Unknown photographer. Aerial view of Victor Prus's Automotive Stadium for Expo 67, Montreal, 1965-1967. ARCH260832 Canadian Centre for Architecture, Gift of May Cutler

The Power Corporation of Canada Awards invites students enrolled at the Masters level in Canadian architectural schools to take part in a collaborative three month residency at the CCA.

2015 Call for applications

Into the archive:three Canadian architects

The focus of the 2015 Power Corporation of Canada Award is Canadian architecture, specifically the exploration of three Canadian archives in the CCA Collection and encouraging new readings of this material.

Since the acquisition in 1981 of the Fonds Ernest Cormier, some 100 Canadian archives have entered the CCA Collection, including large-scale projects in Montreal and Quebec, icons of Vancouver modernism, works of important firms in Toronto, and urban planning and architectural competitions from the 1960s to the end of the 20th century.

The archives that will be the topic of research in 2015 are those of Guy Desbarats, Roger D’Astous, and Victor Prus. These are three major figures whose contribution has been recognized among their peers and by the international architectural community. Guy Desbarats and Roger D’Astous belonged to the same generation of architects born in Montreal in mid-1920s, while Victor Prus, a Polish émigré, is a few years older.

They had different backgrounds and educational experiences, and a diverse approach to architectural process. Desbarats developed a career as teacher and critic, traces of which are present in his archive full of lecture notes and unpublished manuscripts. D’Astous is the only Canadian architect who apprenticed in the atelier of Frank Lloyd Wright. This foundational experience became a trademark of his professional life. Prus studied at the prestigious School of Architecture in Liverpool and learned the language of modernism from the British members of CIAM before settling in Canada at the end of the Second World War.

The work of Desbarats, D’Astous, and Prus marks the decades from 1960 to the early 1980s and participated in an urban revolution that transformed Montreal’s landscape. Some of these projects were considered in the CCA exhibition and publication “The 60s: Montréal Thinks Big” in 2004.

Infrastructure and housing are the two major areas of design practice they all explored, including major contributions to Expo ’67. Their architecture has touched the monumental as well as the small scale, with a focus on human interaction in the domestic environment.

The 2015 Power Corporation of Canada Award aims to encourage new critical perspectives and reconsider the weight of these archives in a wider context of urban transformation. This year’s theme continues a research path begun in 2014 with the topic: “Looking at Canada: When Architecture Meets Societal Changes“.

Eligibility and Terms of Residency

All students currently enrolled in professional and post-professional Master of Architecture, Master of Landscape Architecture, Master of Environmental Design, or Master of Urban Design programs in Canada are eligible for this award, regardless of citizenship.

The three Master’s students participating in the 2015 Power Corporation of Canada Award program are expected to investigate the three identified archives during a three-month residency at the CCAin Montreal from June 1st to August 31st, 2015. The residency will begin with meetings with the Head Archivist, and encounters with conservation and cataloguing experts.

This immersion into the nature of the archives will be followed by a research period (about 2 weeks) leading to the production of a bibliography and methodological report. The students will discuss the research brief with the Associate Director, Research and develop a dialogue with the Associate Directors of Collection and Publications. The students will also participate in the Toolkit Summer Seminar held with PhD students from European and North American universities for one week in July.

As an expected output of their residency, the students are expected to produce a public presentation based on their exploration into these archives, as well as three essays to be published on the CCA website.

The Power Corporation of Canada Award provides a stipend of $7,000 CAD to cover the travel, housing, and living expenses of each recipient for a 3-month residency in Montréal from June 1st to August 31st, 2015. Three recipients will be selected to work together and in collaboration with CCAcuratorial staff. The residency and research project must be completed by Monday, 31 August 2015. The Award is non-renewable.

Application

Students are requested to submit a statement on how the residency will contribute to their professional goals, a small portfolio that illustrates their work, and two references through our online application portal.

Application guidelines 2015

Applications must be received by 5:00 EST on Monday 27 April 2015.

> via The Canadian Centre for Architecture