ARLIS/NA 54th Annual Conference

This session contains a paper presentation followed by a pre-coordinated panel in English and French focusing on architecture and libraries.

“Designed to be Seen”: Revisiting Library Architecture and its Remnants of Colonial Legacies” - This presentation focuses on how library architecture buildings and their designs, often viewed with admiration and inspiration, may evoke colonial legacies. Like colonial museum architecture, colonial library architecture has parallel connections to imperialism in knowledge production and how such architecture portrays a particular aesthetic sensibility: an enduring symbol of imperial power and knowledge over colonized populations. Drawing on works of architectural historians and historians of empire, and case studies of libraries built in colonial-era regions, this presentation argues how library architecture did not only serve as a repository for colonial knowledge and practice in the imperial landscape but was designed in function and form to invoke imperial power in post-colonial societies.

From a different angle, the colonial legacy of library architecture relates to the larger idea that architecture is not neutral. Instead, architecture reflects cultural values, public needs, and urban change, and across Canada, buildings have been repurposed or demolished in response to shifting social priorities, economic forces, growth, and community resistance.

In the second part of this session, then, the bilingual panel will discuss the evolution of architecture in two major Canadian cities, Montréal and Toronto, through the lens of library and archival collections. Each panelist will highlight examples of architectural development, repurposing, and/or resistance held at their institution, encouraging discussion about the role libraries and special collections play in preserving Canada’s architectural history and its societal impact. Through textual documents, photographs, building records, maps, and other documents, libraries and archives provide evidence of these architectural evolutions, making them available for both studying the past and inspiring the future.

The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) will illustrate some of the architectural transformation in Montréal through Expo 67 islands and pavilions that have since been repurposed, such as the Pavilions of Québec and France. As well, they will highlight the Shaughnessy house, which similarly embodies this sense of adaptation. Built in the 19th century and once threatened with demolition, the mansion has now been restored and revived through its integration into a research institution. In different ways, these examples both demonstrate how architecture can be reimagined and sustained across generations and also highlight the cultural value embedded in the built environment.

The Eberhard Zeidler Library (University of Toronto) will highlight architectural resistance and development in Toronto through Ontario Place, a public entertainment space on Toronto’s waterfront since 1971, where redevelopment has recently become a point of civic debate. The topic of Ontario Place in our libraries and special collections demonstrates how resistance has shaped architecture and design in Toronto, from defending public space to establishing a cultural self-definition.
 
The first part of the panel will be in French and the second part in English. The slides will be bilingual. Questions in English and French are welcome. 
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