Archinect - News

Progressive modernist Jerome Markson has been awarded the 2022 RAIC Gold Medal

2022-04-01T20:22:00-04:00

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada has announced Jerome Markson as its 2022 Gold Medal Winner. The Toronto-based modernist is well known throughout Canada for his award-winning designs and contributions to the fields of architectural education and design theory.

Markson’s social housing projects are often considered to be the basis for the development of what is now considered to be one of the most diverse cities in the world. His designs for healthcare facilities as well as cultural centers and further civic projects contributed a considerable amount to the visual language of his native country throughout his vaunted six-decade career.

Markson's Market Square Condominiums in Toronto. Image copyright Fiona Smith via RAIC.

Writing on the RAIC’s website, the jury commended Markson for his “lifelong commitment to humanism, inclusivity and generosity, teaching us valuable lessons about urban housing and its critical relationship to city building.”

“His work epitomizes a deep c...

Architecture duo Brigitte Shim and A. Howard Sutcliffe awarded 2021 RAIC Gold Medal

2021-03-29T18:58:00-04:00

Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) recognizes two Canadian architects as recipients of the 2021 Gold Medal Award. The annual award is the highest honor bestowed to individuals for their long-standing contributions to Canadian architecture.

This year's recipients are Brigitte Shim and A. Howard Sutcliffe of Toronto-based architecture and interior design firm Shim-Sutcliffe Architects.

Image courtesy of RAIC

"The poetic quality and independence of their design work, their thoughtful and holistic consideration of site, materiality, typologies, the senses, and their inventiveness have made Shim and Sutcliffe exemplars of architectural practice in Canada," writes Phyllis Lambert, Founding Director Emeritus of the Canadian Centre for Architecture. "To me, it is clear that they are abundantly worthy of being awarded the Gold Medal of the RAIC and stand as strong exponents of Canadian values."

Widely celebrated for their illustrious careers, the power couple has received praises...

“In the fractured 21st century, we can respond to a human yearning to come together”: Baha’i Temple of South America by Hariri Pontarini Architects wins 2019 RAIC International Prize

2019-10-25T22:00:00-04:00

Built at the foot of the Andes near Santiago, Chile, the Baha’i Temple of South America by Hariri Pontarini Architects has attracted over 1.4 million visitors since opening in 2016. Tonight during an awards ceremony in Toronto, the RAIC announced the temple as the winner of their 2019 International Prize.

Established in 2013 by notable Canadian architect Richard Moriyama, the biennial CAD$100,000 prize — formerly called the Moriyama RAIC International Prize — honors socially transformative architecture and is open to architects worldwide. The temple was one of three competitive shortlisted projects.

Photo credit: Andrés Silva.

The domed temple plays a significant role for the local community by providing a welcoming space to gather and sit in quiet contemplation. Perhaps the building's most distinctive feature is the nine gracefully torqued wings that form an oculus at the top. The wings are made of an outer layer of cast-glass panels and an interior layer of translucent marble from ...

The RAIC shares report on co-designing as reconciliation with Indigenous communities

2018-07-16T15:56:00-04:00

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has created a free, public report as a resource for architects, designers, clients, funders, and policy-makers involved in the creation of new infrastructure facilities and housing in First Nation, Inuit, and other Indigenous communities. The report focuses of four case studies located in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec which exemplify the best architecture practices of co-designing as reconciliation.

In these four case studies, the community vision was developed through architects engaging in a shared design process in order to address injustices and give agency back to Indigenous people groups. You can read the full RAIC report here.

Sole-practitioner from Manitoba, Michael J. Cox, inducted as 2018 President of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada

2018-02-13T14:36:00-05:00

Michael J. Cox, FRAIC, an architect from Manitoba who has led numerous organizations and is passionate about the contribution architects can make in their communities, is the 79th President of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC). Mr. Cox received the President’s Medal of office from the 2017 President Ewa Bieniecka, FRAIC, at a change-of-office ceremony on February 2 in Ottawa.

A 1971 University of Manitoba B.Arch graduate, Michael J. Cox has been the principal of his one-person practice in Brandon, Manitoba since 1979. "You can’t get much smaller than one," he jokes.

