Five architects, including the IAA academician Renzo Piano, have been named as Honorary Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) on 26 March, 2019 in Ottawa. The 2019 Honorary Fellows exemplify the role that architects play in public life around the world and the evolving diversity of the profession.
“This year’s Honorary Fellows have been rightfully recognized as leaders and creative thinkers,” said Diarmuid Nash, FRAIC, Chancellor of the RAIC College of Fellows. “We are honoured to have iconic figures such as Denise Scott Brown and Renzo Piano become members of the RAIC, and at the same time to welcome leaders and role models such as Love-Stanley and Richter, and a provocative thinker like Chakrabarti who is challenging our ideas about cities and urban life.”
Honorary fellowship recognizes extraordinary achievement. Piano, Love-Stanley, Richter, and Chakrabarti will be inducted into the RAIC College of Fellows at a ceremony during the RAIC 2019 Festival of Architecture, taking place in Toronto from October 26 to 30. Piano will deliver the keynote address at the College of Fellows Convocation, and Chakrabarti will be a plenary speaker on the future of architecture. Scott Brown will be honoured at a later date.
Here is what Renzo Piano says about the great recognition:
“It is a great honor to be appointed as Honorary Fellow of the RAIC. It comes at the perfect time, since I have just been given the opportunity to work on the Toronto Courthouse, which will be my first project in Canada. I am particularly happy to work in this city, which is proud to be an open city, welcoming people that come from all around the world. It actually reminds me of construction sites, where people from all over the world work together: making public buildings is always a great gesture of peace.”