James Strutt

James William Strutt
Born	(1924-01-08)January 8, 1924 Pembroke, Ontario
Died	November 8, 2008(2008-11-08) (aged 84) Ottawa, Ontario
Alma mater	University of Toronto, School of Architecture
Occupation	Architect
Awards	Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Fellowship Order of da Vinci, Ontario Association of Architects G. Randy Roberts Service Award, Ontario Association of Architects
Practice	James W. Strutt, Architect
Buildings	Canadian Nurses Association in Ottawa, Ontario Canadian Embassy in Algiers LOEB Building for the Social Sciences, Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario Westboro Beach Pavilions in Ottawa Ontario St Mark's Anglican Church in Ottawa, Ontario The Strutt House in Aylmer, Quebec

James W. Strutt (January 8, 1924 – November 8, 2008) was a Canadian architect. Inspired by American architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster Fuller, James Strutt's designs fostered the modernist age in Canadian architecture. He revered the former for incorporating nature into architectural design, and admired the latter for having invented the geodesic dome. In all his work, Mr. Strutt explored the beauty of geometry, structure and form in nature.^[1]

Biography

James W. Strutt (James William Strutt: January 8, 1924 - November 8, 2008) was born in Pembroke, Ontario. He attended school in Pembroke, Montreal and Ottawa. Upon finishing at Ottawa Technical High School in 1942, he enlisted into the Royal Canadian Airforce, becoming a pilot. Following the war, he attended the University of Toronto, School of Architecture. His initial influences while at UoT were Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster Fuller; particularly Wright's material and environmental sensitivity, and Fuller's theories on weight efficiency ratios. Strutt was one of the students who were instrumental in getting Wright to UoT for a workshop and he would later collaborate with Fuller during his academic career. On a field trip to attend a lecture being given by Pier Luigi Nervi at North Carolina State University, Strutt took a side trip to visit the Eduardo Catalano House in Raleigh, NC and was very impressed by Catalano's modern statement.

For fifty-five years Strutt contributed prolifically to the field of Modern Canadian Architecture. Having practiced for over half a century, Strutt produced a large body of both residential and institutional exploratory architectures.

As his professional career progressed he pushed the existing paradigms of what constituted the norm in the cultural, technical and methodological practices of the built environment. His early explorations in non-orthogonal geometry and the hyperbolic-paraboloid led to several exemplary projects, including his own home, which is an early -and seminal- example of his residential work.^[2]

Many of his early experimental works were residential in scope, however the scale of his praxis was not limited there, but extended to both commercial and institutional architecture. He designed and built many projects that covered everything from retail to industrial business', educational institutions, and government laboratories to airports. His series of churches constitute a body of work that aspire to both reflect and elevate the parishioner through built form, a concept initiated, held and nurtured, based on his Bachelor of Architecture thesis.

Throughout his career Strutt held many positions in his profession's associated organizations, including most notably, Registrar and Dean of the College of Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and, in 1959, became the youngest president in the Ontario Association of Architects's (OAA) history. Strutt spent many years as an academic, was a Professor and Director at the School of Architecture (now the Azrieli School of Architecture) at Carleton University.

He was, until his death, an enthusiastic persona, a passionate and inclusive ambassador of architecture, a generous scholar and mentor. Over 5,000 of his drawings form part of the permanent collection of Library and Archives Canada.

Works

Limited Monograph of Built works:

GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS

Geophysical Lab. (Dept. of Mines & Resources) Experimental Farm, Ottawa, ON 1953

Seven Islands Airport Sept Isles, QC. 1954

Halifax Air Terminal Halifax, NS 1956

Neatby Building additional to the Science Service Laboratory Experimental Farm, Ottawa, ON 1957

Uplands Air Terminal Ottawa, ON 1958

Plaza de las Americas– EXPO 67 Montreal, QC 1967

National Capital Commission, District HQ Western Parkway, Ottawa, ON 1965

Canadian Embassy, Algeria Algiers: Modular Building System Adaptation 1998

MAJOR GOVERNMENT BUILDING RENOVATIONS

Canada Science and Technology Museum 1867 St. Laurent Blvd., Ottawa, ON 1969

Jackson Building Bank & Laurier, Ottawa, ON 1965-8

The Ottawa Press Club Wellington St., Ottawa, ON 1961

BUILDINGS OF DESIGN SIGNIFICANCE

NATIONAL CAPITAL & ENVIRONS

Buildings

Royal Trust Building 55 Metcalfe Ave., Ottawa, ON 1962

Fortune Lodge Camp Fortune, QC 1963

Northern Electric Advanced Devises Centre Moody Dr., Bells Corners, ON 1963

LOEB Building for the Social Sciences Carleton University, Ottawa, ON 1964-6

Canadian Nurses Association Headquarters 50 Queen Elizabeth Drive, Ottawa, ON 1967

