Downs + Pullan

Read Canadian Architect's excerpt of Barry Downs' insightful essay on Selwyn Pullan. 

Canadian Architect Awards

The 2011 Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence winners have been announced.

Amongst the winners are West Coast firms Patkau, Hughes Condon Marler and B+H Bunting Coady.

The awards were juried by Walter Francl, Diarmuid Nash and Peter Sampson.

Image: UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences/CDRD by Saucier + Perrotte Architectes w/ Hughes Condon Marler Architects

RAIC Awards

Architecture Canada–RAIC recently handed out awards of excellence, a few of which have a Vancouver connection.

Adele Weder has won the President's Award for Architectural Journalism for her Canadian Architect article Call of the Wild. Weder's writing is consistently insightful and nuanced and has enriched the local and national architectural dialogue.

The Prix du XXe Siecle awards have also been announced and include two career-defining Arthur Erickson works: The Museum of Anthropology (1971-1976) and Robson Square (1973-1983).

The awards recognize buildings that have had a lasting impact and contribute significantly to the cultural fabric of the country. These are buildings that have earned the description "iconic."

Also on the list are John B. Parkin's Ottawa Train Station and Clifford Wiens' Heating and Cooling Plant in Saskatchewan.

CBC

Two opposing views of the new HBBH-designed CBC addition: Alex Waterhouse-Hayward's blog piece from last year and Adele Weder's recent profile in Canadian Architect.

I can sympathize with Waterhouse-Hayward's view- like him I had a fondness for the CBC building as it was originally designed, by Paul Merrick of Thompson, Berwick + Pratt. It was of its era, its Brutalist style reflecting both architectural and broadcasting currents at the time.

I also agree that we can be too quick to alter buildings merely because their style has fallen out of favour. Every building has a story to tell, yet additions to existing structures are a reality and an artform in themselves. Sympathetically designed they can lead to an enriched dialogue, like this or the VAG's current Erickson/Rattenbury home.

I think Weder nails it when she defends HBBH's addition as flowing from a new directive for broadcasting and media in general, one that started with the client: it is becoming more democratic and transparent in a way that was difficult to anticipate even a few years ago.

Merrick's concrete edifice and HBBH's glass-faced newsroom contrast two distinct solutions that speak to the CBC's evolving mandate.

Image: Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden

West Coast Residential

The latest issue of Canadian Architect shines a light on the recent residential work of two Vancouver architects.

Matthew Woodruff's Mayne Island House and Clinton Cuddington's Wolfe Avenue Residence are a study in contrasts within the Modernist framework. While both feature a considered, clean-lined approach to design, emphasizing spatial relationships and attention to light, the differences lie in the detailing, scale and materials used.

Adele Weder contributes an article on Woodruff's house, casting it as a return to the largely forgotten principles of the West Coast Modernist movement. There's an economy of materials and size (1100 sq. ft.) that runs counter to much of the ethos of recent residential design, and a relationship to the site that is elemental. 

Cuddington's residence is a different beast at 5695 sq. ft., with richer materials and more involved detailing. Leslie Jen's article notes there has been some dissention at the scale and grandeur of the place, though it could be argued that it responds appropriately to its site in Shaughnessy. Cuddington encountered opposition to his design early on and it's significant that he was able to push through what is a relatively radical design for the neighborhood. 

The Wolfe residence is a far cry from the modest post and beam houses that were so prominent in Vancouver 50 years ago, but it provides an example of large scale residential that goes beyond McMansions and neo-traditional.

Curiously, Woodruff and Cuddington were partners in Measured Architecture (after serving stints in Bing Thom's office), prior to Woodruff leaving to set up his own practice. Both houses have been profiled in local publications recently, but The Canadian Architect features set them up in a satisfying architectural dialogue. 

C.A.'s 2008 Awards of Excellence

Canadian Architect has published its 2008 Awards of Excellence.

West coast winners were limited to Patkau Architects (for a striking residence in Whistler and a church in Port Coquitlam) and U.B.C. M.A. student Michael Barton for his ocean-bound "synthetic land commodity" proposal.

In what might be considered an overall disappointing showing considering the number of West Coast entrants, the Patkau's two schemes stack up well with the other winners, which include projects by KPMB, Stantec and RDH Architects.

The awards continue to place "heavy emphasis on architectural discourse and process, rather than on the brute outcome of a finished building."

The judges - Bing Thom, Siamak Hariri and Christine Macy - seemed dismayed by the general lack of experimentation at a profession level, and at the same time energized by the progressive thinking of the student entries. The record number of student awards (and limited professional awards - just four) bears this out.

Follow the link to Canadian Architect - though as of this writing the December issue was not yet online.