Architecture

  • Blueprints for God’s Hotels

    Blueprints for God’s Hotels

    Peter Stockland

    September 7, 2020

    Raymonde Gauthier, co-curator of a current exhibit at Montreal’s Hôtel Dieu museum, explores with Peter Stockland how the 19th century partnership of Bishop Ignace Bourget and architect Victor Bourgeau shaped the city’s spiritual landscape.

    About 40 years ago, Raymonde Gauthier found a PhD topic by glancing out the window of her small apartment at the corner of Montreal’s St. Laurent Boulevard and Sherbrooke Street.

    Through the heat of Quebec’s post-1960s anti-clerical nationalist eupho...

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  • Ottawa’s Chateau Shipping Container

    Ottawa’s Chateau Shipping Container

    Raymond J. de Souza

    July 5, 2019

    Convivium Editor-in-Chief Father Raymond de Souza looks at expansion plans for the capital’s grand old Chateau Laurier and apprehends an act of architectural vandalism.

    When Cardus opened our Ottawa office three years back, we were proud to be in the neighbourhood – Parliament a short walk west, the National Gallery and Notre Dame Cathedral a short walk north. Now the neighbourhood appears to be going to heritage. 

    ...

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  • Peak Season

    Peak Season

    Peter Stockland

    July 14, 2017

    Convivium author Peter Stockland reflects on the mysterious collapse of motels and the spiritual significance that these places of refuge possess. 

    I learned on my summer vacation something I should have known long ago: that the word “motel” is a compound of “motor” and “hotel.”

    According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it dates from 1925 when a publication called Hotel Monthly reported that...

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  • Workers Present

    Workers Present

    Brian Dijkema

    July 5, 2016

    Cardus Work and Economics Program Director Brian Dijkema reflects on the opportunity that construction season provides us to celebrate the "vast array of talents and skills that it takes to keep a country and its economy functioning." 

    Virtually no one in Canada can drive to the cottage or campsite without coming across a sign like this:

    ...

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  • Awe

    Awe

    Conor Sweetman

    January 1, 1970

    Photographer Conor Sweetman captures a sweep of architectural space created entirely for worship of the divine. 

    The ceiling sweeps towards the sky, the seats, prepared to hold those come to worship stretch in a sea of anticipation throughout the space. Photographer Conor Sweetman's shot captures the beauty...

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