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September 7 to October 28, 2006

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Purchase Exhibition Catalogue

The Architecture of Frederick Valentine:
Career Works 1963 - 2005

Organized for 2006 ArtCity
Calgary International Festival of Visual Arts, Architecture & Design

Sponsored by Stantec Architecture Ltd. and Riley’s Reproductions & Printing

A Principal of Stantec Architecture Ltd., Frederick Valentine, RCA, FRAIC, has been nationally recognized for projecting his vision onto the face of Calgary while enhancing the fabric of public life in the city. Creating designs that are timeless, Valentine’s work is deeply informed by structural and spatial innovations and artful problem solving.

Frederick Valentine was born in 1939 in Calgary. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Architecture in 1963 from the University of Toronto and Master’s degree in that field from Harvard University in 1965. Valentine and his colleagues have received numerous prestigious awards, including Governor General’s Medal for Nova Corporate Head Office in Calgary. He received the Alberta Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to the XV Olympic Winter Games in 1988 in Calgary. He is a six time recipient of the Alberta Association of Architects/Prairie Design Honor Awards; an Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Calgary; a distinguished member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

During the span of his 40-year career as a productive and successful architect, Valentine has rigorously created his own sensibilities and infused his own architectural aesthetic with those qualities of immediacy, spontaneity and conceptual gusto that we customarily encounter only in works of art. His unyielding willingness to embrace context and integrate his designs with the natural environment is considered among his most valuable contributions to contemporary Canadian architecture. Drawing on sources as diverse as Western Canada’s Prairies, the Bauhaus, and the ‘International Style’, Valentine has forged a specific dialogue in which concrete and wood, galvanized iron and brick, volume and form, are cleverly juxtaposed in an original synthesis. The longevity and lasting popularity of his designs can be attributed to his respect for functionality, a quality so fundamental to architecture, yet seldom do we encounter an architect as adept as Valentine, at employing the minute sensibility and awareness needed to balance this crucial element against aesthetic principals.

This was also the period, however, when figurative content was introduced. Scenes from daily life, an exploration of the mundane and a focus on industrial icons provided an antidote to the over-riding presence of abstract painting, the impasto technique of the Automatists and the relative monotony of the Plasticians.

Curated by Katherine Ylitalo, a Calgary-based art historian and independent curator, this retrospective exhibition highlights Valentine’s prolific career in the field of architecture and urban planning. Featured in this exhibition are over 20 of Valentine’s most important projects, including award winning designs for the Nova Corporate Head Office (currently Nexen), Canada Olympic Park, The Rozsa Centre, the TransAlta Corporate Head Office in Calgary and the Jubilee Auditoria renovations both here in Calgary and Edmonton.

Handsomely illustrated by photographs, drawings, plans and models pertinent to the exhibition, the catalogue is intended to act as a secondary site to the exhibition. The essays and illustrative material provide a framework for a more thoughtful examination of Valentine’s work beyond what is accessible in the exhibition. Katherine Ylitalo looks at particular projects and examines Valentine’s motivations relative to the aspects of modernism and ‘regionalism’. Dr. Michael McMordie – a historian of contemporary architecture, an authority on the modern architecture theory and a Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary – outlines Valentine’s architectural oeuvre in the context of Canadian and international architectural trends. Fundamentally, the publication serves as both, a supplement to the retrospective exhibition and as a critical document, which records a part of current Canadian architectural history.

This comprehensive survey not only focuses on his architectural projects, international influences, and preoccupations with developing a ‘regional style’, but also highlights Valentine’s valuable contribution to contemporary Canadian and Albertan architecture.

Jacek Malec
Director/Curator
Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts

List of Images (top to bottom, left to right):

1. Frederick Valentine – Composer’s Studio/Studio “E” – Interior View; Leighton Artists’ Colony; The Banff Art Centre, Banff, 1984. Photo Courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
2. Frederick Valentine – Canada Olympic Park; Olympic Hall of Fame and Visitors Centre, Calgary, 1987/88. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
3. Frederick Valentine – Canada Olympic Park; Olympic Hall of Fame and Visitors Centre, Side View, Calgary, 1987/88. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
4. Frederick Valentine – Library Information Network Centre, University of Lethbridge; West Entrance, Lethbridge, 2000-2001. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
5. Frederick Valentine – Library Information Network Centre, University of Lethbridge; West Elevation, Lethbridge, 2000-2001. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
6. Frederick Valentine – The Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary; Maquette – Aerial View from North East, Calgary, 1996-1997. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
7. Frederick Valentine – Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall/View to Audience, The Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary, Calgary, 1996-1997. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
8. Frederick Valentine – Husky Great Hall, The Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary, Calgary, 1996-997. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
9. Frederick Valentine – Nova Corporate Head Office (currently Nexen); View from 7th Street & 8th Avenue SW, Calgary, 1980-1982. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
10. Frederick Valentine – Nova Corporate Head Office (currently Nexen); West Elevation, Calgary, 1980-1982. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
11. Frederick Valentine – Nova Corporate Head Office (currently Nexen); Boardroom, Calgary, 1980-1982. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
12. Frederick Valentine – TransAlta Corporate Head Office; South East Elevation, Calgary, 1983-1984. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
13. Frederick Valentine – TransAlta Corporate Head Office; South-East Approach, Calgary, 1983-1984. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.
14. Frederick Valentine – TransAlta Corporate Head Office; Map Room, Calgary, 1983-1984. Photo courtesy of the Stantec Architecture Ltd.