Architecture and the Canadian Fabric
Rhodri Windsor Liscombe (Ed.)
Architecture plays a powerful role in nation building. Buildings and monuments not only constitute the built fabric of society, they also reflect the intersection of culture, politics, economics, and aesthetics in distinct social settings and distinct times.
This extraordinary anthology traces the interaction between culture and politics as reflected in Canadian architecture and the infrastructure of ordinary life, from first contact to the postmodern city. Whether focusing on Jesuit perceptions of New France, the construction of Parliament, or the ideas of Marshall McLuhan and Arthur Erickson, these essays showcase ways of thinking about architecture that extend beyond considerations of authorship and style to address cultural politics and insights from race and gender studies and from postcolonial and spatial theory.
Architecture and the Canadian Fabric transforms how we see the role of architecture in mythmaking and nation building and in doing so radically questions how we continue to live in, interact with, and interpret the fabricated world.
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About Rhodri Windsor Liscombe (Ed.)
Reviews for Architecture and the Canadian Fabric
Christopher Macdonald, University of British Columbia
BC Studies, No.176, Winter 2012-13
The essays greatly advance the field of architectural history in Canada. Given the breadth on display, Canadian architects and historians surely will find items of interest and pertinence to their practice.
David Monteyne, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary
Canadian Architect, April 2013
According to the editor’s conclusion, this study should “reinforce attention to Canadian architectural patrimony and demonstrate its significance for the international discourse and practice of design”. This work does succeed in doing so and also adds significantly to the body of literature on Canadian architecture. It is well researched and thoroughly documented. The analytical principles guiding the publication could be applied to other works, including further studies by this group of authors, covering more aspects of the architectural heritage of Canada.
Barbara Opar, Architecture Librarian, Syracuse University Library
Art Libraries Society of North America