President's Message

2012 will be a watershed year for the profession – a year in which we will see more evidence of how Architecture matters not just in each and every heart of the architect and to society – but as it resonates around the world. For myself, 2012 marks the 40th year of my involvement with the Practice of Architecture and underscores my belief that while ‘Architecture Matters’, so do ‘Architects Matter’.

Forty years ago, fresh out of University, I entered the profession as an apprentice to a licensed Canadian Architect, Michael Kopsa, who was born and educated in post war Yugoslavia. In the following nine years of employment, he showed me how a skilled Architect obtained work, created beautiful and meaningful designs, dealt with clients, dealt with general contractors and operated a sole proprietorship. While Michael was famous for not being a great businessman - as that was outside the realm of what he considered important - it demonstrated to me that the practice of Architecture requires collaboration with others to create a practice that addresses both the art and the business of Architecture.

Michael passed away in late 2011, and his passing reminds me of the need to ensure both that Architects from around the globe and those entering the Profession from our schools are welcomed and empowered to join our ranks as practicing Architects. So it is with that spirit that I focus on two important Architecture Canada | RAIC initiatives- the Broadly Experienced Foreign Architects Program and the new RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca- The Syllabus Program.

Our colleagues, the provincial and territorial regulators, expect to complete and launch operationally an innovative new program for assessing the competencies of Broadly Experienced Foreign Architects. The program - now in the pilot stage - will enable BEFA candidates to use a sophisticated on-line self-assessment tool to evaluate their competencies vis-à-vis Canadian standards of practice before even coming to Canada. By administering the funding provided by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Architecture Canada | RAIC has been pleased to support this progressive and forward-looking project—which will help ensure renewal of the profession in the years ahead while upholding Canadian professional standards. The confidence the Government has shown in RAIC’s ability as a national voice for Canadian architects is greatly appreciated.

We expect 2012 to be a decisive year in the Syllabus Renewal process and RAIC’s partnership with Athabasca University in offering Syllabus through the RAIC Centre for Architecture. Late in 2010, the Government of Alberta approved the Post Baccalaureate Diploma for Architecture, and in 2011 the program’s professional practice courses opened for registration. This year several technical courses will be completed and will also open for registration. Meanwhile we will complete the process of updating the new studio design modules, in which RAIC will continue to be directly involved in delivering, along with the in-office work experience component that is central to the Syllabus’s identity as an experience-based work-study path to certification and licensure to practice architecture.

This year RAIC will launch its first efforts geared towards exploiting the potential of on-line learning to provide members with greater flexibility and reach in terms of accessing continuing education. This spring will see the first module in a multi-part continuing education series on the use of pre-cast concrete, introduced as part of a partnership with the Canadian Precast Concrete Institute.

In the fall, we will deliver a course in Core Sunlighting in association with the British Columbia Institute of Technology. After an initial traditional classroom-style delivery in Vancouver, this course will be offered nationwide in an on-line format.

Both courses will offer RAIC members much greater flexibility in when they choose to take courses, and significantly extend the lifecycle of the courses—an important consideration for RAIC given the resources required to develop these.

We will of course continue to offer RAIC members unique international continuing education opportunities through the sustainable design tour of Copenhagen and the Veronafiere/Marmomacc scholarships.

As we have done for the past several years, members will be chosen by the Board through applications to attend Veronafiere / Marmomacc Sept. 26-29, 2012 and immerse themselves in stone design. By all reports each year has been a unique and enriching opportunity for the recipients.

Early in January, RAIC announced it was teaming up with Interior Designers of Canada (IDC) to jointly present IIDEX NeoCon in Toronto. IIDEX NeoCon is the pre-eminent design showcase in Canada, and already features a section devoted to products and services of interest to the architectural community. By getting directly involved with the show—in the selection of keynotes, organization of continuing education sessions—we intend to build the architectural dimension of the show, and raise awareness of the key role architects play in the design and development of liveable cities and communities.

We view IIDEX NeoCon as a complement to our annual Festival, which will continue to be presented across the country in partnership with provincial and territorial regulatory bodies. We are looking forward to this year’s Deep Roots in a New Energy City, which will take place June 12-16 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, organized in partnership with the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Architects. And we already have the planning underway to present the 2013 edition in Halifax, followed by Winnipeg in 2014.

To put the profession on an international footing, once again the RAIC Foundation is engaged in fundraising to ensure a strong Canadian presence at the Venice Biennale for Architecture. The Canadian representative at the 2012 Venice Biennale—Migrating Landscapes—is an exciting project that celebrates the next generation of emerging Canadian architects, while exploring themes of culture, identity and memory that touch on the diverse roots that inform Canada’s design culture.

Michael would have been pleased to see an exhibition that taps the knowledge of Canada’s newest Canadians as they bring their broad experience to our country. It completes the circle, and once more emphasizes that Architecture matters … just as surely as Architects matter.




David Craddock, FRAIC
President