Andrew Gruft, one of the country’s foremost experts in contemporary design and Professor Emeritus at the School of Architecture at the University of British Columbia, has produced a valuable compendium of some of the best Canadian architecture from the last ten years. Generously illustrated with photos, drawings and model images with supporting texts (also exhibited at the Belkin Gallery at UBC) by 27 leading architects from across the country, Substance over Spectacle: Contemporary Canadian Architecture includes essays by leading critical thinkers George Baird, Sherry McKay, Marco Polo, Georges Adamczyk and Andrew Gruft himself. This well-packaged volume provides a thought-provoking analysis of the current state of architecture in this country. As Gruft’s title suggests, he believes that there is a particular Canadian sensibility that eschews pyrotechnics in favour of other deeply held values.
Gruft has expanded here on a subject that he broached in 1986...
Ken Greenberg is an architect and urban designer based in Toronto who has taught at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan and the University of Toronto. He is currently preparing a master plan for the former Rockcliffe Military Base in Ottawa, the 2010 Vision and Strategic Framework for Hartford and a strategic master plan for Boston University.
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