Patkau Architects

The firm of Patkau Architects, founded in 1978 and based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has achieved international recognition for work that draws on the principles of modern architecture and is simultaneously inspired by the traditions and often spectacular landscape of the Pacific Northwest. The office is known for a straightforward yet multifaceted expression of material and detail, a thoughtful incorporation of natural light, and an inventive articulation of the building envelope. The architects' focus on the formal and sculptural qualities inherent to architecture balances a place-oriented emphasis, responsive to client, site, and climate.
This monograph, with an introduction by scholar and critic Kenneth Frampton, features seventeen projects by Patkau Architects, dating from 1988 to the present. Designs range from large-scale cultural and institutional buildings, such as the Grande Bibliotheque du Quebec (National Library) in Montreal, completed in 2006, to the tiniest of houses, the inventive Petite Maison du Weekend (Small Weekend House). Public projects include a major addition to the Winnipeg Centennial Library in Manitoba; the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Ontario; and the Gleneagles Community Center, Seabird Island School, Strawberry Vale School, and Newton Library, all in British Columbia. Among the residential designs are the Agosta house, on a striking San Juan Island site; the Shaw house, with a dramatic elevated lap pool; and the Barnes house, lodged in a rocky crevice on Vancouver Island. Also presented are two notable competition-winning proposals; the Nursing and Biomedical Sciences Building at the University of Texas Houston Health Science Center and New College House Student Residence at the University of Pennsylvania. Finally, Patkau Architects' meticulously detailed analytical models - undertaken as post-design study projects - embody the practice's ongoing exploration of formal and tectonic principles.