ARTH 371 - Studies in Canadian Architecture

• W - 15:00-17:30
• EV-1.605
• INSTRUCTOR: DR. NICOLA PEZOLET

This course will examine the history of Canadian architecture from the 1867 Confederation to the turn of the 21st century. The objective of this survey will be to explore critically broad questions that relate to the concepts of national identity, authorship and professionalization. By complementing the current methodologies in the history and theory of architecture with approaches derived from the history of technology and socio-cultural history, 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: 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" and landscape architecture; 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.