Weathering the Storm

“I get the willies when I see closed doors.” This is the opening line of Joseph Heller’s 1974 novel, Something Happened, and it succinctly captures the work culture I encountered when I arrived in Ottawa in June 2006.  The significance of doors, both literal and metaphoric, surfaced on my first day. The office I inherited as director of the Canada Council for the Arts had no door whatsoever to the outside world. It could only be accessed through adjacent but private clerical and meeting rooms, with no signage linking them to the director. From a wayfaring perspective it was impossible to find the office on your own, and if you did not know better you would think the director was in hiding.

Built form says a lot about values. I saw the office in Ottawa as a personal affront. I needed to convert it from a private retreat to a collective meeting space, so I removed everything...