Erickson’s body of work is unparalleled
by few architects in the world. He has designed hundreds of
buildings - many of them inspired by and designed to complement
the Canadian landscape. Simon Fraser University, the Law Courts
in Vancouver, Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall, and the Museum
of Anthropology at UBC are all the creations of this elder
statesman of Canadian architecture.
Erickson is a study in complexity and contradiction. He's
an architect who couldn't hold a job, then wound up running
his own international company. He's an academic, an artist
and a dreamer who knew how to deliver the goods, then, at
the peak of his powers, went bankrupt. Erickson’s social
and professional circles include the upper echelons of the
Canadian, and international corporate and artistic elites.
Handsome and impeccably dressed, Erickson uses his polished
facade, by his own admission, as "a disguise to appear
to be one of them". But Erickson has always been a non-conformist
and an iconoclast, for which there have been consequences,
most notably a number of highly public controversies.
In 2004, Arthur Erickson will be celebrating his 80th birthday.
While he remains vigorous and intellectually engaging, he
has reached the point in his life where, in his own words,
he “no longer gives a damn what people think”.
The Life and Times of Arthur Erickson features interviews
with lifelong friends such as actors Donald Sutherland and
Shirley Maclaine, and close associates such as fellow architect
Moshe Safdie.
Original Air Date - February 3, 2004
Links
Arthur
Erickson Architect (official Web site)
Museum
of Glass by Arthur Erickson (from Architecture Week)
Erickson's
Museum of Glass (from Arcspace.com)
The
Work of Arthur Erickson (fan site)
Dilemma
Productions (co-producers of the documentary)
(Note: CBC does not endorse the content of external
sites)
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