Ron Thom Architect

A definitive biography of an iconic Canadian architect—and a social portrait of the midcentury design world he lived in. Ron Thom came of age in the mid-20th century, just as the modern movement and an impending building boom were about to reshape the country. Talented in music and art as well as design, he rejected sleek austerity in favor of modern architecture that is warm, intimate, and beautiful. He worked from coast to coast, and his most renowned buildings—Massey College, Trent University, the Shaw Festival Theatre, and landmark houses—continue to inspire generations of architects, as well as the legions of people who work, study, visit, and live in them. In Adele Weder’s new biography, Thom emerges as a complex figure, gifted with creative genius but pursued by demons. More than just the life story of one man, this book is a portrait of the society that shaped him. His world included Jack Shadbolt, Arthur Erickson, the Massey family, Barbara, and Murray Frum, and many other luminaries of 20th-century Canada. To unpack this multifaceted story, Weder pored through institutional and personal archives in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Peterborough, and Toronto. She tracked down and interviewed Thom’s surviving friends, colleagues, and family members across the country, from New Brunswick to Vancouver Island. Her extensive research serves as the bedrock for Ron Thom, Architect—a book for anyone interested in a transformative era in Canada's cultural history.

Ron Thom was an enigma in Canadian architecture. Best known in the West as a major influence in the development of the West Coast style of residential architecture, he is best known in the East as the master designer of innovative institutional architecture, including Massey College, Trent University, and the Toronto Zoo. In this biographical analysis of the architect and his work, set against the broader trends of postwar Canadian society, Douglas Shadbolt makes clear the major influences and personality traits which shaped Thom's development. Throughout, Shadbolt reveals how Thom's personal demons both impelled and inhibited his growth as an architect, and his ability to adapt and survive within the changing context of modern real estate development. Illustrated with more than 125 black-and-white photographs and drawings, Ron Thom gives proper credit to the work of one of Canada's most subtly influential postwar architects.

In 1950, a young Vancouver architectural apprentice was handed a small house project that his boss was too busy to take on. The apprentice, Ron Thom, took the simple plan and rectangular foundation that had been roughed in, and transformed it into a groundbreaking work of architecture that gained national fame. Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra, but using local wood and paying careful attention to its verdant oceanside setting, Ron Thom created a landmark for the new architectural movement known as West Coast Modernism. The client, Dr. Harold Copp, was himself a trailblazer, the first head of the physiology department in the University of British Columbia's new Faculty of Medicine and a research pioneer. Generously illustrated with both vintage and contemporary architectural photography, line drawings, and photographs of the architect and residents, The Copp House is the story of a cultural landmark on the shores of Vancouver. AUTHOR: Adele Weder is an architectural writer, editor, curator and correspondent for publications across Canada and abroad. She is the author and co-author of several books and monographs on Canadian architecture, including B.C. Binning and Selwyn Pullan: Photographing Mid-Century West Coast Modernism. As well as co-curating several exhibitions with the Maison de l'Architecture du Quebec, she curated and coordinated the exhibition Ron Thom and the Allied Arts, which travelled to museums and galleries across Canada during 2013-2015. Adele completed her Masters of Advanced Studies in Architecture at the University of British Columbia School of Architecture in 2005. An honorary member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, she received the RAIC President's Award for Architectural Journalism in 2011 and the RAIC Metro Vancouver Advocacy Award in 2015. She lives in Vancouver and Haida Gwaii. SELLING POINT: * The story of a cultural landmark on the shores of Vancouver, created by an inventive architectural apprentice in the '50s, which became a cornerstone of West Coast Modernism 70 colour images

Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) President's Medal Award (multi-media representation of architecture). Canada's most distinguished architectural critics and scholars offer fresh insights into the country's unique modern and contemporary architecture. Beginning with the nation's centennial and Expo 67 in Montreal, this fifty-year retrospective covers the defining of national institutions and movements: • How Canadian architects interpreted major external trends • Regional and indigenous architectural tendencies • The influence of architects in Canada's three largest cities: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver Co-published with Canadian Architect, this comprehensive reference book is extensively illustrated and includes fifteen specially commissioned essays.

The first comprehensive study of the acclaimed Modernist architecture of Vancouver. The Modernist architecture of the two post-war decades established Vancouver's reputation as a center for progressive design and culture, a city where architects pursued their desire "to make of architecture a great humanistic experience." With an introduction by Adele Freedman discussing Modernism in Canadian architecture as a whole, Rhodri Windsor Liscombe's The New Spirit is the first comprehensive study of the acclaimed Modernist architecture of Vancouver. Modernism in Vancouver had many facets: it was a synthesis of expressions driven by a sense of social responsibility; it emphasized concerns such as economy of form, human uses, relation to site, affordability, and the effective employment of new technology. The author explores 25 years of sophisticated and distinctive architectureal innovation, examining both the conditions that brought this movement about and the forces that led to its decline. Given the eventual debasement of Modernism and the demolition of many of these Vancouver buildings, this account of the ambition of Modernist Canadian architects "to enhance the physical environment for human well-being" -- in homes, community centers, libraries and universities, churches, office towers, and apartment buildings -- serves as a reminder of how high ideals and a lively architectural culture can shape a better city.

A landmark study of one of Canada' most important architectural movementsThe West Coast Modern House chronicles the development of Vancouver residential architecture from the 1940's through its continued influence on contemporary practice. The post-war era in Vancouver defined what has become popularly know as the 'West Coast Style'. Through the work of seminal figures such as BC Binning, Ned Pratt, Ron Thom, Fred Hollingsworth, Douglas Simpson, Barry Downs and Arthur Erickson, Vancouver architects won national awards and international recognition for their innovative house designs. This period is now seen as one of the most important in the cities architectural history. Focusing on the years from 1940 to the mid-1960's, The West Coast Modern House features over fifty examples of modern houses. The book is richly Illustrated by photographs taken at the time by noted architectural photographers Graham Warrington, Selwyn Pullan and John Fulker. Essays by Greg Bellerby, Jana Tyner and Chris Macdonald elaborate on the history and innovative design strategies of the early period, through to an examination of the ways modern architectural concerns are being utilized by contemporary practitioners. The West Coast Modern House enables the reader to come to a greater understanding of the significance of modern residential architecture on the west coast and the persistence and relevance of its innovative design, material and construction strategies.