War Museum’s architect
‘Labour of love’ was co-designed with Moriyama
Belfast-born Canadian immigrant Alexander Rankin’s illustrious career as an architect spans two continents, but the crowning achievement in his extensive collection can be found in Ottawa: the Canadian War Museum.
Rankin died in Ottawa Wednesday, July 31 after suffering from emphysema and Wegener’s disease. He was 74. He is survived by his wife, Liz, and youngest son Peter. He was predeceased by his eldest son, Mark.
An artist from childhood, Rankin aspired to be a painter despite family pressures to follow in his father’s footsteps by becoming an electrical engineer.
“His father told him, ‘Oh, you can’t be a painter, you’ll never make any money.’ He didn’t want to be an engineer so he chose to be an architect because it’s a bit more artistic than being an engineer,’ said Tony Griffiths, Rankin’s partner at GRC Architects and friend for more than 40 years.
Rankin received his initial training while employed at Corr and McCormick in his hometown before moving to London, England. At London-based firm Powell and Moya, he worked side-by-side with another young architect: Griffiths. After marrying his wife, Liz, Rankin immigrated to Canada and lost touch with his colleague. By chance, the two were reunited, this time at local architecture firm Murray and Murray,
“I was being interviewed by Tim Murray and he said, ‘Oh, we’ve got someone in the office here who knows you and that’s Alex Rankin’,” Griffiths recalled. “I was very happy about that. I had no idea what had happened to Alex. He’d left Powell and Moya in London and that was that. Running into him in Ottawa was a great pleasure for me.”
With Griffiths, Rankin made partner at Murray, Murray, Griffiths and Rankin before the two joined forces with fellow architect John Cook to launch Griffiths, Rankin and Cook, now GRC Architects, in 1985. To Rankin, architecture was more than a nine-to-five job.
“He wasn’t a passionate ice hockey fan or rugby fan, anything like that at all. He loved his family to bits. His life was centred around family and architecture and poetry and art and painting, said Griffiths.
Rankin worked on behalf of architecture and the understanding of architecture, said Griffiths. He was a modernist who believed the buildings he designed should fit the site, and always worked with the requirements of the client in mind.
The war museum, which Rankin co-designed with famed architect Raymond Moriyama, was a labour of love for Rankin, said GRC Architects partner Cook.
“The opportunity to do something of great importance to a lot of people is what architects really love to do and it doesn’t happen very often.”
Rankin, Cook said, believed in more than just producing a commodity; he truly believe in the value one brings as a professional in society. His belief in the field of architecture spurred him to become involved in the community outside his firms.
He gave enormously of his time and effort to all sort of organizations associated with the profession.
He was on the board of Canadian Women in Construction, he was on the board of the Canadian Construction Association, he started the Design Build Association, he was a chancellor of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, he was on the executive of the (Ontario Association of Architects), among many others. He really believed in the profession as a profession.”
Rankin, who retired from GRC Architects two years ago but remained involved in the firm until his death, touched many people over the course of his career thanks to an ability to make everyone he met feel like they were making a connection stronger than just work, a connection of friendship, said Cook.
“If you worked with him, conversation wasn’t just work. It was poetry, it was history, it was many things. He was always very interested to know what other people felt and thought about things. That included genuinely everybody.”