Archinect - News

Winning designer of Canada’s Afghan War memorial sues government for bid slight

2024-05-01T19:06:00-04:00

The winning bid for a $3.5 million contract to design a new memorial to Canadian military veterans of the war in Afghanistan from a Montreal-based studio that was replaced by the government has prompted a lawsuit by its architect. Renée Daoust is suing the federal government after it replaced hers with a proposal from the Indigenous artist Adrian Stimson citing an apparently “un-scientific” online survey, according to the CBC’s reporting last month.

"We're very concerned because it does create a precedent, a very dangerous precedent for Canada in terms of competitions, public art competitions, architectural competitions and so on," Daoust told the broadcaster. "There was political interference, so we don't want this to happen again."

Stimson is reportedly working to finalize his design without a clear resolution in sight. The American National Global War on Terror memorial in Washington, D.C. from Marlon Blackwell Architects is also being planned for the National Mall.

...

National Gallery of Canada establishes Indigenous Ways and Decolonization Department

2022-02-17T13:10:00-05:00

There is welcome news in Ottawa, home of the National Gallery of Canada (NGC), a city that has been under a state of emergency the past while due to the ongoing “Freedom Convoy” protest. The gallery, which had closed due to the Omicron surge but has delayed its re-opening because of the demonstrations, announced on 8 February that it had created a Department of Indigenous Ways and Decolonisation [...].

The department will focus on reimagining the gallery’s programming and policies to better reflect Canada’s diversity and its Indigenous populations. Its first Vice President, Steven Loft, who is of Kanien’kehá: ka (Mohawk) and Jewish heritage, will be joined by Michelle LaVallee, who is Anishinaabe (Ojibway) and a member of the Neyashiingamiing Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation in Cape Croker, Ontario, with Canadian settler heritage from her mother. She will serve as the department’s director, set to start on March 21. LaVallee will work with other senior management, in addition to the curatorial department and the Indigenous art team.

The pair will work to deepen the gallery’s relationship with Indigenous communities globally with a focus on decolonization and reconciliation.

Canada is one step closer to National LGBTQ2+ Monument after revealing commission finalists

2021-11-16T11:26:00-05:00

Seventy years after one of the darkest chapters in Canadian LGBTQ history began, the Government of Canada has taken steps toward reconciliation and remembrance with a slate of just-announced new proposals for what will one day become the LGBTQ2+ National Monument in Ottawa.

By locating it in the nation's seat of power, the monument will serve as a symbolic educational resource for Canadians young and old to learn about the struggles endured by their fellow citizens at the hands of their own government.

Image courtesy of Team SOM

“The systemic injustices that occurred during the LGBT Purge should never be forgotten. While we cannot right the wrongs of the past, this monument will serve as an educational tool and a reminder that we must not repeat the mistakes of the past,” LGBT Purge Fund director Michelle Douglas, whose successful 1990 lawsuit helped end discrimination in the Canadian Armed Forces said in a statement. “The five shortlisted designs show the pain endured during this d...

Toronto-based Diamond Schmitt Architects unveils Ottawa Library and Archives design

2020-01-27T12:15:00-05:00

Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and KWC Architects, the Ottawa Public Library and Library and Archives Canada Joint Facility (OPL-LAC) combines the resources of two institutions to create an environment for discovery, learning, and fellowship. “This coming together of library and archives advances the evolution of centres of knowledge and culture and presents new opportunities to access a rich and diverse national collection,” said Gary McCluskie, Principal, Diamond Schmitt Architects in a statement.

Reference Room.

Town Square.

The library will house exhibition and collection space, reading rooms, a creative center, children's area, and a genealogy center and cafe. The design process progressed in an uncommon collaborative model that asked residents, Indigenous communities, and "Canadians from coast to coast" to provide feedback and input at every phase of the design.

Reading Room.

Southeast View.

South View.

City Councillor Tim Tierney, Chair of the Ottawa Public Library Board s...

New photographs show Daniel Libeskind's National Holocaust Monument in greater detail

2017-10-11T20:11:00-04:00

A new set of photographs of the recently opened Canadian National Holocaust Monument have been released and help give a better understanding of the Daniel Libeskind-designed space: how it sits in its surrounding landscape created by Claude Cormier, and what atmosphere the large-scale, photographic landscapes by Edward Burtynsky create inside the fortress-like exposed concrete structure.

We were able to publish an initial, limited set of images a few days ago, shortly after the monument opened, and it managed — not entirely unusual for a Libeskind project — to spark first reader comments.

For a more detailed project description click here; scroll down to see the new photographs of the monument.

All photographs courtesy of Studio Libeskind.

First photos of Daniel Libeskind's newly opened National Holocaust Monument

2017-10-02T16:13:00-04:00

Last week we mentioned the Canadian National Holocaust Monument celebrating its grand opening in Ottawa. The stock of available imagery has been very limited for the last years and consisted of mostly the same aerial rendering in a few variations.

Now we've received new photographs that give a better understanding of the completed monument design — a collaboration between Studio Libeskind, Lord Cultural Resources, Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, Montreal-based landscape architect Claude Cormier, and holocaust scholar Doris Bergman.

