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Arthur John Müdry (1932-2024) was a prominent West Coast Modern architect. He was born May 8, 1932, in Calgary to Ukrainian immigrant parents John Müdry and Mary Wasyluk. His early years were in Field, British Columbia, and then in Calgary where he attended elementary and high school while living with his grandmother. He obtained his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Manitoba School of Architecture (1955) and a Master of Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1956). From 1957 to 1960 he served as an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture. From 1960 to 1962 he worked as an architect in Boston, Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Vancouver, including a time conducting civic and urban design studies for the City of Vancouver. Müdry practiced in Vancouver from 1962 to 1999.
He is recognized for his residential design work and his influential role in the development of West Coast Modern design in the 1960s. Among his most notable projects are St. Stephen’s United Church (1964), the Beaton Residence (1965), West Vancouver Baptist Church (1967), the IBM Building in Calgary (1967), the Patterson House (1968), the Tupper Residence (1971), the Chun House (1989), and the Richmond Residence (1992). Müdry described his design philosophy as follows:
"My design philosophy has evolved over years of belief that architecture must be an organic response to man’s functional and emotional needs, in physical harmony with the natural environment and regional characteristic. Emotional and spiritual fulfillment are fundamental to resolving the practical functional requirements of man’s activities; and must be expressed in the ‘sense of place’ and through a ‘sense of space’.
In the B.C. Coastal region, design must embrace and reflect the local culture, and capture the mystic quality of rain forest and protective cover, using materials in such a way as to satisfy our emotional being.
All function and programming of man’s requirement are thus made more habitable, tolerable, and useful."
Müdry was married to Hazel Müdry and they had three children. Arthur Müdry died on June 25, 2024.