Associate Professor R. Shane Williamson received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture with Highest Honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology (’94) and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University (’99). He is Principal of Williamson Williamson Inc., a Toronto-based architecture and design studio that he founded with his partner, Betsy Williamson, in 2007.

Williamson’s research and creative practice employs advanced digital tools as a means to critically engage traditional modes of construction and tectonic expression. Ongoing research seeks to situate digital fabrication and wood construction in a broader cultural context and link theories of design and technology respective of sustainable building strategies. Over the past decade, his research has been funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the National Research Council of Canada, Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada, and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Williamson's graduate courses include first year core-design studios (ARC1011, ARC1012), first and second year representation/computing courses (ARC1021, ARC1022, ARC2023), an advanced fabrication elective (ARC3401), various option and research studios (ARC3015, ARC3016), graduate thesis preparation (ARC3017), and graduate thesis (ARC4018).

Williamson’s architecture practice, Williamson Williamson, operates at multiple scales ranging from furniture design to master planning. One of the recurring themes within the studio’s body of work is the notion of “Incremental Urbanism” which recognizes the possibilities of intensification latent in the morphology of urban fabric, while recent projects have focused up multi-generational housing.

Williamson’s work has been published in Architecture, Architectural Record, Azure, Canadian Architect, Domus, Dwell, I.D., Metropolis, Monocle, Praxis, Thresholds, and many other journals and magazines. His work has been exhibited at the National Building Museum, Washington, DC; the Municipal Center for the Arts, New York, NY; Mercer Union, Toronto; Design Exchange, Toronto, ON; I-Space Gallery, Chicago, IL; the Urban Center, New York, NY; and the Corkin Gallery, Toronto, ON.

Notable project-based awards include an Award of Excellence from the Ontario Association of Architects (2010), an Ontario WoodWorks Award (2011), a North American Wood Design Award (2011), two Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence (2011, 2014), three Residential Architect Design Awards (2014), a Canadian Green Building Award (2016), and an Innovation in Sustainability Award (2016) from the Canada Green Building Council.

Notable practice-based awards include the Ronald J. Thom Award for Early Design Achievement (2008) and the Professional Prix de Rome for Architecture (2012) from the Canada Council of the Arts, the Emerging Architectural Practice Award from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (2014), the Young Architects Prize (2006) and the Emerging Voices Award (2014) from the Architecture League of New York.

Curriculum Vitae [PDF]