Architecture belongs in public conversation.

About the Journal

The Right Angle Journal began in 2017 as an online architectural publication. Today it continues online, exploring architecture from the perspective of those who design it, study it and live with it.

Our discussions are intended to be informative and engaging for architects, allied professionals, students, interns and the public. The Journal looks beyond structure, function and appearance to ask what architectural concerns actually consist of and what questions architects are best equipped to ask.

From its inaugural issue, the Journal has sought to take a fresh look at architecture and the built environment. That purpose continues as we bring practice, theory and lived experience into a broader public conversation.

Join the conversation. Contribute to the Journal or subscribe for new-issue announcements.

Our mission

We publish essays, stories, drawings and photography that look beyond buildings as objects. We are interested in how architecture shapes daily life, reflects our values and contributes to the places we share.

The Journal is a meeting place for architectural ideas and a way of making those ideas more widely appreciated. It expands the public conversation to include practice, theory and subjects that are rarely explored elsewhere.

The Built Environment Open Forum

The Journal is published by the Built Environment Open Forum, a registered non-profit corporation. The Forum creates educational opportunities, develops communication skills and promotes open dialogue among architects, environmental designers and the public. Its purpose is to improve the built environment through greater understanding of the role architects play and the ways the public can participate.

The Right Angle Journal is the Forum’s principal public initiative.

“Congratulations to a new quarterly to transcend Canada and the world. There is no turning back. Go forth with imagination, vision and gutsy pragmatic actions. The best to you, RIGHT ANGLE.”
— Raymond Moriyama, Introduction to the inaugural issue
Read the full foreword
From our first issue: the Board’s welcome (2017)

Board Message: Welcome to The Right Angle Journal

We spend much of our lives in spaces created by other people – people we don’t even know. Some of these environments are great and some are not so great. Most of the time, we don’t notice them and we don’t comment on them. We just get used to them. With your help, we would like to change things a little.

Welcome to The Right Angle.

The Right Angle is a journal for the people, places and ideas that shape architecture (full disclosure: our team is mostly made up of individuals who call themselves architects). Like you, we believe the built environment needs to be discussed more openly, and by a wider range of people.

Our organization is called the Built Environment Open Forum, and we intend that our journal will reflect that. Many of our writers will be architects and design professionals, along with others close to the cause. Our topics will be those that interest us and our readers equally, related to the built environment. The writing will be down-to-earth, accessible, light-hearted or serious, personal, honest, and with lots of drawings and photographs.

There is no limit to the number of ways the built environment can be appreciated, enjoyed, examined and evaluated. It very much depends on how you’re prepared to look at it. And there is really no correct viewpoint: every angle is the right angle.

Meet the Team

  • Portrait of Gordon S. Grice

    Gordon S. Grice

    B.Arch, OAA, FRAIC

    EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

    Director, Built Environment Open Forum

    Gordon is an architectural writer and editor whose professional background includes architectural practice, illustration and creative direction. His 25-year publishing career encompasses over two-dozen books, 90 issues of architectural quarterlies, and various monographs, building profiles, editorial pieces and essays for international publications. As a communications specialist, Gordon focuses on connecting the design community with the general public, in down-to-earth conversation.

  • Portrait of Bill Birdsell

    Bill Birdsell

    BES, B.Arch, OAA, FRAIC

    CHAIR

    Director/Treasurer, Built Environment Open Forum

    Bill received his Bachelor of Architecture in 1984, has practiced in Guelph since 1990, made a Fellow of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada in 2014 and recognized with the G. Randy Roberts Award in 2017.  He has designed and been recognized for a diverse range of architecture, interior design and the adaptive re-use of landmark buildings.  He has served as a mentor throughout his career, participated on several local, provincial and national committees, boards and awards juries relating to all aspects of the Built Environment.  Being elected President of the Ontario Association of Architects 2013-2014 is a personal highlight.

  • Portrait of Christopher D. Moise

    Christopher D. Moise

    M.Arch, BES, BA, OAA, FRAIC

    WEB/SOCIAL EDITOR

    Director, Built Environment Open Forum

    Christopher is an architect and urban designer with the City of Ottawa’s Planning department, where he helps shape inclusive, livable communities through thoughtful policy and design. He believes that rapidly growing cities need collaborative, people-first approaches to city building — ones that balance intensification with context, clarity, and care.

    A passionate advocate for design literacy, Christopher writes and speaks widely on urbanism and serves as a member of the Burlington Urban Design Advisory Panel and as a design studio instructor at Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism. He is also Chair of the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects (ORSA), and Director of the Built Environment Open Forum.

    When he’s not immersed in buildings, drawings, or city plans, you’ll likely find him exploring Ottawa’s neighbourhoods on two wheels — always chasing the next good street.

  • Portrait of Vivian Lo

    Vivian Lo

    M.Arch., Hon. B.Sc., MRAIC, CAPS, AIC

    SPECIAL PROJECTS

    Director, Built Environment Open Forum

    Vivian has over 25 years of experience in journalism, medical sciences, architecture, as well as healthcare design and capital planning, which includes working for the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for over nine years specializing in developing Canadian healthcare facilities design and standards, including hospitals and long-term care homes. She has been an organizing committee of various international design conferences. Vivian is also a University of Toronto Arbor Award recipient for mentoring graduate and undergraduate students.

  • Portrait of Alex L. Temporale

    Alex L. Temporale

    B. Arch, OAA, FRAIC, CAHP

    IN MEMORIAM

    Founding Director, Built Environment Open Forum

    Alexander L. Temporale was the founding partner emeritus of ATA Architects Inc. and a recognized expert in urban design and heritage conservation. Under his leadership, the firm received numerous awards, including the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence in Conservation and the Ecclesiastical/National Trust Benchmark Award for Heritage Rehabilitation. His extensive experience as a practitioner and broad interest in design and architecture made an enduring contribution to the Journal and to the wider architectural community.

The conversation continues

There is still plenty for us to write about. The built environment keeps changing, and so do the questions surrounding how we design, inhabit and care for it.

We hope you will consider joining our community. Subscribe for new-issue announcements, contribute an essay, story, drawing or photograph, or contact the editor at rightangleeditor@gmail.com.