Outlining key goals during his term, Cox remarked: "The RAIC needs to focus on the immediate needs of its members at all stages of their careers and in all sizes of practice. This includes delivering relevant and accessible continuing-education programs, helping emerging practitioners, and advocating for architects on practice issues such as procurement reform."

Former US Embassy Building Is Declared Culturally-Inappropriate for Canadian Indigenous Center

2017-06-20T19:20:00-04:00

Classical revival is perhaps the architectural style most identified with colonization. This building, which references Washington architecture, is a building of formal rooms, offices, and hierarchies, echoing structures of European authority.

This June the federal government announced that the US' former embassy building in Ottawa will become a space dedicated to Inuit, Métis and First Nations communities which the task force of the RAIC finds to be a deeply inappropriate space for an Indigenous Centre.

"Canada's Indigenous communities have, for too long, been forced into leftover spaces that fail to connect in any meaningful way to their cultures and unique connectivity to place" says the task force, composed of about 30 mostly Indigenous architects, architectural students, interns and academics.

Dr. Patrick Stewart, the chair of the task force suggests that the federal government should provide capital dollars for the design and construction of a structure based upon Indigenous knowledge and through the use of Indigenous architects.

Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Releases a Statement Affirming its Responsibility to Combat Climate Change

2017-06-06T13:43:00-04:00

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) proclaimed yesterday its commitment to enforcing measures of sustainability within the Canadian architecture community. The statement was released in support of a letter published by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in the wake of President Donald Trump’s announcement last week that the United States plans to withdraw from the Paris Agreement initiated to curb climate change.

The RAIC’s statement reads:

“The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) affirms the continued commitment of the Canadian architecture community to designing a more sustainable world and making the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement a reality.

‘Each of us has a responsibility in our work and with our everyday choices to ensure a sustainable future,’ says RAIC President-Elect Michael Cox, FRAIC. ‘The RAIC applauds and whole-heartedly endorses the American Institute of Architects’ commitment to continue to exercise that responsibility.’

The RAIC join...

Four projects shortlisted for 2017 Moriyama RAIC Prize

2017-05-26T13:42:00-04:00

It's down to the final four for the 2017 Moriyama RAIC Prize. Established in 2014 by notable Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama along with the RAIC and the RAIC Foundation, the CAD$100,000 prize celebrates a single architectural project that is “transformative within its social context” and deemed exemplary of positively impactful and inclusive design.

“The Prize is aimed at encouraging architects to be service-oriented rather than just focusing on producing something that looks good in magazines,” says Raymond Moriyama. “It’s to serve the community and humanity.” Back in 2014, Li Xiaodong won the inaugural prize.

Here's a glimpse of the 2017 shortlist:

8 House, Copenhagen, Denmark by BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group

Photo: Jens Lindhe.

Fuji Kindergarten, Tokyo, Japan by Tezuka Architects

Photo: Katsuhisa Kida.

Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia by John Wardle Architects and NADAAA

Photo: Peter Bennetts.

The Village Architect Shobac Campus, Upper Kingsburg, Nova Scotia, Canada by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects

Photo: Matthew MacKay-Lyons.

Learn more on Bustler.

RAIC distinguishes Montreal's Bibliothèque du Boisé with 2017 Green Building Award

2017-04-11T20:20:00-04:00

Built to serve Saint-Laurent's diverse community in Montreal, the Bibliothèque du Boisé has collected another honorable accolade. Today, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada awarded the public library with its 2017 Green Building Award. The award will be presented during the RAIC/OAA Festival of Architecture in Ottawa on May 24 to 27.

After winning the City of Montreal's design competition, the Cardinal Hardy + Labonté Marcil + Eric Pelletier architecte consortium designed the 6,000 square-meter LEED-Platinum library, which was inaugurated in 2013. (Eric Pelletier architecte and Cardinal Hardy merged with Lemay in 2013 and 2014, respectively.)

Photos © Doublespace Photography

With ample natural lighting and warm touches of wood, the building comprises various cultural and community spaces: the library, administration, exhibit space, museum archives, meeting rooms, youth areas, and a cafe.

Photo © Yien Chao.

Photos © Doublespace Photography.

As for sustainability strategies, the bu...

Jeanne Gang, Brian Carter and Annette W. LeCuyer named 2017 RAIC Honorary Fellows

2017-03-10T13:03:00-05:00

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada has named Jeanne Gang and Brian Carter and Annette W. LeCuyer as recipients of its 2017 Honorary Fellowships. They will be inducted into the RAIC College of Fellows during the annual Festival of Architecture in Ottawa in late May.

“A highly distinguished practitioner, author, and teacher, Jeanne Gang has established herself at the forefront of architecture and urban design in the United States and abroad,” says Barry Johns, Chancellor of the College of Fellows. “Her numerous awards and honours illustrate the broad strength of her studio; she is clearly a leader and exemplar for the entire profession.”

“It is a pleasure to salute two candidates who are both deeply rooted in practice and who also advocate for the profession through their scholarly work and international reach,” says Johns. “Their exhibitions and publications in particular consistently explore the compelling values of what makes the best of Canadian architecture unique around t...

D'Arcy Jones Architecture named RAIC 2017 Emerging Architectural Practice winner

2017-03-07T19:16:00-05:00

Today, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada announced D'Arcy Jones Architecture (DJA), a nine-person studio from Vancouver, as the 2017 Emerging Architecture Practice Award winner. The yearly award recognizes the principals of an emerging architectural practice that has consistently produced distinguished architecture — based on criteria including quality of built work, service to clients, innovations in practice, and public recognition.

Founded by D'Arcy Jones in 2005, DJA's portfolio comprises mostly of residential projects, but also includes commercial spaces, art galleries, housing, interiors, and renovations that skillfully integrate interior and exterior spaces. So far, DJA has ongoing and completed projects in British Columbia, Ontario, Washington, California, and Switzerland.

Friesen-Wong House.

The selection jury commended DJA's thoughtful approach to the adaptive reuse of older buildings, particularly at a time when almost 1,000 demolition permits are issued in Vancou...

Jury announced for 2017 Moriyama RAIC International Prize, begins tradition of including prize's prior winner

2016-11-11T13:32:00-05:00

The Prize celebrates a single work of architecture that is judged to be transformative within its societal context and reflects Moriyama's conviction that great architecture transforms society by promoting social justice and humanistic values of respect and inclusiveness. [...] "the conversation about architecture in Canada needs to include what our peers are doing around the globe ... we wish to be there when the best architecture is discussed, wherever it might have been constructed."

The new Canadian prize, which includes CAD $100,000 and a sculpture by Canadian designer Wei Yew, will celebrate its second year in 2017. Li Xiaodong won the prize's inaugural award in 2014 for his Liyuan Library in China, and will now serve on the international jury for the 2017 prize—beginning the Prize's tradition in including the prior winner on the next iteration's jury.

As reported by Bustler, the members of the 2017 Moriyama RAIC International Prize jury are:

Monica Adair, MRAIC: Co-founder of Acre Architects and 2015 Recipient of the RAIC Young Architect Award.
Manon Asselin, MRAIC: Co-founder of Atelier TAG and Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Montreal.
Bryan Avery, MBE: Founder of Avery Associates Architects, London, England, author and lecturer.
George Baird, FRAIC: Founding Principal of Baird Sampson Neuert Architects, Former Dean of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto, and Recipient of the 20...

Allan Teramura, FRAIC, named President of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada

2016-01-15T19:31:00-05:00

Allan Teramura, FRAIC, of Ottowa is known for his advocacy work for Aboriginal communities, as well as his contribution as one of RAIC's representatives at the COP21 Conference in Paris. He has also worked to form collaborations between the RAIC and multiple Canadian and international architectural organizations.

In his inauguration speech, delivered today, Teramura stressed how architecture can be as strong of a cultural support as language. “As architects," he said, "I think we would all agree that losing traditional building crafts and knowledge of ways of organizing physical space can be as corrosive to a society as the loss of a spoken language.”

He also stressed collaborative design processes when working with Indigenous communities: “At a time when talk of reconciliation is growing, our profession is in a position to – and, therefore, is obligated to – look at ways to help address injustices, not by imposing our ideas, but by listening and promoting the professional competencie...

What does Canada's new Prime Minister mean for architecture?

