Arthur Charles Erickson (born 1924), Canadian architect, became the most internationally noted figure in Canadian architectural history. Sensitive to the expression of site and the response of buildings to environment, he was also recognized as a skillful landscape architect.

Arthur Erickson's early education in art was inspired by the spectacular setting of the British Columbia landscape and by the intensely art-conscious social milieu into which he was born. His parents were of the generation of "pioneers" in the city of Vancouver (which was chartered in 1886 and experienced its first large demographic and building boom in 1912) who were determined to foster the arts in their community. His mother encouraged her two sons to pursue an interest in the arts. Among Erickson's other inspirers and mentors were Canadian artists who had settled in Vancouver, such as Lauren Harris and B. C. Binding, and Victoria-born Emily Car.

Prodigy

Erickson credits these mentors...