Renowned Toronto-based architect and distinguished U of T alumnus Bruce Kuwabara was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree during the Daniels Faculty’s 2024 Convocation ceremony on Thursday, July 20.

One of Canada’s most acclaimed practitioners, Kuwabara has designed some of the country’s finest structures, including Kitchener’s award-winning City Hall, the National Ballet School in Toronto and the Remai Modern in Saskatoon. He has also been a valued campus-builder at his alma mater, helping to shape the development of U of T’s physical space over the years and contributing to the success of the Daniels Faculty in various capacities.

Born in 1949 in Hamilton, Kuwabara earned his degree in architecture from U of T in 1972. After graduating, he joined the teaching studio of architect George Baird, whose interest in public spaces and city building influenced how Kuwabara thought about his work. (Decades later, Baird would serve as Dean of the Daniels Faculty.)

Following the apprenticeship with Baird, Kuwabara joined Barton Myers Associates, where he worked for 12 years. When Myers left Canada in 1987, he handed over his Toronto practice to Kuwabara and three of his fellow associates at the firm—Tom Payne, Marianne McKenna and Shirley Blumberg. Together, they created the new firm KPMB. (Payne ventured out on his own in 2013, but the remaining principals retained the “P” in the practice’s name.)

In 2006, former Daniels Faculty Dean Larry Wayne Richards wrote in Canadian Architect that “Kuwabara’s agenda is not just about making objects and places of great beauty, but something more active, more profound. Something that is simultaneously both culturally stabilizing and transforming.”

Before he received his honorary doctorate at the Convocation ceremony in Convocation Hall, Kuwabara was introduced by Acting Dean Robert Levit.

“Bruce Kuwabara has played a leading role in successive fundraising campaigns at the University, including serving as Co-Chair of the Daniels Faculty’s Design the Future campaign, during which he led the establishment of the Frank Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architectural Design,” Acting Dean Levit noted. “He has served on Provostial Advisory Committees for the appointment of the Dean of the Daniels Faculty and is a valued contributor to accreditation reviews and academic plans. He is also an industry leader in design governance, sitting as the inaugural Chair of Waterfront Toronto’s Design Review Panel and serving as Co-Chair and Appointed Member of the University’s Design Review Committee.”

In 2006, Kuwabara was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Gold Medal, the country’s highest honour for architects. In 2012, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for “shaping our built landscape in lasting ways.”

For the full U of T News story on the granting of Kuwabara’s honorary degree, click here.