Canadian Centre for Architecture

It's the hottest day yet this week in Montréal with the temperature peaking at 30C. Time to stay indoors and go museum hopping.

The Canadian Centre for Architecture is a short walk from the Guy-Concordia métro station in residential area. It's an understated building presenting a low rectangular profile within the walled grounds. It's row of pyramid skylights are barely visible as they are set quite far back in the centre of the roof. The grounds have simple landscaping with an expanse of grass, a hedge along the building, and a few trees.

The main exhibit is entitled Sense of the City. Each exhibit room contains different sensory aspects of life in the city. From obvious ones like smells and sounds to ones we wouldn't ordinarily think about like touch. A row of flasks contain various odours you might encounter in a city from pleasant like grass, to nauseating like rotting garbage. The sound display compares the sounds of Vancouver in the 1970's to the 1990's. Binaural sound recordings were taken at specific times and places in both decades. The growth and change in Vancouver are immediately obvious to your ears as you lounge on the oversized cushions and listen to the Sennheiser headphones dangling from the ceiling. Touch is represented by asphalt. The sample of pure processed asphalt is almost spongy and yields to finger pressure which in the final product contributes to its comfortableness for walking and driving on.

A much smaller exhibit showcases the work of Vancouver-based landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander. You may not know her name but you've definitely seen her work. Robson Square Courthouses, UBC Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver Public Library Square, and the National Gallery of Canada are among her many commissions.