West Coast Modern League

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West Coast Modern League Focus on the BC south coast. The League’s focus emanates from the West Coast Modernist period of the Greater Vancouver region, beginning with the B.C.

[WCML/The League] The West Coast Modern League is an independent, nonprofit society dedicated to celebrating, and advancing understanding and appreciation of, architecture/allied arts of the NOMA west coast. Through celebration and the promotion of critical discussion, the West Coast Modern League aims to recognize the distinctive architecture and design of the west coast, to champion the propagation of the unique design principles of its place, and to explore linkages to locales further afield. Binning House in 1941, with a broadened exploration of the contemporary endeavours of a diverse design community in architecture and the allied arts. The West Coast Modern League works to: Advance awareness and appreciation of architecture, design, and the built environment; Celebrate and recognize the enduring regional legacy of architects, artists, and designers on our built environment, shared culture, and collective memory, and to inspire future generations to explore and carry forward the distinctive design tenets of this place; Foster camaraderie and discourse among a diverse design community by providing a platform to celebrate shared history, culture, influences and to stimulate the cross-pollination of ideas

The WCML carries on its activities through a broad range of public programming – salons, lectures, debates, and celebrations – digital media, and the support of other projects that encourage a stronger architectural culture. In addition, we partner with other professional organizations, like-minded societies, disciplines, and homeowners, among others. Follow us and subscribe to our mailing list:

Web: westcoastmodern.org
Email: [email protected]



Whether you were at Expo 86 or not, you’ve likely seen images of this iconic installation. HIGHWAY 86 was one of the mos...
10/10/2026

Whether you were at Expo 86 or not, you’ve likely seen images of this iconic installation. HIGHWAY 86 was one of the most sought after and engaging interventions of Vancouver’s 1986 exposition. The undulating four-lane highway, constructed of concrete and steel, emerged from False Creek rising upwards of 60ft and stretched 700ft across the fairgrounds with clear spans of up to 112ft. The structure “broke off” mid-air between the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts with a cantilevered Chrysler K-Car appearing to launch off the end. On Expo’s theme of transportation and communication, the participatory public art landscape was a celebration of the history of 20th century air, land, and sea transportation, and served as part of the entry processional to the fair. With the purpose of exhibiting all means of mobility, over 200 vehicles, from jogging shoes to skateboards, bicycles, motorcycles, boats, cars, trucks, planes, helicopters, a submarine, space capsule, and a lunar rover populated the roadway. The ambiguous, monochromatic colour palette acknowledged people’s ambivalence to the future of industrial technology.

The stationary installation was overwhelmingly animated by people and if you ask anyone who was there, especially the children of Expo 86 (including yours truly), HIGHWAY 86 is one of the first memories that come to mind.

This Tuesday, Jordan Strom explores the superdimensional art and architecture of Expo 86 through the lens of four projects including HIGHWAY 86 designed by SITE | James Wines.

OCT 13 • 2026 | 5:00 • 7:00PM
INFORM | 50 WATER ST | VANCOUVER
DOORS 5:00PM | TALK 6:00PM

LINK IN BIO TO REGISTER

The League is grateful for the partnership and generous support of INFORM.

[Image] HIGHWAY ’86, EXPO ’86 Canadian World Exposition. Exhibition roadway with various transportation vehicles emerging from the harbor, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 1986. Project by SITE.

WEST COAST MODERN LEAGUE
Inform

MEET JORDAN STROMJordan Strom is a curator and writer working on the unceded ancestral territories of the Coast Salish p...
10/10/2026

MEET JORDAN STROM

Jordan Strom is a curator and writer working on the unceded ancestral territories of the Coast Salish people. Over the past 25 years his curating, writing, and publishing have often examined the intersection points between ideas, art, urbanism, media and technology studies, intercultural practices, and interdisciplinary aesthetics. As Curator of Exhibitions and Collections at Surrey Art Gallery he has organized many solo and group exhibitions including In the Shadow of the Pavilions: Expo 86 and Contemporary Art this past spring. The exhibition grew out of his research as a PhD candidate in the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University where, under the supervision of Dr. Laura Marks, he is writing on expanded media art in the time of North America’s last world’s fair.

On October 13, Jordan joins the League with INFORM for a talk exploring the superdimensional art and architecture at Expo 86.

OCT 13 • 2026 | 5:00 • 7:00PM
INFORM | 50 WATER ST | VANCOUVER
DOORS 5:00PM | TALK 6:00PM

LINK IN BIO

The League is grateful for the partnership and generous support of INFORM.

[Images 2-7] Steve Gairns (May 2026). Scenes from "In the Shadows of the Pavilions: Expo 86 and Contemporary Art," Surrey Art Gallery.

WEST COAST MODERN LEAGUE
Inform

09/30/2026

On October 13th, join the West Coast Modern League with INFORM as we close out the 40th anniversary of Vancouver’s world’s fair. We will be joined by writer and curator Jordan Strom exploring the superdimensional art and architecture at Expo 86.

SAVE THE DATE

A time of shifting political winds (the rise of right-wing governments), large-scale industrial catastrophe (Space Shuttle Challenger and Chernobyl), and ecological destruction (acid rain to clear-cut logging) the mid-1980s also ushered in a new aesthetic paradigm. Seemingly disparate forms of art, including new media installation, kinetic sculpture and architecture, large-scale 70mm cinema, and collaborative publicly engaged art rose up across Canadian cities, museums and galleries. A key convergent point for these ascending forms of image and space making was Vancouver’s 1986 world’s fair. This talk will focus on four exhibitions at Expo 86: Michael Snow’s holographic installation The Spectral Image, SITE’s Highway 86, Peter Cardew’s CN Pavilion and the Canada Pavilion’s Great Hall. In certain respects, these exhibitions foreshadowed immersive art forms that grew in number in the early decades of the new century; yet they also stand apart as distinct superdimensional spaces, that reconceptualized viewers as active participants grounded in physical reality. Taking its cue from the concept of the ‘exploded view’—a form of drawing or diagram with components of an object or device that has been slightly separated at a distance in three dimensions—this presentation will share some of the ideas and design evolutions that informed these experimental exhibits; examine some of the resonances between them; and situate these new media spaces within a broader set of artistic and architectural conversations in the 1980s and the current moment.

OCT 13 • 2026 | 5:00 • 7:00PM
INFORM | 50 WATER ST | VANCOUVER BC
DOORS 5:00PM | TALK 6:00PM

The League is grateful for the partnership and generous support of INFORM.

WEST COAST MODERN LEAGUE
Inform

Scenes from the League's "West Coast Fresh Take" with &Daughters and Studio Roslyn.The west coast is a region of profoun...
09/29/2026

Scenes from the League's "West Coast Fresh Take" with &Daughters and Studio Roslyn.

The west coast is a region of profound creative talent and these designers, who arrived with an impact, are continually raising the bar. In a little under a decade, &Daughters and Studio Roslyn have built impressive bodies of work defined by rigorous research, conceptual clarity, intercultural and interdisciplinary influences, an unabashed willingness to experiment, to inject a touch of humour, all the while broadening our usual notions of what defines modern west coast design. We are so grateful that you joined us to share your work.

Thank you to our community who filled the room wall-to-wall to hear from these creatives. We are inspired by your enthusiasm for local design and heartened by your support.

To Nancy & Nils, Fiona & Christian, and the entire team at Inform, your exceptional generosity, partnership, and unwavering support is so appreciated.

To Becki Chan and the team at Design Vancouver Festival, thank you for your tireless dedication to celebrating Vancouver's super-charged creativity and for creating such an incredible platform to share it all with the community.

To Martin Knowles, thank you for support and contributions to documenting these moments.

WEST COAST MODERN LEAGUE
Inform
&Daughters
Studio Roslyn
Design Vancouver Festival

[Images] Martin Knowles Photo/Media

MEET STUDIO ROSLYNClassmates and fast friends, Kate Snyder and Jessica Macdonald met while studying architecture at the ...
09/18/2026

MEET STUDIO ROSLYN

Classmates and fast friends, Kate Snyder and Jessica Macdonald met while studying architecture at the University of Manitoba. They moved west after school and established Studio Roslyn, an interior design and creative consulting practice. The studio holds dear their core belief that true creativity is not to conflict with commerce, and that their work should not be bound by the divisions between art, design, fashion, and architecture. They create spaces that are at times unapologetically bold, sumptuously elegant, or charming and playful. The muse of Roslyn personified provides a conceptual focal point of their studio and their aspiration as designers. She is fearless, provocative, and highly intelligent. She knows how to ask the tough questions and make the hard decisions, but she also has a steady hand and a warm heart. She is at the core of what defines Studio Roslyn’s spirit, ethos, and aesthetic. Their work spans the milieu of commercial, institutional and residential space.

On Sept 22nd, Kate and Jessica join the League at INFORM to share recent works broadening the usual notions of our modern west coast identity.

SEPT 22 • 2026 | 5:00 • 7:00PM
INFORM | 50 WATER ST | VANCOUVER BC
DOORS 5:00PM | TALK 6:00PM
PART OF DESIGN VANCOUVER FESTIVAL

LINK IN BIO TO REGISTER

The League is grateful for the partnership and generous support of INFORM and Design Vancouver Festival.

