Design community celebrates late architect's 100th birthday

Arthur Erickson's style is sprinkled throughout Vancouver — and the world. It's in the way light pours in through big glass windows in a museum, the reflection of the sun coming off glass at a big city concert hall and the unique use of geography in a prairie university, all blending modernism with natural surroundings. 

While the renowned architect passed away in 2009, his legacy lives on, and special attention is being paid to his work this year on what would have been his 100th birthday. 

Born in Vancouver on June 14, 1924, Erickson went on to study at the nearby University of British Columbia and later at McGill University in Quebec. He travelled the world learning about architecture in different climates and terrains, according to his website. 

His work started off focusing on "modest wood-framed houses," according to architecture critic Trevor Boddy, who was friends with Erickson. Those modest homes were built primarily in West Vancouver and on Vancouver Island, he said. 

But in the mid-60s, Boddy said that Erickson and fellow architect Geoffrey Massey won a design competition to build Simon Fraser University, which sits atop Burnaby Mountain.

From there, Erickson went on to design the University of Lethbridge, built into the side of the city's cooleys.

"Arthur thought long and hard: What is a university?" Boddy said. 

"He really was driven less by formal style. [He tried] to make them work for people but also to bump it up a notch to inspire them to take them somewhere where they've never been before."

Erickson designed local buildings, including UBC's Museum of Anthropology, the provincial Law Courts in Vancouver, the Waterfall building on Granville Island and Canada House. 

Outside of Vancouver, Erickson was behind the Glass Museum in Tacoma, Wash., the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., Fresno City Hall in Fresno, Calif., and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, among many other landmarks. 

It isn't just his buildings that had an impact on the architectural community — many architects have come to Vancouver to work with and learn from Erickson, Boddy said. 

In fact, his mentorship left a lasting impression on Boddy himself. 

"I'm here today largely due to Arthur," he said. 

Boddy arrived at UBC in the 80s to teach architecture. Seeing Boddy's knack for architecture writing, Erickson encouraged him to become a critic.