Architecture Canada 1994: The Governor General's Awards for Architecture

James A. Love is an associate professor of environmental design at the
University of

Calgary.

The Governor General’s Awards for Architecture are decided biannually
by a jury of distinguished architectural practitioners, critics, and
educators, most of whom are based in Canada. In the latest competition,
the jury bestowed medals (the highest honor) upon six projects; 14
projects were given awards. Photos, descriptions, and drawings of these
projects, together with descriptions of the firms responsible,
constitute the bulk of this volume. The photographs are its strongest
feature. The drawing set provided varies widely from project to project;
some entries include only an elevation, others only a plan. References
are lacking for those seeking more complete project information. Also
not included is the reasoning for the selection of the prize winners,
and for differentiating medal winners from award winners.

The editor’s introductory essay, which situates the projects in the
context of current critical discourse, is likely to be meaningful only
to those who follow architectural theory. While the editor speculates
briefly on future directions for awards, he does not relate the current
projects to selections from earlier competitions. The book also includes
an essay by Adrienne Clarkson, who, as host and executive producer of
CBC’s Adrienne Clarkson Presents, broadcast four shows on architects.
One has the sense that she is “filling air time” in this piece. It
is disjointed and rambling, and her arguments lack persuasiveness; she
asserts, for example, that the Shim-Sutcliffe house was placed in a
“time frame and scale” not of the architect-owners’ choice. It is
to be hoped that future editions of this book will more effectively
inform readers of the merits of the selected works, as well as provide
more complete information about them.