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Architecture Canada
by Tuns Press
Canada's architects and designers, according to Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada, "engage in the continual dialogue between nature and intense urban modernity and offer solutions that range from the whimsical to the visionary. Most remarkably, we see in their work the emergence of a national style that strives, through excellence and innovation, towards the vigorous cultivation of beauty." Here are two of the 12 recipients of the Governor General’s 2002 Medals in Architecture, recognizing excellence in the art of architecture. — Editor The City of Richmond, British Columbia, is a rapidly developing suburban municipality, immediately south of Vancouver. The new city hall by Hotson Bakker Architects and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects is a significant civic place for this multicultural community. The 120,000 square foot (11,000-square-meter) building also serves as an ambitious model for a healthy workplace and sustainable environmental design. The massing of the principal architectural elements — administrative tower, council chamber, and meeting house — creates a clear visual presence. A pedestrian court to the north addresses the public parking area, and a glass-covered pergola connects this court to community and recreational facilities west of city hall. The integration of indoor and outdoor spaces responds to the West Coast climate. The meeting house hosts events that can spill out onto a south-facing terrace overlooking the water garden. Cascading water and extensive berming recall the sloughs and dykes on the flat terrain of this Fraser River delta.
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This article is excerpted from Architecture Canada 2002 edited by Stephen Parcell, with permission of the publisher, Tuns Press, Dalhousie University.
