Architect Raymond Moriyama, founder of Toronto-based Moriyama and Teshima Architects, has collaborated with the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) to launch an international CAD $100,000 prize open to architects with “outstanding” work or non-architects who have had an “exceptional contribution to architecture.”
With an aim to raise the stature of the RAIC and “inspire all Canadians and Canadian architects to aspire higher,” as Moriyama stated, the biennial Moriyama RAIC International Prize has the potential to rival the Pritzker as one of the world’s largest, and expectantly most “prestigious” cash prizes in architecture.
However, based on the ideals of “Moriyama’s passion for humanistic architecture that transforms society through an emphasis on values such as social justice, equality and inclusivity,” the Prize is expected to set itself apart from Pritzker's focus on lifetime achievement.
A jury will invite three finalists to attend the Prize’s inaugural Gala this October at the then, newly completed Aga Khan Museum designed by Fumihiko Maki in Toronto, where one winner will be announced. Three individual cash scholarships of CAD $5,000, one in each of the finalists’ names, will also be awarded to three deserving students in Canadian Schools of Architecture.
Details about the Prize can be found here.
