The RAIC is honoured to award the 2021 Gold Medal?the highest distinction the Institute can bestow in recognition of a significant and lasting contribution to Canadian architecture to exemplary architectural duo Brigitte Shim and A. Howard Sutcliffe.
Architects Brigitte Shim and A. Howard Sutcliffe are the founding partners of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects. Their work expresses a deep concern for the cultural and spiritual significance of architecture, landscape, and design. To date, their built projects have been recognized with fifteen Governor General?s Medals for Architecture and an American Institute of Architects National Honor Award, along with many other professional accolades.
?Over the past quarter of a century, these architects have made an absolutely fundamental contribution to Canadian architectural culture, and the fifteen Governor General?s Medals for excellence that they have received over the past 25 years surely testifies to the consistent caliber of their practice,? writes historian Kenneth Frampton. ?In my view, Shim-Sutcliffe are among the top 20 architects practicing in the world today.? Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Brigitte Shim emigrated to Canada in 1965. She met Sutcliffe at the University of Waterloo, where both graduated with degrees in environmental studies in 1981 and architecture in 1983. In 1981, Shim also began apprenticing with architect Arthur Erickson in Vancouver. Upon graduating, she worked with Baird/Sampson Architects in Toronto (1983-87) a...