission to design the Centennial Centre for Science and Technology, later know as the 
Another interesting challenge was the long bridge that connects the entry building with the Great Hall. Ray's first idea was a pre-stressed cylinder held together with steel cables with no intermediate supports. (This sounds similar to the structural system for the upper studio floor and roof at 32 Davenport.) Rolly figured out how to make it work, but it would have been very expensive. The Science Centre had a very tight budget. In the end, a more conventional, but still interesting system, like a human hand holding a rectangular tube, was designed and built.
Upon his return to Toronto in September 1966 the office was just settling into it's new 32 Davenport location. Among the new faces when Don returned were Anson Finlay (who started on April 1!), Joni Inouye, and John Snell.
Don had seen some kayaks in England made out of thin plywood held in place by laces. They were known as "Stitch and Tape" boats. The lower studio was a nice open space. What a perfect place to build some boats. All the desks were pushed to one end and in 1969 the boat building project began.
Other Don Cooper project highlights. 
Sharon feels it is important for Don to have some time to do what he wants to do. He will spend some time up at the cottage sketching and drawing to "get back in shape". Don will build some more flying model planes (as featured in the June 1998 the @M&T newsletter). And travelling around Ontario and to Europe again is on the agenda.