Architecture 2005 – Canadian and international trends in context

Lawrence W.

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Architecture 2005 – Canadian and international trends in context

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Abstract

Architectural design philosophy has transformed from the high modernism of the early 20th century, from classic functional international style which dominated North American architectural practices up until the 1970s, to be replaced by the anti-modern or the post-modern. (Ghirardo, 1996) However, as Curtis notes, the modernist issues of how to mix technology, buildings, community and materials is not a forgotten concept, but still an evolving element in the architectural field. In 2005 Canadian architecture, in a general way, has been concerned with issues of environmental sustainability, use of easily transformational materials in space, the integration of nature and the cultural, and the integration of history and the local. These are in some ways continuations of late modernism, combined with the pastiche of post-modernism; the interest or re-emergence of study of history. (Heartney, 2008)

Introduction
Chodikoff's August 2005 roundtable of practicing critics and architects
The significance of the important public buildings built in Canada in the 21st century
The components or themes that characterized design during the middle of the decade
The recent renovations in Toronto
Henault's notes on Canada's historical buildings
The Taliesin School of Architecture in the Arizona desert
Conclusion
Works cited

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[...] These ideas stem from world-architectural concepts, such as that of Vito Acconci who “replaces Le Corbusier's mechanistic notion that a house is a “machine for living” with an organic model, in which buildings seem to operate almost like living creatures.” (Heartney: 331) In a radical departure removed from anything attempted in Canadian architecture to date in 2003 the collective Los Carpinteros “created whole portable cities designed to subvert the illusion of permanence and stability favored by traditional architects and urban planners (Heartney: 341) The collective are Havana based artists and architects who want to make a point about ability or inability to travel in the era of globalization and restructuring, with the works also artistic reference to refugee camps. [...]

[...] Describing their firm's work in the context of Canada's prevalent design competition process, Henault notes, way they both view their practice is fairly typical of countries where competitions are the rule: they favor fairly modest projects which they can handle with a small team, and enjoy going into all aspects of architecture from the larger scale of the panning process to the minute scale of the smallest construction detail.” (Henault: 18) .Henault notes that in Canada historical buildings have often been neglected or destroyed, in the case of the old sections of Terrebone, through fire. [...]

[...] (Ghirarado: 17-19) In 2005 concern for urban renewal in Halifax, Vancouver, Montreal and smaller town centres in Canada is evident from articles in Canadian Architect, but it is a different concept of urban renewal; it is one that takes the failure of modernism into account, wondering how, as in the case of Vancouver to reconnect the wealthy condominiums dotting the skyline with the absolute failure of the east- side, filled with boarded up buildings and thousands of ruined lives, with these two separate worlds criss-crossing each other in the same basic urban space. [...]

[...] 2005) Another project discussed in the Oct volume of Canadian architect reveals how the old and new are being intertwined in a theatre building, The Theatre du Vieux Terrebonne, in a small community on the outskirts of Montreal. The design firm are a husband and wife partnership who met while students at McGill University. They have both worked internationally. The article describes how K. Yamazaki's “contribution is an ingrained preoccupation with simplicity and harmony derived from his own rich cultural background, having been born in Costa Rica to Japanese parents.” (Henault: 18) His partner, M. [...]

[...] His buildings in Prague, Los Angeles and Bilbao could only be achieved economically through the use of digital model-making, imaging and manufacturing.” (Sijpkes: pg J6) The article, in general is about the use of computer technologies in post- modern architectural design. The degree of precision planning found in individual building design in 2005, in numerous buildings across Canada, points to the liberating ability of micro-designing. Examples of this include the Musee du Fjord in Quebec, which was written about in Canadian Architect in the Oct issue. [...]

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