"This monument not only creates a very important public space for the remembrance of those who were murdered in the Holocaust," Daniel Libeskind said in a statement, "but it also serves as a constant reminder that today’s world is threatened by anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry. Canada has upheld the fundamental democratic values of people regardless of race, class or creed, and this national monument is the expression of those principles and of ...

Libeskind-designed Canadian National Holocaust Monument opens in Ottawa

2017-09-27T14:30:00-04:00

Canada today (27 September) inaugurated its first national Holocaust Monument, in Ottawa, an endeavour ten years in the making. [...] The monument’s design and construction was a collaboration between the New York-based architect Daniel Libeskind, the Montreal-based landscape architect Claude Cormier, the Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky and the University of Toronto professor Doris Bergman, an expert on the Holocaust.

"From above, the monument is the shape of a skewed Star of David," The Art Newspaper writes, "which [...] recognises the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, but also other groups who were persecuted, such as homosexuals and Jehovah’s Witnesses."

Former US Embassy Building Is Declared Culturally-Inappropriate for Canadian Indigenous Center

2017-06-20T19:20:00-04:00

Classical revival is perhaps the architectural style most identified with colonization. This building, which references Washington architecture, is a building of formal rooms, offices, and hierarchies, echoing structures of European authority.

This June the federal government announced that the US' former embassy building in Ottawa will become a space dedicated to Inuit, Métis and First Nations communities which the task force of the RAIC finds to be a deeply inappropriate space for an Indigenous Centre.

"Canada's Indigenous communities have, for too long, been forced into leftover spaces that fail to connect in any meaningful way to their cultures and unique connectivity to place" says the task force, composed of about 30 mostly Indigenous architects, architectural students, interns and academics.

Dr. Patrick Stewart, the chair of the task force suggests that the federal government should provide capital dollars for the design and construction of a structure based upon Indigenous knowledge and through the use of Indigenous architects.

Get Lectured: Carleton University, 2015-16

2015-10-30T15:03:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2015

Archinect's Get Lectured is ready for another school year. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Next up, the Carleton University's Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism from Ottawa, Canada shared the details to their annual year-long "Forum" architecture lecture series. Additionally, the "Open Forum" series intends to be a more intimate affair, ranging from focused roundtable discussions to collaborations with other Carleton faculties.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Listed below are upcoming events.

FORUM SERIES

Nov 16
Siamak Hariri / Hariri Pontarini Architects - Toronto, Canada

Jan 18
Ricardo Carvalho / Ricardo Carvalho + Joana Vilhena Arquitectos - Lisbon

Feb 8
Mana...

Protesting context, not form, of Ottawa's "victims of communism" memorial

2014-12-15T15:41:00-05:00

Blumberg doesn’t understand why a memorial to victims of communism was given such an “incredibly prominent, almost sacrosanct” site. “It is so centrally placed that it would seem to quite overshadow Canada’s true history.” [...] "I have a massive problem, a huge problem, with this memorial going on that site. I think it completely misrepresents and skews what Canada is all about.”

Previously: Winner of the Canadian National Memorial to Victims of Communism

Winner of the Canadian National Memorial to Victims of Communism

2014-12-12T15:23:00-05:00

ABSTRAKT Studio Architecture was chosen to design Canada's future National Memorial to Victims of Communism in Ottawa...The team was selected out of six finalists at the end of the two-phase national design competition held this summer. The memorial will pay tribute to the more than 100 million people around the globe who suffered or perished under communist dictatorship, as well as educate the public about the heavy consequences caused by communism.

As a national memorial, it will also signify Canada's role in offering refuge to those who escaped that oppression. It will be located on Confederation Boulevard beside the Supreme Court of Canada, the Library and Archives Canada, the Peace Tower, and other key federal institutions.

Daniel Libeskind design wins Canadian National Holocaust Monument competition

2014-05-12T14:00:00-04:00

Team Lord of Toronto was announced today as the winner to design the new Canadian National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa, Canada's capital. The team's proposal, titled "Landscape of Loss, Memory and Survival", was selected out of six finalists who were invited to present their concepts to a jury of professionals and then to the public during the national design competition.

Led by co-president of Lord Cultural Resources Gail Dexter-Lord, the Toronto-based team also includes Daniel Libeskind (architect), Edward Burtynsky (artist–photographer), Claude Cormier (landscape architect), and Doris Bergen (subject-matter advisor).

More info about the project on Bustler.

Six finalists listed for last phase of the Canadian National Holocaust Monument competition

2013-10-30T19:49:00-04:00

Six finalist teams were invited to develop design concepts for the National Holocaust Monument that will be built in the Canadian capital of Ottawa. The two-phase national competition began with a Call for Qualifications in May 2013. The teams — which had to be led by a Canadian citizen — consist of architects, artists and other design professionals from around the globe.

Some notable architecture team members include David Adjaye, Daniel Libeskind, Gilles Saucier of Saucier+Perrotte, and Jeffrey Craft of SWA Group.