Modern West Coast Places is an ongoing survey of significant and influential modern architecture, landscape architecture, and public spaces located primarily across the southern coastal areas of British Columbia and into the interior regions of the province. The inventory takes the mid-century modernist period of the Greater Vancouver region as its point of departure, a time when the west coast of Canada was fertile ground for experimentation and innovation in the pioneering design principles that would become known as West Coast Modernism. This architectural expression of modernism, more appropriately responsive to the domestic lifestyles, culture, rugged natural terrain, resources, and rainforest climate of Canada’s west coast, is first recognized in the 1941 B.C. Binning House, and continues to play a prominent role in contemporary practice while adapting to modern lifestyles and the increasing pressures of development and climate change.
Discover the places and people that transformed the design culture of Canada’s westernmost metropolitan region into a hub for creative innovation and explore the work of designers who are carrying forward these strong traditions of west coast-inspired design. All photographs by Steve Gairns, unless otherwise noted.
People
Learn about the pioneering creatives who played a formative role in establishing the modern architecture and design culture of Canada’s west coast, and those who carry forward these traditions of design excellence.
Nominate a Place
If you live, work, or play in a modernist house, building or landscape, have a favourite place that you think should be included in the catalogue, or have any information about the places exhibited, please contact us.
Follow Us
We regularly feature stories on social media about architecture, landscapes, and public spaces from our Modern Places catalogue. Follow us to learn about the history of these places and their respective designers.
Architecture. Landscape Architecture.
Public Spaces. The Allied Arts.
