Peter Cardew

Peter Cardew (6 August 193926 October 2020) was a British-Canadian architect. He was the principal of Peter Cardew Architects based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His portfolio included projects ranging across different scales, including single family housing, schools, art galleries, office buildings, and exhibition buildings.

Cardew won numerous awards for his work, including the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Gold Medal in 2012. Many critics regard him as an "architect's architect" for his innovative exploration of structure, materiality, and spatial experiences. His work has been featured in various exhibitions and publications. Some of his earliest childhood memories were filled with terrors of World War II. He moved into a safer refuge in Lancashire during wartime. These early memories caused Cardew to be inclined to use bare concrete in his architecture, as it resonated with childhood feelings of safety. he took a year off to work on an exhibition pavilion with Max Bächer Architect in Stuttgart, West Germany, from 1961 to 1962. Following work for a number of small firms after his graduation, Cardew worked as a project architect with Roman Halter & Associates in London, England until the year of 1966. Characterized by glass cladding and a concrete core, the building rests on a brick plinth, showing the rich materiality of the properties. The plaza features a reflecting pool, a cascading waterfall and one-storey retail pavilion that imitates the triangular footprint of the office tower.

C.N. Pavilion, Expo 86, Vancouver, 1986 During a transformative decade in which Vancouver hosted Expo 86, Cardew designed the C.N. (Canadian National) Pavilion to showcase the Canadian National Railways. Cardew aspired to create a socially interactive architecture, in part through providing generous public spaces. It was conceived as a fully exposed steel framework wrapping around a cylinder theatre, which could only be entered by a bridge. Because of the poor condition of the site, Cardew designed the main structure as a grand steel canopy suspended by a gantry system with three foundation locations. This structural design not only embraced the surrounding beautiful harbour views, but also provided better accessibility for visitors.

The Belkin Gallery has won multiple awards, including a Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Governor General’s Medal for Architecture in 1999.

Academics, publications and exhibitions Cardew was active in academia and in architectural education. He was an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, the University of Calgary, Washington State University, the University of Texas at Austin. He also widely lectured across continents, including North America, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. Cardew was Chairman of the City of Vancouver Urban Design Panel in 1978.

Awards

Canadian Architect Awards, Award of Excellence (1977, 1980, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2006) Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Festival of Architecture Award of Merit (1980) Architectural Institute of British Columbia Design Award (1982) Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Governor General’s Medal for Architecture (1982, 1999) Architectural Institute of British Columbia Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Architecture (1999, 2005) Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal (2012)