Misplaced Pages

#39960

33-503: The origins of the MacMillan Bloedel Building lie in the 1951 merger of Bloedel Stewart and Welch with the H. R. MacMillan Export Company to form MacMillan and Bloedel Limited. In 1956, MacMillan and Bloedel commissioned Dominion Construction to design and build a new head office building. Dominion tasked its chief engineer, John McLaren, to plan the structure. The nine-storey MacMillan and Bloedel Building at 1199 W Pender Street

66-522: A new design. Clyne accepted their offer and Erickson devised the new concrete structure. The partner-in-charge of design from Erickson/Massey was Arthur Erickson, while the project architect was James Strasman. Procter Lemare from Francis Donaldson was the project architect, production. The structural engineer was Otto Safir (who had previously worked on the BC Electric Building ) and mechanical engineers were Reid Crowther and Partners. The contractor

99-466: A remarkable building; to others, it is too stark, a cold piece of brutalist modern architecture." Ricardo L. Castro and David Theodore said, "this redoubtable office building sits like a pair of giant interlaced trees in Vancouver's downtown, its tapering forms somehow managing to represent and evoke MacMillan Bloedel's involvement in the rude and wild forestry industry. The sunken entrance courtyard adds to

132-434: A skyscraper with load-bearing walls. Steel I-beams span the full 42-foot width of each tower. The 7' by 7' windows are set into the concrete wall and are single panes of glass. Erickson described the effect as "glass jammed into concrete directly to bring out the extreme contradiction of character of each. All detail was avoided in achieving an uncompromising junction between glass and concrete–void and solid." The spaces between

165-466: Is central to his analysis of the Hispanic Baroque. Castro interests also include the 17th- and 18th-century European notion of limits as well as systemic thinking and mnemonics within design. Interested in literature and philosophy, Castro's analysis of architecture or art also incorporated literary concepts. Introduced to the writings of Alejo Carpentier by his uncle Dicken Castro, he elaborated on

198-604: Is possible Erickson based his design on the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in Boston, which follows the identical concept. The building has load-bearing concrete exterior walls that create a column-free floorplate. Walls taper in thickness from ten feet at the base to one foot at the top. The flared, tapering walls make it similar to the Monadnock Building in Chicago, an earlier example of

231-783: The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts to research Rogelio Salmona . He was also awarded grants from the Graham Foundation and the Institut de recherche en histoire de l’architectura (IRHA) for his collaborative research on Arthur Erickson . Published as Arthur Erickson: Critical Works in 2006, the book was described in the American Library Association 's publication Choice as: "diverse but engaging essays, excellent layout, and superb photography reflect

264-700: The Tate Liverpool . In 2007 Castro was also appointed Associate Director of the Masters of Architecture (M. Arch) Professional Program at McGill University, a position he held until 2011. He also joined the editorial board of deArq , the architectural journal of the Universidad de los Andes and his book on Salmona's later work, Rogelio Salmona: Tributo was published in Bogotá. In 2008 the English edition Rogelio Salmona: A Tribute

297-793: The Université Laval which awarded him a doctoral equivalency in 1978. He continued to photograph architecture and an exhibition of his work "The Facades of Quebec: CloseUps", sponsored by the McCord Museum , was held in Montreal and at the Université Laval in 1980, Carleton University in 1981, and the University of Toronto in 1982. That year Castro moved to Montreal to teach at the McGill University School of Architecture and, in 1983, he

330-640: The American Institute of Architects. In March 2005 he was Chair of Open Sessions at the annual conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture in Chicago. Recognized for excellence in architectural journalism, he was awarded the 1990 Prix Paul-Henri Lapointe in the category "History, Criticism and Theory" by the Ordre des architectes du Québec. Castro was awarded grants by the Canada Council and

363-629: The Campus Planning Office where Christopher Alexander 's Pattern Language was implemented as The Oregon Experiment . Castro graduated with a Master of Architecture in 1974, but continued to study Architectural History and attend seminars given by photographers Bernard Freemesser and Brett Weston . In 1976 he graduated from the University of Oregon with a Master of Arts in Art History and moved to Quebec City. Castro taught from 1977 to 1982 at

