What are the boundaries of architectural practice" For three firms in Western Canada, they lie far beyond buildings. Patkau Architects, designer Omer Arbel, and Sputnik Architecture have developed branches of their work dedicated to the fabrication of products, furniture, lighting and artwork. All three of them deploy these parallel practices as forms of research, with a significant impact on their architectural thinking.
The experimental work of Patkau Design Lab originated with the analytical models the firm created of its own work. Photo by James Dow / Patkau Architects
Patkau Architects began their fabrication practice over 30 years ago, with what John Patkau refers to as ?analytical models? of their own built work?not intended as representations, but as tools for working through the formal characteristics of their buildings. As John puts it (with considerable modesty and a touch of irony) ?our firm was never ?successful?,? which led to slow periods when they had to generate their own activity. During these fallow periods, their ?well-provisioned? workshop became the site for the analytical models, and eventually, at the instigation of Patricia Patkau, for bolder experiments with materials. A cluster of bent plywood shelters was one of the first full-scale prototypes to emerge from this work, developed as a contribution to Winnipeg?s Warming Huts project, then dispatched to London?s V&A Museum. That project?s experimentation morphed into the steel Cocoons for t...