Aeron Regalado
2021 Ghost Residency Recipient

Ghost residency, to me, belongs to the regionalist school of architecture. It is a dance between the intellectual (designing) and the local worlds (farming). In a way, it is a form of education where our design skills are engaged and advanced through direct engagement with a master; while at the same time, a form of anchoring, where farming grounds us to the idea that our duty to our local landscape and community matters more than we can ever comprehend. It is a humbling thing.

Another noteworthy experience being a Ghost intern is the presence of Brian's family. Amongst them, there exists an unspoken rule to ensure that the “Ghosties” feel at home. I remember a sense of ease spending dinners with the MacKay-Lyons’, where Cory, my Ghost roommate, and I felt part of the family. It felt so natural. Honestly, I don’t know how they do it. It’s a cool thing. Our ferry trips to LaHave bakery hold a place in my heart.

When I wasn’t at Shobac, I was at B2 Lofts, the firm’s satellite studio in the old town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, a UNESCO World Heritage site. In this little office, I got to work with Brian directly on small to large scale projects. Here, I got to observe Brian "in action":  thinking through his hands and storytelling to the clients without relying on jargon or big words. To me, these are fundamental skills inherent to the creative process, which we currently lack in architectural education. 

As I reflect on this now, it seems that Brian is trying to indirectly teach us, Ghosties, a particular way of navigating life. Through direct engagement with the landscape at Shobac, with its human and non-human characters, we gain insights and reflections about our duty in our local environments. These reflections, I feel, are not easily accessible within the confines of a traditional classroom setting.

More than anything, in our modern world where the pursuit of Meaning is always from “out there” externally in the world, the Ghost Residency serves as a little reminder that Meaning can be “cultivated” and “harvested” in our local worlds, too. After all, the grass is always greener on the other side, unless we water our own.

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Previous Recipients
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2023             Laurel Holloway
2023             Mackenzie Shinnick
2022             Jacob Drung
2022             Dale Leith
2021              Aeron Regalado
2021              Cory Subasic
2020             Paryse Beatty
2020             Andrew Tomchyshyn
2019              Euan Hardie
2018              Ben Fuglevand
2017              Zach Grewe
2017              Gillian Hevey
2015              Meggie Kelley