Ewa Bieniecka, FRAIC. Photo: Couvrette/Ottawa
Ewa Bieniecka, FRAIC, a Montreal architect specializing in conservation and restoration of heritage buildings, was inducted as the 78th President of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) at a formal ceremony on Monday.
About 90 guests attended the investiture ceremony at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. The keynote speaker was Marie-Josée Lacroix, head of the Design Montreal Bureau, a City of Montreal agency that works to improve design in the city and enhance Montreal?s status as a UNESCO City of Design.
Guests included RAIC members, the RAIC board of directors, representatives from government, universities, organizations with interest in the built environment, and allied professionals. ?It is time to reflect on how ideas about the built environment become widely accepted and ingrained in our culture,? Ms. Bieniecka said in her investiture speech. 
She observed that Expo ?67, the world?s fair held in Montreal in 1967 and famous for its architecture ?  left a lasting impression on her and is regarded as a major national achievement. ?Expo 67 brought architecture, art, design and technology together,? said Ms. Bieniecka. ?It was an event that left behind a significant material and imaginative legacy to Canada?s culture.? 
Fifty years later, ?as architects, we must continue to investigate the relationship between architecture and the culture that shapes and is shaped by it,? she said. ?We will work togeth...