TRIBUTE
GEORGE BAIRD 1939-2023 Architect, theorist, and educator George Baird died at his Toronto home on October 17, 2023, at the age of 84. A member of the Order of Canada (OC), Baird was the former Dean (2004-2009) of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto, and founded the Toronto-based architecture and urban design firm Baird Sampson Neuert Architects. Prior to becoming Dean at the Daniels Faculty, Baird was the G. Ware Travelstead Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. He was co-editor, with Charles Jencks, of Meaning in Architecture (1969), and, with Mark Lewis, of Queues, Rendezvous, Riots (1995). He is author of Alvar Aalto (1969), The Space of Appearance (1995), and Writings on Architecture and the City (2015). A book of essays about his work and influence, The Architect and the Public: On George Baird’s Contribution to Architecture, appeared in 2019. Baird’s consulting firm, Baird Sampson Neuert, is the winner of numerous design awards, including two Governor General’s Awards. Baird was a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and received the Ontario Association of Architects’ Da Vinci Medal (2000). To honour Baird’s life, we have gathered tributes from the architecture community in appreciation of his legacy. Phyllis Lambert Founder, Canadian Centre for Architecture Of the outstanding international generation that changed architecture, initially through immersion in theory and history, George Baird holds a special place. With the radiance of his persona, George brought the discipline of mind he had honed to the critique of the city, a process of understanding which is now ever more important. I am grateful to George for his approach and analysis as I am for his continued support of my own study of the city, and for the warmth of his friendship. Mirko Zardini Architect, Author and Curator It was the summer of 2019. Touring Toronto with George Baird as a personal guide—driving from the Sharon Temple, in Gwillimbury, to the University of Toronto Campus, in Scarborough, both in the outskirts, and into the city’s downtown—while talking about the problems of the city he loved and studied so deeply, and for which he did so much in every possible way, was a delightful, rare privilege. I will never forget it. And it was very rare because, in fact, George belonged to that generation of architects born in the 1920s and 1930s—with the likes of Frampton, Gregotti, Ungers, Rossi, Eisenman, De Carlo, Colquhoun, Jencks, Grassi, and Moneo—that, by embodying multiple roles, profoundly shaped the architectural and urban discourse, from the postwar years until today. George Baird was, simultaneously and inseparably, an architect, an urban designer, a historian, a critic, a theorist and, probably above all, a teacher and mentor for many. After working on Meaning in Architecture in 1969 with Charles Jencks, George kept looking at the city, architecture, and public space from exceptional perspectives. He was also responsible for bringing the works of Hannah Arendt, Jurgen Habermas, and Ivan Illich into architectural discourse. George Baird dedicated his life to architecture, becoming a crucial protagonist in shaping the architectural, urban, and academic worlds in Canada, and elsewhere. The breadth of George’s legacy is yet to be
CA Nov 23.indd 24
ANDRE BENETEAU, COURTESY DANIELS FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE, AND DESIGN
CANADIAN ARCHITECT 11/23
24
fully understood. In the meantime, the best way to honor his life is by keeping his teachings and extraordinary commitment alive. Kenneth Frampton Emeritus Professor, Columbia University George Baird’s death on October 17 leaves us in a state of shock and loss—not only in relation to the Daniels Faculty at the University of Toronto, of which he was for so many years its dedicated and exceptionally creative Dean, but also for Canadian and even for world architecture as a whole. This is due to his prolific output as a brilliant writer and engaged critic—not to mention his activities as an inspired teacher in both Canada and the United States. Baird also played a fundamental role in introducing landscape urbanism into the architecture school curriculum of U of T, aided, inspired, and partially led by Charles Waldheim, whom he met during his period as Visiting Professor at Harvard University. From the seminal semiotic anthology that he edited with Charles Jencks, Meaning in Architecture, George and I shared a mutual conviction as to the pertinence for architecture of Hannah Arendt’s magnum opus The Human Condition (1958). Although we were rival interpreters as to the significance of her political philosophy for architectural culture, throughout my time in academia l admired Georges’s perspicacity as a studio critic plus his innate capacity for articulate public speaking and debate! In general, George was a brilliant and prolific writer who wrote with exceptional sensitivity about the work of Alvar Aalto, as is evident from the concise but perceptive monograph he produced on the work of the Finnish master early in his career. Above all, George’s work acumen and life-long passion for architecture will be sorely missed—not only on the North American scene, but also on the global scene as a whole. Bruce Kuwabara Founding Partner, KPMB Architects George Baird was a brilliant intellectual who combined teaching and practice, design and building, research and writing, and public lectures and criticism.
2023-11-06 4:04 PM