Central City plaza and forecourt in Surrey, British ColumbiaCentral City mixed-use development in Surrey, British Columbia, opened 2003Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC in Vancouver, British ColumbiaChan Centre for the Performing Arts – Concert Hall in Vancouver, British ColumbiaAberdeen Centre in Richmond, British ColumbiaSunset Community Centre in Vancouver, British ColumbiaModel of Arena stage Theatre Expansion in Washington, D.C.
Bing Wing Thom, CM (Chinese: 譚秉榮; 8 December 1940 – 4 October 2016) was a Canadian architect and urban designer. Born in Hong Kong, he immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with his family in 1950.[1] His paternal grandfather originally immigrated to Vancouver in the 1890s and his father was born in New Westminster before moving to Hong Kong after being unable to practice as a pharmacist in Canada.[2]
He moved to Tokyo in 1971 to work for Japanese architect-urbanist Fumihiko Maki. Returning to Canada in 1972, he joined Arthur Erickson Architects as project director and oversaw projects such as Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto (1977), the Robson Square Courthouse Complex in Vancouver (1973–1979) and the Air Defence Ministry Building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
In 2010, Thom was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Architectural Firm of the Year award.[4] and in 2011 he was awarded the RAIC's highest honour, the RAIC Gold Medal.[5]
Thom died at age 75 of a brain aneurysm while on a trip to Hong Kong in October 2016.[6]
Bing Thom Architects
As of 2015 the firm had a total staff of 47, including principals Venelin Kokalov and Shinobu Homma,[7] directors, registered architects, architectural graduate and students, urban designers and planners, and support staff.[8]
The firm specialized in urban planning and complex building types such as civic buildings, performing arts centres and public spaces. Typically projects are mixed-use, integrating commercial, residential and cultural uses to create a sustainable whole. They had offices in Vancouver, Hong Kong, and Washington, DC. Today only the Vancouver office survives under a new name Revery Architecture.
