On Receiving the RAIC Gold Medal 2021 Brigitte Shim and A. Howard Sutcliffe

On Receiving the RAIC Gold Medal 2021

We are truly delighted to receive the Gold Medal from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. To be honoured by our respected peers is the highest form of professional acknowledgement. Each of the previous recipients of this award has made an indelible contribution to culture in Canada, and we are proud to stand amongst them.

Architecture is a complex discipline, demanding the collective effort and commitment of many. We are grateful and fortunate to have collaborated with many exceptional clients, remarkable builders, skilled fabricators, and the stellar architects and graduates who have worked with us in our studio over the last three decades. To date, our studio has completed some 50 buildings and landscapes, including sacred spaces, public parks, institutional buildings and private residences. Our clients have demonstrated a deep commitment to realizing projects that harmoniously integrate architecture with landscape. Our clients all believe that design matters, and that it truly enriches daily lives. Each project we design is considered in relation to site. We examine its potential to integrate light, water, climate and landscape in order to create a meaningful place. We regard our studio practice as one continuous exploration of materiality and craft, woven through many projects.

Our work is an ongoing laboratory for living. We are always experimenting with new ideas and pushing limits to discover new ways of inhabiting space. In parallel with buildings, we have also realized over 50 objects, including furniture, lighting, door handles, boat cleats and pedestrian bridges. Through their eloquent and rigorous assembly, we enable inert materials—wood, brick, steel, concrete—to speak.

For this special issue of Canadian Architect, we felt it was appropriate to present fifteen projects premiated by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and Canada Council for the Arts’ Governor General’s Medals programme. These awards are perhaps the most prestigious project awards administered by the RAIC, and undoubtedly the most significant national architectural project awards in Canada. We appreciate the time and energy spent by every jury reviewing, considering and debating built work created by practitioners from across this country, and ultimately recognizing exemplary projects. We believe that the Governor General’s Awards describe a rich history of built work and contribute positively to Canadians’ awareness and understanding of the importance of architecture as a vital cultural force, helping us build a better society. Our projects that have been honoured with Governor General’s Medals are varied in scale and budget, reflecting our interest in a large range of project types and our experiments with construction.

Winning the 2021 RAIC Gold Medal has been incredibly gratifying and important to us. It both acknowledges our efforts, and also supports critical conversations about how our work will continue to shape—and be shaped by—a national conversation and drive for architectural excellence.

–Brigitte Shim and A. Howard Sutcliffe