articles
9 January 2023
Without even trying, retail is civic and political
Hilary Sample interviewed by Jack Self on how architects can respond to the changing urban dynamics of retail
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Glaciers tell us of the past and the present, archiving histories of climate and revealing our impending climate futures. Join us on 9 October for a talk by Cymene Howe, presented in the context of the exhibition Oscillating Spaces, in which she describes how we can recognize the work that glaciers do to mark time and history. She will discuss a handful of her(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
9 October 2025, 6pm
The Life and Death of Ice with Cymene Howe
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Description:
Glaciers tell us of the past and the present, archiving histories of climate and revealing our impending climate futures. Join us on 9 October for a talk by Cymene Howe, presented in the context of the exhibition Oscillating Spaces, in which she describes how we can recognize the work that glaciers do to mark time and history. She will discuss a handful of her(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
archives
Level of archival description:
Fonds
AP194
Synopsis:
The Johan Bettum OCEAN North projects records, 1995-2000, consist of born-digital files and a physical drawing that document three projects by the OCEAN North collective: Synthetic Landscape (1995-2000), Jyväskylä Music and Arts Centre (competition, 1997), and Tölöö Football Stadium (competition, 1997). The archive also includes a small amount of additional born-digital reference materials on 11 projects from the collective, including the three projects mentioned above.
1995-2000
Johan Bettum OCEAN North project records
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AP194
Synopsis:
The Johan Bettum OCEAN North projects records, 1995-2000, consist of born-digital files and a physical drawing that document three projects by the OCEAN North collective: Synthetic Landscape (1995-2000), Jyväskylä Music and Arts Centre (competition, 1997), and Tölöö Football Stadium (competition, 1997). The archive also includes a small amount of additional born-digital reference materials on 11 projects from the collective, including the three projects mentioned above.
archives
Level of archival description:
Fonds
1995-2000
Talking Pictures
Sophie Dars and Carlo Menon, Stefano Graziani, and Yasufumi Nakamori present strategies for reimagining and employing visual formats such as the photo essay, the photo novel, and the photo exhibition. The event takes place in the framework of an ongoing CCA research project on the relationship between architecture and photography funded by The Andrew W. Mellon(...)
13 October 2016, 6pm
Talking Pictures
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Description:
Sophie Dars and Carlo Menon, Stefano Graziani, and Yasufumi Nakamori present strategies for reimagining and employing visual formats such as the photo essay, the photo novel, and the photo exhibition. The event takes place in the framework of an ongoing CCA research project on the relationship between architecture and photography funded by The Andrew W. Mellon(...)
Join us on 8 May at 6pm for a lecture by Noelia Monteiro on her work at Estudio Flume. The studio, based in São Paulo, develops socio-environmental projects in remote areas of Brazil, aiming to protect traditional communities that preserve the Amazon rainforest. Monteiro’s work poses a key question: in the face of resource scarcity, how can we build with almost nothing?(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
8 May 2025, 6pm
Groundwork with Noelia Monteiro
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Description:
Join us on 8 May at 6pm for a lecture by Noelia Monteiro on her work at Estudio Flume. The studio, based in São Paulo, develops socio-environmental projects in remote areas of Brazil, aiming to protect traditional communities that preserve the Amazon rainforest. Monteiro’s work poses a key question: in the face of resource scarcity, how can we build with almost nothing?(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
archives
Level of archival description:
Collection
CD034
Synopsis:
The SAAL Process exhibition collection consists of reproductions of several objects used in the exhibition “The SAAL Process, Housing in Portugal 1974–76.” It was created by the Museu Serralves and travelled to the Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA) in 2015. The collection contains reproductions of drawings, presentation panels and photographs dating from 1974 to 1979. Born out of the Portuguese Revolution of 25 April 1974, the Serviço Ambulatório de Apoio Local (Local Ambulatory Support Service) was a pioneering architectural and political experiment designed to address extreme housing shortages and poor living conditions in Portuguese cities.
