Arthur Erickson
Architect Arthur Erickson was born in Vancouver in 1924. He originally intended to enter Canada’s diplomatic service but set his sights on architecture after encountering the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. He graduated from the McGill School of Architecture with honours and awards in 1950. He and fellow architect Geoffrey Massey won a competition to design Simon Fraser University in 1963, and the project brought them international recognition.
Erickson was a proponent of modernist architecture, which is known for placing emphasis on the choice and placement of materials and the relationship between building and landscape. The Museum of Anthropology (1977) in Vancouver is sometimes cited as his masterwork. He also designed Roy Thompson Hall (1982) in Toronto and the Canadian Embassy (1989) in Washington, D.C.
In 1981, Erickson was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. He received gold medals from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1984 and the American Institute of Architects in 1986. After financial troubles led him to declare bankruptcy in 1992, he continued to work as an associate with other architecture firms. Erickson died in Vancouver in 2009.