Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal is hosting an exhibition titled “What about Happiness on the Building Site?” that will be on view through May 14.Unfolding British architect, thinker and radical innovator Cedric Price early 1970s McAppy Report as an anticipatory contribution to the discussions surrounding working environments, job satisfaction, and company ethics, the exhibition underscores the social roles and responsibilities of the architects by re-evaluating traditional field practices and strategies to remodel the social progress through critical research, new tools and experimental attitudes. In 1973, following the strikes that beleaguered the British construction industry during the early 1970s, Alistair McAlpine commissioned a design program for his construction company ‘Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons’, and invited Cedric Price (1934–2003) to execute the program. Price accepted the challenge and came out with a design strategy based on the survey over the company’s work practices and organizational policies. The two-volume report combined with a Portable Enclosures Programme (PEP) proposed to improve labour conditions, assuring happiness and well-being, both mental and physical, for employees by prioritizing a low-stress, boredom-free building site. Showcasing these two volumes of the report, the exhibition explores its elements and stages along with Price’s research and testing methods, through available texts, quotes, photographs, sketches, drawings, diagrams, models, letters, news clippings, Union handbooks and assorted trade catalogs.The exhibition is on view at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, 1920 Baile Street, Montreal, QC H3H 2S6, Canada. For details, visit http://www.cca.qc.ca/en/Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition. Read more