BC Architect Barry Downs was a giant of the West Coast Modern Movement in the Pacific Northwest. His public buildings and houses bridged the often-austere high modernism of the day with an earthier more organic sensibility. An advocate for modest, but careful detail, Downs’ work was highly sensitive to site and context, exuding a strong sense of place rather than upstaging the natural environment.
Downs graduated with an architecture degree from the University of Washington in 1954 and began work at Thompson, Berwick & Pratt Architects. Following this, he partnered with fellow architects Fred Hollingsworth and later Richard Archambault. The work of Downs/Archambault Architects includes a number of private residences, as well as notable public buildings: the North Vancouver Civic Centre (1974), the Britannia Community Services Centre in Vancouver (1975), the Lester Pearson College of the Pacific on Vancouver Island (1975), high-density neighbourhoods on or adjacent to the Expo lands in Vancouver, the Langley campus of Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Langley and the Campbell River Museum. Downs/Archambault were also associated with Moshe Safdie in developing Vancouver’s Library Square (1995) and the Roundhouse Community Centre plan in Vancouver’s Yaletown neighbourhood. Downs was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2014.
“To me, it’s all to do with emotion, and you derive that from the building and its setting. The focus for me has always been the landscape, the garden, the seasonal world.” “Remembering Barry Downs, 1930-2022”, quote from article “West Coast Modern and Architect Barry Downs”, Eve Lazarus, July 5, 2014, https://westcoastmodern.org/journal/remembering-barry-downs-1930-2022/
Did you know? Barry Downs’ second home, Downs House II is currently on the market after Downs passing in 2022. As it is not protected by West Vancouver’s heritage register and is in danger of being demolished, West Coast Modern is campaigning to save the modernist landmark. Read more here: Campaign to Save Downs House II.
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