Eva Matsuzaki

Eva Matsuzaki

Eva Matsuzaki, née Pupols, architect (b Latvia 27 Feb 1944). Matsuzaki immigrated with her family to the US at age 5. She attended Cornell University (1961-66), graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture. She worked in the office of Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo and Associates at Hamden, Connecticut (1966-1972), where she was job architect for the Irwin Union National Bank, Columbus Indiana, and the Lehman Pavilion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

In 1972 Matsuzaki moved to Vancouver, working first in the offices of MCCARTER NAIRNE (1972-1974) and then Arthur ERICKSON (1974-84). At Arthur Erickson she was design coordinator for the Provincial Government Office Building and the Courthouse Complex in Vancouver, and Project Architect for a number of buildings, including the Government of Canada Building, Vancouver; a condominium development in West Vancouver; and a mixed-use condominium development in Whistler Village, B.C.

In 1984 Matsuzaki Wright (1984-98) was formed. It was responsible for several award-winning buildings, including Les Terraces apartment tower in West Vancouver (1992) and the C.K. Choi Building on the University of British Columbia campus (1993-1996), an exuberantly sculpted building with towers that facilitate natural ventilation and roofs canted to capture the sun. Matsuzaki Architects (Eva and Kiyoshi Matsuzaki, principals) was founded in 1998.

Two themes are salient in Matsuzaki's practice: an attention to environmentally sound design and a commitment to the architectural and wider community. The C.K. Choi Building (1996, Cornelia Hahn OBERLANDER, Landscape Architect), which houses the Institute for Asian Research, was awarded a Lieutenant-Governor Innovation Award of Excellence in 1998, as well as a number of other awards. It has become a benchmark in "green design" for the innovative manner in which it uses salvaged material, waste-water and natural ventilation. Other of Matsuzaki's environmentally sensitive designs from the 1990s include the Fraser Valley Credit Union, Clearbrook, BC, and the Neptune Food Services Headquarters, Delta, BC.

Matsuzaki is active within institutional aspects of architecture. She has been a design critic, tutorial leader and mentor at the University of British Columbia School of Architecture. She is a founding member of Women in Architecture and an advocate for women students and practitioners. When elected president of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1998, she was the first woman to hold this important position.