Architecture, though constrained by boundaries of function and structure, is always ultimately an act of the imagination. Potential Architecture: Construction Toys from the CCA Collection explores twenty-one construction toys, made in the hundred years from 1850 to 1950, that were designed to challenge a child’s creativity. The toys illustrate how children learn to invent(...)
Octagonal gallery
4 December 1991 to 8 March 1992
Potential Architecture: Construction Toys from the CCA Collection
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Architecture, though constrained by boundaries of function and structure, is always ultimately an act of the imagination. Potential Architecture: Construction Toys from the CCA Collection explores twenty-one construction toys, made in the hundred years from 1850 to 1950, that were designed to challenge a child’s creativity. The toys illustrate how children learn to invent(...)
Octagonal gallery
The exhibition is an introduction to the work and life of Ernest Isbell Barott, a Montréal architect who practised from 1912 to 1966. The drawings and photographs in the exhibition are largely drawn from the Ernest Isbell Barott Archive at the CCA. Ernest Barott’s career coincided with a period of profound physical and social change in Canada, a time of national and civic(...)
1440 rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest
5 June 1985 to 6 September 1985
Ernest Isbell Barott, architecte/architect : une introduction/an introduction
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The exhibition is an introduction to the work and life of Ernest Isbell Barott, a Montréal architect who practised from 1912 to 1966. The drawings and photographs in the exhibition are largely drawn from the Ernest Isbell Barott Archive at the CCA. Ernest Barott’s career coincided with a period of profound physical and social change in Canada, a time of national and civic(...)
1440 rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest
This exhibition features British architect Will Alsop’s preparatory work for the Sharp Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Art Design (OCAD) in Toronto and explores the role of painting in his design process. Completed in 2004, OCAD’s Sharp Centre for Design was designed by Alsop Architects in collaboration with the Toronto-based firm Robbie/Young + Wright. The(...)
Octagonal gallery
13 June 2008 to 5 October 2008
Will Alsop: OCAD, An Urban Manifesto
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This exhibition features British architect Will Alsop’s preparatory work for the Sharp Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Art Design (OCAD) in Toronto and explores the role of painting in his design process. Completed in 2004, OCAD’s Sharp Centre for Design was designed by Alsop Architects in collaboration with the Toronto-based firm Robbie/Young + Wright. The(...)
Octagonal gallery
exhibitions
As they fill their sketchbooks with both texts and images, architects capture initial reactions to sites; record impressions and make drawings as they travel; organise work to be done; articulate design concepts and pose solutions; draft essays, lectures, and letters; write research notes; and copy inspirational passages from their readings. The Architect’s Sketchbook:(...)
Hall cases
26 February 1992 to 24 May 1992
The Architect's Sketchbook: Current Practice
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As they fill their sketchbooks with both texts and images, architects capture initial reactions to sites; record impressions and make drawings as they travel; organise work to be done; articulate design concepts and pose solutions; draft essays, lectures, and letters; write research notes; and copy inspirational passages from their readings. The Architect’s Sketchbook:(...)
exhibitions
26 February 1992 to
24 May 1992
Hall cases
Traces of India depicts the social, political, and anthropological role of images, showing how they laid the historical foundations—real and imagined—on which an ordered empire may have been constructed, rather than an assemblage of colonial trading relationships. Organized around six themes, the exhibition explores some of the greatest architectural sites of the Indian(...)
Main galleries
15 May 2003 to 14 September 2003
Traces of India: Photography, Architecture, and the Politics of Representation
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Traces of India depicts the social, political, and anthropological role of images, showing how they laid the historical foundations—real and imagined—on which an ordered empire may have been constructed, rather than an assemblage of colonial trading relationships. Organized around six themes, the exhibition explores some of the greatest architectural sites of the Indian(...)
