Oversize, Overdue: The Architecture of the D.B. Weldon Library
A lecture by James Ashby

Wednesday April 10, 3:00 p.m

Weldon Library, Rm. WL258, Western University, London, Ontario

Image: Olia Mischenko, Untitled (Weldon Library) (detail), 2017, pen and ink on paper. Collection of McIntosh Gallery, Western University, 2018.
Brutalism is arguably the most revered and reviled of architectural styles. In recent years, it has enjoyed a resurgence of interest among a new generation of architects, designers and urban types. They find its authenticity, material integrity and volumetric forms are refreshing after years of theatrical, pseudo-historical, post-modernism, and that which followed.
At Western University, a legacy of colonial aspirations has resulted in a campus largely built in what is called the ?Collegiate Gothic? style. The building of Weldon Library was part of a brief, visionary interlude of utopian modernism that envisioned new, big and boldly egalitarian public spaces that provided access to education for all. Now, many modernist buildings like Weldon Library are threatened by deterioration and even demolition. Altered beyond recognition by perfunctory repairs and renovations, it is difficult to imagine the ways in which such monumental buildings represented the lofty social values of this particular time period.
Initiated in Canada?s centennial year, the design of a new main library for Western University was a collaboration between architects Ronald E. Murp...