Discover British Columbia : Architecture (and design)

Aboriginal Habitat

There is little trace of this thousand-year-old habitat, due to the sedentarization imposed on indigenous peoples, but although the reserves have many infrastructure gaps, they are nonetheless tangible markers of the primacy of indigenous peoples on the continent. You can also discover the infinite richness of this habitat on historic sites such as Herschel Island or the village of Teslin. Each people has its own traditions and customs, but all these forms of habitat demonstrate an ability to adapt to the often hostile environment of the Canadian West and a great deal of spirituality, each habitat being a representation of the cosmos and the connection to the land. In the subarctic region, wigwams were the most common habitat form. They are circular, elongated, dome-shaped dwellings composed of young trunks planted vertically, connected by root strips and reinforced by horizontal membranes. The covering structure consists of braided mats and bark leaves. The nomadic Plains peoples used the tipi, a portable house with a sloping conical shape made of wooden poles and covered with buffalo hides held by stones or stakes. Initially a simple tent, the tipi gradually took on larger and more ornate forms, with the number of poles used varying from tribe to tribe. As in many nomadic cultures, women are responsible for building tipis. Inside is a central hearth. An inner lining of buffalo hide is added to protect against draughts and dampness, while at the same time preventing shadows from being cast on the outer wall. The floor is covered with skins installed on a layer of grass. Following the disappearance of the buffalo, the hides were gradually replaced by canvas. The people of the Central Plateau of British Columbia preferred tepees for the summer months and the semi-subterranean house for the harsh winter months. Its foundation pit may be round, square or oval; its roof may be conical, pyramidal or almost flat; while the entrance may consist of an opening in the roof or long underground tunnels. Inside, the structure is entirely composed of wooden pillars and beams. Due to the abundance of wood on the northwest coast, the preferred habitat is the plank house. Of various shapes (lean-to or gabled roofs, on stilts or on the ground floor), these astonishing post and beam structures bear witness to an extreme refinement, visible through paintings and sculptures that symbolize the social status and ancestral heritage of the owner. In the Arctic, there are three types of habitat: the winter house, a semi-subterranean oval structure with stone walls and a bearing structure made of whalebone; the igloo or snow house, a technical feat whose vault is not supported by any exterior support and whose interior is covered with skins and the tunnel entrance protected by a rampart to fight the cold; and the summer tents, easily dismantled and transportable. Now it's up to you to discover the riches of the indigenous peoples!

From forts to comfort

Forty Mile, Fort Reliance, Fort Edmonton (a reconstruction of which can be seen at Fort Edmonton Park): in the late 18th and especially 19th centuries, settlers came to western Canada via these forts, which were as much trading posts as they were fortified outposts, as evidenced by the imposing palisades that surrounded them and the powerful log house structures of which they were composed. Next to these embryonic cities, which gave birth to many of today's towns, were the houses of the legendary trappers, the fustes. These houses, made of stacked raw logs and caulked with mud joints, were extremely sturdy and allowed solitary adventurers to protect themselves from the rigours of the climate, especially in the Yukon. Then, at the end of the 19th century, the creation of the Canadian Pacific opened the Canadian West to mass settlement. Cities that were created around railway stations or around recently discovered natural resource deposits developed very quickly in a style that was called "boomtown", literally "mushroom town", with cubic wooden houses to which were added a postiche facade to give a style to the whole... This formed sometimes surprising mixes. The city of Dawson in the Yukon still has some fine examples. But when it comes to public buildings, on the other hand, style is no joke. The federal government wants to show its new power. The style initially favoured was the Romanesque Revival style popularized by the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson, which is recognizable by its large, imposing arches, its pronounced colours and its use of materials whose texture it emphasizes. This style was particularly used in British Columbia by local landmark architect Francis Mawson Rattenbury, who designed the Parliament Buildings in Victoria. The architect excelled in mastering the architectural styles favoured by the young and developing province, blending European and American influences. He designed the Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, an astonishing neo-Medieval Revival creation with pointed gables and turrets, as well as the Vancouver Courthouse, a powerful neo-classical building inspired by the rigour and elegance of the Beaux-Arts style, and his additions to the Canadian Pacific hotels, including the Vancouver hotel. These buildings, the most famous examples of which are the Banff Springs Hotel and the Chateau du Lac Louise, are a celebration of the power of the railway company through the use of the Chateau style or Railway Gothic, mixing borrowings from the Loire Valley castles and Victorian neo-Gothic. At the same time, a commercial architecture inspired by the first skyscrapers invented in the USA was also developing. The Henry Birks building in Vancouver is one of the first 10-storey buildings. Architectural prowess with its reinforced concrete framework, it nevertheless retains its historicist finery with its beautiful white terracotta facade. The mighty Hudson's Bay Company, for its part, multiplied the number of department stores with neo-baroque facades, testimony to its commercial power. In terms of domestic architecture, influences from Europe are also very numerous: Victorian style with an abundance of red brick and decorative elements, Queen Anne style with its elegant sculpted motifs, Tudor Revival style with its half-timbering and crossed gables... The picturesque is highly prized, as is the intimacy and rusticity that are the hallmarks of the homes designed by Samuel Mclure. Mclure's houses are a mix of the rich and eclectic - as shown by the Hatley Castle in Colwood, British Columbia, which resembles a Scottish castle - and the more modest plywood cottages he designed. Mclure is best known for his cottages in the Victoria area. Inspired by the rusticity of the Arts and Crafts movement, the sobriety of the Craftsman style and the simplicity of the California bungalows (all of which sublimate the wood), Mclure imagined Shingle Style cottages, mixing many influences with the use of very neo-Romanesque stone, classic windows, Victorian gables and Queen Anne porches. These superb homes are inseparable from the West Coast, as are the more modest wooden stilt houses on Vancouver Island, recognizable by their bright colours.

