Arthur Charles Erickson, Hon. FAIA

Year Awarded: 1986
Born: June 06, 1924; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada


Quote
If you can do as imaginative and creative a thing as that in architecture, then I want to be an architect. —on seeing photos of Taliesin West


Projects
• 2002: Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington
• 2001: Waterfall Building, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 1988: Atisalat Tower, Abu Dhabi
• 1980: Robson Square, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 1977: Fire Island House, Fire Island, New York
• 1972: Lethbridge University, Alberta
• 1969: McMillan Bloedel Office Tower, Vancouver
• 1963: Simon Fraser University, Vancouver
• 1963: Graham House, West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada


Biography
In 1942, while studying at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Arthur Erickson joined the UBC Army Corps and studied Japanese. After he was promoted to captain and assigned to Canadian Intelligence, he was sent overseas as to serve as a field broadcaster. While his unit was en route, the war ended and he became program director at Radio Kuala Lumpur.

When he returned, he entered McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he earned a BArch in 1950. During his final year there, he won a traveling scholarship, which allowed him to travel to Greece, Italy, the Middle East, and Japan. During this trip, he studied the influence of a site’s environment—its climate and terrain—on architectural style.

On his return to Vancouver in 1953, he established his first practice, which allowed him to work also in Toronto and in the Middle East.

In 1955 he taught at the University of Oregon and in 1956 at UBC. There he encouraged his students “to probe their own resources for the meaning of things and not do anything by habit or convention.”

In 1963 Erickson and Geoffrey Massey won a competition to design Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. To handle this project, they formed Erickson/Massey Associates. Since 1972, he has led Arthur Erickson Architects. In 1975, McGill University awarded an honorary doctorate to Erickson.

Erickson is the first Canadian to receive the AIA Gold Medal. In addition, he has won many awards, including the Gold Medal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the 1984 Gold Medal of the French Academy of Architecture, and others from the Canada Council, the Architectural Institute of Japan, and the International Union of Architects. He is a Fellow of the Architectural Institute of Canada and a Companion of the Order of Canada, exemplifying the Order's motto "Desiring a better country.”

Erickson is largely responsible for reintroducing Modernism to Canada. His projects employ bold, large-scale designs in urban settings, yet are sensitive to the site’s environment and characteristics. He uses concrete in the design or nearly all of his projects, as he prefers its simplicity and functionality to other mediums, as well as its neutral color as a palatte for what is within the building’s space.

Erickson’s designs also reflect his experiences in many different cultures. He has worked in the the Middle East on a large number of projects, and those influences show up in his work. Some of his large-scale, overseas projects include universities, museums, office buildings, and residential complexes.