Architecture and the Canadian Fabric by Rhodri Windsor Liscombe, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Architecture has a powerful role in nation building and identity formation. Buildings and monuments not only constitute the built fabric of society, they reflect the intersection of culture, politics, economics, and aesthetics as these forces are played out 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 the first contacts between indigenous peoples and European missionaries to the construction of big-box shopping centres in postmodern cities. Whether focusing on Jesuit perceptions of New France, the construction of Toronto’s St. James Cathedral or Canada’s first Parliament, Brutalism in Canadian architecture, or the ideas of Marshall McLuhan and Arthur Erickson, these essays showcase ways of thinking about the built environment that extend beyond considerations of authorship and style to address the influence of cultural politics and insights from race and gender studies and from postcolonial and spatial theory. By coupling a national focus with a wide historical scope, Architecture and the Canadian Fabric transforms how we see the role of architecture and in doing so radically questions how we continue to live in, interact with, and interpret the fabricated world. | Architecture and the Canadian Fabric by Rhodri Windsor Liscombe, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters