TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.- The Royal Ontario Museum’s (ROM) Institute of Contemporary Culture (ICC) is proud to present the fourth installment of Architecture Rampant, an occasional series of conversations about world architecture, on Friday, February 7, 2003 at 6:30 p.m. in Theatre ROM. For its fourth presentation, the ICC proudly presents Phyllis Lambert, architect and Founding Director and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Centre for Architecture. In her address, titled Architecture: Passions, Desires, Ironies. The Seagram Building, Ms. Lambert will give a personal account of her experiences as Director of Planning for this seminal post-WWII New York City skyscraper, designed by leading architects Mies van der Rohe and Phillip Johnson, and describe the architectural challenges surrounding its construction.

The Architecture Rampant series aims to encourage the public’s participation and awareness of the Renaissance ROM expansion and renovation process now underway at the ROM, and stimulate discussion of relevant issues in architecture today. Tickets are priced at $12 for adults and $10 for ROM Members, students and seniors. To register call the ROM Programs Department at 416-586-5797, or go online at www.rom.on.ca, click Institute of Contemporary Culture.

In 1979 Phyllis Lambert, CC, CQ, OAL, FRAIC, FRSC, FRIBA (Hon.), LL D, founded the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal, which under her direction has become the leading museum and study centre devoted to the art of architecture. Ms. Lambert is recognized internationally for her contribution towards the advancement of contemporary architecture, her concern for the social issues of urban conservation, and for the role of architecture in the public realm. As founding President of Heritage Montreal, Ms. Lambert has been a major force in urban conservation. She was also instrumental in the establishment of the Société d’Amélioration de Milton-Parc, the largest non-profit cooperative housing renovation project in Canada.

Holding honorary degrees from some 25 universities in North America and Europe, Phyllis Lambert is the recipient of numerous professional awards locally and internationally, including the Award of Merit of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for her involvement in the Seagram Building and the CCA. In 1991, she was presented with the Gold Medal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Canada’s highest architectural award. An adjunct faculty member both of the School of Architecture of McGill University and the Faculté de l’aménagement, Université de Montréal, Ms. Lambert lectures widely at university and professional organizations in North America and abroad.

Ms. Lambert has been responsible for and contributed to various publications, including: Court House: A Photographic Document (1978); Introduction, Photography and Architecture (1982); Canadian Centre for Architecture: Buildings and Gardens (1989); Opening the Gates of Eighteenth-Century Montreal (1992); Fortifications and the Synagogue: The Fortress of Babylon and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, Cairo (1994); Viewing Olmsted: Photographs by Robert Burley, Lee Friedlander, and Geoffrey James (1996) and Mies in America (2001) which accompanies a major traveling exhibition, which she curated.

Phyllis Lambert is a Companion of the Order of Canada, Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Québec, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Chavalier of the Ordre de la Pléiade, and Officer de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres, France.