Architects of the Image: Photography in the Heroic Age of Construction explores the relationships between camera images and the making of large-scale architectural and engineering structures that stirred public imagination in the first hundred years of photography. The exhibition is predicated on the notion of the photographer as architect, an analogy that suggests(...)
11 October 1995 to 4 February 1996
Architects of the Image: Photography in the Heroic Age of Construction
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Architects of the Image: Photography in the Heroic Age of Construction explores the relationships between camera images and the making of large-scale architectural and engineering structures that stirred public imagination in the first hundred years of photography. The exhibition is predicated on the notion of the photographer as architect, an analogy that suggests(...)
Drawing on selected works from the CCA photography collection, Sarah Churchill examines how historic visual strategies of “othering” and “ruin lust” have been embedded in a broader canon of insecurity and environmental deprivation.
30 July 2026, 6pm to 7:30pm
The Origins of Housing Crisis: Photography, Empire, and the Architecture of Precarity
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Drawing on selected works from the CCA photography collection, Sarah Churchill examines how historic visual strategies of “othering” and “ruin lust” have been embedded in a broader canon of insecurity and environmental deprivation.
CCA Founding Director Phyllis Lambert and Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) present their 2013 publications Building Seagram and Lincoln Center Inside Out and discuss architecture and public space in New York.
Paul Desmarais Theatre
13 May 2013, 6pm - 8pm
In conversation: Phyllis Lambert and Elizabeth Diller
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CCA Founding Director Phyllis Lambert and Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) present their 2013 publications Building Seagram and Lincoln Center Inside Out and discuss architecture and public space in New York.
Paul Desmarais Theatre
Canadian Megaform
The documents in this hall case display refer to seven Canadian projects as a way to exemplify the concept of megaform through the work of Arthur Erickson, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Harold Ship, Ray Affleck, and Victor Prus, among others. Curated by Maristella Casciato, CCA. {: .info }
Hall cases
10 September 2014 to 6 April 2015
Canadian Megaform
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The documents in this hall case display refer to seven Canadian projects as a way to exemplify the concept of megaform through the work of Arthur Erickson, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Harold Ship, Ray Affleck, and Victor Prus, among others. Curated by Maristella Casciato, CCA. {: .info }
Hall cases
Project
AP194.S1.1997.PR02
Description:
Project records document the design process for OCEAN North’s competition entry for the Jyväskylä Music and Arts Centre in 1997. The project was titled Terra Cultura by OCEAN North. The competition was to create a multi-usage space that would include a venue for the symphonic orchestra, a music school, exhibition spaces and the possibility to host a variety of small cultural events in the Finnish city of Jyväskylä. The proposed site is in the center of the town, across the street from the Jyväskylä city church and its park, and nearby buildings designed by Alvar Aalto. OCEAN North’s concept presents a topological surface as an extension of the surrounding urban scape with two masses that would host the formal functions of the building (concert hall, music school, exhibition halls). The two volumes, or raised blocks, are divided along a diagonal elevated space, which is the extension of the ground’s topological surface filled and dubbed “Liquid Flow Space” by the design team. In their interview with Greg Lynn, Johan Bettum and Kivi Sotamaa mentioned that the idea for Jyväskylä was that it was a cloud. To reach this goal, the team used CAD software to trace streams of particles as a modelling approach. The masses of linear elements that were generated were further deconstructed and turned into “peels” and rearranged to create the masses of the building. Physical models were also used to test and further what had emerged from the digital design process, with results being fed back into the digital drawings. During the process, Bettum also brought in the idea of the internalisation of the outside, taking inspiration from the Centre Georges Pompidou. Digital records document the creative process with raster and vector images, CAD drawings and models, and few digital textual records describing the project and the program charts. Drawings and models show site and building plans, perspectives and sections; particles streaming and resulting linear masses; peels and sections identified per color; and renderings of aerials, perspectives and elevation views. OCEAN North seems to have mostly used Microstation for modelling, although there are a few files created with form*Z and 3D Studio. Some of the raster images might have been created with these software as well, showing a given stage of the design process and including renderings. There are also screen captures showing the top, front, left and perspective views of 3D models. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator were also used to create and modify drawings and diagrams. Program charts were created in Microsoft Excel. Sources: Softspace: from a representation of form to a simulation of space, Edited by Sean Lally and Jessica Young. London, New York: Routledge, 2007. Greg Lynn, ed. Archaeology of the Digital 17: OCEAN North, Jyväskylä Music and Arts Centre, Montréal: Canadian Centre for Architecture, 2017. ePub.
