P H Y L L I S LAMBERT BUILDING SEAGRAM

Dean’s Lecture Series
PHYLLIS
LAMBERT
BUILDING SEAGRAM
Phyllis Lambert is Founding Director Emeritus of the Canadian
Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal and member of its Board
of Trustees which she chaired for thirty years. In the 1950s, as Director
of Planning for the Seagram Building, Lambert was instrumental in
adding a landmark to New York’s skyline. Twenty-five years later
in founding the CCA she deepened and expanded the culture of
architecture locally and internationally. Gold medalist and Fellow of
the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Lambert holds the highest
civil honours in Canada as Companion of the Order of Canada and
Grand Officier de l’Ordre National du Québec, and also Commander
of the Ordre des arts et des lettres de France. At last year’s Venice
Architecture Biennale, Lambert was honored with the Golden Lion,
apt recognition for this legendary architect, author, historian, urban
activist, and critic.
Building Seagram (Yale University Press, 2013) tells the biography
not just of this important building, but of the culture of post-WWII
design, including the significant part corporate patronage played in
the era’s real estate development, and of the project’s substantial
role in shaping landmark legislation and zoning laws in New York
City. Phyllis Lambert provides an unprecedented personal history
of her experience managing the project, as well as of the working
relationship between van der Rohe and Johnson and offers a detailed
scholarly assessment of the design and construction process and the
building’s cultural legacy and life in the city over a half century.
MARCH 24, 2015
6PM | CENTRE SPACE
JOHN A. RUSSELL BUILDING
FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE
UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA