2011 Festival Success

The 2011 Festival of Architecture wrapped up on Friday, May 27 following four action-packed days of professional development, networking and celebration.

The festival, an Architectural Institute of British Columbia and Architecture Canada | Royal Architectural Institute of Canada partnership, brought together nearly 800 delegates and guests who enjoyed six streams of professional learning covering major trends affecting the profession.

Festival highlights included the opening-night keynote presentation by renowned Vancouver architect Bing Thom CM MAIBC FRAIC AIA, who captivated his audience with a behind-the-scenes glimpse of several landmark projects including the newly-completed, award-winning Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Thom’s message echoed the festival‘s “Architecture on the Edge” theme, emphasizing the many ways that B.C. architects are charting new paths and setting new standards in collaboration, sustainability, community building and design. Thom was honoured later in the week as recipient of the prestigious Architect Architecture Canada | Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal.

The festival culminated with the unveiling of this year’s AIBC Architectural Awards recipients. Nine B.C. architect-led projects were celebrated as part of the Presidents’ Dinner & Awards Gala on May 27 (click here for more information).

The next AIBC Annual Conference takes place May 9-13, 2012 in Vancouver (details to follow).

A special thanks goes out to our various festival sponsors whose support was vital to our success: