RAIC awards President’s Medal to SAPL professor’s book

This past Spring, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) announced the winners of their 2021 Awards of Excellence. SAPL professor Dr. Graham Livesey and industry colleague Elsa Lam (editor of Canadian Architecture) were named recipients of the President’s Medal for Multimedia for their book: Canadian Modern Architecture: 1967 to the Present. The award recognizes a narrative about buildings and cities that serves to promote public understanding of architecture and the role of architects.

Livesey and Lam created the anthology to document and facilitate discourse about modern and contemporary Canadian architecture. The 50-year retrospective features essays from prominent practitioners, analyzing the Canadian interpretation of major international design trends and architects’ influence within Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

“Elsa Lam and I are very honoured to have received the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada President’s Medal for the book,” Livesey shares. “Working on the book over several years, with many collaborators, was a humbling experience. It was also a tremendous learning experience as we delved into the last fifty years of Canadian architecture. We are very pleased that the book is finding an audience and being recognized as a contribution to the field. We would like to thank the publishers and funders for their support in making the project happen.”

Co-published by Princeton Architectural Press and Canadian Architect magazine, it is the first such volume to appear in over 25 years. As one of the award’s jury members noted: “It is a timely piece that may take decades to replicate and or replace…This assembly of expertise and regional knowledge allows the book to provide a depth of insight that no one individual could offer.”