While we wait for the climate crisis to convince us that it is real, what is the right attitude to take? Should we panic, start saving food, or just lie down and try to relax? Join us in a temporary tv studio for a live recording of diverse thinkers presenting their work and reflecting on how it suggests different ways forward. To mark the opening of It’s All Happening(...)
16 November 2016
Hostile or docile?
Actions:
Description:
While we wait for the climate crisis to convince us that it is real, what is the right attitude to take? Should we panic, start saving food, or just lie down and try to relax? Join us in a temporary tv studio for a live recording of diverse thinkers presenting their work and reflecting on how it suggests different ways forward. To mark the opening of It’s All Happening(...)
Join us on 8 May at 6pm for a lecture by Noelia Monteiro on her work at Estudio Flume. The studio, based in São Paulo, develops socio-environmental projects in remote areas of Brazil, aiming to protect traditional communities that preserve the Amazon rainforest. Monteiro’s work poses a key question: in the face of resource scarcity, how can we build with almost nothing?(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
8 May 2025, 6pm
Groundwork with Noelia Monteiro
Actions:
Description:
Join us on 8 May at 6pm for a lecture by Noelia Monteiro on her work at Estudio Flume. The studio, based in São Paulo, develops socio-environmental projects in remote areas of Brazil, aiming to protect traditional communities that preserve the Amazon rainforest. Monteiro’s work poses a key question: in the face of resource scarcity, how can we build with almost nothing?(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
Please join us for a conversation about the independent international publisher Valiz with Guy Cools and Pascal Gielen. Focusing on contemporary art, theory, critique, design, and urban affairs, Valiz’s books offer critical reflection and interdisciplinary inspiration, often establishing a connection between cultural disciplines and socio-political questions. They(...)
27 November 2025, 7pm
Valiz with Guy Cools, Pascal Gielen, and Carolyn F. Strauss
Actions:
Description:
Please join us for a conversation about the independent international publisher Valiz with Guy Cools and Pascal Gielen. Focusing on contemporary art, theory, critique, design, and urban affairs, Valiz’s books offer critical reflection and interdisciplinary inspiration, often establishing a connection between cultural disciplines and socio-political questions. They(...)
Come help us add facts to Wikipedia around climate change. Free access to our galleries. Open to all.
The Study Room at the CCA
30 April 2025, 3pm to 7pm
Wiki Edit-a-thon no. 3: Editing for the Ecological Crisis
Actions:
Description:
Come help us add facts to Wikipedia around climate change. Free access to our galleries. Open to all.
The Study Room at the CCA
articles
An Undisciplined Practice
With and Within
Leonard Streich, Julian Schubert et Elena Schütz, Something Fantastic, Francesco Garutti, With and Within, The Things Around Us, context, practice
26 July 2021
An Undisciplined Practice
Leonard Streich, Julian Schubert, and Elena Schütz of Something Fantastic in conversation with Francesco Garutti
Actions:
With and Within
This exhibition revisits a series of documentaries produced by the US Department of the Interior in the 1950s that portray the transformational role of infrastructure in reshaping landscapes according to American values.
Octagonal Gallery Keyword(s):
landscape, resources, nature, infrastructure, cold war, extractivism, propaganda, imaginary
1 October 2026 to 3 January 2027
Reframing the American Landscape
Actions:
Description:
This exhibition revisits a series of documentaries produced by the US Department of the Interior in the 1950s that portray the transformational role of infrastructure in reshaping landscapes according to American values.
Octagonal Gallery Keyword(s):
landscape, resources, nature, infrastructure, cold war, extractivism, propaganda, imaginary
How are computational optics operating in and through the built environment? How have they become so ubiquitous and taken for granted, completing the desires of fulfillment centres and the legibility that computation craves? What computational logics, imaginaries, and frameworks lie outside of their dominant modes of perception and commoditization? Join us on Thursday 17(...)
