The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) is pleased to announce Jerome Markson as the recipient of the 2022 RAIC Gold Medal.

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Gold Medal is the highest honour that the Institute can bestow in recognition of a significant and lasting contribution to Canadian architecture. The honour recognizes a significant body of work deemed to have lasting influence as demonstrated through excellence in design; excellence in research; and/or excellence in education. It considers the individual’s breadth and scope of expertise; established presence within the public sphere; exemplary approaches to environmental sustainability; support and advancement of social justice; and commitment to the future generation of architects. 

“Jerome Markson exemplifies all qualities that are deserving of the RAIC Gold Medal. His nearly six-decade-long architectural practice will be recognized as an outstanding contribution to Canadian architecture with an everlasting influence, demonstrated through his work that is carefully woven into the culture, places and time it is set.”  – John Brown, President RAIC

Jerome Markson’s built and projected works are both skillful and expansive in scope, spanning the gamut of building types and programs that are possible within architectural practice. Imbued with a masterful level of architectural craft and character, his works reflect his decades-long pursuit of a more open and inclusive expression of modernity. The longevity of Markson’s practice itself is a testament not only to his extraordinary commitment, dedication and achievements in architecture over many years, it also speaks to the continued relevance of his work to quite diverse audiences during times of great change, and over time.

He opened his practice, Jerome Markson Architect, in a post-war era of profound social, economic, and physical transformation in Canada, in 1955. Urban planner Macklin Hancock succinctly described the ambition of that time: “Canada suddenly flowered, it wanted to be modern, it didn’t want to be ancient….” Markson’s architecture stands as among the most important, and distinguished, records of this critical time period in the country’s becoming. His buildings are harbingers of important shifts in sociopolitical attitudes, urban policies, and modes of architectural production as these evolved during second half of the twentieth century, and into the twenty-first, in Canada and North America.

Markson’s architectural and urban works have won numerous design awards over the course of his career. His important contributions to the field of architecture, architectural education, and the arts have likewise been recognized in prestigious career awards: he is a Fellow of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada; and a recipient of the Toronto Society of Architects DaVinci Award, the University of Toronto Arbor Award, and the Ontario Association of Architects Lifetime Design Achievement Award. His work has been extensively published and reviewed in national and international journals, magazines, and newspapers. He has served on prestigious juries and awards committees, and he has led professional organizations such as the Toronto Society of Architects.

Jerome Markson has always preferred to direct his attention and energies to the work at hand – the next design challenge. In his approach to architectural design and urbanism, which subtly combines technical skill, material craft, spatial experimentation, and city building, Markson is the epitome of an ‘architect’s architect;’ yet his contribution and distinction also lies in how he brought these formidable talents to bear for a much larger, more diverse range of people and places. 

Read more about Jerome Markson’s life and accomplishments here.

The 2022 Gold Medal jury members:
Susan Ruptash, FRAIC, Architect, OAA, Principal Emerita, Jury Chair 
Anne Bordeleau, PhD, OAQ, MRAIC
Anya Moryoussef, BES, March, OAA, MRAIC
Brigitte Shim, FRAIC
Carol Belanger, M.Arch, Architect, AAA, FRAIC, LEED AP
Jack Kobayashi, Architect AIBC MWNTAA
David Covo, OAQ FRAIC, Professional Advisor

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