Virtual Exhibition: New School: Modern Architecture and Public Education in Toronto, 1943-1975
- Date
- September 16, 2021
- Time
- 6:30 PM EDT - 8:00 PM EDT
- Location
- Online
- Open To
- Public
- Contact
- alexandra.berceanu@torontomu.ca
- Website
- https://www.newschoolexhibition.net/
This exhibition explores an important legacy of modernism in Toronto: The 300 school buildings constructed in the three decades after the Second World War.
Public schools are engines of social cohesion. Early in the 20th century, school buildings embodied Progressive-era ideals of education and social control. They were also some of the most thoughtfully designed and carefully constructed buildings in the city, designed by local architects whose ideas were influential across the country.
In the postwar years, schools only increased their social significance - and a succession of innovations in pedagogy were joined to new architectural ideas from Britain and the United States. The buildings that resulted were products of their time -- some very adventurous, but all reflections of a social order that invested in public institutions and high-quality buildings to match.