The Icelandic Canadian - 01.11.2007, Page 43

Vol. 61 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
85
and Russell modernized the curriculum,
brought in new similarly-minded faculty
members, and encouraged graduating stu-
dents to work or study in centres of
Modernist architecture.
One of these early Modernist students
was David F. Thordarson (1926 - 2003),
the first architect of Icelandic descent to
graduate from the University of Manitoba.
In 1949, recently graduated and aged 23,
Thordarson started working at the archi-
tectural firm of Green, Blankstein and
Russell (GBR) where he would remain
until 1991. There he served as the principal
designer of an impressive number of signif-
icant buildings and his work is mentioned
and illustrated throughout Winnipeg
Modern.
In the chapter “The Meaning of
White,” Kelly Crossman attributes
Thordarson’s 1951 Elizabeth Dafoe
Library at the University of Manitoba, as
the pivotal building introducing modern
architecture to Winnipeg: “the space inside
was open and expansive, offering visitors
and experience few had encountered
before. One part of the building seemed to
flow into the next; even on the coldest day
of winter it would be easy ‘to move about,
to see new vistas from one space to anoth-
er.’” Moreover, as an architect “sensitive to
the innate qualities of materials” his use of
Manitoba’s traditional building material,
Tyndall limestone, linked the new build-
ings to a sense of place and helped in the
creation of a regional architecture.
Crossman describes another early
work of note, St. George’s Anglican
Church on Wilton Street of 1956-57. The
congregation had originally considered
commissioning a Gothic Revival church,
but determined to have a modern design
with a traditional basilican plan with
narthex, nave, aisles, east window, west
window and bell tower. Once again,
Thordarson sheathed the building in native
limestone, creating a masterful abstract
rendition of the traditional, with special
qualities of light and form.
The Norquay Building of 1959 and the
Winnipeg City Hall and Administration
Building of 1964 are also principle designs
by Thordarson, the later with Bernard
Brown. While there are fine photographs
of them in Winnipeg Modern, the textual
references to them are brief. Whereas, a
whole chapter by Bernard Flaman is devot-
ed to the architecture and art of the
Winnipeg International Airport which
Thordarson designed with Bernard Brown.
Completed in 1964, the building was one
of a network of new airports built by the
Canadian Department of Transport to
highlight the modernity of Canada. Of the
network, the Winnipeg Airport is noted
for the “elegance of proportion and articu-
lation.” And, once again, although mod-
ern, the building is influenced by its region,
sheathed in Tyndal limestone and skilfully
designed with a sensitivity to the light and
landscape of the prairie. In his chapter,
“Wide Open Space,” Herbert Enns
describes how the mezzanine floats above
the ground plane of terrazzo and below a
luminous artificial-sky ceiling creating “a
heroic and abstracted space suspended in
the terminal between the city to the east
and the runways and setting sun of the
west.”
These examples support Kelly
Crossman’s contention that Thordarson,
through his skilful use of Tyndall lime-
stone, was able to take an international
style and refine it to create a unique region-
al architecture: “In his hands this became a
material capable of great beauty and refine-
ment, and a means, arguably, by which
Modern architecture in Winnipeg could be
linked with its geographic and socio-cul-
tural context.”
A striking photograph of the
Winnipeg International Airport was select-
ed as the cover illustration for Winnipeg
Modern. This selection gives some indica-
tion of the importance of the architectural
contribution to Manitoba made by the first
graduate of Icelandic descent.
Notes:
1. Serena Keshavjee, Introduction,
page 3.
2. David Burley, Winnipeg’s
Landscape of Modernity 1945-1975, page
32.