17 July 2025, 6pm
Toolkit for Today: Defying Computational Cravings
Actions:
Description:
How are computational optics operating in and through the built environment? How have they become so ubiquitous and taken for granted, completing the desires of fulfillment centres and the legibility that computation craves? What computational logics, imaginaries, and frameworks lie outside of their dominant modes of perception and commoditization? Join us on Thursday 17(...)
Project
Lightweight Enclosures Unit
AP144.S2.D79
Description:
File documents the work of the Lightweight Enclosures Unit (LEU) which was set up by Frank Newby and Cedric Price after their completion of a UK government research programme into air structures in 1969 (see Air Structures Research AP144.S2.D63). The work of LEU included research and design into the social, economic and structural development of lightweight enclosures. The LEU published a bibliography for the industry on air structures in 1972 titled 'Air Structures Bibliography, B0001-0069 and B0070-0119. It also helped produce the report BS6661:1986 'Design, construction and maintenance of single-skin air supported structures', and reviewed lightweight enclosures in AD 8/71, p 465. LEU was commissioned to write 'Air Support Structures: BSI Draft for Development Code of Practice' (DD50). This work is documented in DOE Air Structure (AP144.S2.D91). Frank Newby continued to work on the review of DD50 up until the 1980s. Material in this file was produced between 1956 and 1993. Group DR2004:1356 contains a 1973 drawing attributed to Pierre Martin for S.A.S. (Lausanne). Group DR2004:1353 contains reference drawings by architect Rurik Ekstrom, for Antioch Pneumatic Campus, Columbia Maryland (1972). Group DR2004:0132 contains material that relates to 'Air Structures' a conference on Antioch Campus in Columbia, Maryland, US May 22-34, 1973. DR2004:0135 contains publications by Frei Otto and the Institute of Lightweight Structures at the University of Stuttgart, and a transcript of an Air Structures Lecture, presented in Maryland, possibly by Cedric Price. DR2004:0137, DR2004:0139, and DR2004:0141 contain materials that relate to DD50 'Draft for Development: Air Supported Structures' for British Standards Institution, 1976 (see DOE Air Structure AP144.S2.D91). DR2004:0142 contains papers from the 'International Symposium on Pneumatic Structures' - Delft, 1972. DR2004:0145 contains material on 'Pneuma Jam'. DR2004:0146 contains material that relates to Christo (1973 projects). Group DR2004:0127 contains material that relates to Christo and his project, Valley Curtain. The group DR2004:0159 contains materials from the following manufacturers: Kurashiki Rayon Co., Ltd; Krupp Universalbau; Kleyer; Kellbro Construction Ltd; AEI; Norris Brothers Limited; Kaltenbach; Irvin Industries Ltd; Gotthard; Graydon; Gourock; Goodyear; Firestone; Environmental Structures; English Electric; Dynamit Nobel; Dunlop; Williaam Cox; Cidair; Birdair Structures Inc.; Frankenstein Beaufort; Barracuda; Air-Tech Industries, Inc.; Air Inflatable Products Company; Airco; M.L. Aviation; M.U.S.T.; Plasteco Milano; P.N. Structures; Polydrom; Peter Potter Ltd; RFD-GQ limited; RP Structures Ltd; Scanhover; Seattle Tent & Awning Company; Sheltair; Stromeyer; C.F. Taylor; O. Van Den Buys; and John Edgington & Co. Ltd. File contains conceptual drawings, reference drawings, photographic materials, a poster, and textual records.
