Toronto Reference Library Blog

See the full website:
A Grand Design: the Toronto City Hall Design Competition
Modernist architectural drawings & models submitted from forty-two countries.

To mark the 50th Anniversary of Toronto's "New City Hall", we've posted blogs, celebrated at City Hall and highlighted a wonderful exhibit curated by George Kapelos and Christopher Armstrong, at Ryerson University in the Paul H. Cocker Gallery.

Two new books, Competing Modernisms (Kapelos) and Civic Symbol (Armstrong) have been launched as part of the exhibit. If you prefer the digital landscape, check out the Toronto Public Library's new site, Grand Designs: The Toronto City Hall Design Competition, to view the models and plans entered in the City Hall Competition, 1958.

Don't miss the final lecture in our three-part lecture series. Lectures 1 and 2 covered the competition itself and the political atmosphere around the new City Hall. George Baird, former Dean, Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at University of Toronto, and architect and partner, Baird Sampson Neuert Architects, will talk about the urban design aspects of Revell's winning entry, and the way the building of City Hall influenced Toronto buildings and public spaces.

George Baird graduated from the University of Toronto in 1962, and then went on to University College, London, England. Baird taught architectural theory and design at the Royal College of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, returning to Toronto in 1967.

There he founded his architectural practice, and joined the faculty of architecture at the University of Toronto and the faculty of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, where he was the G. Ware Travelstead Professor of Architecture, and Director of the M Arch I and M Arch II Programs. From 2005 to 2009 Baird was Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto.

Since the pioneering 1974 urban design study On Building Downtown, he has been the author/editor of numerous books, including Meaning in Architecture (with Charles Jencks), The Space of Appearance, and Queues, Rendezvous, Riots (with Mark Lewis).

The recently published Writings on Architecture and the City is an anthology of texts by George Baird, focusing on his on going interest in planning and the built environment, particularly in relation to the city of Toronto. The book is essential reading for those interested in architecture, architectural history and theory, urbanism and the built environment.

 Don't miss

George Baird, Thursday, September 24, 2015, 7pm

City Hall Council Chamber

100 Queen Street West

And please join us in the Toronto Reference Library Atrium

on Wednesday, September 23, 2015 at 7pm,  for

The Battle of the Architects: Revisiting City Hall's Architectural Design

Noted architects defend the finalists designs from the 1958 competition —

Dragon's Den-style.

Visit the Toronto Reference Library,

Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Toronto Collection

for further reading.

See the full website:
A Grand Design: the Toronto City Hall Design Competition
Modernist architectural drawings & models submitted from forty-two countries.

To mark the 50th Anniversary of Toronto's "New City Hall", we've posted blogs, celebrated at City Hall and highlighted a wonderful exhibit curated by George Kapelos and Christopher Armstrong, at Ryerson University in the Paul H. Cocker Gallery.

Two new books, Competing Modernisms (Kapelos) and Civic Symbol (Armstrong) have been launched as part of the exhibit. If you prefer the digital landscape, check out the Toronto Public Library's new site, Grand Designs: The Toronto City Hall Design Competition, to view the models and plans entered in the City Hall Competition, 1958.

Don't miss the final lecture in our three-part lecture series. Lectures 1 and 2 covered the competition itself and the political atmosphere around the new City Hall. George Baird, former Dean, Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at University of Toronto, and architect and partner, Baird Sampson Neuert Architects, will talk about the urban design aspects of Revell's winning entry, and the way the building of City Hall influenced Toronto buildings and public spaces.

George Baird graduated from the University of Toronto in 1962, and then went on to University College, London, England. Baird taught architectural theory and design at the Royal College of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, returning to Toronto in 1967.

There he founded his architectural practice, and joined the faculty of architecture at the University of Toronto and the faculty of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, where he was the G. Ware Travelstead Professor of Architecture, and Director of the M Arch I and M Arch II Programs. From 2005 to 2009 Baird was Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto.

Since the pioneering 1974 urban design study On Building Downtown, he has been the author/editor of numerous books, including Meaning in Architecture (with Charles Jencks), The Space of Appearance, and Queues, Rendezvous, Riots (with Mark Lewis).

The recently published Writings on Architecture and the City is an anthology of texts by George Baird, focusing on his on going interest in planning and the built environment, particularly in relation to the city of Toronto. The book is essential reading for those interested in architecture, architectural history and theory, urbanism and the built environment.

 Don't miss

George Baird, Thursday, September 24, 2015, 7pm

City Hall Council Chamber

100 Queen Street West

And please join us in the Toronto Reference Library Atrium

on Wednesday, September 23, 2015 at 7pm,  for

The Battle of the Architects: Revisiting City Hall's Architectural Design

Noted architects defend the finalists designs from the 1958 competition —

Dragon's Den-style.

Visit the Toronto Reference Library,

Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Toronto Collection

for further reading.