Dean’s Lecture Series PHYLLIS LAMBERT BUILDING

Phyllis Lambert is Founding Director Emeritus of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in and member of its Board of Trustees which she chaired for thirty years. In the 1950s, as Director of Planning for the , Lambert was instrumental in adding a landmark to New York’s skyline. Twenty-five years later in founding the CCA she deepened and expanded the culture of architecture locally and internationally. Gold medalist and Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Lambert holds the highest civil honours in Canada as Companion of the Order of Canada and Grand Officier de l’Ordre National du Québec, and also Commander of the Ordre des arts et des lettres de France. At last year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, Lambert was honored with the Golden Lion, apt recognition for this legendary architect, author, historian, urban activist, and critic.

Building Seagram (Yale University Press, 2013) tells the biography not just of this important building, but of the culture of post-WWII design, including the significant part corporate patronage played in the era’s real estate development, and of the project’s substantial role in shaping landmark legislation and zoning laws in . Phyllis Lambert provides an unprecedented personal history of her experience managing the project, as well as of the working relationship between van der Rohe and Johnson and offers a detailed scholarly assessment of the design and construction process and the building’s cultural legacy and life in the city over a half century.

MARCH 24, 2015 6PM | CENTRE SPACE JOHN A. RUSSELL BUILDING FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA