April 2024
To celebrate and honour RAIC volunteers, we are pleased to introduce you to Olivia Keung, B.E.S., M.Arch., OAA, MRAIC, CPHD and member of the RAIC Promoting Equity and Justice Committee.
Thank you, Olivia!
Why did you decide to become an architect?
When I was in high school my family moved to Hong Kong and being there at that age was an intellectual awakening for me, after growing up in a quiet suburb near Toronto. At that time, Hong Kong was a place where many different people and ideas from everywhere in the world came and converged. Architecture is the construction of these complex social systems and today I'm still fascinated by cities large and small, for the way they create collisions between different kinds of people, the way a great transit system can unlock access and possibility for young people and seniors alike, and the way spaces for gathering enables the spontaneous exchange of ideas and cultures.
How long have you been an RAIC member and what do you see as the value of your membership?
I have consistently been a member over the last five years. Joining Moriyama Teshima at that time really pushed me to think about the value of membership. In that first year, we participated in hosting the award ceremony for the RAIC International Prize, which Raymond Moriyama created together with the RAIC. The Prize celebrates architecture that is "socially transformative" and that demonstrates the principles of inclusion, equality, and social justice. I think Raymond's legacy through the Prize was to generate this ongoing conversation about what makes great architecture and what is important in architecture. His vision, full of humility and hope, inspires a very different conversation from the prestigious Pritzker Prize, which celebrates an individual architect for a lifetime of achievement, talent, and vision.
For me, being an active RAIC member is an opportunity and a responsibility to participate in this ongoing conversation around what good architecture looks like and to engage with other architects on what issues should be central to this dialogue.
Why do you volunteer for the RAIC?
Because collective action is both challenging and rewarding. I began volunteering as a member of the Advisory Committee for Promoting Equity and Justice (PEJ) and later took on a role as their liaison to the Climate Action Engagement and Enablement Plan's Steering Committee (CAEEP), bridging these important issues. The people that I have worked with through PEJ and the CAEEP are talented, passionate and energetic individuals. Everyone here is working hard to create meaningful change through volunteerism and I am proud to be working with them.
What do you find most challenging about working as an architect?
Architects are generalists, which means we must be able to look at the same problem from many different angles, ranging from technical to social to environmental. Undoubtedly the biggest issues we face today are addressing climate change and building equity through housing affordability, along with the social infrastructure needed to make these new communities successful and resilient. Architects are able to connect the dots between different, overlapping issues, and through this lens, we could view the scale of the affordability challenge as an opportunity to push innovation in low carbon design. We have to construct twenty-two million housing units by 2030 and we have the knowledge and technology to achieve this sustainably. Having that skill gives architects great agency to contribute to finding the solutions.
Why is this area of advocacy important to you?
Climate action and DEI are inter-connected. In the work that I do in low carbon design, I am often the only woman or racialized person at the table, and this indicates that critical perspectives are missing from our discourse. Today, we urgently need all hands-on deck to move at the scale and pace that is required to effectively address our climate emergency. This means we need to be thinking a lot more about the barriers that exist in sustainable design culture and what we can do to remove them.
What do you think will most change/shape practice over the next five years?
Considering the lifecycle of our buildings and their embodied carbon impact is more than an accounting exercise, it represents a fundamental shift in values. Five years ago, “zero carbon” meant adding more materials, like insulation and glazing, to reduce a building’s energy consumption. Today, upfront carbon accounting trains us to use less, as a principle. Through this lens, we also understand that the act of demolition is harmful and wasteful and that we need to move away from a culture where new is always considered better. Danish architects Henning Larsen shared that half the world's solid waste comes from construction waste and 90% of these total results from demolition. In contrast to demolition, preservation is an act that requires time, care, and precision. These are values that will become more important as we move towards a regenerative economy.
What role do you see the RAIC and architects playing in terms of climate action, truth and reconciliation, and procurement reform, among other issues that matter?
It is important for the RAIC to continue acting as a vehicle to gather and amplify the voices of Indigenous architects. One of the messages we heard clearly throughout the Congress on Architecture in October from Indigenous speakers is that climate action and truth and reconciliation are not separate issues. They both speak to our responsibility to protect the earth and future generations, which begins with acknowledging our profound neglect towards these responsibilities. The RAIC’s role is to continue building on this integrative approach to issues because that will enable us to create real structural change, not just incremental change, through a fundamental understanding of how we arrived at this moment in the first place.
What do you like to do outside of architecture?
I love to run, and this is something I picked up during the pandemic when all the gyms had to shut down. It became a way to mentally untangle and process everything happening and helps me to create calm. I finished my first 10k race a few years ago and I am getting ready for another one happening later in the spring.
What advice would you have for those looking to get more involved in advocacy causes related to architecture?
Building structural change can be difficult, both mentally and emotionally, because you will inevitably encounter opposition. One of my favourite authors, Mohsin Hamid, observed in a recent interview that many political movements in our time seem to be driven by fear and pessimistic narratives. The way to counter this pessimism, Hamid said, is not to fight it head-on, but to do the hard work of “imagining and articulating“ what an optimistic future looks like instead.
I have learned to approach advocacy not as a way to change the minds of our opposition, but to carve out space for those already dedicated to decarbonization, respect for Indigenous rights and perspectives, equity, and social justice. Through advocacy we can build a critical mass in support of the issues we care about, create a platform for meaningful dialogue and amplify diverse, representative voices.
How do you incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion in your work environment, the built environment, and your volunteer work?
In design and the built environment, DEI begins with an understanding of who is included at the table through decision-making processes to ensure they reflect the diversity of the community we are serving. In our profession, I am always excited to engage with architecture students and provide mentorship as a studio critic or through lectures. As a racialized woman, I believe that having diverse representation in these roles is important for emerging practitioners. I am proud to participate in events that strive to remove barriers, like the Toronto Society of Architect’s upcoming Portfolio Review Clinic, which is free, or the RAIC’s Low carbon Education Training Workshop, which provided additional support for equity-deserving individuals to attend in-person.