From romanticism to modernity

In the first part of the 20th century, historicist styles are still very much in vogue, especially on university campuses where the "Gothic college" style inspired by English universities is very much in vogue, as you can see on the campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Major hotels continue to use the Chateau style, while public and commercial buildings retain their classic elegance, as seen in the Beaux-Arts-styleVancouver Pacific Central Station. As the1930s approached, the term "bare classicism" was even used to describe the evolution of the style towards purer geometric forms heralding the new forms of modernity, beginning with Art Deco, of which the Marine Building

in Vancouver is probably the most famous representative. With its facade playing on verticality and the effects of recess, its large vaulted portal and its spectacular, richly decorated hall, it is the quintessence of this modern style, which does not hesitate to tint its ornaments with exoticism, as here with the motifs of marine flora and fauna. Likewise, its white terracotta-covered side walls are reminiscent of the snow-covered mountains around it. During this period, there was a very clear desire on the part of the architects to reconcile modernity and regionalism in their search for a resolutely Canadian architectural identity. The simplicity of the industrial style was also a great source of inspiration at this time, as evidenced by the Varscona Theatre in Edmonton. Apparent structures and sobriety are the key words. Art Deco then gave way to modernism proper with its massive buildings with pure lines, such as the Vancouver Main Post Office and its gigantic metal frame. It paved the way for functionalist buildings with flat surfaces, giving pride of place to glass, and advocating a design in which utility and function came before ornamentation. The BC Electric Building (Electra Tower), with its exterior wall covered with a layer of huge glass panels held together by a thin metal grid - the famous curtain wall - is the most famous building of the period, which saw the proliferation of skyscrapers in all the major cities of Western Canada. In terms of domestic architecture, there was a clear difference between the wealthy classes, who continued to use historicist currents, and the more modest classes, who turned to more modern forms. The bungalow is still very popular, but in the 1940s a new style was added, the West Coast Style or the vernacular version of modernism. This style borrows both from the international style in the "nesting box" aspect, but also from Japanese architecture or the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright in his way of seeking to integrate the building into the environment in a harmonious way, giving primary importance to the orientation of the large bay windows integrated into the wood of the structure and which always face the light. This style is very present in British Columbia. In the 1950s and 1960s, the population boom associated with industrial activities was such that new cities were built - such as Kitimat, British Columbia - and a new style of popular housing emerged, especially around Vancouver, earning it the name "Vancouver Special". These easy-to-construct houses are recognizable by their box-like structure, very low pitched roofs, balconies running across the entire façade, lower floors of brick or stone, and upper floors covered with stucco. Practical and inexpensive, this style was however quickly criticized, particularly for its soulless and repetitive nature, criticisms also made of the international style in general. Before we continue, let's take a short tour of the Alberta plains, where there are some little-known buildings that are true symbols of the region: grain elevators and silos, which the locals call the cathedrals or sentinels of the Prairies. In the 1920s, Le Corbusier himself praised the simplicity of their structure, their pure geometric form and the way in which they perfectly matched form and function. Cylindrical in the 19th century, they became square, then were given a pyramidal roof with a dome or gable roof. Initially built in wood, it was not until the 1970s that the first grain elevator was built in concrete in Magrath, and then in the 1980s that the first steel structure was built in Etzikom. In the 1990s, concrete was preferred to increase storage space. You may have spotted twin elevators: this is a way to preserve the elevators from destruction by moving an old structure next to a modern one. Heritage preservation is becoming a key issue in the architecture of the region.

