Cold War Memorial Event in Ottawa: November 16th

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As part of the celebrations dedicated to its 50th anniversary, the Diefenbunker, Canada’s Cold War Museum invites you to the fourth annual Cold War Memorial Event on Wednesday, November 16, from 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm.

David Monteyne, Associate Professor in Architecture at the University of Calgary, will deliver a public lecture to officially launch his new book Fallout Shelter: Designing for Civil Defense in the Cold War (University of Minnesota Press, 2011). Please continue reading for more information on the lecture and the program:

The title of the lecture is Architectures of the Cold War. The Diefenbunker, and similar continuity-of-government facilities in the United States, were actually extreme and rare architectural responses to the Cold War. This lecture will explore the broad range of ways that architects, urban planners, and others attempted to reconfigure the built environment to help survive nuclear war in the 1950s-60s. As many critics pointed out at the time, governments tended to provide themselves with significantly better protection from nuclear weapons than they provided for their citizens. With a main focus on United States examples, this lecture will help situate the Diefenbunker in broader geographical, social, and architectural contexts.

Program of the evening:

5:00 – 6:00 Guided tours of our 100,000 square foot underground facility
6:00 – 7:30 Public lecture and book launch
7:30 – 8:30 Wine-and-Cheese Reception

The event is free of charge – however, confirmation of participation is required. Kindly reply to rsvp@diefenbunker.ca and indicate in advance how many guests are interested in taking the tour, as space is limited.

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