University of Manitoba graduate Samantha Lynch is the winner of the Canada Council for the Arts’ Prix de Rome in Architecture for Emerging Practitioners. Lynch will use the award to design and build cameras to study the relationship between human activity, the architectural dimension and the time connection between these two elements.
She will visit recently built projects in Western Europe, and select a number of them for documentation. While in Europe, Lynch will intern with Fat Koehl Architekten in Berlin, Germany. With this study, Ms. Lynch hopes to contribute to the conversation on the impact of architecture on the human condition.
The $34,000 Prix de Rome is awarded to a recent graduate of one of Canada’s 11 accredited schools of architecture who demonstrates outstanding potential. The prizewinner is given the opportunity to visit significant architectural sites abroad, and to intern at an architecture firm of international stature.
Lynch was selected by an assessment committee consisting of architects Craig Applegath (Toronto), Trevor Boddy (Vancouver), Gerard Curtis (Corner Brook, N.L.), Éric Gauthier (Montreal) and Jyhling Lee (Saskatoon).
Raised in the Muskoka region of Ontario, Samantha Lynch studied fine art at the University of Ottawa before leaving Ontario to travel and work across the country. In 2009, she obtained a Master of Architecture from the University of Manitoba.
Focused on the influence of temporal engagement as an active architectural presence, Lynch’s thesis work was driven by a fascination with the way in which architecture can unfold, transform and be understood over time. The physical process of making and drawing has been fundamental to her research and plays an important role in her proposed body of work for the coming year.
In 2009, Lynch received the Power Corporation of Canada Award and was given the opportunity to carry out a research project and residency at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. Following her time at the CCA, she spent two months researching in Italy and France with the support of the Bill Allen Travel Scholarship. She is also a recipient of the Mel P. Michener Fellowship and the American Institute of Architects Henry Adams Medal. In 2010, Lynch was named a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Honour Roll. She presently lives in Winnipeg and works at DIN Projects.
For more information, please visit www.canadacouncil.ca/news/releases/2011/rc129415658724456321.htm.