Jack Diamond, principal, Diamond Schmitt Architects, will receive the 2014 Jane Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Canadian Urban Institute at a gala event on June 25 in Toronto.
The award recognizes an individual “whose vision and passion for cities has had a profound impact on several aspects of urban health over many years,” says CUI VP, Education and Research, Glenn Miller. “Mr. Diamond has demonstrated an extraordinary contribution to the public realm.”
Diamond is the founding member of Diamond Schmitt Architects, which has received numerous national and international awards for design excellence, innovation and sustainability. His extensive body of work includes city halls and opera houses, hospitals and academic buildings. These include Jerusalem City Hall; the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts; Maison Symphonique; Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital; the Life Sciences Complex at McGill University; the Kinnear Centre at the Banff Centre; Southbrook Vineyards at Niagara-on-the-Lake; the JCC in New York City; Sidney Harmon Hall in Washington, D.C.; and the New Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Architectural institute of Canada and the Canadian Institute of Planners and an Honourary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Honourary doctorates include Engineering from Daltech and in Law from the University of Toronto. He is a recipient of the University of Cape Town Vice-Chancellor’s medal. He is also a Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medalist, a member of the Order of Ontario and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Says Diamond, “I greatly admired Jane Jacobs’ championing of civic causes and had the pleasure to know her and work with her to create a better Toronto, so it is particularly gratifying to receive this award in her name.”
Diamond has served as a member of the Ontario Human Rights Commission; as Chairman of the Design Advisory Committee for the National Capital, Ottawa; and as a Commissioner of the Greater Toronto Areas Task Force, which made recommendations on governance, taxation, land use and transportation for the City. Throughout his career, he has played an active role in civic engagement, speaking at conferences and public events and writing Op-Ed articles, which he continues today.
Since its inception in 2004, the CUI’s Urban Leadership Awards program has acknowledged individuals and organizations that have made a profound and lasting impact on the quality of life in Canada’s cities and urban regions.
