Biography

Brigitte Shim is a principal of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, a design studio whose built work demonstrates a deep concern for the cultural and spiritual significance of architecture, landscape, and design. The architectural projects authored by Shim-Sutcliffe have been honoured with sixteen Governor General’s Medals and Awards from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), an American Institute of Architects (AIA) National Honor Award and many other professional accolades. In 2013, Shim and her partner A. Howard Sutcliffe were both awarded the Order of Canada and, in 2021, the RAIC Gold Medal from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Professor Shim is a faculty member at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto. She was the 2022 Norman Foster Visiting Professor at Yale University’s School of Architecture and has been a visiting chair and lecturer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), and The Cooper Union’s Chanin School of Architecture, The University of Auckland, and others. She has served on numerous international, national and local design juries as an unwavering advocate for design excellence.

Project Summary

Brigitte Shim plans to investigate the role of light and water as primary elements that have shaped the Italian garden. She will visit selected gardens at various times of the day and night to better understanding the interwoven impact of light and water and their roles in creating distinct atmospheres.