Posts tagged “brutalism”

Moriyama-designed OAC Centennial Arboretum, Guelph.
18 August, 2023

Above, interview excerpt with OAC Arboretum director, Justine Richardson

Took a trip out to Guelph, Ontario with favoured Toronto-based architecture photographer, Vik Pahwa , to capture the Agriculture College (OAC) Centennial Arboretum designed by Raymond Moriyama. Justine Richardson , director of the OAC Centennial Arboretum, was a superb host who prepared archival images, literature and articles on said building. The building is magnificent, the abundance of windows leads to an immersion in nature hard to find elsewhere except in Moriyama's other works. Would love to see this structure in winter, apparently the building is just as stunning. Construction of the Arboretum was completed in 1974 and as the image denotes below, the land was mostly open and flat. From one perspective of the building, it can almost pass as a glorified garden shed, it seems small. But like Dr. Who's TARDIS, the interior appears far larger than the exterior. That is because a portion of the building is built into the landscape, much like the Earth Homes or Earth Shelter in style during the 1960's. A pop culture variant would be the "Hobbit Homes" from the J. R. R. Tolkein series.

This contrasts with the current image of the building with attendant foliage, more in keeping with an Earth Shelter.

Vik Pahwa is ideal to have around on an architectural documentation trip, he maintains a surpassing weblog of architectural photography and his work is featured in at least two architecture books, Toronto Architecture: A City Guide, 3rd Edition and Remnants of Mid-Century Toronto. Images of the OAC Arboretum by Pahwa, below.

Stills above by Vik Pahwa

Michael McClelland interview (excerpt)
20 July, 2017

Visited ERA Architects to interview architect, scholar, and principal of the firm, Michael McClelland. McClelland is a generous person and was kind enough to give a (now treasured) copy of Concrete Toronto: A guide to concrete architecture from the fifties to the seventies. Being from Toronto, I never really paid much attention to how much architecture defines the mood and tone of our city. Toronto has a lot of strange (in a good way) looking, massive concrete buildings. It is great to learn about the ideology and optimism that informs the 'utopian modernist' school of architecture that occurred during the 1950's through to the 1970's. The focal point of our interview is the Ontario Science Centre (OSC), one of the country's best examples of utopian modernist brutalist architecture. I heartily recommend McClelland's overview of brutalist architecture in Toronto that he presented for the ACO 150 Plus symposium at the Ontario Science Centre. McClelland suggests that architecture is similar to people in our society, they become less interesting in middle age. That may explain why the OSC got a facelift to the entrance 'Building A' in it's 30's!

Prof Marco Polo interview (excerpt)
17 July, 2017

Professor of Architectural Sciences, Marco Polo at Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) is a ‘keeper of the light’ for knowledge on Canadian national identity, something not often considered by Canadians. Canada is mostly a country of immigrants, colonized by French and British empires. Canadian architecture prior to the 1950’s reflects this. With the approach of theCentennial of Confederation in 1967, the government at the time believed Canada must set aside colonialist roots and cultivate its own national identity in the arts, sciences and letters and that architecture can facilitate. Then-Canadian Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker, called on architects to build infrastructure unique to Canada, hence the Centennial Projects. This is how the Ontario Science Centre (OSC) came to be. Professor Polo covers all this and more with his surpassing presentation at the 50th anniversary of the OSC, the ACO 150 plus symposium. The presentation caused such a splash with attendees that it rippled into the ongoing documentation that is HeartOSC.

Since the Centennial projects were built, from the 1950’s through to the 1970’s, some remain but other are lost. What became of the Centennial projects since then? This is covered in a book professor Polo co-authored with professor, Colin Ripley: Architecture and National Identity: The Centennial Projects 50 Years On. Here is an interview excerpt with professor Marco Polo on said book and the OSC:

Presenters of the ACO 150 Plus symposium at the Ontario Science Centre
21 April, 2017

A day of immersion in Canadian architecture history featuring an impressive array of panelists including scholars and legendary architect, Eb Zeidler , who designed the Ontario Place, Eaton Centre and oversaw the renovation of 'Building A' of the Ontario Science Centre during the 1990's. Eb Zeidler's recollections and notes on the ideation of the Ontario Place is one of the great highlights of the day.

Additional highlights include Michael McClelland, editor of Concrete Toronto: a guidebook to concrete architecture from the fifties to the seventies. McClelland defined brutalist architecture as “sublime, expressing immense power and strength” and presented Toronto's more notable modernist-brutalist buildings, such as the Robart’s library at U of T. McClelland highlights how some buildings are hated, others demolished, and then later revered down the road.

Ryerson University school of architecture, Professor Marco Polo gave a comprehensive presentation on the architecture of Canadian Centennial Projects . Polo shows the doctrine that led to the Centennial celebration of 1967 and attendant infrastructure projects. Brutalism in architecture was the style of the time and effort and Prof Polo explains it. Starting with the Fathers of Confederation Memorial building in Prince Edward Island, other provinces wanted buildings just like it. Thus was born the Centennial project which extended to other infrastructure like parks, schools and bridges.