1974-1979
The SAAL Process exhibition collection
Actions:
CD034
Synopsis:
The SAAL Process exhibition collection consists of reproductions of several objects used in the exhibition “The SAAL Process, Housing in Portugal 1974–76.” It was created by the Museu Serralves and travelled to the Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA) in 2015. The collection contains reproductions of drawings, presentation panels and photographs dating from 1974 to 1979. Born out of the Portuguese Revolution of 25 April 1974, the Serviço Ambulatório de Apoio Local (Local Ambulatory Support Service) was a pioneering architectural and political experiment designed to address extreme housing shortages and poor living conditions in Portuguese cities.
archives
Level of archival description:
collection
1974-1979
articles
Information Archaeologies
Origins of the digital
Molly Wright Steenson, Cedric Price, Oxford Corner House, Generator, digital, archaeology of the digital, information
21 September 2020
Information Archaeologies
Molly Wright Steenson on Cedric Price's Oxford Corner House and Generator projects
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Origins of the digital
The St. Peter’s Indian Band (now Peguis First Nation) was forcibly removed from their original lands at Netley-Libau Marsh beginning in 1908, after an illegal surrender vote took place. Since then, the health of the area that was once the Peguis’s home has declined due to intense annual flooding and ice jams; the appearance of invasive species such as purple loosestrife,(...)
online Keyword(s):
Indigenous-led design, fellow, Peguis First Nation, land rehabilitation
27 April 2023, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Peguis First Nation and the Netley-Libau Marsh: Documenting Indigenous Land Use and Occupancy at the Mouth of Lake Winnipeg
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Description:
The St. Peter’s Indian Band (now Peguis First Nation) was forcibly removed from their original lands at Netley-Libau Marsh beginning in 1908, after an illegal surrender vote took place. Since then, the health of the area that was once the Peguis’s home has declined due to intense annual flooding and ice jams; the appearance of invasive species such as purple loosestrife,(...)
online Keyword(s):
Indigenous-led design, fellow, Peguis First Nation, land rehabilitation
Inter / Faces
How can architecture respond to a specific urban context? How can the various typologies and cultural needs of diverse inhabitants influence design? How to capture the character of a city through its buildings? Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza’s social housing projects Bonjour Tristesse and Punt en Komma, designed for immigrant communities in Berlin and The Hague(...)
29 November 2015, 2:30pm - 4:30pm
Inter / Faces
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Description:
How can architecture respond to a specific urban context? How can the various typologies and cultural needs of diverse inhabitants influence design? How to capture the character of a city through its buildings? Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza’s social housing projects Bonjour Tristesse and Punt en Komma, designed for immigrant communities in Berlin and The Hague(...)
Series
AP181.S1
Description:
Series 1, BMW Welt development and construction records, 1994-2015, documents the design development and construction phases of COOP HIMMELB(L)AU BMW Welt building, located nearby the BMW headquarters in Munich. This series also contains some materials from the competition phase, corresponding to less than 2000 digital files, and models from the third phase of the competition. More than half of the records were created from 2003 to 2006. Records show how COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, and the numerous consultants on the project, materialized the original concept, from Wolf Prix sketch, of this cloud-like roof emerging from a double cone suggesting an hurricane eye. To achieve this, extensive digital structural testing was done with engineers Bollinger + Grohmann. Consultants list also include: - Hans Lechner ZT GmbH for in-house project management; - Schmitt, Stumpf, Frühauf + Partner for construction documents of concrete works, interior fittings, tender and construction administration; - Emmer Pfenninger + Partner AG for the facade; - Transsolar, Klima Engineering for the photovoltaic plant on the roof; - PRO, Elektroplan for electrical systems and lifts; - AG-Licht for lighting; - Büro Dr. Pfeiler for structural physics or building physics; - Theater Projekte Daberto+Kollegen for the stage and auditorium; - PBB Planungsbüro Balke for kitchen technology - realgruen Landschaftsarchitekten for lansdcape design; - Kersken & Kirchner for fire protection; - TAW Weisse for height accessibility planning, in consideration for maintenance access; - Lang & Brukhardt for traffic engineering; - Ingenieurbüro Schoenenberg for civil engineering and road construction; - Büro für Gestaltung / Wangler & Abele for signage; - And Zilch, Müller, Henneke as inspection engineers. The approximately 52,400 digital files include raster images, CAD drawings and 3D digital models, plotter files, standard office documents, databases, and scripts. Design files are predominantly in AutoCAD, but the archive also includes over 1,100 Rhinoceros files (primarily in Rhino version 2, with some files in versions 3 and 4) and a smaller number of files in Maya, 3D Studio, Microstation, form*Z, and Revit formats. Because the firm’s computing environment included Macs, the archive also includes a few AppleDouble resource forks. Often, CAD drawings were also saved as PDF files. Photographs and screen captures were most times saved as JPEG files. Finally, design files also include wireframes and renderings. Most often, design files are plans of a designated area, a complete level of the building for example, but they also often show very specific and technical details, such as a few millimetres to be corrected on a panel or a structural element. These types of corrections are frequently shown in PDF files where annotations were either made digitally, or they were handwritten on a printed version which would then be digitized. Design files document all parts of the building including the facade, the roof, the double cone (Doppelkegel), the restaurants, the shops, the exhibition areas, the auditorium, etc. Accompanying textual records are at times quite technical in their content, such as lists of construction elements required in a given room, or analysis reports from consulting engineers. They also take into account the organization and planning of the work, for example including documentation’s exchange or meeting agendas. Finally, they show the design development through presentations, either PDF or Powerpoint files, and through a portfolio of the project and the preparation of the book Dynamic Forces. The archive’s physical component includes 52 physical study models, which were used in combination with digital modeling tools to iteratively refine the building’s design. These are a selection made by the firm of study models from the later stages of the competition and the early stages of the design development. Source: Feireiss, Kristin, editor. “Dynamic Forces, BMW WELT Munich”. Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2007.
