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Description area
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History
Bing Thom Architects (BTA) was established in 1981 in Vancouver by Bing Thom. The firm’s wide-ranging and award winning work in the 1980s and 90s is closely associated with the urban development of Vancouver and the Vancouverism model of city planning. The firm specialized in mixed-use high-rise projects as well as civic and cultural projects such as the Chan Centre, Arena Stage, and Surrey City Centre Library. BTA designed pavilions for both Expo ’86 in Vancouver and Expo ’92 in Seville Spain. Thom was also involved in large-scale city planning projects including city centre planning for Yuxi, China, and city and waterfront planning for both Vancouver and Dalian, China. BTA worked extensively in Vancouver but also internationally with offices in Hong Kong, Washington D.C., and Beijing. Michael Heeney served as managing principal for Bing Thom Architects from 1989 to 2017.
Bing Wing Thom was born December 8, 1940 in Hong Kong. In 1950, the Thom family immigrated to Canada, settling in Vancouver. Thom received his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of British Columbia (1966), and his Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley (1969). Thom initially taught architecture at the University of Singapore before moving to Tokyo to work for Japanese architect-urbanist Fumihiko Maki in 1971. He returned to Canada in 1972 as the project director for Arthur Erickson Architects. Thom was closely involved in some of Erickson’s prominent Canadian projects, including Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto (1977) and Robson Square Courthouse Complex in Vancouver (1973-1979). Thom also oversaw Erickson’s international projects including the Air Defence Ministry Building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Bing Thom Architects received numerous awards for design and planning over its four decades of architectural work. Bing Thom is among Canada’s most well-known architects, having garnered both national and international acclaim for his work. He also became a Member of the Order of Canada in 1995, and was a recipient of the Golden Jubilee Medal for outstanding service to Canada in 2002. Bing Thom Architects received the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) award for Firm of the Year in 2010, and in 2011, Thom received the RAIC’s highest honour, the RAIC Gold Medal. Bing Thom died in Hong Kong, October 4, 2016 at the age of 75. Bing Thom Architects was renamed Revery Architecture in 2017. Venelin Kokalov, Stani Kokalova, and Shinobu Homma are the principals and the firm remains based in Vancouver.