The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) presents Phyllis Lambert: 75 Years At Work, an exhibition retracing the exceptional career of its Founding Director Emeritus. Selected from the CCA's collection and institutional archives and the Phyllis Lambert fonds, the exhibition traces the evolution of her ideas and her architectural, curatorial and editorial work on the occasion of her 90th birthday.

From 18 January to 4 June 2017, the CCA's exhibition halls tell the story of her ideas and her architectural, curatorial and editorial work, with material drawn from the CCA Collection, its institutional archives, and the Phyllis Lambert fonds. 

Letter from Phyllis Lambert to Samuel Bronfman concerning the future Seagram Building, 28 June 1954. Phyllis Lambert fonds, CCA. ARCH278184. Typewritten carbon copy with pen and ink notations on paper.  Image © CCA

Lambert herself curates the exhibition, and the materials she has chosen give a chronological account of the great chapters and discoveries of her life: Her early work, the Seagram building, her architectural education and first steps in that profession, the Saidye Bronfman Centre project, photography missions, and conservation and restoration projects, both in Montreal and abroad, leading to the creation of the CCA. The selected archival material will reveal, through a series of case studies in chronological order, the constant radicalism of her life.

Seagram Building: view from northwest at dusk. Courtesy of the CCA. Image © Ezra Stoller / Esto

Known worldwide as an architect, author, researcher, lecturer, curator, architecture critic, patron of heritage, engaged citizen, activist, and founder of the CCA, Phyllis Lambert is constant in her insistence that "You must build things that express the best qualities of the society in which you live."

Phyllis Lambert. Model for a 747 airplane hangar, 1961–1962. Master class project, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Photograph by Aaron Siskind. Phyllis Lambert fonds, CCA. Gelatin silver print. Courtesy of the Aaron Siskind Foundation. Image © Aaron Siskind

Phyllis Lambert received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 14th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Jury president Paolo Baratta delivered a stirring homage on that occasion: 

"Phyllis Lambert has made a tremendous contribution to architecture. Without her work, one of the most perfect architectural projects of the 20th century—the Seagram Building in New York City— would never have seen the light of day. The founding of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montréal, dedicated to preserving the most important periods of architectural heritage and encouraging their study in the most ideal conditions reveals an extraordinary vision and a rare generosity." Head juror Rem Koolhaas added, "Architects make buildings—but Phyllis Lambert makes architects."

Richard Nickel, photographer. Phyllis Lambert, architect. Dancers in the theatre of the Saidye Bronfman Centre, 1968. Phyllis Lambert fonds, CCA. ARCH278508. Gelatin silver print. Image © Ryerson and Burnham Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago

Phyllis Lambert: 75 Years At Work follows the 2007 exhibition Happy Birthday, which also celebrated Phyllis Lambert's character and vision with a selection of unique and unusual pieces drawn from the CCA Collection. 

Pier Associates. Composite photograph of Phyllis Lambert and David Fix in their studio, 403–409 East Illinois Street, Chicago, c. 1970. Phyllis Lambert fonds, CCA. ARCH250446. Image © Pier Associates

Together, these two exhibitions illustrate Lambert's exceptional life and career, marked by innumerable prizes and distinctions for her contributions to architecture, conservation, and philanthropy.

Mirror frame designed by Jim Dine for bedrooms at the Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, c. 1977. Photograph by Phyllis Lambert. Phyllis Lambert fonds, CCA. ARCH262517. Chromogenic colour print. Image © CCA

Phyllis Lambert is one of World Architecture Community's first Members (since 2008). She is a Honorary Member of World Architecture Community. 

Top image: Phyllis Lambert, David Sharpe, Myron Goldsmith, Jin Hwan Kim, and an unidentified student at a Master Class Studio at the Illinois Institute of Technology (1961). Image © Fonds Phyllis Lambert (CCA).

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