Postmodernism

Beginning in the 1960s, many architects responded to the drift of the international style by seeking to integrate modernism into a broader reflection on the history of Western Canada and Aboriginal peoples. Understanding historical heritage, preserving it and integrating it into new creations is one of the characteristics of this new Canadian architecture. It is a legacy of Expo 67 in Montreal and Expo 86 in Vancouver (including the magnificent Canada Pavilion, with its five large sails giving the building a ship's silhouette), both of which put the spotlight on the region's rich heritage. Examples of integrating heritage into a contemporary structure include the Hollinsworth Building in Calgary, which serves as the base for the two stunning Bankers Hall towers with their cowboy hat coronation (the symbol of the city!). Another achievement of this era is the reflection on public space and the importance given to plaza and meeting spaces, as evidenced by the atrium structure that connects the various spaces of Vancouver'sSinclair Centre, a heritage treasure of the early 20th century. Between the 1960s and 1990s, a few architects stood out, offering Western Canada an astonishing creative vitality. Douglas Cardinal's mission was to imagine a Canadian architecture that was sustainable, environmentally friendly and focused on unity and a sense of community. The undulating forms of his buildings are directly inspired by the curvilinear landforms of the Alberta Badlands. One of his finest achievements is undoubtedly St. Mary's Church in Red Deer, Alberta, with its entrance wall spiralling inward and its concrete cylinders that let in the light. In the 1990s, he also worked extensively with Aboriginal communities to imagine an architecture that would be perfectly adapted to their traditions and aspirations. Architecture or the art of uniting an entire nation? Another key figure of the time was Barton Myers, who endowed Edmonton with the beautiful Citadel Theatre, whose alternating red brick facade and large bay windows give a glimpse of artists in the midst of their creative process, a veritable architectural abyss! But the most famous architect of the time was undoubtedly Arthur Erickson. It is to him that we owe Robson Square in Vancouver. A civic centre and public square, it is home to the courthouse. In order to integrate it into the urban environment and make room for people, Erickson designed an underground structure that people could literally walk on. The glass dome of the courthouse, which can be leaned over, symbolizes the transparency of institutions. Fountains and landscaping soften the use of concrete. Sobriety and integration with the environment are the key words of Erickson's architecture, which also makes many borrowings from Aboriginal cultures, such as with its portals framed by horizontal beams supported by vertical columns. Architect Richard Henriquez also strives to create a continuity between past and present in an architectural narrative specific to each building. His most famous building is the Sylvia Hotel in Vancouver, which reproduces the exterior appearance of the 1912 hotel by incorporating a modernist rotating tower of metal and glass. All the architects of this period, and there are many of them, defend the idea of Canadian architecture that combines historical, sociological and ecological reflection with a concern for sincerity and accessibility that is not devoid of audacity.

Contemporary Perspectives

Western Canada, like the rest of the country, is not immune to the race for verticality and skylines in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton continue to build new skyscrapers. Among the most famous are the Stantec Tower in Edmonton which, at 251 m, is one of the tallest towers in the country; the Living-Shangri-La (201 m) and the Trump International Hotel and Tower (188 m) in Vancouver; and of course The Bow in Calgary, a 236 m tower designed by the famous architect Norman Foster, whose curved and convex shapes are recognizable for their play on curved and convex shapes. Far from being merely an aesthetic appeal, it is actually designed to enhance the building's architectural and environmental qualities. In Vancouver, the construction of these skyscrapers is accompanied by a more general reflection on urban planning. This large metropolis favours high-rise towers with high density in order to free up space to integrate green areas and infrastructures that leave more room for pedestrians. In addition, these high towers are characterized by their slenderness, which allows light to penetrate the streets and create large corridors that open up the view of the surrounding landscape. This way of rethinking the way we look at the city can also be seen in the multiplication of glass canopies that protect pedestrians from the frequent rain. They are the heirs to the famous Calgary +15 network imagined in Calgary in the 1960s and 1970s, which consists of 18 km of covered walkways and 62 overhead bridges, heated in winter and air-conditioned in summer, that protect pedestrians while offering them new and superb views of the city. This idea of an inner city that transforms the outer city is also found in the University of Alberta's HUB complex, which consists of an elevated interior street lined with offices and shops and above which the student housing is located. Today Western Canada, led by Vancouver, is a pioneer in sustainable architecture. In 1994, the University of British Columbia's CK Choi Building was the very first example of green architecture, before being joined by the Vancouver Convention Centre, which has the largest green roof in North America. Domestic architecture is not to be outdone with the multiplication of passive wooden houses perfectly integrated into the local landscape. Also noteworthy are the superb wooden creations of architect Michael Green, who designed the beautiful extension to the Prince George Airport. But Western Canada sees further! Engineers, architects and foresters are working together to design wood structures that can support multi-storey buildings. In 2017, Vancouver inaugurated the 18-storey Brock Commons Tower and today launches the Canada Earth Tower project: with its 40 storeys, it will be the tallest wooden building in the world. More to come...