The Department of Architectural Science at Ryerson University is pleased to announce the appointment of Colin Ripley as new departmental chair. Professor Ripley, who has been at Ryerson since 2003, is a partner and director of the architectural firm RVTR (www.rvtr.com), and has been the recipient of a number of awards, including the 2009 Canada Council Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture. He has been published widely both in Canada and abroad and has co-edited the book In the Place of Sound: Architecture|Music|Acoustics.

Beyond his academic and professional engagements, Colin brings to the department a new vision for architectural education for the 21st century – one that is responsive to emergent technologies and encourages cross-disciplinary research. He anticipates that the future will see less emphasis placed on the architect as visionary artist and more on the collaborative work of many professionals – architects, building scientists, project managers. It will be about the coordination of complex processes and teams, operating across global and virtual networks, in collaboration with both human and non-human partners.

“I hope to renew Ryerson’s longstanding commitment to the holistic education of professionals for the AEC industry,” says Ripley,  “and to update that commitment to face the challenges of coming decades.”