Brigitte Shim

Brigitte Shim is a Professor at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto since 1988, engaged in core design studios, advanced design studios as well as a range of elective courses and undergraduate courses in the History and Theory of Landscape Architecture. She was the 2019 Louis I. Kahn Professor of Architectural Design at Yale University’s School of Architecture and has been a visiting chair and lecturer at numerous universities including Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, The Cooper Union and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. She has served on numerous international, national and local design juries as an advocate for design excellence including the 2007 Aga Khan Architecture Award Master jury. 

Brigitte Shim along with her partner, A. Howard Sutcliffe are both principals in the design firm Shim-Sutcliffe Architects. Shim-Sutcliffe’s built work explores the integration and interrelated scales of architecture, landscape and furniture and fittings. To date, Shim and Sutcliffe have received fifteen Governor General’s Medals and Awards for Architecture from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and an American Institute of Architects National Honor Award along with many other professional accolades for their built work ranging from projects for non-profit groups to public and private clients.

In January 2013, Brigitte Shim and her partner A. Howard Sutcliffe were both awarded the Order of Canada, “for their contributions as architects designing sophisticated structures that represent the best of Canadian design to the world.” along with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Shim was the 2014, 2010, and 2005 Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at Yale University’s School of Architecture, and both she and Sutcliffe held the 2014 University of Auckland Distinguished Visitors’ Award at the School of Architecture and Planning within the National Institute for Creative Arts and Industries in Auckland New Zealand. In addition, Shim was the William B. and Charlotte Shepherd Davenport Visiting Professor (2008), the Henry Bishop Visiting Chair (2001), and the Visiting Bicentennial Professor in Canadian Studies (2001) at Yale University’s School of Architecture. She also held the invited international visiting professorship at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (2002) and at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (1996 and 1993). Shim was the Portman Visiting Critic at Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Design (2016), the Somerville Visiting Lecturer at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Environmental Design (2013), and the Martell Distinguished Visiting Critic at the University of Buffalo’s School of Architecture and Planning (2006). She was a Visiting Professor for the Thesis Program at McGill University’s School of Architecture (1992), and the Visiting Critics Studio at Carleton University’s School of Architecture (1990).

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