Toronto Star

Arthur Erickson

What is it about Arthur Erickson? Though few would argue that he's Canada's most distinguished architect, something in the way he approaches his discipline has kept him from achieving the greatness of which he's capable. Certainly, he has designed great buildings — Smith House, Tacoma Museum of Glass, Robson Square, to name a few — but Erickson remains strangely disengaged from architecture as anything more than an exercise in aesthetics. In an age as ugly and coarse as ours, one is loathe to complain about an architect whose main preoccupation is beauty, yet even the most diehard connoisseur of buildings must admit they have a broader function, a larger social responsibility. The best buildings — and the most beautiful — transcend themselves in a way that Erickson's rarely do. However, as the exhibition now on display at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Arthur Erickson: Critical Works, makes clear, his remains a unique voice on the contemporary architectural scene. While some admire such independence of spirit, others are critical of his essential aloofness, even sense of superiority. Indeed, there's always a strong feeling of noblesse oblige about Erickson's architecture; perhaps that's why his finest works are private houses for art collectors, cultural patrons and the like.