Westboro Beach Pavilions –designated heritage Kitchisippi Lookout, Western Pkwy, Ottawa, ON 1966

Gatineau River Yacht Club Gleneagle, QC 1976

Churches

St. Mark's Anglican – designated heritage 1606 Fisher Ave., Ottawa, ON 1954

St. Peter's Anglican – gunnite concrete hypars 915 Merivale Rd., Ottawa, ON 1955-61

St. Paul's Presbyterian 971 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, ON 1958-70

Rothwell United 47 Sumac, Cardinal Heights, Ottawa, ON 1960-62

Bells Corners United – award 3955 Richmond Rd., Bells Corner, ON 1962

Trinity United - R.A.I.C. Millennium Church 1099 Maitland Ave., Ottawa, ON 1960-65

St. Paul's Anglican 194 Prince Albert, Overbrook, Ottawa, ON 1963-64 ^[3]

House – classic modern

Shaefer House Montreal Rd., Ottawa, ON 1949

Palmer House 824 Maple Crest Rd., Ottawa, ON 1950

Dowbiggin House Senneville, QC 1952

Dawson House Senneville, QC 1953

Shore House 1204 Mountain Rd., Ottawa, ON 1954

Burke House Revelstoke Dr., Ottawa, ON 1954

Gibson House Cunningham Ave, Ottawa, ON 1955

Southam Ski Lodge Kingsmere, Gatineau Park, QC 1956

Hall House Dorothea Dr., Ottawa, ON 1956

Loeb House 225 Minto Place, Rockliffe Park, Ottawa, ON 1958

Dobell Chalet Edna Lake, QC 1958

Weiner House 418 Roger Rd., Ottawa, ON 1958

Morley House 190 Edgewood Dr., Aylmer, QC 1960

Anderson House 241 Skyridge Rd., Aylmer, QC 1960

Fischer House: heritage, confirmed 339 Pleasant Park R. Ottawa, ON 1962

Borman House 20 Qualicum Dr., Ottawa, ON 1968

WEIGHT-EFFICIENCY EXPLORATIONS

Hyperbolic Paraboloid Explorations

Strutt House – Rhomb & hypar 1220 Mountain Rd., Aylmer, QC 1956 owned by National Capital Commission since 2010

Geldhart House – circle & hypar 170 Edgewood Dr., Aylmer, QC 1958

Van Lueeuwan House – circle & hypar 120 Chestnut St. Aylmer, QC 1959-1960

Zarzycki House – circle & hypar Aylmer, QC 1959

Baldock House – hexagon & hypar 1224 Mountain Rd., Aylmer, QC 1959

Hanlan House – square & hypar 126 Maybury, Ayler, QC 1960

Quain Chalet Lake, Mont. Cascades, QC 1961

Stopforth House – square & hypar Mine Rd., Chelsea, QC 1962

Kemper House – square & hypar 11 Briacliffe, Rothwell Hts., ON 1962

Merrit House – square & hypar 54 Laurier Ave., Deep River, ON 1963

Geometries

Waring House – packing of tetrahedrons 1124 Mountain Rd., Aylmer, QC 1954

Rochester House – 12 connected network Concession Rd. #7, Almonte, ON 1976

Gatineau River yacht Club – rhombi dodecahedrons Chelsea, QC 1976

Panelized Steel Frame Explorations

C.I.D.A. Agricultural Research Centre Sudan 1983

Turks and Caikos Holiday Homes – hurricane resistant Turks and Caikos 1984

Columbian Houses – low cost earthquake resistant Manizales, Colombia 1985

Peruvian Prototype – safe housing for miners Lima, Peru 1986

Meredith House – low cost, energy efficient 1203 Mountain Rd. Aylmer, QC 1987

Shanghai V.I.P. Houses – four, fabricated in Canada Shanghai, China 1994

Lambert House – low cost, energy efficient 1211 Mountain Rd., Aylmer, QC 1994

Kobe Prototype – earthquake proof emergency homes Kobe, Japan 1995

St. Kitt's House – affordable, hurricane resistant St. Kitt’s, Caribbean 1996

Jamaican Prototype – affordable, hurricane resistant Jamaica, Caribbean 1997

Application of Prefabricated Panel System

Canadian Embassy – Algiers – built Algiers, Algeria. 1998

Poland Housing Development – proposed Zabrze, Poland 1999

Strutt Foundation

The Strutt Foundation was established in 2008 following the death of James W. Strutt, by his family, friends, and colleagues, and was incorporated as "Fondation STRUTT Foundation" in 2013 as a Canadian not-for-profit organization.

References