SECTION 10

#1732855382040

396-474: The MacMillan Bloedel Building won the Massey Medal for Architecture. Erickson's biographer, David Stouck , wrote that "the building has been both admired and scorned by Vancouver's citizenry. It gives variety and character to a monotonous urban landscape, but on rainy days this concrete monolith with its rows of windows seems to many to draw into itself the greyness of the northwest climate. For some, it remains

429-519: The Universidad de Los Andes and William Zapata at the Colombo American Center. In 1972 Castro graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from Universidad de Los Andes and moved to Eugene, Oregon to attend the School of Architecture and Allied Arts at the University of Oregon . There he was taught by Robert S. Harris, a proponent of participatory design , and worked during the summers of 1973-75 in

462-434: The architect directed the contractors not to use corner chamfers, to give the concrete sharp edges. While the contractors told him the unfinished edges would chip away, Erickson wanted this roughness to contrast with neat rows of windows. The building has had extensive interior renovations as recently as 2023, including environmental upgrades that allowed the building to achieve LEED Platinum certification in 2019. In 1970,

495-661: The ceremonial path of Punta Pite, Chile. Castro is recognized as a photographer as well as an architectural critic and historian. He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2015, and to the College of Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC) in 2010. In 2002 he was Moderator in the “Design/Intervention/Montreal” at the Professional Practice Conference of

528-847: The extraordinary synthesis of building traditions, symbolic and structural, in Erickson's work. The book was also awarded the 2007 Alcuin Society Award for Excellence in Book Design Castro's research on Baroque Fortifications in the Caribbean in association with the University of Western Ontario was funded through the Major Collaborative Research Initiatives (2008-2014) of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Throughout his career, Castro taught at

561-419: The hallway partition for outside offices. Strasman also designed the psychedelic main floor sales office for International Travel, which was of green, blue, yellow, and brown, with lights and mirrors. Together, the lighting and colours produced "the effect on the visitor of being inside a kaleidoscope." Erickson characterised his work as "a Doric building in its starkness and simplicity." During construction,

594-693: The idea of lo real maravilloso (the real-marvelous) in the 1992 essay "Thoughts at the Edge of Architecture: Solitude and the Marvelous-Real" in ARQ Architecture Québec . More recently Castro included W. G. Sebald 's "concept of the extraordinary" in A Taxonomy of Collecting , an analysis of collages by John A. Schweitzer exhibited at the University of Western Ontario in 2014. In Syndetic Modernisms , Carlos Rueda Plata wrote that both " syndesis and thaumaturgy (the marvelous)" informed Castro's analysis of

627-417: The results. In 1965, company chairman John Clyne approached Erickson/Massey Architects, who had risen to prominence in 1963 when they won the design competition for the new Simon Fraser University campus. Initially Clyne asked the architects to revise the design proposals the company had already received. Erickson/Massey turned down the request but asked if the company would grant them a month to come up with

660-461: The sense of an urban forest setting, creating a topographical site for the towers." Although critics have likened the tapering wall thickness to the structure of a tree, the symbolism was unintentional. Erickson wrote, "the fact that the building is rather rugged in appearance and that it tapers upward like the trunk of a great tree is quite incidental, but nevertheless conforms to the image that MacMillan Bloedel wanted to project." In episode 5.11 of

693-707: The television series Alias , the MacMillan Bloedel Building is the home of the fictional Queens Bank. Drawings for the MacMillan Bloedel Building are held at the Canadian Architectural Archives at the University of Calgary in the Arthur Erickson fonds . Drawings are also held at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal in the Arthur Erickson fonds . John Clyne John Valentine Clyne , CC (February 14, 1902 – August 22, 1989)

SECTION 20

#1732855382040

726-491: The theoretical and pragmatic aspects in a holistic way". Influenced by the work of architects Juhani Pallasmaa and Peter Zumthor and colleagues Alberto Perez-Gomez and Robert Mellin, Castro used the Greek term sýndesis to convey both the "tangible and conceptual" in monographs on Canadian architect Arthur Erickson and Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona. A concern with "urban topography", or architecture within its environment,

