The Globe and Mail

In Arthur Erickson's storied 50-year career as an architect, he has built such international landmarks as the Canadian embassy in Washington and transformed whole sections of cities such as Vancouver and Toronto. His résumé includes Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Wash., and, most recently, the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, a 60-storey luxury tower in downtown Vancouver. Most of his buildings are modernist concrete structures, leading to his moniker, "the concrete poet."