The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Announces Recipients of 2018 Honorary Fellowships

Serpentine Pavilion. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has selected four architects from around the globe to receive 2018 Honorary Fellowships. This year’s Honorary Fellows inductees demonstrate the diverse ways in which architects contribute exemplary designs to the profession that have a positive impact on society.

The architects receiving the honor are French architect Odile Decq, Burkina Faso native, Diébédo Francis Kéré, and American architects William J. Stanley III and John Sorrenti.

More about the Honorary Fellows after the break.

Odile Decq

Odile Decq is an award-winning French architect and founder of the Paris-based firm, Studio Odile Decq. Some of her notable projects include the Cargo office building in Paris and the Banque Populaire de l’Quest in Rennes. In 1996, she received the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennial. Decq is an advocate for women in architecture and was awarded the Architectural Review Jane Drew Prize as “a creative powerhouse, spirited breaker of rules and advocate of equality.” In 2014, she established the Confluence Institute for Innovation and Creative Strategies in Architecture.

Saint Ange Residency. Image © Roland Halbe

Diébédo FrancisKéré

Diébédo Francis Kéré was born in Burkina Faso and studied at the Technical University of Berlin, where he later founded Kéré Architecture. He is perhaps best known for his firm’s innovative construction strategies that combine traditional building techniques and materials with modern engineering methods. The practice has received numerous awards, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004, for his first building, a primary school in his home village of Gando, and the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2009. While continuing to invest in his home country, Kéré has also undertaken projects in Mali, Germany, and Switzerland. More recently, he was the architect of the 2017 Serpentine Pavilion in London.

William J. Stanley III

William J. Stanley III is the co-founder and principal for design at Stanley, Love-Stanley, P.C. located in Atlanta, GA. In 1972, he became the first African-American graduate of the College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology (1972), and subsequently, became the Souths youngest African American ever to receive his registration as an architect. He served as a president of AIA Georgia, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) and 100 Black Men of Atlanta. Stanley was the 1995 recipient of the AIA’s Whitney M. Young, Jr. Citation, which goes to an architect working to pursue social justice.

John Sorrenti

John R. Sorrenti is founder and president of JRS Architect, P.C., an architectural, interior design, and preservation firm in New York City. Over the past 21 years, the firm has received numerous design awards. Sorrenti served the 2016 Chancellor of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows. He has served on dozens of committees both for the AIA and the National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB). He also filled roles in the AIA at state levels, including the position of president of the New York State AIA and the founding of the 13th AIA chapter in New York State, the Peconic chapter. He also chaired the AIA/College of Fellows Regional Representative Program for six years.

Diarmuid Nash, FRAIC, Chancellor of the RAIC College of Fellows, said of the recipients, “We are thrilled that these exceptional professionals have accepted to become members of the RAIC. Odile Decq is one of the most successful women in architecture and serves as a role model to many. Diébédo Francis Kéré creates inspiring architecture that uplifts communities and helps an exchange of ideas between Africa and Europe. In addition to running a thriving practice, John Sorrenti has devoted countless hours to professional associations, while William Stanley has broken new ground for African American architects in the American South.”

The Honorary fellowship will recognize the extraordinary achievement of Decq, Kéré, Stanley, and Sorrenti during the RAIC Festival of Architecture in Saint John, NB, May 30 – June 2. Kéré will speak at the keynote address at the College of Fellows Convocation, and Decq will be the keynote speaker at the RAIC Foundation Luncheon.

Read more about the Fellowship Winners, here.

News via: the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada.