Joyce
About
JOYCE DROHAN
She was proud of her contributions to Canadian city-building, including
the Blatchford Redevelopment in Edmonton. It transformed the
municipal airport into a model of sustainability and won a Globe Award
for Urban Sustainability and a Royal Architectural Institute of Canada
medal in the National Urban Design Awards. Joyce was also a lead
member of the master planning teams for the sustainable communities
of South East False Creek (including the Olympic Village) and East
Fraserlands (now called The River District). She was project architect
on Richmond City Hall, a building that helped shape the civic district of
that city and won a Governor General’s award for architecture in 2002.
She helped the City of Vancouver rebuild its urban design expertise.
In later years, she passed on her extensive knowledge of urban
design to students through studios at the University of British
Columbia. In 2021 she was made a fellow of the Royal
Architectural Institute of Canada. Like many Vancouverites,
Joyce knew the value of balancing work and play. The winter
would find her skate-skiing at Cypress Mountain. In summer, she
would swim at Kitsilano pool. When neither was possible, she
would hike in the mountains or cycle through the city. She liked
nothing better than doing all of this with friends and family.
Joyce loved music, literature, and beauty in the natural world,
exploring all with great curiosity, critical acuity and creativity.
She reflected what she loved in her contributions to designing
of buildings and urban environments, her photography, her
water colours, at the piano and in her extraordinary garden.
She was inspired by and devoted to her students, mentees and
colleagues, always eager to encourage and praise their
creativity. She travelled extensively throughout the world for
work and pleasure, immersing herself in other cultures and
ways of seeing the world