1994-2015
BMW Welt development and construction records
Actions:
AP181.S1
Description:
Series 1, BMW Welt development and construction records, 1994-2015, documents the design development and construction phases of COOP HIMMELB(L)AU BMW Welt building, located nearby the BMW headquarters in Munich. This series also contains some materials from the competition phase, corresponding to less than 2000 digital files, and models from the third phase of the competition. More than half of the records were created from 2003 to 2006. Records show how COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, and the numerous consultants on the project, materialized the original concept, from Wolf Prix sketch, of this cloud-like roof emerging from a double cone suggesting an hurricane eye. To achieve this, extensive digital structural testing was done with engineers Bollinger + Grohmann. Consultants list also include: - Hans Lechner ZT GmbH for in-house project management; - Schmitt, Stumpf, Frühauf + Partner for construction documents of concrete works, interior fittings, tender and construction administration; - Emmer Pfenninger + Partner AG for the facade; - Transsolar, Klima Engineering for the photovoltaic plant on the roof; - PRO, Elektroplan for electrical systems and lifts; - AG-Licht for lighting; - Büro Dr. Pfeiler for structural physics or building physics; - Theater Projekte Daberto+Kollegen for the stage and auditorium; - PBB Planungsbüro Balke for kitchen technology - realgruen Landschaftsarchitekten for lansdcape design; - Kersken & Kirchner for fire protection; - TAW Weisse for height accessibility planning, in consideration for maintenance access; - Lang & Brukhardt for traffic engineering; - Ingenieurbüro Schoenenberg for civil engineering and road construction; - Büro für Gestaltung / Wangler & Abele for signage; - And Zilch, Müller, Henneke as inspection engineers. The approximately 52,400 digital files include raster images, CAD drawings and 3D digital models, plotter files, standard office documents, databases, and scripts. Design files are predominantly in AutoCAD, but the archive also includes over 1,100 Rhinoceros files (primarily in Rhino version 2, with some files in versions 3 and 4) and a smaller number of files in Maya, 3D Studio, Microstation, form*Z, and Revit formats. Because the firm’s computing environment included Macs, the archive also includes a few AppleDouble resource forks. Often, CAD drawings were also saved as PDF files. Photographs and screen captures were most times saved as JPEG files. Finally, design files also include wireframes and renderings. Most often, design files are plans of a designated area, a complete level of the building for example, but they also often show very specific and technical details, such as a few millimetres to be corrected on a panel or a structural element. These types of corrections are frequently shown in PDF files where annotations were either made digitally, or they were handwritten on a printed version which would then be digitized. Design files document all parts of the building including the facade, the roof, the double cone (Doppelkegel), the restaurants, the shops, the exhibition areas, the auditorium, etc. Accompanying textual records are at times quite technical in their content, such as lists of construction elements required in a given room, or analysis reports from consulting engineers. They also take into account the organization and planning of the work, for example including documentation’s exchange or meeting agendas. Finally, they show the design development through presentations, either PDF or Powerpoint files, and through a portfolio of the project and the preparation of the book Dynamic Forces. The archive’s physical component includes 52 physical study models, which were used in combination with digital modeling tools to iteratively refine the building’s design. These are a selection made by the firm of study models from the later stages of the competition and the early stages of the design development. Source: Feireiss, Kristin, editor. “Dynamic Forces, BMW WELT Munich”. Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2007.
Series
1994-2015