In his own words Graham Crockart on monster houses; the recession When and why did you come to Canada? ‘i came over in 1959 to Toronto, where | worked on the city hall. It was there that | met a fellow who become head of the schools out here. We were work- ing in a very disciplined office that had large glass windows, and { remember looking out over the snow in March and seeing a bliz- zard outside. He said, ‘The crocuses are coming out,” and that was it. That was what drove me out here.’’ What kind of projects has your firm been focusing on? ‘‘Retire- ment complexes and multi-family residential dev ctopments.*” How has the recession affected your business? ‘‘At the beginning of the year we employed over 20 people. Now, because of the hous- ing recession, we’re down to 10. It’s a volatile business in general — you really have to be adapt- able.’’ Why are architects now moving away from the modern style? “The modern movement resisted ornamentation. In fact it went to such degrees in achieving simplici- ty that it created all kinds of complexities in the building to make it seem simple. So it became obsolete, decadent. Automatically you get a gradual revolution against that. Architects began to poke fun at it, and some became flippant.”* What's your view of the so-called ‘tmonster homes?”’ ‘In fairness, it’s a transition time, and perhaps in 20 years from now people won’t object to them because trees will grow around them and they’il begin to fit in. You have to un- derstand that when a city gains maturity, it almost has to fulfill its destiny. That’s what North Vancouver is doing right now. Lower Lonsdale is fulfilling its destiny, and some people don’t like it, because they like how it used to be.”” What’s your experience been like dealing with municipal councils? “It’s a very, very complex business. 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SHEPHERD, DEPARTMENT HEAD MARINE ENGINEERING FOR DETAILS. 985-0622 TO REGISTER CALL: 985-0622 proval system that is made up of essentially laymen design panels and planning commissions. Coun- cils have ali kinds of pressures on them...We did the design for the proposed development on the Matsumoto site, and lost it. A well-organized group got in there © and stopped it...But that’s democracy...”” What do you think about the way development on the Lower Mainland has been progressing? “Think of False Creek, West Vancouver, New Westminster, and the way we’re capturing the waterfront. The building form to a degree is less dominant ~~ there’s not a great mass of highrises on the waterfront. You’re getting buildings forced back, and people are getting ac- cess to the waterfront. To me, that kind of environment is im- proving the Lower Mainland enormously.”” Sunday, January 6, 1991 ~ North Shore News - 29 AFFLUENCE & INFLUENCE NEWS photo Mike Wakeileld LOCAL ARCHITECT Graham Crockart ... ‘I just simply do the best that I can in the context of the site and remain humble about it."’ Separate yourself from the ordinary! and take advantage of J. Collins January Clearance Everything in Both 435-5566 4240 Manor Sucet Burnaby, BC. {Half a block west of Sheraton Villa Hote!) Now Two Big Locations CANADA'S LARGEST THOMASVILLE GALLERY Collins THOMASVILLE GALLERY Hundreds of Styles Drastically Reduced Ready for immediate Delivery at Prices of UP TO 685-8414 1080 Mainland Street at Helmcken Downtown Vancouver, B.C. MONDAY TO SATURDAY 9 a.m. w § p.m. SUNDAY Noon to § p.m.