Words About Ted Teshima:

From Anson Finlay:

I have a lasting impression of Ted. The first time I had an opportunity to work with him was the summer of 1966 on one of the first projects Ted managed upon his return to the office, then known as Raymond Moriyama Architects and Planners. The project was Parkland Senior School on McCowan Road in Scarborough. It had gone through one schematic design phase, prior to Ted coming to the office. When the project soils report was made available to the office, it indicated that the site, a playground, was an abandoned land fill dump, full of organic material with the potential for a lethal possibly explosive methane gas build up.

The original design, a masonry structure, had to be abandoned because of the possibility of trapping the methane gases under the structure, or the migration of gases up through the building envelope into the interior. Ted developed a new design, with input from the structural engineers, which featured raised classroom pods with solid concrete walls, perched about nine feet in the air, supported by solid poured concrete piers, thus eliminating the possibility of trapping or transmitting the lethal gases. Watching Ted work with the engineers and explaining the new concept to the client in a very rational, logical way made a lasting impression on me. This Ted guy was very solid and quick in thought and process, I said to myself. And so it has been all these 40 years, both in his providing leadership and guidance in the office, and when we met in office sports events or on the golf course.

From Christie Mills:

It is difficult to know what to write about Ted, difficult to know how to say thank you. Words seem awkward and trite. We work in an industry where young architects are compelled to question their career choice. Our doubts do not come from long hours, challenging clients or inexplicable competition results, but from the elusiveness of feeling like we are actually making a difference; that we are making things better for a community. It is far too easy to slip into cynicism.

Now I know this will sound corny, but a couple of hours in Ted's company and it's like finding your religion. You may not be discussing architecture, more often than not you won't be. But for whatever reason, your skepticism fades away and you have faith in what you are trying to accomplish, no matter what it is. Everyone will know what I mean when I say that it is not easy to articulate how Ted inspires people, but he does. I don't think Ted's allure necessarily comes from a belief in architecture and its ability to affect, but from his belief in people and their abilities. I think Ted is genuinely interested in people and what they have to offer and, strangely enough, what he can learn from them. But reciprocally we have learned so much from spending time with Ted. We have learned that we can be proud of everything we try to accomplish, we have learned to try to see the forest for the trees, we have learned to respect differences, we have learned to respect our design community and see its worth. So Ted, thank you for inspiring us to believe in ourselves.

From Jason Moriyama:

Ted speaks modestly of joining the firm over four decades past, yet I remember a mere 27 years ago, being taught patiently by Ted on how to read drawings and to build a model of the Roxborough house. In the days before computers, we did things "old school" ... models were built not by 3D, but from millboard, while drawings were created using E2 plastic leads and eradicator fluid on a mylar chronoflex using an adjustable set square and a Mayline parallel rule. Although, drawings were been done at odd scales like 1/8" equivalent to 1:96, under Ted's guidance and tutelage I learned the immediacy and beauty in drawing a line. I began to understand the meaning and connection of drawing to a sense of scale, space and rhythm, while balancing accuracy with a gestural fluidity.

Ted has always been an erudite, balanced, calming influence around the office. His absolute dedication, thoughtful guidance and incredible organizational skills have given clarity of vision to M&T. Yet, Ted's sense of humour, natural athletic ability and competitive spirit would emerge surprisingly at times: while story telling between bowling frames in Riyadh, skipping his team at the annual curling bonspiel, body checking in an Upper vs Lower studio hockey game, or "trash talking" at an inter-office softball game.

From Diarmuid Nash:

Norman asked for stories about Ted. To that end I thought of a few. One concerns Ted at the World Bank Competition final presentation in Washington, DC. When he was recounting this to us at a later time, he mentioned that Jean Nouvel, one of the three jurors who had flown in from Paris on an overnight flight, fell asleep in the midst of the presentation of the design. However his selection of the architect supported the Moriyama and Teshima/Canon submission whereas the other two jurists selected the Kohn Pederson Fox design.

But Ted's presence and impact on the office is in fact more significant to me than stories about him. I have always viewed Ted as a mentor. I have sat in many client interviews with him and always come away marveling at how smart and quick he is and how well Ted can communicate and connect with clients and potential clients on so many different levels.

Clients such as Victor Rabinovitch, founder of the Giller Prize, and the Director of the Trizec Development Corporation. Victor used to aggressively dominate meetings when we were working on an enormous residential and commercial development proposal for Trizec called 40 Bay Street that was to be built behind Union Station on top of the historic Post Office building. Victor's tone would change completely to deference and respect when he turned to Ted and asked for his opinion. He would listen and in many cases follow through on Ted's comments. Then he would "shift gears" and literally swing back to the rest of the ten or fifteen people around the boardroom table and continue on in his "take no prisoners" management of the meeting. Our proposal became the chosen submission, but the development market collapsed soon afterwards. Ultimately the site became the Air Canada Centre.

Every office has it's own unique work culture that defines how they collaborate to create their work. An architectural office employs a process that is often defined in terms of a ritual of deliverables such as schematic design, design development, contract documents and contract administration. It also engages in management activities to ensure the operation of a business entity. As individuals we are also connected by a kind of work ethic and attitude to the projects that we have been very fortunate to work on. The culture at Moriyama and Teshima reflects very much the values attitudes and approaches of Raymond and Ted. Raymond recognized very quickly that there was something very special and unique about Ted. Ted was made a partner and ultimately the name of the office was changed to Moriyama and Teshima Architects and Planners because Ted quickly established his presence in the office, and with clients, as that of a true leader.

