Noted Vancouver architect Joe Wai is a dragon with deep sense of history

Dec 1

Jenny Lee, Vancouver Sun, December 1, 2016

Some say architect Joe Wai’s political sensibilities must have been sparked when his grandparents’ Strathcona house was expropriated by the federal government in the late 1950s for urban renewal. Wai himself demurs. It wasn’t until his late 20s some 10 years later, Wai said, that he joined the Strathcona Owners and Tenants Association (SPOTA) to fight further expropriation for public housing and a freeway that would go right through Chinatown. But the connection is hard to ignore. Afterall, Wai would spend the next five decades championing quality social housing, building healthy communities and preserving Chinatown and Strathcona’s historic and neighbourhood characters. Read more…