Learning from... Cairo
Nasser Rabbat challenges the traditional framing strategies of East vs. West or traditional vs. modern, focusing instead on the dialectical relationship of modernity and history in the making of contemporary Cairo. Shaped by distinct waves of modernity from the colonial Napoleonic invasion of 1789 to the revolution and independence in 1952, the city responded with layers(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
15 September 2011 , 7pm
Learning from... Cairo
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Nasser Rabbat challenges the traditional framing strategies of East vs. West or traditional vs. modern, focusing instead on the dialectical relationship of modernity and history in the making of contemporary Cairo. Shaped by distinct waves of modernity from the colonial Napoleonic invasion of 1789 to the revolution and independence in 1952, the city responded with layers(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
Learning from... Saadiyat
Saadiyat Island is a “dreamscape” created by Tourism Development Investment Company just half a kilometer from downtown Abu Dhabi. It is an amalgam of luxury residential areas, 5-star resorts and golf courses crowned by a Cultural District containing a hallucinatory collection of museums designed by five Pritzker Prize winners. Is this the future of private(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
21 August 2014 , 6pm
Learning from... Saadiyat
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Saadiyat Island is a “dreamscape” created by Tourism Development Investment Company just half a kilometer from downtown Abu Dhabi. It is an amalgam of luxury residential areas, 5-star resorts and golf courses crowned by a Cultural District containing a hallucinatory collection of museums designed by five Pritzker Prize winners. Is this the future of private(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
PH1981:1286:001-036
Description:
Album PH1981:1286:001-036 and its component photographs by Richard Broadbridge were taken after 1911 when the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (C.P.R.) decided to supplement the Vancouver terminus with a second terminus in Coquitlam. Eleven of the photographs are related to the Canadian Pacific Railroad Company, and many show structures under construction, including: five views of the freight yards, one of which also shows the Roundhouse; two views of the Roundhouse; two views of bridges; and one view each of the Terminal office and the construction camp. Also included are views of the district of Coquitlam's rapid development into the city of Port Coquitlam in 1913, including: four views of roads; three views of houses; two views of the First Division and one view of the Second Division; two views of a commerical building; two views of the Agricultural Hall; two views of the Provincial Government Farm (also known as the Colony Farm); two views of roads to housing developments; and one view each of the Old Business Center, the Provincial Asylum, the Pitt River Dyke, the Pitt River with Coquitlam in background, a hotel, a factory, and the original Indigenous village.
architecture, engineering, urban planning
1912-1914
Album of views compiled by the Canadian Pacific Railroad Company (C.P.R.) showing the construction of the new Operating Terminus and the development of the district of Coquitlam (now Port Coquitlam), British Columbia, Canada
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PH1981:1286:001-036
Description:
Album PH1981:1286:001-036 and its component photographs by Richard Broadbridge were taken after 1911 when the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (C.P.R.) decided to supplement the Vancouver terminus with a second terminus in Coquitlam. Eleven of the photographs are related to the Canadian Pacific Railroad Company, and many show structures under construction, including: five views of the freight yards, one of which also shows the Roundhouse; two views of the Roundhouse; two views of bridges; and one view each of the Terminal office and the construction camp. Also included are views of the district of Coquitlam's rapid development into the city of Port Coquitlam in 1913, including: four views of roads; three views of houses; two views of the First Division and one view of the Second Division; two views of a commerical building; two views of the Agricultural Hall; two views of the Provincial Government Farm (also known as the Colony Farm); two views of roads to housing developments; and one view each of the Old Business Center, the Provincial Asylum, the Pitt River Dyke, the Pitt River with Coquitlam in background, a hotel, a factory, and the original Indigenous village.
1912-1914
architecture, engineering, urban planning
2016 Visiting Scholar Olumuyiwa Adegun presents his research: European cities of the nineteenth century, like African cities today, experienced severe housing problems. Shanty towns marked Berlin and Paris in ways that are similar to how Nairobi and Johannesburg have been characterized by informal settlements in the last few decades. This lecture explores the history of(...)
Shaughnessy House
4 August 2016, 6pm
Visiting Scholar Seminar: Olumuyiwa Adegun
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2016 Visiting Scholar Olumuyiwa Adegun presents his research: European cities of the nineteenth century, like African cities today, experienced severe housing problems. Shanty towns marked Berlin and Paris in ways that are similar to how Nairobi and Johannesburg have been characterized by informal settlements in the last few decades. This lecture explores the history of(...)
Shaughnessy House
Project
BMI/HQ
AP144.S2.D74
Description:
File documents the unexecuted design for the headquarters of the Birmingham and Midland Institute (BMI), in Birmingham, England. This project is related to the Shantasea Development (AP144.S2.D72) from which Cedric Price resigned as architect to take on the role of architect for BMI, one of the proposed tenants for the Shantasea project. Cedric Price proposed a municipal and regional "nerve centre" to house seminar and study rooms, workshops, galleries, film, television and music studios, a library, a planetarium, and a theatre. A flexible life-cycle plan (expansion, static, contraction) for the building and the activities would allow BMI to expand in the short and medium term, and to shrink in the long term, when it was assumed that many of its roles would be replaced by the UK's Open University plan (Works II, 42). Work on the project came to a stop in 1970 under a new city council (Architectural Design, June 1971, 368). Existing conditions material consists of maps and a survey of Birmingham. Conceptual sketches and drawings include: annotated diagrammatic plans and sections used to develop the building's massing and the horizontal/vertical relationships between functional areas; axonometric views showing the building's general form/functions; plans used for calculating square footage; diagrams showing visual and physical movement through the building; information and movement charts; and flow charts showing the building's organization. Design development drawings consist of graphs showing how functional areas might be used over time. Design development and working drawings include: diagrammatic plans and sections; exploded axonometric views of the functional relationships between areas; exterior axonometric views; sectional perspectives; space allocation plans; circulation drawings; diagrams showing activities throughout the day; furniture equipment schedules; theatre seating and stair studies; and elevations for exterior cladding. Charts show links between activities/actions; activity distribution; activity/capacity; progress of pre-contract work; and the telephone network. File also includes drawings by engineering consultants Felix Samuely and Partners and Zisman, Bowyer and Partners. Presentation material includes: newspaper clippings and text concerning the project; diagrammatic plans, sections, and charts; and a photo collage of the site; and a text by Cedric Price entitled "The Present Position". Some materials in this file were published in "Cedric Price Supplement No. 3", 'Architectural Design', vol. 41, (June 1971), 364-368, and 'Cedric Price-Works II' (London: Architectural Press, 1984), 36, 42. Material in this file was produced between 1967 and 1971. Zisman Bowyer and Partners appear as the mechanical and electrical consulting engineers; Silk and Frazier as the quantity surveyors; and Versa-Serve Ltd as the catering consultants on this project. File contains cartographic materials, conceptual drawings, design development drawings, panels, photographic materials, presentation drawings, presentation panels, publication drawings, technical drawings, and textual records.
