Substance over Spectacle: Contemporary Canadian Architecture is an exhibition of projects by Canadian architects built in Canada since the beginning of the nineties, curated by Andrew Gruft. The exhibition is a follow up to Gruft’s survey of Canadian Architecture, A Measure of Consensus, which was organized by the UBC Fine Arts Gallery (now the Belkin) in 1986.

The exhibition presents some of the best and brightest work of the last ten years. It attempts to conceptualize and position architectural practice in Canada. The thesis implicit in the title argues for the complexity and integrity of the best Canadian architecture, in an international context which often bestows the highest profile on buildings that tend toward the spectacular.

The exhibition asks us to consider several theoretical questions while viewing projects by 26 of the country’s leading contemporary architects. We need to ask how the term Canadian Architecture involves a variety of intersecting realities and ideas such as national identity and values, educational standards, geography and climate, urbanization, multi-cultural contexts, bureaucratization, economics and internationalism.

We gratefully thank the following for their support of this project: An anonymous couple; Nash Jiwa, Haywood Securities Inc.; Anthony von Mandl, Proprietor Mission Hill Family Estate; Context Development Inc.; and the Architectural Institute of British Columbia.

Architects: architectsAlliance, Toronto; atelier big city, Montréal; atelier TAG, Montréal; Baird Sampson Neuert, Toronto; Battersby Howat, Vancouver; Marc Boutin, Calgary; Peter Cardew, Vancouver; James K.M. Cheng, Vancouver; Diamond + Schmitt, Toronto; Faucher Aubertin Brodeur Gauthier, Montréal; Dan S. Hanganu, Montréal; Henriquez Partners / IBI, Vancouver; Hotson Bakker / Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Vancouver / Toronto; Kohn Shnier, Toronto; Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg / Fichten Soiferman et Associés, Toronto / Montreal; Ian MacDonald, Toronto; Brian MacKay-Lyons, Halifax; Patkau Architects, Vancouver; Saucier + Perrotte, Montréal; Shim-Sutcliffe, Toronto; sturgessarchitecture, Calgary; Teeple Architects Inc, Toronto; Pierre Thibault, Québec; VIA Architecture, Vancouver; Walter Francl / Stantec, Vancouver; George Yu, Los Angeles