Main galleries
According to a Chinese legend well-known in Japan, a giant katsura tree was planted on the moon, inspiring the proverb, “We can see the katsura on the moon with our eyes, but we cannot touch it with our hands.” The saying celebrates the quest for an absolute and is a fitting epigraph for Departure for Katsura, which pursues issues of self-identity and personal(...)
Octagonal gallery, hall cases, and Sottsass Room
9 December 1998 to 28 March 1999
Irene F. Whittome: Departure for Katsura
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According to a Chinese legend well-known in Japan, a giant katsura tree was planted on the moon, inspiring the proverb, “We can see the katsura on the moon with our eyes, but we cannot touch it with our hands.” The saying celebrates the quest for an absolute and is a fitting epigraph for Departure for Katsura, which pursues issues of self-identity and personal(...)
Octagonal gallery, hall cases, and Sottsass Room
Marking the 10th anniversary of the CCA’s public opening, the exhibition spotlights and juxtaposes acquisitions from its first decade. Over 350 prints, drawings, photographs, rare books, manuscripts, toys, and models spanning five centuries of architectural history reflect how the built world has been imagined, conceived, and reflected upon. Dedicated to the many donors(...)
Main galleries and hall cases
24 November 1999 to 30 April 2000
En chantier: The Collections of the CCA, 1989-1999
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Marking the 10th anniversary of the CCA’s public opening, the exhibition spotlights and juxtaposes acquisitions from its first decade. Over 350 prints, drawings, photographs, rare books, manuscripts, toys, and models spanning five centuries of architectural history reflect how the built world has been imagined, conceived, and reflected upon. Dedicated to the many donors(...)
Main galleries and hall cases
Arrivals
Arrivals features gifts to the collection received in honour of Phyllis Lambert’s eightieth birthday. It includes original prints by acclaimed photographers and artists experimenting with the language of photography: Dieter Appelt, Robert Burley, Edward Burtynsky, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Thomas Florschuetz, John Gossage, Guido Guidi, Gordon Matta-Clark (donated by Jane(...)
Hall cases
24 January 2008 to 23 March 2008
Arrivals
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Arrivals features gifts to the collection received in honour of Phyllis Lambert’s eightieth birthday. It includes original prints by acclaimed photographers and artists experimenting with the language of photography: Dieter Appelt, Robert Burley, Edward Burtynsky, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Thomas Florschuetz, John Gossage, Guido Guidi, Gordon Matta-Clark (donated by Jane(...)
Hall cases
Thirty-two Italian photographers honour Phyllis Lambert, Founding Director and Chair of the CCA, on the occasion of her seventieth birthday. The exhibition reflects the concerns of Italian photographers since the 1970s and provides an overview of contemporary Italian photographic culture. Included are photographers Andrea Abati, Cesare Ballardini, Marina Ballo Charmet,(...)
Octagonal gallery
21 April 1999 to 26 September 1999
32 Italian Photographers: A Tribute to Phyllis Lambert
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Thirty-two Italian photographers honour Phyllis Lambert, Founding Director and Chair of the CCA, on the occasion of her seventieth birthday. The exhibition reflects the concerns of Italian photographers since the 1970s and provides an overview of contemporary Italian photographic culture. Included are photographers Andrea Abati, Cesare Ballardini, Marina Ballo Charmet,(...)
Octagonal gallery
Media and Machines marks the second phase of the research project initiated with the 2013 exhibition Archaeology of the Digital. This initiative investigates how architecture engaged with digital technology from the 1980s until the turn of the century. The first exhibition identified the earliest practices looking to computation as a design medium that could serve(...)
Main galleries
21 May 2014 to 5 October 2014
Archaeology of the Digital: Media and Machines
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Media and Machines marks the second phase of the research project initiated with the 2013 exhibition Archaeology of the Digital. This initiative investigates how architecture engaged with digital technology from the 1980s until the turn of the century. The first exhibition identified the earliest practices looking to computation as a design medium that could serve(...)
Main galleries