Moriyama, Raymond Raphael Junichi, 1929-2023

Raymond Moriyama was born on October 11th, 1929 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He spent part of his teenage years interned as a Japanese Canadian in the British Columbia interior. After the War, his family moved to Hamilton, Ontario where he attended high school. He received his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Toronto School of Architecture (1954) and his Master of Architecture at McGill University (1957 - Architecture and Planning). Moriyama worked for the City of Toronto Planning Board (1955-1956) then the architectural firm of Fleury, Arthur and Barclay (1957-1958). He left to set up his own practice in Yorkville, Raymond Moriyama, Architects and Planners, later relocating the firm to the renowned 32 Davenport Road site in 1966. For a period around 1958, Moriyama was associated with Murray Watts. In 1970, he went into partnership with Ted Teshima.


Moriyama attracted important residential and business clients while developing his practice, but has mainly been known for institutional commissions. His early well-known projects include Edwards Gardens shelter, 1958; the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, 1963; Brock University, 1969; and the Scarborough Town Centre, 1973. Moriyama received the Massey Medal for architecture in 1961 and 1975 and was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal in 1997, in recognition of his achievement and contribution to the profession. In 1982, Moriyama won the Governor General's Medal for Architecture for his design of a Japanese Ceremonial Bell and for the Metro Toronto Reference Library. He received this honour again in 1987 for his design of Science North (Sudbury, Ontario).


Prominent or award-winning designs by his firm, Moriyama & Teshima Architects are extensive and include: Bay Bloor Radio interiors; Bata Shoe Museum; Malton and Barrie civic centres; Whitby and Ottawa-Carleton Municipal Halls; the University of Western Ontario's new John Labatt Visual Arts Centre; buildings at York, McMaster, Brock, Guelph and Windsor universities; North York City Centre and Library; Casino Rama (Rama Township, Ontario); River Run Centre (Guelph); Mississauga and Durham YMCAs; Peace Bridge Commercial Centre (Ft. Erie), and the Ramsay Lake plan, 1991 (Sudbury).


Raymond Moriyama's work has been featured in several international architectural journals and in television documentaries. Moriyama was elected as the new Chancellor of Brock University by the University Senate in 2001 and is the recepient of several Honorary Degrees. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of Ontario.


Moriyama married Sachi, his childhood friend from Vancouver, in 1954 and together, they had five children. Two of their sons, Ajon and Jason, also became architects.


Moriyama and Teshima retired in 2003, transitioning to emeritus partners and consultants in their firm and passing the leadership on to younger partners including Moriyama's sons, Ajon and Jason.


Raymond Moriyama died on September 1st, 2023 at the age of 93.

Raymond Junichi Moriyama CC OOnt FRAIC (October 11, 1929 – September 1, 2023) was a Canadian architect.[1][2]

In 1970, Moriyama co-founded a private practice in Toronto with Ted Teshima called Moriyama & Teshima Architects which is renowned for designing many major buildings across the world, including the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.[3] His focus was on humane architecture with the pursuit of true ideals, democracy, and unanimity of all people.[4]

Early life and education
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Raymond Moriyama suffered burns as a four-year-old and was sometimes teased about his scars. During the eight months he spent bedridden after the accident, he saw an architect coming and going from a nearby construction site, "with a blueprint under his arm and a pipe in his mouth." Moriyama decided then and there that he would become an architect.[5]

Moriyama's father was an outspoken pacifist who was arrested and imprisoned for his activism. Moriyama was then twelve; his pregnant mother was left with him and his two sisters to run the family hardware store. Shortly after, he and his family were forced out of Vancouver and confined to an internment camp in the Slocan Valley of British Columbia during the Second World War.[5] Japanese Canadians on the West Coast were classified as security threats, in a policy similar to that of the United States. He said these years were influential in his later career.[6]

Moriyama described his experiences in internment camps as miserable. During this time, his mother experienced a miscarriage, in which Moriyama then grieved the loss of a potential younger brother. He looked for a place for escape and solitude, and decided to build a treehouse outside of camp, as a lookout point. He made friends with Canadian farmers who supplied him with lumber and tools to build. He describes his experience of finding escape as such:[7]

In despair, I decided to bathe in the Slocan River on the other side of a little mountain away from the camp. The water was glacial, but it was better than hot tears. To see who might be coming, I built an observation platform. Soon I found myself wanting to build my first architectural project, a tree house, without being found out by the RCMP. I used just an axe as a hammer, an old borrowed saw, six spikes, some nails, a rope, and mostly branches and scraps from the lumberyard. It was hard work building it by myself, and it was a lesson in economy of material and means

That tree house, when finished, was beautiful. It was my university, my place of solace, a place to think and learn.

After the war, his family reunited with his father and they resettled in Hamilton, Ontario, where he attended Westdale Secondary School and worked in a pottery factory. Ambidextrous, he was able to finish his piecework quickly, and his bosses allowed him to use his extra time to study for school.[5]

During his years in university, Moriyama ran into his childhood friend Sachi from Vancouver and the two began dating. They married in 1954. Together, they had five children, including two sons who also become architects, Ajon and Jason Moriyama.[5]

Moriyama received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Toronto in 1954, and a Master of Architecture degree in civic and town planning from the School of Architecture at McGill University in 1957.

After he retired in 2003, Moriyama's sons, Ajon and Jason, became principals at Moriyama & Teshima Architects. In 2013, Ajon Moriyama founded Ajon Moriyama Architect, doing independent work in Toronto.[8]

Career
Moriyama's first large project as an independent architect was the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, with design starting in 1964, the building being finished in 1969.[1]

After years of working independently as an architect, Moriyama established his Toronto-based firm in 1958[3] and in 1970 was joined by Ted Teshima[9] and is now Moriyama & Teshima Architects.[1] Some of their notable early projects include the Scarborough Civic Centre from 1973, and the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library from 1977. Both of these projects won Governor General's Medals.[1] Moriyama has been heavily involved in bringing a Japanese cultural influence to Western society. He is a part of the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, as well as the Order of Ontario.[1] Many of Moriyama's architectural awards recognize his excellency in materiality, landscape, and urban design. Some of his core values as an architect involve the principles of designing for human scale and human functionality.[10] Ted Teshima retired in 2006, and died in 2016.[1]

In 1985, Moriyama was made an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) and promoted to Companion of the same order (CC) in 2008.[11] He was also inducted into the Order of Ontario in 1992.[citation needed]

In 1997, Moriyama received the RAIC Gold Medal, Canadian Architecture's highest honour.[citation needed]

In 1999, Moriyama was the key architect for designing of the National Museum of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.[citation needed]

From 2001 to 2007, Moriyama served as the Chancellor of Brock University in St Catharines, Ontario. He has designed several buildings at Brock University from the 1970s onwards.[12]

In 2003, Moriyama was made a member of the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class, a Japanese award given in recognition for his services to Japanese culture in Canada.[13]

In 2007, Moriyama was honoured with a postage stamp by Canada Post featuring his design for the Ontario Science Centre.[14]

In 2009, Moriyama was one of nine laureates to receive a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.[15]

In 2010, Moriyama won the Sakura Award, for his impact and dedication in the promotion of Japanese culture worldwide.[1]

In 2012, Moriyama received a Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal. He also created a $200,000 endowment with the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada called the Moriyama RAIC International Prize.[16]

In June 2013, Moriyama received an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary.[17]

Moriyama retired in 2003.[1] He died in Toronto on September 1, 2023, at the age of 93.[2][3]