Professor Lancelot Coar
Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture
407A Architecture 2 Building
t 204.474.6794
f 204.474.7532
coar@cc.umanitoba.ca
Research
This past year, Professor Coar's research has been focused on his ongoing investigations into material performance, structural form, and the improvisational potential within the act of construction.
Specifically he is developing methods of exploring a building material’s capacity to form structural framing patterns when it is subjected to flexural stresses. This flexible framing system offers opportunities for lightweight, dynamic, and adaptable structures to be built on-site while being easily collapsed when not in use or transported.
This approach to building has provoked questions about the nature of temporary inhabitation, and how to approach the design and construction of structures that support activities that are not intended or imagined to be indefinite. It also asks innate questions about the authenticity of the dialogue between the action of designing, the desire of the properties of the materials that are being used, and the will of the hidden forces that must be negotiated in order to achieve the forms and spans that are preferred for a site. Professor Coar is interested in building systems that respond to and influence a builder’s understanding of what a system desires to do, encouraging a dialogue between them, allowing both to inform the actions of the other.
During Summer 2010, Professor Coar worked with five art organizations (Ace Art Inc., Platform Gallery, Urban Shaman Gallery, Video Pool Inc., and La Maison Des Artists) on a project entitled On The Road where he used this research to inform use of fibreglass reinforcing bar (rebar) to support a range of temporary programs. In this project, he traveled with a 1976 Airstream Trailer and volunteers from these galleries to rural and urban communities throughout Manitoba to build temporary art venues to support performances, art-making workshops, and video art projections. At these locations, they built temporary structures using the rebar and fabric, and erected them with the help of the local community. The idea for this project was to expose contemporary art to communities that rarely have the opportunity to engage it, and to empower them to be participants in the creation of the art they are a part of.
407A Architecture 2 Building
t 204.474.6794
f 204.474.7532
coar@cc.umanitoba.ca
Research
This past year, Professor Coar's research has been focused on his ongoing investigations into material performance, structural form, and the improvisational potential within the act of construction.
Specifically he is developing methods of exploring a building material’s capacity to form structural framing patterns when it is subjected to flexural stresses. This flexible framing system offers opportunities for lightweight, dynamic, and adaptable structures to be built on-site while being easily collapsed when not in use or transported.
This approach to building has provoked questions about the nature of temporary inhabitation, and how to approach the design and construction of structures that support activities that are not intended or imagined to be indefinite. It also asks innate questions about the authenticity of the dialogue between the action of designing, the desire of the properties of the materials that are being used, and the will of the hidden forces that must be negotiated in order to achieve the forms and spans that are preferred for a site. Professor Coar is interested in building systems that respond to and influence a builder’s understanding of what a system desires to do, encouraging a dialogue between them, allowing both to inform the actions of the other.
During Summer 2010, Professor Coar worked with five art organizations (Ace Art Inc., Platform Gallery, Urban Shaman Gallery, Video Pool Inc., and La Maison Des Artists) on a project entitled On The Road where he used this research to inform use of fibreglass reinforcing bar (rebar) to support a range of temporary programs. In this project, he traveled with a 1976 Airstream Trailer and volunteers from these galleries to rural and urban communities throughout Manitoba to build temporary art venues to support performances, art-making workshops, and video art projections. At these locations, they built temporary structures using the rebar and fabric, and erected them with the help of the local community. The idea for this project was to expose contemporary art to communities that rarely have the opportunity to engage it, and to empower them to be participants in the creation of the art they are a part of.