1997-1998
Terra Cultura – Jyväskylä Music and Arts Centre, international competition entry, Jyväskylä, Finland (1997)
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AP194.S1.1997.PR02
Description:
Project records document the design process for OCEAN North’s competition entry for the Jyväskylä Music and Arts Centre in 1997. The project was titled Terra Cultura by OCEAN North. The competition was to create a multi-usage space that would include a venue for the symphonic orchestra, a music school, exhibition spaces and the possibility to host a variety of small cultural events in the Finnish city of Jyväskylä. The proposed site is in the center of the town, across the street from the Jyväskylä city church and its park, and nearby buildings designed by Alvar Aalto. OCEAN North’s concept presents a topological surface as an extension of the surrounding urban scape with two masses that would host the formal functions of the building (concert hall, music school, exhibition halls). The two volumes, or raised blocks, are divided along a diagonal elevated space, which is the extension of the ground’s topological surface filled and dubbed “Liquid Flow Space” by the design team. In their interview with Greg Lynn, Johan Bettum and Kivi Sotamaa mentioned that the idea for Jyväskylä was that it was a cloud. To reach this goal, the team used CAD software to trace streams of particles as a modelling approach. The masses of linear elements that were generated were further deconstructed and turned into “peels” and rearranged to create the masses of the building. Physical models were also used to test and further what had emerged from the digital design process, with results being fed back into the digital drawings. During the process, Bettum also brought in the idea of the internalisation of the outside, taking inspiration from the Centre Georges Pompidou. Digital records document the creative process with raster and vector images, CAD drawings and models, and few digital textual records describing the project and the program charts. Drawings and models show site and building plans, perspectives and sections; particles streaming and resulting linear masses; peels and sections identified per color; and renderings of aerials, perspectives and elevation views. OCEAN North seems to have mostly used Microstation for modelling, although there are a few files created with form*Z and 3D Studio. Some of the raster images might have been created with these software as well, showing a given stage of the design process and including renderings. There are also screen captures showing the top, front, left and perspective views of 3D models. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator were also used to create and modify drawings and diagrams. Program charts were created in Microsoft Excel. Sources: Softspace: from a representation of form to a simulation of space, Edited by Sean Lally and Jessica Young. London, New York: Routledge, 2007. Greg Lynn, ed. Archaeology of the Digital 17: OCEAN North, Jyväskylä Music and Arts Centre, Montréal: Canadian Centre for Architecture, 2017. ePub.
Project
1997-1998
In this conversation, Kenneth Frampton (Columbia University) will discuss approaches to architectural history today with Esra Akcan (Cornell University) and Mark Jarzombek (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). What does it mean to write a global history of architecture now? What is the relationship between such a history and urgent contemporary concerns? During a(...)
6 April 2017
A Conversation with Kenneth Frampton: Can There Be a Global Architectural History Today?
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In this conversation, Kenneth Frampton (Columbia University) will discuss approaches to architectural history today with Esra Akcan (Cornell University) and Mark Jarzombek (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). What does it mean to write a global history of architecture now? What is the relationship between such a history and urgent contemporary concerns? During a(...)
DR1988:0393
Description:
- Although this drawing is unclear, the entrance area on the left suggests that it is an elevation for an exterior of a building, presumably a theatre, as indicated by the inscription "NEWS TH[E]ATRE". There is a small sketch of a decorative detail to the right of the elevation. - The style of many of these drawings and reprographic copies by Henry Hyams (DR1988:0332 - DR1988:0414) suggests that they were possibly for periodical illustrations. Hyams contributed articles to the periodicals 'The Builder' and 'The Architect'. Two objects in the CCA collections can be linked to the article "Music in Stone" published prior to 1926 in 'The Architect'; a reprographic copy (DR1988:0357) and a drawing (DR1988:0364) (Who's Who in Architecture, 161).
architecture, interior design
1920s or 1930s
Elevation, probably for a theatre
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DR1988:0393
Description:
- Although this drawing is unclear, the entrance area on the left suggests that it is an elevation for an exterior of a building, presumably a theatre, as indicated by the inscription "NEWS TH[E]ATRE". There is a small sketch of a decorative detail to the right of the elevation. - The style of many of these drawings and reprographic copies by Henry Hyams (DR1988:0332 - DR1988:0414) suggests that they were possibly for periodical illustrations. Hyams contributed articles to the periodicals 'The Builder' and 'The Architect'. Two objects in the CCA collections can be linked to the article "Music in Stone" published prior to 1926 in 'The Architect'; a reprographic copy (DR1988:0357) and a drawing (DR1988:0364) (Who's Who in Architecture, 161).
architecture, interior design
DR1987:0342
Description:
- This engraving depicts a design for an order of architecture showing the capital and the base. Although the inscriptions refer to "DORICA[E]", this is not one of the traditional orders of architecture: the acanthus leaves on the capital suggest a Corinthian model while other details, such as the dolphin heads, suggest a more personal interpretation. - This print is one of a set of four prints of capitals and bases which were engraved by Hans Sebald Beham. Patricia Condon suggests that these prints were made for a general audience rather than for architects ('Ornament and Architecture', 29). Three of the prints in the CCA collection are from the collection of the Ducs d'Arenburg, while the provenance of this print is unknown.
architecture
1543
Design for the capital and base of a column
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DR1987:0342
Description:
- This engraving depicts a design for an order of architecture showing the capital and the base. Although the inscriptions refer to "DORICA[E]", this is not one of the traditional orders of architecture: the acanthus leaves on the capital suggest a Corinthian model while other details, such as the dolphin heads, suggest a more personal interpretation. - This print is one of a set of four prints of capitals and bases which were engraved by Hans Sebald Beham. Patricia Condon suggests that these prints were made for a general audience rather than for architects ('Ornament and Architecture', 29). Three of the prints in the CCA collection are from the collection of the Ducs d'Arenburg, while the provenance of this print is unknown.
architecture
Join us in Madrid for a conversation with Iñaki Ábalos and Juan Herreros, with the participation of Ángel Borrego, Enrique Encabo, Albert Ferré (Associate Director, CCA Publications), María Auxiliadora Gálvez, and Moisés Puente. “Is there such a thing as an architecture of conversation?” ask Iñaki Ábalos and Juan Herreros in their text “A Conversation,” published in CIRCO(...)
7 February 2017, 7pm
AP164: A Conversation with Iñaki Ábalos and Juan Herreros
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Join us in Madrid for a conversation with Iñaki Ábalos and Juan Herreros, with the participation of Ángel Borrego, Enrique Encabo, Albert Ferré (Associate Director, CCA Publications), María Auxiliadora Gálvez, and Moisés Puente. “Is there such a thing as an architecture of conversation?” ask Iñaki Ábalos and Juan Herreros in their text “A Conversation,” published in CIRCO(...)
Hubert Damisch, 2003-2004 CCA Mellon Senior Fellow, examines Blur – the cloud building created by New York architects Diller + Scofidio on lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, which is the most recent and radical expression of the desire for fluidity and evanescence in architecture – and the consequences that it might have on the future of structural thought. Damisch examines(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
8 May 2003
Hubert Damisch: “Effacer l’architecture?”
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Hubert Damisch, 2003-2004 CCA Mellon Senior Fellow, examines Blur – the cloud building created by New York architects Diller + Scofidio on lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, which is the most recent and radical expression of the desire for fluidity and evanescence in architecture – and the consequences that it might have on the future of structural thought. Damisch examines(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre