John Patkau: Material Operations – 2025.07.09
July 9, 2025 from 7:00–9:00pm
Reception + Presentation
Presented by the West Coast Modern League
with the West Vancouver Art Museum and The Polygon Gallery
The Polygon Gallery | 101 Carrie Cates Ct. | North Vancouver BC
Part of West Coast Modern Week 2025
Pre-eminent Canadian architect John Patkau joins the West Coast Modern League, with the West Vancouver Art Museum and The Polygon Gallery, for a talk exploring the creation of architecture and design through unconventional material practice.
Founded by John and Patricia Patkau, Vancouver-based Patkau Architects is one of Canada’s most celebrated architecture firms. Their recent designs include the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver, and Arbour House in Victoria.
In 2010, following 30 years of conventional material practice, Patkau Architects initiated a formal research program into using commonly available construction materials with modest but unconventional construction methods to produce buildable, expressive forms with inherent structural capacity and evocative identities.
Working directly with materials—bending and breaking them, feeling their texture, mass, and strength—provides a depth of understanding beyond simple visual observation. Material Operations begin with a relatively simple manipulation of a specific construction material and develop through reactions to the resulting transformation. At the most basic level, they follow the formula Material + Force = Form. Initial forms are found, not preconceived, in the way a specific material expresses stress through strain—flexing or failing in particular ways.
Now 15 years on, this investigation has produced numerous innovative projects, and the Princeton Architectural Press publication Patkau Architects: Material Operations. The journey of this investigation will be the focus of John’s presentation.
Tickets required with suggested $25 donation.
Doors/Reception at 7:00pm | Presentation at 7:50pm.
The West Coast Modern League gratefully acknowledges the partnership of the West Vancouver Art Museum and The Polygon Gallery.
Meet the Speaker
John Patkau
Founded by John and Patricia Patkau in 1978, Vancouver-based Patkau Architects is one of Canada’s most celebrated architecture firms. Their recent designs include the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver, and Arbour House in Victoria. John’s contributions to the practice of architecture have been recognized by numerous awards including the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal for lifetime achievement and Membership in the Order of Canada for significant contribution to Canadian culture. Internationally, he has also been made an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Featured Projects
About the Festival
West Coast Modern Week
West Coast Modern Week is a yearly celebration of West Coast Modernism, a distinct architectural style with deep roots in West Vancouver. Surrounded by forested mountains, an expansive ocean, and a lush rainforest, this natural setting presents unique challenges and opportunities that are reflected in the local architecture. Presented by the West Vancouver Art Museum, West Coast Modern Week’s events included talks, exhibitions, parties, and a unique Home Tour offering access to local, architecturally-significant homes.
About the Concurrent Exhibition
Patkau Architects: Matter Made Material
Patkau Architects are known for their innovative and deeply thoughtful approach to architecture, with a particular attention to light and its role in shaping spaces. The use of light often reveals the unique characteristics of a place, enhancing the connection between architecture and its surroundings. Light can influence the perception of space and the sensory experience of a building and its materials. In this exhibition, light, a material source determined by the interplay of materials such as wood, steel, and concrete, becomes a performative source of the architecture it represents. The movement of light throughout the day changes the representation of the materials.
The projects selected for this exhibition often emphasize the relationship between natural light and the built environment by considering how light interacts with materials and forms to create atmosphere and evoke emotional responses. In a way, the light performs with the built material to add visual layering to the structure.
We can enjoy being in these buildings and not know exactly why. Nevertheless, recognizing the consciously constructed relationship between the ephemeral qualities of light and the more solid materials employed by the architects is essential to our understanding of the multiple layers that make up these structures. By using light to define materials such as steel, wood, and concrete, Patkau Architects initiate an ongoing and active interplay between the built environment and its natural context.
May 14–July 19 • 2025
West Vancouver Art Museum
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