OCAD U mourns the loss of faculty member Michael Miller
The OCAD University community mourns the passing of Michael Miller, an accomplished architect and beloved member of the Faculty of Design. Professor Miller, who passed away on October 19, 2021, worked closely with colleagues in the Environmental Design program.
“Michael was both a contributor and a witness to an important era of Canadian architectural history,” notes Gayle Nicoll, Professor in the Faculty of Design. “He held leadership roles in both Arthur Erickson and, later, Ron Thom’s architectural practices -- two of the most creative and world-renown Canadian architects in the modern era. Michael taught both studio and professional practice classes. Students loved to hear stories of these practices as they embraced the training of their own future careers.”
About Michael Miller
Miller was born in Vancouver in 1939 and studied architecture at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Throughout his career he contributed to numerous notable Canadian buildings including Trent University (Peterborough), the Metro Toronto Zoo and the Westin Prince Hotel (Toronto).
In the early 1980s, he opened his own award-winning practice with locations in Toronto and Dallas, Texas and continued to work on significant commercial and residential projects, including Buttonville Airport (Markham).
His practice went beyond the design of large housing projects and single-family residences. In 1986, he designed the $27 million Ontario Pavilion at Expo ‘86, which housed the province’s exhibitions for the major event and was held that year in Vancouver.
“My conversations with Michael didn’t start with the onset of the pandemic or the deterioration of his health; they simply moved from my office on the fifth floor of the Rosalie Sharp Centre for Design to weekly telephone chats from our respective residences. We shared a strong memory of our time as graduate students in the Faculty of Architecture at UBC. Although Michael was many years ahead of me in school, we both fell under the directorship of the eccentric Henry Elder. His unorthodox approach to teaching architecture was in direct conflict with the university and the Faculty of Engineering (under which Architecture fell) and was further exacerbated when Henry had all the fixed drafting tables removed from the studio and thrown out,” remembers Bruce Hinds, Associate Professor in OCAD U’s Faculty of Design.
He continues: “Michael and I, along with others would seem to be the product of this educational model that the Commonwealth of Architects described as ‘unique in the English-speaking world.’ We often compared notes on studio briefs that would be composed of a singular statement such as ‘Design a Going Concern’ or ‘Perform a Greek Tragedy.’ Michael agreed that our time at UBC had shaped the way we would eventually view practice, teaching and, in fact, the world. He often ended our conversations with the statement, can you believe that?”.
In 1991, he joined the Department of Architectural Science as chair at Ryerson University, a position he remained in for a decade. Even after retiring from architecture, Miller continued teaching as a part-time lecturer and studio critic at universities and colleges in Canada, the United States and Europe.
Donations in his memory can be made to the Michael C. Miller Travel Award in the Department of Architectural Science at Ryerson University, which was established in 2019 on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
Photo Credit:
Ryerson University obituary, October 21, 2021.
Sources/References:
Ryerson University
Maclean’s Magazine
The Globe and Mail