Bill Curran
Bill Curran is an architect, architecture teacher and writer who has practiced on a wide range of architecture, interiors and urban design projects across Canada, the USA and internationally in his 40 years of professional experience. He also undertakes development projects. Curran Gacesa Slote Architects's (CGS) buildings and interiors aspire to be thoughtful, engaging and to transcend the ordinary. They are understated, sophisticated, contemporary architecture that seek to subvert accepted paradigms. Their notable projects range from a 3 million square foot urban neighbourhood under design to highrise housing, civic buildings, restaurants and bars and wineries, university and college buildings, affordable housing and cutting edge workplaces. They include buildings for York Housing at 10415 Yonge and on Main Street in Stouffville now in construction. CGS has received over 20 design awards for their innovative work, and their work has been published internationally in books and journals. Bill is a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, a member of the Ontario Association of Architects, holds a LEED AP professional designation in sustainable design, has taught undergraduate architecture for over 25 years, and mentors intern architects. The Idea of North: Contemporary Canadian Architecture
Bill Curran is an architect, architecture teacher and writer who has practiced on a wide range of architecture, interiors and urban design projects across Canada, the USA and internationally in his 40 years of professional experience. He also undertakes development projects.
Curran Gacesa Slote Architects's (CGS) buildings and interiors aspire to be thoughtful, engaging and to transcend the ordinary. They are understated, sophisticated, contemporary architecture that seek to subvert accepted paradigms.
Their notable projects range from a 3 million square foot urban neighbourhood under design to highrise housing, civic buildings, restaurants and bars and wineries, university and college buildings, affordable housing and cutting edge workplaces. They include buildings for York Housing at 10415 Yonge and on Main Street in Stouffville now in construction.
CGS has received over 20 design awards for their innovative work, and their work has been published internationally in books and journals.
Bill is a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, a member of the Ontario Association of Architects, holds a LEED AP professional designation in sustainable design, has taught undergraduate architecture for over 25 years, and mentors intern architects.
The Idea of North: Contemporary Canadian Architecture
Canadians have a romantic but ambivalent relationship with the harsh landscape that generations have worked to subdue and adapt to. Much of Canada is uninhabited and inaccessible, with 70% of the population clustered along the US border, where our cultural identity is challenged by the elephant over the border. This cultural insecurity, the need to subdue or coexist with a harsh landscape and other influences find expression in cultural products like our architecture. Famed Canadian composer and pianist Glenn Gould (1932–1982) worked to better understand that identity and the relationship to the landscape, with his 1967 ‘Solitude Trilogy’ of groundbreaking complex documentaries about solitude, migration and the influence of contemporary society on traditional values, the first of which was ‘The Idea of North’. Building on Glenn’s exploration in Canadian cultural identity, we explore architecture: Where does our architecture come from ? If much of our architecture is junk, what does that say about us ? 'We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us’. A quote from Winston Churchill, is important context for this exploration. Hamilton architect Bill Curran will present a survey of Contemporary Canadian architecture, both by masters and by the leading firms of today, work both domestic and abroad and reflecting the cultural melting-pot and landscape that is Canada today.
Canadians have a romantic but ambivalent relationship with the harsh landscape that generations have worked to subdue and adapt to. Much of Canada is uninhabited and inaccessible, with 70% of the population clustered along the US border, where our cultural identity is challenged by the elephant over the border. This cultural insecurity, the need to subdue or coexist with a harsh landscape and other influences find expression in cultural products like our architecture.
Famed Canadian composer and pianist Glenn Gould (1932–1982) worked to better understand that identity and the relationship to the landscape, with his 1967 ‘Solitude Trilogy’ of groundbreaking complex documentaries about solitude, migration and the influence of contemporary society on traditional values, the first of which was ‘The Idea of North’.
Building on Glenn’s exploration in Canadian cultural identity, we explore architecture:
Hamilton architect Bill Curran will present a survey of Contemporary Canadian architecture, both by masters and by the leading firms of today, work both domestic and abroad and reflecting the cultural melting-pot and landscape that is Canada today.
This event is part of the Spring 2024 Speaker series.
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