Ted has been such an integral part of the culture of Moriyama and Teshima. In many ways the daily working climate of our office reflects very much Ted and his approach to architecture, to clients, to consultants and to contractors. The spirit of how we approach our work reflects the kind of approach that Ted has in his approach to architecture. He has this amazing quality of listening to everyone.

What is it that makes Ted who he is as a successful architect? What qualities does he bring that define him and as an extension of the office? I have heard from Aubrey that he is a great negotiator and a great businessman. I have heard from Raymond that he is a great partner. I have heard from many clients that he is a talented and valued designer and a leader in taking their project from sketches to opening day. I have heard from people who are not working directly with Ted on their project, that they meet him, they like him and they respect him.

I have heard from his close long time friends like U of T's George Baird and Blandford Gates that Ted is a valued articulate friend as well as an extraordinary cook. I have heard from his other colleagues and peers how much they respect him.

In the late 80's the School of Architecture at University of Toronto was going to implode with ideological paralysis and became the subject of much critical media attention. It was threatened with being shut down by the U of T Senate. Ted was one of the individuals who was asked to be on a special Advisory Committee to bring the school back to a functioning entity. He remains in an advisory capacity to this day. In recognition of his leadership ability Ted was asked (pleaded with) to be Chair of the Ontario Heritage Board after sitting on the Board for a term. He declined because of his commitments to the office.

I have heard from others what a great athlete he is. Roy Gill and Anson Finlay attest to the fact that he is an excellent golfer. Drew Wensley, Tara McCarthy, Ajon Moriyama and all others that have skied with Ted categorize him as an excellent skier. He is a superb speaker and a great communicator. In a recent concept meeting on the New Brunswick Museum, while some talked, others had images, Ted had actually determined the scale and size of our undertaking, and developed a strong concept. The feeling was, well Ted has taken this a level beyond where any of us had been thinking, like the actual scale of the project.

Ted has this incredible ability to state the obvious as if it is the first time we have actually heard it. He also has this amazing ability to express complex issues in elemental forms. He is a consummate team player, even when it is in a way against his form. He is a compassionate and empathetic individual, that connects to the multiple and myriad issues that bring and have brought people to this office over many years. He has this incredible ability to make it seem as if he is listening exclusively to you, which he does. He is a talented architect that has designed everything from the Seicho No Ie Church to the Chemical Plaza Tower in Chicago.

He is wonderful with community groups. Ted's style and approach is quiet, intelligent, informative and non-threatening. He has created an environment at Moriyama and Teshima that is a great one to work in. It is in my opinion a respectful and considerate environment. In a way stories about Ted have to do with qualities. So when thinking of a story about Ted I initially drew a blank. I thought I would have lots of stories about Ted the person not Ted the architect, but I don't. Ted rarely told stories about himself. He often related events that involved others but they weren't necessarily stories. He has this humility that never really placed him at the centre of events. He is an amazing guy to work with.

From George Stockton:

There are so many wonderful stories I could recount about Ted Teshima from working with him over some 37 years. For me, he will always be distinguished by his humility, his wisdom, his self-less leadership, warm open friendship and especially the brilliance he showed everyone.

When I came to the office as a 24 year old, just out of school and new to Canada, Ted was one of the people who made me feel at home at the office and ingrained the Moriyama & Teshima spirit in me through his example.

One of my favourite Ted Teshima stories comes from the end of a grueling and exhilarating summer of working on the Saudi Arabian National Museum competition. Jason, Ajon and I worked with Ray and Ted from late April through August seven days a week to create the competition documents. In the middle of Riyadh's scorching heat we presented our proposals to the Arriyadh Development Authority and the panel of jurors. As we boarded the plane to come back to Toronto, we were quietly told by one of the jurors that we had won the competition and, indeed, days later the office received word that the ADA wanted Moriyama & Teshima to return to Riyadh to negotiate the contract for the project. Ted and Aubrey went.

Negotiating for the ADA were the Director of Construction, Tariq Al Faris and ADA lawyer Armon Habibi - two tough nuts. As the initial meeting progressed more and more conditions were added to the contract by the ADA making it increasingly difficult for Ted to agree to proceed. Finally, things reached a breaking point and Ted stopped the talks. He returned to the hotel where he wrote a letter resigning from the project.

Ted then returned to the ADA, entered Tariq's office, handed him the letter of resignation and left to take a taxi back to the hotel. Ted was sticking to his principles. After reading the letter, Tariq hurried out onto the sidewalk where Ted was hailing a taxi. He told him that the unreasonable conditions were going to be dropped and pleaded with Ted to come back and they would work out an agreement that would be agreeable to Moriyama & Teshima. This was done and the office went on to create one of the iconic buildings of Riyadh and Saudi Arabia.

An important detail that further underscores Ted's integrity is that during the months of the competition the office was finishing off all of the work we had on hand. Ted could have agreed to much less favourable contract terms just to get the museum project and keep the doors open - but he didn't. He did what he knew was right and it made all the difference.

Thank you Ted.