Peter Prangnell, AA dipl, M.Arch. Professor Emeritus of Architecture, passed away on  January 14, 2023 at Bridgepoint Hospital, Toronto.

Peter served as Architecture Department Chairperson at the University of Toronto From 1968 to 1976, and introduced a unique and innovative teaching curriculum known as the New Program, which lasted until 1983.

Born in England and graduated from the AA School, London in 1952, Peter joined the Masters Class at Harvard GSD under Dean Josep Lluis Sert in 1958. After graduation he worked for Sert, then went back to teach at the AA, before returning to the GSD in 1962 as an Assistant Professor.

It was there that he met Aldo van Eyck who was a visitor to the Masters? Program. Van Eyck was a founding member of Team 10 which, in 1953, first challenged CIAM?s doctrinaire approach to architecture and urbanism. Prangnell wrote; ? I owe so much to Van Eyck, it is hard to summarize my debt. Through Van Eyck, I was able to unlock architecture from some of its deadly habits and yet more deadly teaching. The roteness of ?how to? and preferred solutions are the deadliest aspects of teaching. I wanted to believe that buildings may be motivated by ?stories? just as stage designs may be motivated by plots and characters. Through Van Eyck I learnt that designing a building was a more optimistic activity than I had ever imagined it to be. The pessimistic nature of design is so well inculcated by schools, the profession, the building by-laws and plannin...