A concise introduction to the fascinating life and ideas of the Van Ginkels and their architecture office.

Travelling Ideas examines the exceptional work of Van Ginkel Associates, the office of husband and wife Sandy Van Ginkel and Blanche Lemco, whose significance in the development of Canadian architecture and planning can hardly be overestimated. With a multitude of international relations—including Team Ten, Hendrik Wijdeveld, Aldo van Eyck, Sven Markelius, Le Corbusier, and Louis Kahn—they connected the radical new ideas of avant-garde architects in Europe with the Canadian context, where modern architecture and planning were still in their infancy. Based on extensive research in the VGA Archive and interviews with Blanche Lemco and others, this book emphasizes not only built outcomes but also the couple’s highly conceptual approach and lateral thinking. This is also a story of traveling ideas: how the Van Ginkels absorbed, developed, and mediated novel concepts and approaches and introduced them to a rapidly evolving, and urbanizing, Canada.