Of the many buildings created by Arthur Erickson, two university projects in British Columbia stand out for his mastery of concrete and glass. These are the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and the campus for Simon Fraser University.
These buildings are noteworthy for the way they appear to emerge from their respective sites rather than dominating them. At a time when many modern architects were making monumental statements with cast concrete, Erickson looked for ways to create buildings that behaved like natural additions to the landscape.
Erickson designed a host of famous structures, from the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C., to the inverted pyramid pavilion for Canada at Expo 67 in Montreal. These cemented his reputation internationally, but it was his architecture for his native province that best spoke to his passion for designing in tune with place.
Simon Fraser University
In 1963, Erickson’s firm won a competition for the design of a new university in Vancouver. Two years later, Simon Fraser University opened its doors to the first 2,000 students. The firm was responsible for designing and executing the master plan for a building to accommodate 18,000 students.
Fostering interdisciplinary study and social interchange are common themes in campus design today, but in the early 1960’s Erickson’s approach would have been novel. The structure was conceived as two large spaces for academic use, linked by a linear walkway. Academic faculties and departments were organized into clusters rather than isolated in individual buildings.
Erickson thought it would be presumptuous to put towers on the site, a mountaintop with wonderful views. Instead, the buildings are layered horizontally like terraces. The architect’s goal, as Erickson’s website explains, was “to redefine the university in contemporary terms, to make it meaningful to the community and natural to the place where it sits.”
In the 1990’s, the master plan was updated to meet the academic and housing needs of a university population with 32,000 full-time students. The plan retained the original clustering of buildings and a covered, pedestrian circulation network. Building mass is stepped in form in the West Mall complex, added in 1996, ensuring views out and natural light for classrooms and faculty offices.
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia
Using the West Coast aboriginal longhouse as metaphor, in 1976 Erickson created a museum of native culture for the University of British Columbia. The Museum fof Anthropology eatures concrete posts and beams recalling the wooden structure of a longhouse. Glass replaces what would have been wooden walls in traditional native structures.
The glass walls soar to 40 feet (12 metres) in the museum’s Great Hall, enclosing an outstanding collection of totem poles. By surrounding the totem poles with glass, visitors can appreciate the totem poles as though they were in a natural setting.
Galleries off the Great Hall house collections of native art. On the exterior, several Indian villages are recreated to enhance understanding of aboriginal culture. Subsequent expansion at the site, to meet the needs of visitors and a growing collection of artifacts, has included space for travelling exhibits and live performances.
Concrete and Glass
Writing in the book, The Architecture of Arthur Erickson, the architect reflected on the value he placed on a dialogue between a building and its natural setting. That dialogue was facilitated by his judicious use of concrete and glass. Compared with the lumbering concrete structures of some modern architects, Erickson’s best buildings are almost slight in his pared-back use of this most common of building materials.
It is a testament to Erickson’s skill and artistry that his firm was asked to be responsible for extensions to both university sites, thereby ensuring the integrity of the original designs.
Andree Iffrig - Andrée Iffrig LEED AP is a writer and award-winning graduate architect. She uses her broad background in environmental design and ...
