Stir Cheat Sheet: 3 ways to get your design on at West Coast Modern Week

An exhibit dedicated to Patkau Architects, a film about Arthur Erickson, and a jazz concert round out the celebration

By Janet Smith

Patkau Architects, Audain Art Museum, view from the covered porch. Photo by James Dow / Patkau Architects

West Coast Modern Week runs from July 8 to 13 at various locations

SOME OF WEST COAST MODERN Week’s signature events—including its beyond-popular Home Tour through the architectural gems nestled in the verdant hills of West Van—are already sold out. But there are still lots of ways to celebrate the region’s most famous design style, from screenings to museum exhibits.

Below, a few more ways to take part in events marking the annual series.

#1

Patkau Architects: Matter Made Material

To July 19 at the West Vancouver Art Museum

Founded in 1978 by Patricia and John Patkau, Patkau Architects has grown to become one of the West Coast’s—and Canada’s—most celebrated firms. It has created such landmarks as The Polygon Gallery and Whistler’s Audain Art Museum.

This show, as part of West Coast Modern Week, focuses on Patkau’s signature play between natural light and the built environment—and the way the light combines with materials and physical forms to add visual layering to the structure. Anyone who’s visited the Audain knows how the movement of light over the course of the day shifts the perception of its wood structures.

Through photos, drawings, and other displays, visitors to the gallery can see the way Patkau Architects used light in nine projects.

#2

Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines and the Architecture of Encounter, with Dr. Jeff Derksen

To July 10 at the Kay Meek Arts Centre

The 2024 documentary Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines takes a lively, fulsome look at the iconic late architect—from his early days in elementary school to his thriving offices in Los Angeles and the Middle East, and his beachfront home on Fire Island.

Jeff Derksen then uses the film as a jumping-off point to discuss Erickson’s architecture as spaces of encounter—an approach informed by Erickson’s travels and the optimism of the 1960s.

Between the film and the talk, the evening offers a rare chance to dive deeper into the influences and creative processes of the West Coast visionary behind landmarks like Roy Thomson Hall and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.

Jillian Lebeck.

#3

Jillian Lebeck Trio

July 13, 2 pm, at the West Vancouver Memorial Library

As part of West Coast Modern Week, Jillian Lebeck takes to the grand piano, with Maafu Keteca on saxophone and Kody Buchart on bass, for a free, intimate concert that travels through jazz from the Great American Songbook—plus some original compositions. It’s a smooth, sophisticated way to wrap up the events, with the pianist, composer, and vocalist—who’s performed everywhere from the Vancouver International Jazz Festival to Frankie’s Jazz Club—filling the building’s main hall with music.

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