1967-1971
BMI/HQ
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AP144.S2.D74
Description:
File documents the unexecuted design for the headquarters of the Birmingham and Midland Institute (BMI), in Birmingham, England. This project is related to the Shantasea Development (AP144.S2.D72) from which Cedric Price resigned as architect to take on the role of architect for BMI, one of the proposed tenants for the Shantasea project. Cedric Price proposed a municipal and regional "nerve centre" to house seminar and study rooms, workshops, galleries, film, television and music studios, a library, a planetarium, and a theatre. A flexible life-cycle plan (expansion, static, contraction) for the building and the activities would allow BMI to expand in the short and medium term, and to shrink in the long term, when it was assumed that many of its roles would be replaced by the UK's Open University plan (Works II, 42). Work on the project came to a stop in 1970 under a new city council (Architectural Design, June 1971, 368). Existing conditions material consists of maps and a survey of Birmingham. Conceptual sketches and drawings include: annotated diagrammatic plans and sections used to develop the building's massing and the horizontal/vertical relationships between functional areas; axonometric views showing the building's general form/functions; plans used for calculating square footage; diagrams showing visual and physical movement through the building; information and movement charts; and flow charts showing the building's organization. Design development drawings consist of graphs showing how functional areas might be used over time. Design development and working drawings include: diagrammatic plans and sections; exploded axonometric views of the functional relationships between areas; exterior axonometric views; sectional perspectives; space allocation plans; circulation drawings; diagrams showing activities throughout the day; furniture equipment schedules; theatre seating and stair studies; and elevations for exterior cladding. Charts show links between activities/actions; activity distribution; activity/capacity; progress of pre-contract work; and the telephone network. File also includes drawings by engineering consultants Felix Samuely and Partners and Zisman, Bowyer and Partners. Presentation material includes: newspaper clippings and text concerning the project; diagrammatic plans, sections, and charts; and a photo collage of the site; and a text by Cedric Price entitled "The Present Position". Some materials in this file were published in "Cedric Price Supplement No. 3", 'Architectural Design', vol. 41, (June 1971), 364-368, and 'Cedric Price-Works II' (London: Architectural Press, 1984), 36, 42. Material in this file was produced between 1967 and 1971. Zisman Bowyer and Partners appear as the mechanical and electrical consulting engineers; Silk and Frazier as the quantity surveyors; and Versa-Serve Ltd as the catering consultants on this project. File contains cartographic materials, conceptual drawings, design development drawings, panels, photographic materials, presentation drawings, presentation panels, publication drawings, technical drawings, and textual records.
File 74
1967-1971
Learning from... Rome
Filmmaker and photographer Armin Linke reveals the societal changes, cultural complexities, and beauty of contemporary Rome through two short films and architectural photographs from his archives. The first film focuses on a moment of natural choreography as some 100,000 starlings fly against the backdrop of the city of Rome. Linke presents a selection of photographs,(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
5 March 2009
Learning from... Rome
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Filmmaker and photographer Armin Linke reveals the societal changes, cultural complexities, and beauty of contemporary Rome through two short films and architectural photographs from his archives. The first film focuses on a moment of natural choreography as some 100,000 starlings fly against the backdrop of the city of Rome. Linke presents a selection of photographs,(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
This exhibition looks at the transformation of Montréal from a nineteenth century merchant city to the metropolis of Canada. It examines the elements that made Montréal a political, social, and economic centre and explores the unique character of its architecture. The exhibition brings together some 350 objects, including drawings from the CCA collection by Montréal(...)
Main galleries
18 March 1998 to 24 May 1998
Montréal Métropole, 1880–1930
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This exhibition looks at the transformation of Montréal from a nineteenth century merchant city to the metropolis of Canada. It examines the elements that made Montréal a political, social, and economic centre and explores the unique character of its architecture. The exhibition brings together some 350 objects, including drawings from the CCA collection by Montréal(...)
Main galleries
articles
From the Soil to the Sky
Materiality of Parkour
Engineer, artist, and theoretician Zoe Laughlin presents the new functions of existing materials in public spaces in relation to parkour, an activity which reinterprets the urban landscape. Her ideas focus on the materiality of daily life: how matter behaves, its sensorial qualities, and how people react to it. A member of the Division of Engineering’s Materials Research(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
19 February 2009
Materiality of Parkour
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Engineer, artist, and theoretician Zoe Laughlin presents the new functions of existing materials in public spaces in relation to parkour, an activity which reinterprets the urban landscape. Her ideas focus on the materiality of daily life: how matter behaves, its sensorial qualities, and how people react to it. A member of the Division of Engineering’s Materials Research(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
Starting From... Windows
A window can be a void, an aperture, or a glass surface. Existing at the boundary between interior and exterior, windows admit light and air and frame views. The idea of the window, combined with advances in glass as a building material, became central to architectural experimentation during the modern period. This selection from the CCA collection presents a range of(...)
Hall cases
17 June 2010 to 27 September 2010
Starting From... Windows
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Description:
A window can be a void, an aperture, or a glass surface. Existing at the boundary between interior and exterior, windows admit light and air and frame views. The idea of the window, combined with advances in glass as a building material, became central to architectural experimentation during the modern period. This selection from the CCA collection presents a range of(...)
Hall cases