The RAIC Research & Innovation in Architecture Award recognizes an architect, architectural practice and/or academic researcher who has demonstrated excellence in research and/or innovation in architectural practice, technology, or pedagogy. It celebrates initiatives that advance professional practice and/or disciplinary knowledge, and considers exemplary approaches to sustainability, as well as the support and advancement of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Innovations may encompass a range of endeavours, including, but not limited to: building details and technologies, spatial strategies, ways of structuring practices, or design or construction processes that make significant improvements to the practice of architecture in Canada and/or more broadly. The submissions may range from a whole building, to a detail, to a description of a business-related initiative.
Research within the profession or the academic environment may encompass submissions including, but not limited to: academic papers or reports documenting significant research, course syllabi and portfolios of student work showing influential contributions to teaching, or new academic programs and training that enhance learning in the profession of architecture.
All RAIC members are eligible to submit for this award.
The award is offered annually.
The next call for submissions will take place from October 11, 2023 to January 11, 2024.
Call for Submissions - OPEN
2023 Recipient - Limberlost Place - Innovation Through Mass Timber Construction and Prefabricated Envelope System
Terms of Reference - Updated May 2023
2024 Annual Awards Jury
Renée Daoust, OAA, OAQ, FIRAC
D’Arcy Jones, DJA, AIBC, SAA, MAA, MRAIC 
D’Arcy Jones leads a Vancouver studio practice recognized for design excellence. D’Arcy Jones Architects (DJA) was established in 2000. DJA are known for their clarity, construction detailing, and experimentation with architecture’s artful aspects. The studio’s ideas and responses to contemporary conditions have earned them numerous publications and awards, nationally and internationally.
D’Arcy has been a juror for various awards programs, including the AIBC Lieutenant Governor Awards, Prairie Design Awards, and Calgary Mayor’s Urban Design Awards. Practice honours include an AIBC Emerging Firm Award, a RAIC Emerging Architectural Practice Award, and the Ronald J. Thom Award for Early Design Achievement from Canada Council for the Arts. Project honours include an AFBC Design Excellence Award, AIBC Lieutenant Governor Award of Excellence Medals, Canadian Architect Awards, and a Vancouver Urban Design Award.
Dalhousie Architectural Press recently published D’Arcy Jones Architects: 2009-2020, a new monograph about the studio’s work and design process.
Shane Laptiste, OAA, OAQ, AAA, MRAIC, LEED-AP BD+C 
Shane Laptiste, OAA, OAQ, AAA is a Principal and co-founder of Studio of Contemporary Architecture (SOCA), an architecture and urban design studio dedicated to inclusive city building and applying a critical lens to designed environments. His work explores community informed architecture that is responsive to the cultural and spatial needs of the impacted users. A 2023 recipient of both the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture and RAIC’s Emerging Architectural Practice Award, the studio is deeply engaged in discourses surrounding architecture's impact on culture, the environment and the shaping of cities.
Shane holds BSc(Arch) and MArch degrees from McGill University, where he also serves as an architecture studio instructor. He is currently leading several projects supporting art, gathering and joy in marginalized communities.
Susanne Marshall 
Dr. Susanne Marshall is the Publications Manager of Dalhousie Architectural Press in the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Dalhousie University, in Kjipuktuk/Halifax. As an academic editor, she works with architects and architectural historians to develop manuscripts for publication; as a project manager, she steers the book production process and runs the daily business of the Press. Her publishing background includes work with nonfiction, scholarly, and public-interest publishers. Marshall has taught literature, writing, and criticism in university classrooms and writing centres. Her research interests include representations of landscape, region, and globalization, and intersections of space, feminism, and social justice issues.
Kate Thompson, AAA, FRAIC 
Kate Thompson is the President & CEO of the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), responsible for the overall direction, business strategy, and operations of the organization. Under her exceptional leadership and foresight, CMLC oversees more than $1 billion in city-building projects in East Calgary.
Kate is a registered member of the Alberta Association of Architects (AAA) and a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC). She has extensive experience in design and development, having worked for private firms in Calgary and Europe. Currently, Kate sits on the Boards of Ignite Calgary and Calgary Economic Development, and she is Chair of the RESAC Downtown Vibrancy Committee.
Kate is a mother to two teenage boys and a mentor to many. Kate was previously named one of Avenue Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40 and YWCA’s 150 Women to Shape Calgary in the Last 150 Years. She has also been awarded the Certificate of Merit by the American Institute of Architects and, most recently, received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Medal.