GESAMTKUNSTWERK

Westbank has built a practice around long-term commitments to artistry, sustainability and city-building. These commitments underlie an orientation towards projects like Woodwards, Vancouver House, Mirvish Village, Telus Garden and Oakridge – catalysts for larger change that go beyond the borders of the projects themselves. We are here to create. To provoke. To ignite. We are the vehicle for a new movement of cultural expression.

As the practice matures, we have become more ambitious. With every new project reflecting our commitment to the philosophy behind Gesamkunstwerk, or in our recent work the Japanese philosophy behind layering, the net effect is that our work becomes much more complex and far-reaching.

The core of Westbank’s mission is to create a body of work with a high degree of artistry that helps foster more equitable and beautiful cities. Westbank is active across Canada and in the United States, with projects including luxury residential, Five Star hotels, retail, office, rental, district energy systems, affordable housing initiatives and public art. Established in 1992, we are one of North America’s leading developers, with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Seattle, Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and over 25 billion dollars of projects completed or under development.

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Philosophy
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June 02, 2014

Westbank Salon Series: Linda Fraser Recap

This past Sunday June 1, 2014, we welcomed Linda Fraser as a guest speaker.

As the archivist and chief curator of the Canadian Architectural Archives (CAA), home to many significant collections including the early works of Arthur Erickson.

Fraser has curated exhibitions using CAA collections, and written and presented papers on architectural photography, archival theory and practice, and architectural exhibitions. She has curated (with Geoffrey Simmins) the exhibitions Mid-Century Icons: Architectural Photography from the Panda Collection and Building a History: Highlights of 20th Century Canadian Architecture and the associated catalogues. Her most recent book is John C Parkin, ArchivesPhotography: Reflections on the Practice and Presentation of Modern Practice.

During her salon session, Fraser presented various sketches from the Erickson-Massey architectural period, as well as showed renderings of the Canadian Architectural Archives.

Our deepest thanks to Fraser and the CAA for their lending of the 1955 “Project 56” original drawing that was in the Gesamtkunstwerk exhibition gallery — it served as the very first point of reference for the exhibition itself and a building block for the city-building dialogue that followed.

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