Architect Peter Dickinson and Docomomo Melanie Reinblatt
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Document generated on 09/25/2021 1:51 a.m. ETC Architect Peter Dickinson and Docomomo Melanie Reinblatt Art et mondialisation 1 : le « village global »? Number 34, June–July–August 1996 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/35529ac See table of contents Publisher(s) Revue d'art contemporain ETC inc. ISSN 0835-7641 (print) 1923-3205 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Reinblatt, M. (1996). Architect Peter Dickinson and Docomomo. ETC, (34), 20–22. Tous droits réservés © Revue d'art contemporain ETC inc., 1996 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ MODERNITY IN ARCHITECTURE, ARCHITECT PETER DICKINSON AND DOCOMOMO "The very word 'modern', expresses something In Quebec, the Docomomo branch has safeguarded continuously shifting, like the shadow of a person the integrity of Mies Van Der Rohe's Westmount Square, who is walking. " in the face of controversial renovation. Other sites and Paolo Portoghesi, 1982 buildings in Quebec have received attention through lobby ing; including the Québec Pavillion for EXPO 67 and eter Allgood Dickinson, a relatively unknown Dickinson's own CIBC tower. There are now exhaustive architect, was rediscoverd a few years ago by bibliographic and photographic records. Toronto critic, Adele Freedman. Dickinson has Dickinson, the subject of Docomomo'slatest publica emerged as a significant contributor to the Cana tion, was born in Suffolk, England in 1925. In the 1940's, dian architectural landscape. he studied at the Architectural Association in London. He PTo better inform Montrealers of the Dickinson legacy, arrived in Canada to work as chief designer at Page & a public colloquium was held last December, 1995, at Steele, a position he retained for 8 years, before establish Embassy Row Apartments; one of nine architectural projects ing his own firm, Peter Dickinson Associates. realized by Dickinson, in Montreal, between 1958-61. It Dickinson's first affirmations of Modernism were was jointly coordinated by artist and critic, John A. first realized in Toronto. In a milieu still dominated by an Schweitzer, of the John A. Schweitzer Foundation, as a part architectural praxis entrenched in conservatism, he aligned of its lecture series on art and architecture, and Docomomo himself with independent developers, who were progres secretary, Michèle Picard; Docomomo, the acronym indi sive enough to " go modern ". cating, the Documentation and Conservation of buildings, His prolific eleven year career produced office towers, sites, and neighbourhoods of the MOdern MOvement. institutional and apartment buildings, motels and resi The event included three lectures and an accompa dences. nying exhibition of photographs by Alain Laforest. Guy Besner, of the School of Architecture at the It is very well known by now, that the once proud University of Quebec, traced the history of Modernist Modernist Movement was eventually dismissed as " bor architecture in Montreal, thus contextualizing Dickinson's ing ", " mindless "," inhuman ", at best" impersonal ". own contributions. The first Modernist precursors were It was superseded by the Postmodernists, which, in seen at the turn of the century. architectural terms, meant the will to reassign value to Briefly, the first apartment buildings, like the the forms of the past. Beauty, truth, even divine origin Linton, built 1906, were massive, monumental struc were esteemed as implicit and self evident virtues, tures, modelled after the European château. As collec restricted to the Classical form. Postmodernism, in tive residential buildings, their design was meant to other arts, implied ironic appropriation. In architecture, free the bourgeois homeowner of the chores of upkeep, however, it implied historical quotation and revivalism. meanwhile providing all the amenities and comforts of It was the ubiquitous use of arches, domes, Roman a grand hotel. pantheons, columns and Gothic spires, that had people The apartment tower, which appeared after the speculating if it was just the " pastness of the past that first world war, signaled the true great break with the is recalled " rather than genuine reverence for it, with a past. The early residential collectives were transformed real understanding of the epoch and its ethos. into the geometric, abstract forms that we know today. Whatever the case, the much maligned Modernist They were founded on the revolutionary vision of art legacy today experiences a renaissance of interest. and architecture in an industrialized society. Docomomo, an international organization with national Eventually,the International Style, arose, character affiliates, shares the common vision that Modern ized by its emphasis on volume rather than mass, and by a Moverment buildings form and important part of our structural system emphasizing horizontality and/or verti- social and cultural heritage. cality. Other familiar criteria were the abundant use of glass The Docomomo mandate is to promote the ex facades for natural light and the use of standardized build change of ideas in the field of Modern Movement ing materials such as steel, aluminum, and concrete. architecture and urban design, to stimulate public inter The Modernist temper, relying on innovation and est, to provide documentation and proper management invention, excluded ornamentation and historical refer and conservation, where appropriate. ence. Peter Dickinson, Embassy How (façade), 1961-1962. Courtesy Fondation John A. Schweitzer. Dickinson's Embassy Row Apartments were com Wooden balustade railings and continuous balconies pleted in 1962; a year after his death, at 35. accentuate horizontality. They presented a feature not An exposed concrete frame, clearly outlines both the permittred by existing by-laws. Twenty-five percent of the north and south facades of the building. The concrete beams suface area of a facade was the maximum permitted cover have been left visible, as a result of economic considera age. The control was lifted, allowing the present design. tion; it was cheaper to build a frame by pouring the concrete Many new apartment structures have been erected, on site rather than use precast concrete. And the required few of which respect the older standards of a sophisticated simplicity of formwork for economical poured concrete neighbourhood known for its patrician residences, man influenced the final design. The final effect was at once sions, and consulates. To preserve the character of the simple yet expressive, elegant yet monumental. This new neighbourhood, new by-laws were enacted to control de structural system was one that defined the building's vol velopment in terms of floor-index ratios, land coverage, ume, and into which, all other building details, like the and location of buildings. cantilevered concrete balconies, were incorporated. The interior plan is organized around a central corridor Uninterrupted bays of windows line the full length on the long axis of the building. Individual apartments are of north and south facades, to allow a maximum of oriented on the north and south sides of the corridor. natural light. Fullfilling the Modernist stategy towards rational and func- © «Ml • ï jji . _ i s v, ~jf ..r IPfr m ! É' a * Peter Dickinson, fmèoss)' fore (lobby), 1961-1962. Courtesy Fondation John A. Schweitzer. tional design, service areas, like kitchen and bathroom face social and economic patterns that neither resemble those of, the corridor, while spacious living areas line up along front nor could possibly be anticipated by, the ancient Greeks and and back facades with large window treatments, allowing Romans. maximum light. Design is smooth, regular, and modular. Given that a hierarchical, class-conscious past in no Curtain walls of glass and rosewood, two storeys high, way resembles the polyvalent, mobilized democracies of create a piano mobile effect. The central hallway connects today, the call to nostalgia becomes a rather less credible, the front of the building to the rear outdoor courtyard, more transparent, and ultimately questionable option. elevated pool, and terraced gardens. The overall effect is Modernism, by its very nature, is at once innovative one of lightness, expansiveness, and smooth spatial conti and disruptive. Historical chauvinism may very well be nuity. reluctant to reveal its true interventionist intent; its resist And as Ricardo L. Castro, Associate Professor of ance to any and all disjunction and innovation. Architecture at McGill University asserts, " In its strictest Within a short span, we have seen our society trans sense, the International Style offers a reductive approach to form itself from an industrial into an informational culture. design, excluding as many materials as possible. Dickinson Its population has carved out for itself, and still continues to took a more inclusive path.using a variety of materials, such do so, living and working modes that allow endless options. as various woods, slate, glazed brick, and fieldstone ". Revivalism may offer a certain sense of connection and " He always mixed imagineatively to create unex security