We propose a rich and colorful inaugural evening, in a mythical place: Dawson Hall, behind St James United Church (1887-1889, Alexander Francis Dunlop, arch.), known as the "Montreal Methodist Cathedral" - with 2000 seats, it was the largest Methodist church in Canada when it was built. Designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1996, it escaped demolition in 1980 when it was classified as a historic monument, and then escaped extinction thanks to an ambitious restoration project, in...

In recognition of the fact that Canadian practitioners, scholars, and students of architecture think, work, and act globally, this session invites submissions that are geographically unconstrained. The session welcomes case studies or analyses that illuminate how the transnational flow of ideas, people, and capital has changed the global built environment, including the multi-directional nature of exchanges between the so- called developing and...

The announcement on March 4th, 2022 of a fire at a Ukrainian nuclear power plant and subsequent take-over of the Zaporizhzhia plant by Russian troops is alarming from many perspectives, including the fear of a repeat of the Chernobyl disaster of the late 1990s. The risk of living in proximity to a nuclear power plant is passively assumed by local residents. This paper explores at the global architecture of nuclear power stations by building case studies around the break in energy supplies ...

Food offers a means of examining spatial stories of migration. As a set of heritage activities, the preparation, storage, and consumption of food offer multisensorial and evocative ways of exploring cultural identity and a sense of belonging, particularly for members of diasporic communities. Immigrants and their descendants often have to modify traditional recipes and make do with different domestic technologies and spatial configurations. They become everyday designers, active agents in ...

Architectural history and heritage have historically been defined by superlatives. Vernacular traditions and local histories, on the other hand, have often been pushed to the margins or overlooked. These everyday spaces and places are often relegated to the quotidian, and perceived as unworthy of recognition.  The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has changed our daily lives, and in many cases, our values. Now, we have been forced to see the everyday in a new light. What might this n...

With 100 branches welcoming nearly one million cardholders, the Toronto Public Library (TPL) embodies the architecture of the everyday. Library users build relationships with built heritage but also inform architectural interventions that adapt 20th century styles to meet 21rst century demands. Drawing on the ethics of brutalism, the aesthetics of civic architecture and the impact of neoliberalism on the public sphere, this paper argues that TPL is the site of three distinct yet overlooked...

Architectural history and heritage have historically been defined by superlatives. Vernacular traditions and local histories, on the other hand, have often been pushed to the margins or overlooked. These everyday spaces and places are often relegated to the quotidian, and perceived as unworthy of recognition.  The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has changed our daily lives, and in many cases, our values. Now, we have been forced to see the everyday in a new light. What might this n...

Since the 19th century, citizens grouped within different types of associations, from the learned society to the friends of heritage, have been interested in local history and, by extension, in the traces of these on the territory. This citizen contribution is expressed in many ways. First of all,  while such historical society groupings have a venerable past, their proliferation and their commitment to defend the archives, to s...

This paper proposes a critical appreciation of Canadian architecture as an expression of a distinctly complex and evolving relationship among people and place. This endeavour is certainly not new to architectural history, yet is more prescient these days given some of the challenges facing our fractured and contested collective legacies at a time when nationalism as a concept is being challenged to demonstrate its relevancy to many societies.If this paper has done its job, it will h...

While the relationship between architecture and community are intrinsically intertwined, the built form of “community spaces” is not easily defined by any specific style, design, or building typology. Though there are many purpose-built community buildings across Canada, including community and recreation centres, performance venues, and town halls, many community spaces often evolve organically and informally from the community itself in a div...

Bus tour of the Soulanges Canal and its facilities (1899-1959), currently undergoing a major enhancement project. The first stop will be at the west entrance of the canal, the Coteau-Landing (Les Coteaux) entrance lock; from there, we will go to lock no. 4 and to the old Cedars hydroelectric power station (called "Petit Pouvoir"), classified as a historic monument since 1984 by the Quebec government, then to Pointe-des-Cascades where the spectacular locks no. 1, 2 and 3 are located. The vi...

We offer a unique experience for the closing dinner of this conference in Montreal, in the former U.S. pavilion of Expo'67 - the most popular of the exhibition, with 5.3 million visitors: the "geodesic dome" designed by architect Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) with the collaboration of Shoji Sadao. The self-supporting steel honeycomb structure, covered with a polymer skin, was burned down in 1976 and redeveloped in the 1990s, according to the plans of architect Éric Gauthier, into an envir...