The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has announced the 2019 Honorary Fellows, exemplifying the role that architects play in public life around the world and the evolving diversity of the profession.

Five architects, including Renzo Piano, Denise Scott Brown, Ivenue Love-Stanley, Elizabeth Chu Richter and Vishaan Chakrabarti, have been named as Honorary Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).

"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.

Renzo Piano is currently working on the new Toronto Courthouse in collaboration with NORR Architects & Engineers. Image courtesy of RPBW

"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," said Renzo Piano.

"Thank you, RAIC. I am happy indeed to receive your Honorary Fellowship, and to ponder on the thought of fellowship amongst us.  If I walk in a foreign country and see a doorbell marked 'Architect,' I know when I ring that I will receive a warm welcome. Just as, when I talked in Washington to the diversity committee of the AIA and told those young architects how Bob [Robert Venturi] and I realized that the marginality we felt lay at the very root of our creativity – the sigh of recognition that I heard from the audience I will never forget, added Denise Scott Brown, Hon. FAIA.

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada is the leading voice for excellence in the built environment in Canada. Representing about 5,000 members, the RAIC advocates for excellence, works to demonstrate how design enhances the quality of life, and promotes responsible architecture in addressing important issues of society.

Top image (from left to right): Denis Scott Brown (image Frank Hanswijk. Courtesy of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates), Vishaan Chakrabarti, FAIA (image © Aaron Richter), Ivenue Love-Stanley, FAIA (courtesy of RAIC), Renzo Piano (image © RPBW, ph. Stefano Goldberg), Elizabeth Chu Richter, FAIA (image © Raymond Gray).

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