Unedited First Draft of C.M.A. Review


Original and Complete First Draft, Review of Canadian Modern Architecture”  “Here is the edited version of my essay, as it appears in the November, 2019 issue of Canadian Architect magazine of Toronto: https://issuu.com/iqbusinessmedia/docs/ca_nov_19_de/54

“Published, Not Perished”:

Feature Review of Canadian Modern Architecture,

edited by Elsa Lam and Graham Livesey

DRAFT ONE of Essay, An Edited Version Appears in the November, 2019 issue of

Canadian Architect Magazine, Toronto

by Trevor Boddy

[BACKGROUND NOTE: As Elsa Lam edits Canadian Architect, she was understandably cautious about publishing even an independent review of a book she co-edited.  Her first request to me was to write 1500 words on the history of Canadian architectural publishing, hence the biographical beginning and end of this essay.  When this was done, it was apparent to both of us that the essay would be read as a wimpy, non-review, never getting around to its implicit subject.  I then spliced my 2000 word review into this existing essay.  The full version in this first draft refers to nearly writer in CMA, but the version run in the November, 2019 issue had to be cut for space.  Here it is, in all its passionate, sometimes self-indulgent glory.   -Trev, Nov 11, 2019]

  1. Preface: The Near-Empty Shelf

The appropriate shelf in the university tower library in Calgary was almost empty, so I convinced myself I had scrambled the Library of Congress “NA” catalogue number.  I’d been given a research paper assignment from Professor Michael McMordie in his pioneering 1977 “Canadian Architecture” class, and … Read More

Dialogue and Book Launch for “CITY-BUILDER: The Architecture of James K M Cheng”

Stay posted for details about the Vancouver celebration of my 344 page book published by Images Publishing of Melbourne. This is a critical monograph and collected works of Vancouver’s most influential architect, principal inventor of “Vancouverism”. Cheng is also a superb photographer and 80% of the images in the book are by the architect. The launch will be Thursday, February 1 2018, at InForm Interiors in Gastown, reservation details will be posted here when available.

 

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