page_title: Blanche Lemco van Ginkel
section_title: Practitioner
hierarchical_section_title: Blanche Lemco van Ginkel / Career / Practitioner
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Expo 67 in Montréal, Canada, highlighting 20 of the 90 pavilions (English Version)
context_page_description: Blanche Lemco van Ginkel CM FRAIC is a Canadian architect, city planner and educator who worked mostly in Montreal and Toronto. She is known for her Modernist designs, as well as for planning Expo 67 and spearheading the preservation of Old Montreal. Lemco van Ginkel is the first woman to head a faculty of architecture in Canada and be elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. She is also the first woman to be awarded a fellowship by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and in 2020, was awarded their highest honour, the RAIC Gold Medal.
context_section_description: Lemco van Ginkel is recognized for combining urban planning with her architectural skills, with a focus on modernist design as evidenced by the use of bold and unadorned elements. During the 1950s and 1960s, her firm headed projects including Bowring Park in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, which was presented at the 1959 CIAM congress in Otterlo. Other commissions included the central area plan of Montréal, the urban design of Midtown Manhattan, and the development of Pahang Tenggara, Malaysia.
  She and her partner were responsible for designing the master plan of the world fair Expo 67, an important cultural moment in Montreal's and Canada's history. She even recruited Moshe Safdie, who  designed the iconic Habitat 67. The van Ginkels are also credited with saving Old Montreal from new development. A detailed report they prepared prevented the construction of an elevated highway project that would have cut through the area. They are also known for their conservation efforts regarding Mount Royal, leading a successful advocacy project to stop the development of the mountain park's south slope.
  As a female architect, Lemco van Ginkel was a pioneer, becoming the first woman officer and council member at the PQAA, the first woman officer and  
  fellow at the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and the first woman president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. She was also the recipient of prestigious RAIC Gold Medal in 2020.
caption: Map of Expo 67 site
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