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Lola Sheppard Wins Architecture Canada | RAIC 2012 Young Architect Award

Published: 20 April 2012

Architecture Canada is pleased to announce that it has selected Lola Sheppard, OAQ, MRAIC as the recipient of its 2012 Young Architect Award.

Ms. Sheppard received her Bachelor of Architecture from McGill University and her Master of Architecture degree from the Harvard University, Graduate School of Design. She practiced in Europe for six years, most notably at Jean Nouvel in Paris, and in 2003 became the founding partner of Lateral Office, a Toronto design firm that operates at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and landscape, and is deeply committed to design of the public realm.

Her interest lies with the relationship between architecture and nature, and architecture’s capacity to sustain local ecosystems and cultures in extreme environments such as the Canadian north. A champion of innovation, she is one of the founding directors of InfraNet Lab, a design research laboratory dedicated to examining the role infrastructures and networks play in our built environment. She inspires a new generation of architects in her role as Associate Professor at University of Waterloo’s the School of Architecture and as a visiting critic at schools across Canada and the U.S.

In choosing Lola Sheppard, the Jury said she is “a talented architect, design leader, and influential educator whose work is contributing to larger societal concerns, going well beyond the bounds of traditional architectural practice.” Her work “is refreshingly curious and exploratory, and her firm’s work on cold climate design and food networks is important and ground-breaking. Ms. Sheppard creates a sense of great expectations of her future work.”

Ms. Sheppard will receive her award during the Presidents' Dinner & Awards Gala, Friday, June 15 at 6:30 p.m. during the 2012 Architecture Canada | RAIC – NLAA Festival of Architecture taking place June 13-16, 2012 at the Delta St. John’s Hotel and Conference Centre.

Details and downloadable images are available at: Young Architect Award.

Architecture Canada’s Young Architect Award recognizes the achievements of a young architect in excellence in design, leadership and/or service to the profession. It is intended that this award will inspire other young architects to become licensed and to strive for excellence in their work.

Architecture Canada | RAIC is a voluntary national association established in 1907 as the voice for architecture and its practice in Canada. Representing more than 4,600 members, the RAIC is the leading voice of architecture in Canada whose mission is: to affirm that architecture matters; to celebrate the richness and diversity of architecture in Canada; and to support architects in achieving excellence.

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