A. Silvio Baldassarra, OAA, FRAIC (chair emeritus, NORR), writes:
In 1973, John “Hugh” Westren while working during the day at NORR, won the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) competition to be the editor of the first Canadian Handbook of Practice for Architecture (CHOP), consisting of four volumes: Business, Design, Contract Documents. and Construction. Hugh wrote the 1,400-page document at night after dinner on his dining room table. The first set was issued five years later in 1978. Hugh Westren was made a Fellow of the RAIC in 1984 mainly for his efforts in conceiving the CHOP—a standard that today’s generation of Architects refer to as CHOP.
Hugh, a Retired Member of the OAA, passed away peacefully on January 18, 2024.
Born in Toronto in 1933, Hugh attended UTS and North Toronto C.I. After four years of hands-on labour in the construction trades and starting a family, Hugh concluded that construction management was his vocation and enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto. Upon graduating in 1962, he accepted a contract administration position with Adamson Associates and, in 1971, he joined Neish Owen Roland Roy (NORR).
At NORR, Hugh initially ran the site office for Terminal 2 Stage 2, Stage 3 conversion at Toronto Airport before moving for three years to manage the new Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal. Upon his return to NORR Toronto as an Associate and Director of Contract Administration, Hugh participated in over 18 hospital projects in Ontario. One of Hugh’s favourite projects was Montfort Hospital in Ottawa. Through these years, Hugh not only led NORR in Project Management, but also taught Project Management Practice at what is now known as Toronto Metropolitan University.
When Hugh retired from NORR in 1998 to become a practising artist in California, it was the end of an era for NORR. While the profession is left with the standard Hugh created (CHOP), we at NORR had Hugh. For those who worked at NORR, and still work at NORR, we have the deepest of respect for Hugh as a teacher, mentor, facilitator, mediator, manager, organizer, lecturer, writer, storyteller, and friend. Anyone who listened to Hugh’s OAA registration course and university courses is a better architect today.
Let me finish with this: having known Hugh for a short time, he was an architect that mattered in shaping the Canadian profession into what it is today.
A memorial for Hugh will be held at a time and place yet to be determined. Following Hugh’s wishes, in lieu of flowers or donations, “take a loved one out for lunch.”
To read an obituary about Hugh, click here.