Tyler Sharp receives 2014 Young Architect Award from RAIC

CanadianArchitect.com
March 25, 2014

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has announced Tyler Sharp of Toronto as the recipient of its 2014 Young Architect Award. Sharp, 40, graduated from the Dalhousie School of Architecture in Halifax in 2002. While at Dalhousie, he completed a work term with Vancouver-based BattersbyHowat where he contributed to series of custom houses, including the award-winning Staehling Residence.

After graduation, Sharp joined the Toronto firm of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects where he was involved in the multi-award-winning Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Arts in Toronto. He also played key roles in the design of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Headquarters in Toronto, the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa and the Vaughan Civic Centre in Vaughan, a recipient of a Governor General’s Award.

In choosing Sharp, the jury noted that he has shown design leadership and excellence. “His work is recognized for its detail and controlled built resolutions,” the jury said. “His success demonstrates that individual creativity and talent can be exercised within a larger firm context as an option to developing a career as an individual practitioner.”

Sharp joined RDH Architects in Toronto in 2005, where his first project was the Bloor Gladstone Library in Toronto, which has received seven major design awards. Sharp led the designs for the Hamilton Central Library and Farmers’ Market, the Waterdown Library and Civic Centre, the First Leaside Financial Headquarters, and the Guelph Civic Centre Skating Pavilion.

At RDH, Sharp helped to transform the firm through a redesign of the office website, business cards, letterhead and major renovations to the office. Further to this, he has encouraged the development of a studio environment, an office design library, a consistent design vocabulary for projects, and has helped to bring a new generation of young architects to the firm. Sharp is now a design partner at RDH. His leadership shows “an individual architect can be an important component to the growth and reinvention of a traditional existing practice,” said the jury.

Recent work has included the critically acclaimed transformations of the Lakeview, Port Credit and Lorne Park Branch libraries for the Mississauga Library System.

“The last decade has proven to be a very exciting, productive and transformative period for myself and the firm, and it is extremely rewarding to be recognized for these efforts with such a distinguished honour,” said Sharp.

This award is to recognize an architect 40 years or younger for excellence in design, leadership and/or service to the profession. This award is intended to inspire other young architects to become licenced and to strive for excellence in their work.

Sharp will receive his award at the 2014 Festival of Architecture taking place in Winnipeg from May 28 to May 31, 2014.