FEBRUARY 2014
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and participatory community
design can have a transforma-
tive effect on people’s lives.
To celebrate and support ex-
cellence, the RAIC adminis-
ters a variety of honors, schol-
arships, bursaries and awards.
Each year, the organization
bestows dozens of awards,
including the Governor Gen-
eral’s Medals in Architecture,
the RAIC Awards of Excel-
lence and the RAIC Gold
Medal.
While most awards go to Ca-
nadian architects, the RAIC
also reaches out to interna-
tional figures. The Aga Khan,
leader of the world’s Ismaili
Muslims, received the Gold
Medal last November at a cer-
emony in Ottawa. The award
recognized his extraordinary
use of architecture for social
and economic development
around the world. In his re-
marks, the Aga Khan said that
of all the factors that affect
quality of life “not many have
more impact than architecture
and the buildings in which we
spend, at all ages, so many
days and nights of our lives.”
The Moriyama RAIC Inter-
national Prize is a new award
that promises to receive wide
attention. A major cash prize
will be awarded every two
years in two categories. The
first to a Canadian or inter-
national architect for an out-
standing built project, and the
second will be presented to a
non-architect for outstanding
contribution to architecture. It
is named after its benefactor,
Toronto architect Raymond
Moriyama, whose major proj-
ects include the Ontario Sci-
ence Centre in Toronto, the
Saudi Arabian National Mu-
seum in Riyadh, and the Ca-
nadian Embassy in Tokyo.
Continuing education is man-
datory for licensed architects.
Therefore, the RAIC plays a
major role in providing cours-
es at its annual conference,
online and through interna-
tional learning opportunities.
This year’s conference, the
Festival of Architecture, takes
place May 28 - 31 in Winni-
peg, in partnership with the
Manitoba Association of Ar-
chitects. Highlights will in-
clude presentations by two
internationally renowned ar-
chitects whose bold buildings
are changing skylines in Cana-
da. Antoine Predock, based in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, is
