The Architectural Institute of British Columbia has transitioned its achievement awards to the Architectural Foundation of BC (AFBC). Since 2021, the rebranded AFBC has undertaken the program which includes the Lieutenant Governor (LG) Awards—an institution that the AIBC had run for several decades. Kudos must go to the AFBC board for their ongoing efforts to which we can now add the AFBC Architectural Achievement Awards, having had its inaugural launch on November 21st in the Vancouver Railtown District.
Sitting next to Vancouver’s bustling port, the venue was generously provided for by Nancy and Niels Bendsten at Inform, offering a peek at their recently renovated Informs Project showroom next to the American Can Company building. Located on the sixth floor and facing the port and waterfront, the reno was itself the recipient of a Lieutenant Governor Award in 2023 for OMB Architects. With several prominent members of Vancouver’s architectural community receiving awards, the turnout was a packed house despite the evening’s inclement weather.
With AIBC board members Michelle Fenton and Kim Barnsley as emcees for the evening, AFBC Chair Karl Gustavson said a few opening words about the Foundation, after which the evening’s program began with a land acknowledgment and Coast Salish performance by Coastal Wolf Pack. Six awards were then given out in total, two of which were for recipients unable to receive them in 2020 due to COVID restrictions:
- Abdel Munem Amin – Barbara Dalrymple Memorial Award (not in attendance)
- Nick Milkovich – Lifetime Achievement (attended)
- Nancy Mackin – Community Stewardship (attended)
- Darryl Condon – Barbara Dalrymple Memorial Award for Community Service (attended)
- Peter Cardew – Lifetime Achievement (awarded posthumously)
- William R. Rhone – Lifetime Achievement (attended)
The evening provided those representatives present from Vancouver’s architecture and design firms the opportunity to honour these six individuals and allow their friends and family to see the impact their careers have had on our Little Village by the Sea. It was a privilege to be sitting next to both Bill Rhone and Nick Milkovich, two individuals whose careers have touched any architect who has lived and worked in BC. It was also a delight to see the projects Nancy Mackin had brought to share, along with the impact that her stewardship has had on the communities she’s worked with.
As Treasurer of the AIBC Council (now Board) in 2018, I was fortunate to have served alongside one of the evening’s recipients, Darryl Condon, who for many years led the Institute, and continues to lead along with the other principals at hcma. We chatted afterward that his award was not a lifetime achievement award because he is very much still in mid-stride.
On a more serious note, the evening’s most somber moment came in the posthumous award to the late Peter Cardew, who we sadly lost during COVID-19. Along with the projects of Milkovich and Rhone, these three constitute a lion’s share of architectural achievement in Metro Vancouver. Nick Milkovich was honoured for his own firm’s work along with his lifelong collaboration with Arthur Erickson, while Bill Rhone was awarded for his firm Rhone & Iredale—where Peter Cardew also worked—and itself a titan firm in its day.
It was overall a generous evening hosted by the AFBC, and we can look forward to other future achievement awards in between the bi-annual Lieutenant Governor awards. As Karl Gustavson noted in his opening comments, both architects and architecture need a voice in Metro Vancouver and the province. With the rebranding of the AFBC in 2021, very much in anticipation of the Professional Governance Act replacing the BC Architect’s Act, the Foundation currently has the opportunity to be that voice. To provide not just awards programs but scholarships, walking tours, and perhaps—as Karl hinted—even a return of Architecture in Schools.
One may ask where is Vancouver’s architecture centre? Recently visiting Montreal, it occurred to me they have called the CCA the Canadian Centre for Architecture so there is no mistaking it there. And in Toronto, for many years the Design Exchange was run by the Toronto Society of Architects and the de facto centre of architecture in TO (sadly shuttered in 2019). So, where is Vancouver’s? For some time there was the AIBC Architecture Centre, but with it closing its doors in 2020 perhaps the AFBC can look to locate somewhere in 2025.
Our country is vast, and our provincial architectural associations can only do so much given their regulatory mandate. And national organizations like the RAIC and CACB cannot possibly provide for everyone given limited staff and resources to support local advocacy for each metropolitan area. It is up to each of us, with boots on the ground in our local architectural communities, to advocate whether to write a piece like this one or attend an event like the Achievement Awards. Local architects and designers can each do their part by being present for our profession. Those who came out this past rainy November night to 411 Railway Street did just that, and congratulations again to all the evening’s award recipients!
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For more information on the event go to Architectural Awards of Excellence — AFBC, and view the evening’s photo gallery here.
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Sean Ruthen is a Metro Vancouver-based architect.
