Eva Matsuzaki
Eva Matsuzaki is a retired architect, a founder of Women in Architecture Vancouver and was the first female president of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Eva P?pols was born February 27, 1944 in Riga, Latvia, then under Nazi occupation. At the age of five, in the wake of World War II, her family would leave Europe to immigrate to the United States, settling in New York. She developed an early interest in architecture, pouring over design magazines and reimagining building plans, and would go on to study architecture at Cornell University. She was one of only two women graduating in 1966 with a Bachelor of Architecture. Eva would spend the next six years working in the offices of Eero Saarinen, later known as Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo Associates. Here, she was project architect for the 1973 Irwin Union National Bank in Columbus, Indiana, and the 1975 Lehman Pavilion at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It was during this time that she would meet, and marry, fellow architect and co-worker Kiyoshi Matsuzaki.
In 1972, Eva and Kiyoshi relocated to Vancouver, Canada. Eva first took up a position in the offices of McCarter Nairne & Partners but would soon move over to Arthur Erickson Architects. She would take on the role of design coordinator for the visionary Provincial Law Courts/Robson Square, and conversion of the former Francis Mawson Rattenbury-designed Courthouse to the Vancouver Art Gallery, as well as project architect for the Government of Canada Building in Vancouver, Montiverdi Estates in West Vancouver, and a mixed-use condominium development in Whistler.
In 1984, after a decade in Erickson’s office, Eva and Kiyoshi would go out on their own, partnering with architect Jim Wright to form Matsuzaki Wright Architects. Notable projects included the 1992 Les Terraces in West Vancouver, the 1993 Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories (in association with Ferguson Simek Clark/Pin Matthews), the Fraser Valley Credit Union, and Neptune Food Services Headquarters. Underpinned by a particular interest in environmentally sensitive design, the firm is most known for the 1996 C.K. Choi Building at the University of British Columbia. Designed in collaboration with landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, the building utilized waste-water composting, natural ventilation, and salvaged materials. For its ingenuity in sustainable design, the project was awarded a Lieutenant-Governor Innovation Award of Excellence (1998). In 1998, the firm would be renamed to Matsuzaki Architects.
Further to the daily responsibilities of architectural practice, Eva Matsuzaki has been a staunch advocate for the profession, for women in the profession, and for the community at large. Over the years she has been a mentor and design critic to students at the UBC School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture and has volunteered on numerous boards and committees including Vancouver’s Urban Design Panel. From 1998-1999, Eva served as the first female president of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. In 1990, she was also involved in founding Women in Architecture Vancouver, a professional architectural organization established to champion women in architecture and related professions.
