Architects gather in Edmonton, Alberta May 4 - 7, 2005

Ottawa Nov. 30, 2004 – Planning is well underway to showcase Edmonton May 4-7, 2005 for the RAIC Festival of Architecture, which will focus on the theme: Architecture, Art and Urban Design - Celebrating the City. The city’s vibrant downtown architecture will be host to the event: The Winspear Centre, City Hall, The Citadel Theatre, and The Shaw Conference Centre Will provide venues for lectures, exhibitions and special events.

The Festival includes one day of continuing professional development courses, a trade show, a number of exhibitions of architectural work, art work and a number of social and architectural tours of Edmonton’s attractions.

The Festival is an annual event that takes place in a different Canadian city each year offering delegates a chance to exchange ideas and attend credited professional development courses, and listen to some of the professions’ most forward thinkers.

“The RAIC Festival of Architecture is a celebration of Canadian Architecture and a time when the profession can get together and reflect on architectural practice and urbanism, as well as interact with clients and the public,” said Christopher T. Fillingham, FRAIC, RAIC President.

To date the following notable speakers are schedule to lead discussions.

Jeremy Harris, Mayor of Honolulu for more than 10 years, was the city’s Managing Director before entering politics. Recently awarded honorary membership in the American Institute of Architects, he is known not only for his big-picture thinking and long-range planning for Honolulu but also for commissioning some of the fine architecture that makes Honolulu so liveable.

Kenneth Frampton trained at the Architectural Association (AA) in London, England and moved to the United States in the 1960s. He is a prolific writer, architectural critic and theoretician, now based in New York City. He has to his credit, numerous critical and poetic books on modern and contemporary architecture and Architects and has written extensively on nineteenth and twentieth century Architectural history.

Rob Wellington Quigley, an architect based in San Diego, California well-known for contemporary solutions for social housing. His 202 Island Inn, a single room occupancy hotel, was selected by Time as one of the "Ten Best Designs of 1992" and received a national AIA Honor Award. In recent years, he has completed a number of public buildings, social housing and community mixed use projects.

Ed Mazria is founder and principal of the firm Mazria Odems Dzurec, a small design studio based in Santa Fe, New Mexico where innovation, experimentation and research is encouraged. He has completed a diverse number of award-winning architecture and planning projects from the Mt. Airy Public Library in North Carolina, to the Geneoeva Chavez Community Center, a 170,000 square foot sports complex in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is known for his focus on sustainable design and focus on the importance of architecture to the health of the planet.

For more details, www.raicfestival2005.ca.

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada is a voluntary national association established in 1907 as the voice for architecture and its practice in Canada. Representing more than 3,200 architects, the RAIC provides the national framework for the development and recognition of architectural excellence.

For more information, contact:

Sylvie Powell, Communications
MédiaLane Communications Inc.
(613) 290-1497
spowell@medialanecom.com