Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA)
The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) is an international research institution, and museum premised on the belief that architecture is a public concern. We produce exhibitions and publications, develop and share our collection as a resource, advance research, offer public programs, and host various other activities driven by a curiosity about how architecture shapes—and might reshape— contemporary life. We invite collaborators and the wider public to engage with our activities, giving new relevance to architectural thinking in light of current disciplinary and cultural issues.
Founded as a new cultural institution by Phyllis Lambert in 1979, the CCA is currently directed by Giovanna Borasi and steered by the CCA Board of Trustees.
Collection access by appointment
Online bookstore: cca-bookstore.com
Categories :
Architecture - Decorative arts & design - Heritage - History - Photography - Visual Arts
Address
Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA)
1920, Baile street,
Montreal, QC H3H 2S6
Phone
514 939-7000
Facilities
Regular Schedule
From Jan 1 to Dec 31
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
11:00 - 18:00
Thursday
11:00 - 21:00
Friday
11:00 - 18:00
Saturday
11:00 - 18:00
Sunday
11:00 - 18:00
Free admission for all on Thursdays after 5pm and on the first Sunday of every month
Holidays Schedule
Holidays follow the regular schedule
Temporary exhibition
from Dec 11, 2024 to May 25, 2025
To Build Law
According to a 2020 report by the UN Environment Programme, the construction industry accounts for at least 38 per cent of carbon emissions globally, operating with narrow methods geared toward profit. Buildings are held as assets, torn down, and redeveloped, with limited consideration of community and environmental impacts. Meanwhile, housing crises escalate. Evidently, a systemic shift in the way we build and value our built environment is urgently needed.
Temporary exhibition
from Apr 25, 2025 to Oct 26, 2025
Oscillating Spaces
The Rhône Glacier, located high in the Swiss Alps and accessible via the Furka Pass, can only be visited from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox, roughly 120 days a year. For the rest of the year, time stays still: the pass is closed, the landscape is covered with snow, and there are no human visitors. Despite the limited time it can be accessed, the Rhône Glacier and the Furka Pass are layered with natural and cultural histories. The site is shaped by the entanglement between the environment, spirituality, and local traditions; the genesis of glaciology; military and transportation infrastructure; Alpine tourism; and the construction of the sublime.
Temporary exhibition
from Mar 19, 2025 to Nov 30, 2025
Records of Protest
Architecture is a political medium. Buildings define social relations and reify power dynamics. In turn, the profession has an immense capacity to either maintain hegemonic value systems or propose new orders.
The Groundwork series, currently on display in our Main Galleries, features the ongoing political endeavours of contemporary architects. Their stories demonstrate approaches to advocacy and activism in face of ecological collapses and social crises. While their processes are represented in this series through documentary film and research fragments, Records of Protest is a display of archival material from the CCA Collection exploring how architects in the past engaged with crises of their time.
Incoming exhibition
from Oct 16, 2025 to Mar 15, 2026
How Modern : Biographies of Architecture in China 1949-1979
Between the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and the implementation of Reform and Opening policies in 1979, architecture was a key part of the country’s vision for socialist modernity. While this political focus shaped a variety of formal and spatial strategies in the built environment, driven by shifting policies throughout these three decades, modern Chinese architecture has largely been perceived as stunted and not progressive. Many misconceptions of this history persist even today: that nationalization and collectivism denied architects creative freedom, that projects were more focused on industrial productivity than design quality, and that the state’s emphasis on a “national style” limited the diversity of modern architecture.