WEST COAST MODERN LEAGUE
Inform
Design Vancouver Festival
&Daughters
Studio Roslyn

[Images]
(1) Andre Princes Classic Sessions
(2-4) Conrad Brown Conrad Brown

09/18/2026

Design Vancouver Festival (DVF)—a citywide, community-driven festival hosted by Vancouver’s architecture and design community—is returning to the city this week. Through open studios, walking tours, talks, exhibitions, and gatherings, DVF invites the public to experience design up close and co...

Where will you be over the next 2 weeks?Design Vancouver Festival kicks off tomorrow with Vol. 62 of the wildly popular ...
09/17/2026

Where will you be over the next 2 weeks?

Design Vancouver Festival kicks off tomorrow with Vol. 62 of the wildly popular PechaKucha Night Vancouver. 10 creatives will get on stage to share their ideas, passions, and work in front of a captive audience at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

That will be followed by 10 days of open studios, tours, walks, exhibitions, workshops, gatherings, and public programs across the city.

On Sept 22nd, the League will be joined by &Daughters + Studio Roslyn for West Coast Fresh Take at INFORM where they will share recent works broadening the usual notions of our modernist west coast identity.

Over the duration of the festival, the League will be at events and studios in the Downtown/Gastown District and across the city. We’ll share what we’re up to and the incredible creative talent that this city has to offer, so keep it locked on our socials.

DESIGN VANCOUVER FESTIVAL
2026 SEPT 17–27

Come join the party!

LINK IN BIO FOR FULL SCHEDULE

09/15/2026

📢 REGISTER TODAY!

On September 22nd, join the West Coast Modern League with INFORM, during Design Vancouver Festival, for the next talk in our On the Boards series. Vancouver-based design firms &Daughters and Studio Roslyn will each share recent works broadening the usual notions of our regional modernist identity.

REGISTER HERE: https://westcoastmodern.org/events/on-the-boards-sept-2026/

&Daughters is a Vancouver-based design studio led by Darcy Hanna and Emma Sims. Working at the intersection of architecture and interior design, &Daughters creates cohesive, concept-driven environments across residential building design, residential and commercial interior design.

Studio Roslyn is an interior design and creative consulting studio led by Jessica MacDonald and Kate Snyder. The studio holds dear their core belief that true creativity is not to conflict with commerce, and that their work should not be bound by the divisions between art, design, fashion, and architecture.

SEPT 22 • 2026 | 5:00 • 7:00PM
INFORM | 50 WATER ST | VANCOUVER BC
DOORS 5:00PM | TALK 6:00PM
PART OF DESIGN VANCOUVER FESTIVAL

The League is grateful for the partnership and generous support of INFORM and Design Vancouver Festival.

As housing needs evolve, preserving what already exists can be one of the most innovative and sustainable paths forward....
09/11/2026

As housing needs evolve, preserving what already exists can be one of the most innovative and sustainable paths forward.

On Sept. 26th at IDS Vancouver, League Chair Steve Gairns (Architect & Co-Founder at euoi studio | architecture + design) joins Meme Brooks (Founder & Designer at Meme Brooks), Laura Carey (Executive Director at Vancouver Heritage Foundation), and Glyn Lewis (Founder & CEO at Renewal Development) for a conversation exploring how thoughtful restoration can create beautiful, functional homes that meet modern lifestyles while protecting the character and architectural heritage of the west coast. From sustainability and material reuse to design strategies that bring older homes up to today’s standards, this conversation will examine why preserving and adapting our built environment can benefit homeowners, communities, and the planet.

SEPT 26 • 2026 | 1:00 • 2:00PM
VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE WEST
PART OF IDS VANCOUVER 2026
SEMINAR REGISTRATION REQUIRED

WEST COAST MODERN LEAGUE
euoi studio | architecture + design
Meme Brooks
Vancouver Heritage Foundation
Renewal Development
Interior Design Show Vancouver

The first day of classes marks the end of summer break and the start of something exciting. We wish all the best to our ...
09/08/2026

The first day of classes marks the end of summer break and the start of something exciting. We wish all the best to our future architects, landscape architects, designers, and makers on the beginning of a new academic year. We look forward to seeing the interests you pursue, the research and explorations you undertake, and the creative solutions that you develop this year.

Remember, school is a time to pursue your interests and to experiment with impunity. Amongst all the deadlines and late nights, make sure to have fun with it!

Case in point: The Perch, a unique and experimental new park pavilion designed and built this summer by UBC Master of Architecture graduate students. A welcome and inspirational addition to the community.

[Images] Steve Gairns

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