New Award: The Robert Lemon Rome Prize
September 11, 2023
Retired architect and alumnus Robert G. Lemon (’79) has established a new award — the Robert Lemon Rome Prize — to support travel for graduate students at the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism.
“We would like to thank Robert for his generous and thoughtful gift,” says Director Anne Bordeleau. “The Rome Prize will create meaningful experiential learning opportunities for graduate students, advancing architectural conservation research and discourse, and the consideration of adaptive architecture more broadly.”
The Robert Lemon Rome Prize will be awarded annually by the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs on the recommendation of the Director of the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism. It will go to outstanding students continuing in a graduate degree program at the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism who will travel to conduct or present their research.
Preference will be given for travel to Rome or Italy in general and for students studying conservation.
Beginning with the 2023-2024 academic year, $5,000 in funding will be available yearly. The school will issue information shortly on the application process and how funding will be allocated in the case of multiple applicants.
About Robert G. Lemon
Robert Lemon is an award-winning architect and writer who completed his professional Bachelor of Architecture at Carleton University in 1979. Among the highlights of his architectural studies was a Directed Studies Abroad term at the AA in London, England.
Upon graduation, he received the Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal in Architecture and the Heritage Canada Student Design Award.
He holds a master’s degree in architectural conservation, which he started at ICCROM in Rome, Italy, and completed at the University of York in the United Kingdom.
In 1979, Lemon moved to Vancouver, B.C., where he has lived and practiced for over four decades, focusing on heritage planning, building rehabilitation, and custom residential commissions.
From 1991 to 1996, he was the Senior Heritage Planner for the City of Vancouver, where he was involved in landmark building rehabilitation projects, the introduction of the current heritage legislation, revamping the Transfer of Density Policy, and adding Recent Landmarks to the Vancouver Heritage Register.
His landmark heritage building rehabilitation projects in Vancouver include The Architecture Centre, the downtown YMCA, Coastal Church, Hotel Georgia, and two historic buildings at Jameson House and Shannon Estate, all of which have received City of Vancouver Heritage Awards. He also designed or rehabilitated many award-winning custom residences in British Columbia.
His memoir An Architect’s Address Book – the places that shaped a career, was published by ORO Editions in 2023.
Now retired, he has returned to his roots in Stratford, ON.