1956-1995, predominant 1969-1986
Lightweight Enclosures Unit
Actions:
AP144.S2.D79
Description:
File documents the work of the Lightweight Enclosures Unit (LEU) which was set up by Frank Newby and Cedric Price after their completion of a UK government research programme into air structures in 1969 (see Air Structures Research AP144.S2.D63). The work of LEU included research and design into the social, economic and structural development of lightweight enclosures. The LEU published a bibliography for the industry on air structures in 1972 titled 'Air Structures Bibliography, B0001-0069 and B0070-0119. It also helped produce the report BS6661:1986 'Design, construction and maintenance of single-skin air supported structures', and reviewed lightweight enclosures in AD 8/71, p 465. LEU was commissioned to write 'Air Support Structures: BSI Draft for Development Code of Practice' (DD50). This work is documented in DOE Air Structure (AP144.S2.D91). Frank Newby continued to work on the review of DD50 up until the 1980s. Material in this file was produced between 1956 and 1993. Group DR2004:1356 contains a 1973 drawing attributed to Pierre Martin for S.A.S. (Lausanne). Group DR2004:1353 contains reference drawings by architect Rurik Ekstrom, for Antioch Pneumatic Campus, Columbia Maryland (1972). Group DR2004:0132 contains material that relates to 'Air Structures' a conference on Antioch Campus in Columbia, Maryland, US May 22-34, 1973. DR2004:0135 contains publications by Frei Otto and the Institute of Lightweight Structures at the University of Stuttgart, and a transcript of an Air Structures Lecture, presented in Maryland, possibly by Cedric Price. DR2004:0137, DR2004:0139, and DR2004:0141 contain materials that relate to DD50 'Draft for Development: Air Supported Structures' for British Standards Institution, 1976 (see DOE Air Structure AP144.S2.D91). DR2004:0142 contains papers from the 'International Symposium on Pneumatic Structures' - Delft, 1972. DR2004:0145 contains material on 'Pneuma Jam'. DR2004:0146 contains material that relates to Christo (1973 projects). Group DR2004:0127 contains material that relates to Christo and his project, Valley Curtain. The group DR2004:0159 contains materials from the following manufacturers: Kurashiki Rayon Co., Ltd; Krupp Universalbau; Kleyer; Kellbro Construction Ltd; AEI; Norris Brothers Limited; Kaltenbach; Irvin Industries Ltd; Gotthard; Graydon; Gourock; Goodyear; Firestone; Environmental Structures; English Electric; Dynamit Nobel; Dunlop; Williaam Cox; Cidair; Birdair Structures Inc.; Frankenstein Beaufort; Barracuda; Air-Tech Industries, Inc.; Air Inflatable Products Company; Airco; M.L. Aviation; M.U.S.T.; Plasteco Milano; P.N. Structures; Polydrom; Peter Potter Ltd; RFD-GQ limited; RP Structures Ltd; Scanhover; Seattle Tent & Awning Company; Sheltair; Stromeyer; C.F. Taylor; O. Van Den Buys; and John Edgington & Co. Ltd. File contains conceptual drawings, reference drawings, photographic materials, a poster, and textual records.
File 79
1956-1995, predominant 1969-1986
Join us Wednesday November 20 from 4–7 pm to honour the women who planned and designed our built environment. This event is free and open to the public.
Study Room
20 November 2024, 4pm to 7pm
Wiki Edit-a-thon: Foregrounding Canadian Women Architects
Actions:
Description:
Join us Wednesday November 20 from 4–7 pm to honour the women who planned and designed our built environment. This event is free and open to the public.
Study Room
Please join us for the launch of The Urban Unknown, a collective zine project developed by the participants of the CCA Youth Collective. Over the past months, participants aged 15 to 18 have taken part in research, editing, and publishing workshops led by the Public Programs team, with contributions from CCA Publications, Matthias Kreutzer of Our Polite Society, and(...)
27 November 2025, 5:30pm to 6:30pm
Zine Launch: The Urban Unknown / CCA Youth Collective
Actions:
Description:
Please join us for the launch of The Urban Unknown, a collective zine project developed by the participants of the CCA Youth Collective. Over the past months, participants aged 15 to 18 have taken part in research, editing, and publishing workshops led by the Public Programs team, with contributions from CCA Publications, Matthias Kreutzer of Our Polite Society, and(...)