2015-11-12T14:39:00-05:00

By now, everyone is aware that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau comes from a solid political lineage and is relatively young, but what are his policies on architecture? During the election, The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) polled Trudeau's Liberal Party of Canada on its stances toward a variety of issues, including greenhouse gas emission reduction from buildings, quality of public spaces, and the cessation of infrastructural services such as mail delivery. If campaign promises are kept, it looks like Canada's architectural future will be an aesthetically conscious and sustainable one:

RAIC: Do you agree design excellence must be a high priority for federally funded projects?

Liberal Party: Liberals value the liveability of our cities, and this includes contributing to the ongoing nation-building that creates treasured landmarks. We recognize that architecture has the capacity to reflect our heritage, our history, and our culture. It has to potential to speak ...

Reporting from Toronto: Li Xiaodong wins inaugural Moriyama RAIC International Prize for the Liyuan Library

2014-10-13T14:05:00-04:00

Designed to inspire Canadian architects and raise the level of ambition in Canadian architectural culture, the inaugural 2014 Moriyama RAIC International Prize of $100,000 CAD has been awarded to Liyuan Library, a dramatic and beautiful project in Jiaojiehe China. The building is a simply detailed, glazed volume screened by locally sourced wood twigs, set in a stunning rural landscape. Designed to make a big impact in its social context, the community-run facility is building its collection asking visitors to donate two books for each one they borrow. The award is for a “single, transformative work of architecture”.

The award was founded by esteemed Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama and this year´s prize was judged by jurors Brian Mackay-Lyons, Patricia Patkau, Bing Thom, Maxime Alexis-Frappier, Barry Johns and Edward Cullinan. The submission guidelines were surprisingly open: any building, anywhere, any program, any size, by architects or designers. The main stipulation was tha...

Winners of the 2014 Canadian National Urban Design Awards

2014-04-25T19:52:00-04:00

Stellar sustainable design around the world always deserves recognition. The 2014 Canadian National Urban Design Awards program — hosted by RAIC | Architecture Canada, Canadian Institute of Planners, and Canadian Society of Landscape Architects — recently announced this year's winners in acknowledgment of their contributions to the quality of life and sustainability in Canada's cities through architecture and urban design.

Below are the eight top-winning projects:

(Pictured above) URBAN ARCHITECTURE: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - Claire & Marc Bourgie Pavilion of Quebec and Canadian Art (Montreal, QC)
By Provencher Roy

COMMUNITY INITIATIVES: University of Winnipeg Students' Association bikeLAB (Winnipeg, MB)
By Peter Sampson Architecture Studio Inc.

CIVIC DESIGN PROJECTS: Westminster Pier Park (New Westminster, BC)
By PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc

STUDENT PROJECTS: Collaborative Exercise 2013: An Architecture of Civility (Toronto, ON)
By Ryerson University, Department of Architectural Science, George T. Kapelos, FRAIC, MCIP, Coordinator

URBAN FRAGMENTS: Jiigew [By the Water] (Thunder Bay, ON)
By Brook McIlroy Architects / SPMB

URBAN DESIGN PLANS: Blatchford Redevelopment Masterplan (Edmonton, AB)
By Perkins+Will Canada

SPECIAL JURY AWARD - SMALL/MEDIUM COMMUNITY URBAN DESIGN AWARD: City of Nanaimo Downtown Urban Design Manual and Guidelines (Nanaimo, BC)
By D'Ambrosio Architecture + Urban...

Raymond Moriyama and RAIC announce $100K Canadian prize for world's best building

2014-04-03T14:14:00-04:00

There's a new architecture prize in town and it's loaded. The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Foundation and distinguished Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama announced today the launch of the Moriyama RAIC International Prize, a biennial award for the best building or project in the world. Now one of the world's largest architectural prizes, it consists of CAD$100,000 and a sculpture designed by Canadian designer Wei Yew -- perhaps making it a potential rival to the prestigious Pritzker Prize.

Moriyama and RAIC established the award in effort to raise the international stature of RAIC and the work of Canadian architects. Moriyama first thought of the idea in 1976 while on a three-month walk in the footsteps of Buddha through India and Nepal.

The prize is open to any architect, firm, or collaboration in the world for an outstanding building or project. It may also be granted to a non-architect for an exceptional contribution to architecture. The winner will be selected ...