ARTH 371 Studies in Canadian Architecture

• Tuesdays, 15:00-17:30
• EV-1-605
• Instructor: Rebecca Lemire

This course will survey the history of Canadian Architecture and critically explore broad questions related to the concepts of national identity, authorship and professionalization. We will attempt to reconstruct the various intersections of architecture and modern governmentality, as well as assess how the practice of architecture both reflects and actively gives shape to changing political, economic and productive structures. Challenging the traditional organization of architecture history around a chronological succession of styles or movements, each lecture is instead structured around a series of themes, such as: Indigenous architectures; the search for a post-colonial/federal identity; modernization, regionalisms and nationalisms; architecture and urban planning; the interface between race, class and the built environment; the imagination of "wilderness"; changing notions of domesticity; art in public space, etc. Such a thematic division would mean not only looking at authorial/canonical buildings and monuments, but also carefully considering vernacular, bureaucratic and commercial architecture (suburban houses, social housing complexes, government embassies, department stores, parish churches, public parks, temporary installations, etc.) While the course focuses on buildings and architectural and urban projects constructed within the territorial boundaries of Canada, we will also consider some projects built by Canadian architects abroad, and examine Canada's contributions to a broader transnational history of architectural developments.