759-461: The windows are three feet, thus creating a ten-foot horizontal module. Air conditioning ducts cross the building length-wise, and together with the width-wise structural beams form coffered ceilings . The architects designed the lobby and the company interiors. The elevator hall features a tapestry by Mariette Rousseau-Vermette . On the floors occupied by MacMillan Bloedel, Erickson devised a built-in cupboard system, made of oak or walnut, that acted as

792-557: Was Laing Construction . At the MB&;PR annual meeting in May 1966, the company had elected to shorten its name to MacMillan Bloedel Limited. Thus, the building would be called the MacMillan Bloedel Building. Construction began in October 1966. Erickson's design consists of two parallel offset towers connected by a mechanical core. The front tower is 16 bays long, and the rear tower is 14 bays long. It

825-460: Was Resident Fellow of the McGill Institute for Public Arts and Ideas (IPLAI) as well as a member of the editorial board for the architectural journal deArq . At that time he was also recognized for photographic excellence by the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and inducted as a member in May 2016. An architectural historian and design instructor, Castro wrote that his goal was to convey "both

858-700: Was a Canadian lawyer and former Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court . Born in Vancouver , British Columbia he attended the University of British Columbia and graduated in 1923. He was called to the British Columbia bar in 1927. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 1950. In 1957 he was appointed a director of MacMillan Bloedel and later served as chairman and chief executive officer until his retirement in 1973. He

891-561: Was also Director of Research at the Institut de recherché en histoire de l’architecture (IRHA) in Montreal. At that time he partnered with Nicholas Olsberg of the Canadian Centre for Architecture to research the work of Canadian architect Arthur Erickson . Following the publication of Arthur Erickson: Critical Works , Castro curated the accompanying exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery, held from June to September 2006. That year he also lectured on "Architecture and Photography" at

924-535: Was appointed Associate Professor of Architecture. During the 1980s Castro's reviews and essays were published in Canadian Architect , ARQ Architecture Québec and, after 1985, in the Montreal Gazette . In 1998 his research on architect Rogelio Salmona was published in both Spanish and English, and he exhibited photographs of Salmona's work at Galeria Mundo (Bogotá) in 2001. During the early 2000s, Castro

957-522: Was appointed Chancellor of the University of British Columbia in 1978 and served for six years. He was awarded an honorary degree from UBC in 1984. In 1972 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada . Ricardo L. Castro Ricardo L. Castro, RCA FRAIC (born 1942) is a Colombian-born, Canadian architectural photographer, critic, and educator. Known for his monographs on architects Rogelio Salmona and Arthur Erickson , his design philosophy

990-567: Was born in Bogotá , Colombia , on April 2, 1942. As a youth he lived in Madrid, Spain, and, at age 14, began to photograph his surroundings. Inspired by his uncle, architect Dicken Castro, he enrolled in architecture at the Universidad de Los Andes where he was taught by Rogelio Salmona . At this time he also photographed the colonial Colombian city of Villa de Leyva and was mentored by Germán Téllez at

1023-669: Was completed in 1957. In December 1959, MacMillan and Bloedel merged with the Power River Company to create MacMillan, Bloedel and Powell River Limited. After the merger, some staff from the Powell River Company moved into the MacMillan and Bloedel Building, while others were forced to use overflow space rented elsewhere. It soon became apparent the merged company required a new, larger head office. MB&PR commissioned several architects to draw proposals, but were unsatisfied with

MacMillan Bloedel Building - Misplaced Pages Continue

1056-622: Was published in Syndetic Modernisms (2014). Castro was elected Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC) in 2010, and to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2015. He was awarded the 1990 Prix Paul-Henri Lapointe for architectural journalism by the Ordre des Architectes du Québec. A frequent contributor to Canadian Architect Magazine and ARQ Architecture Québec , photographic expositions of his work were also held in public institutions in Bogotá, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. Ricardo León Castro

1089-491: Was published, and Castro lectured on Salmona at Centro Cultural Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Bogotá. From 2008-14, he collaborated with Juan Suarez of the University of Western Ontario on Spanish Baroque Fortifications in the Caribbean. In 2013 Castro's photographs were exhibited as "Paseo de ronda: Chemin de ronde / Wall-walk" and those of Punta Pite, Chile, were published in 2014 in Syndetic Modernisms . Castro continued to teach at McGill School of Architecture and, in 2015, he

#39960