24 Facts About Raymond Moriyama

Raymond Moriyama's focus was on humane architecture with the pursuit of true ideals, democracy, and unanimity of all people.

Raymond Moriyama's father was an outspoken pacifist who was arrested and imprisoned for his activism.

Raymond Moriyama was then twelve; his mother, who was pregnant at the time, was left with him and his two sisters to run the family hardware store.

Raymond Moriyama said these years were influential in his later career.

Raymond Moriyama looked for a place for escape and solitude, and decided to build a treehouse outside of camp as a lookout point.

Raymond Moriyama made friends with Canadian farmers who supplied him with lumber and tools to build.

Ambidextrous, Raymond Moriyama was able to finish his piecework quickly, and his bosses allowed him to use his extra time to study for school.

Raymond Moriyama received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Toronto in 1954, and a Master of Architecture degree in civic and town planning from the School of Architecture at McGill University in 1957.

In 2013, Ajon Raymond Moriyama founded Ajon Raymond Moriyama Architect, which takes on independent work in Toronto.

Raymond Moriyama has been heavily involved in bringing a Japanese cultural influence to Western society.

Raymond Moriyama is a part of the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, as well as the Order of Ontario.

In 1999, Raymond Moriyama was the key architect for designing of the National Museum of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.

From 2001 to 2007, Raymond Moriyama served as the Chancellor of Brock University in St Catharines, Ontario.

Raymond Moriyama has designed several buildings at Brock University from the 1970s onwards.

Raymond Moriyama died in Toronto on September 1,2023, at the age of 93.

In 1985, Raymond Moriyama was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and promoted to Companion of the same order in 2008.

Raymond Moriyama was inducted into the Order of Ontario in 1992.

In 2003, Raymond Moriyama was made a member of the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class, a Japanese award given in recognition for his services to Japanese culture in Canada.

In 2009, Raymond Moriyama was one of nine laureates to receive a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.

In 2012, Raymond Moriyama received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Raymond Moriyama created a $200,000 endowment with the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada called the Moriyama RAIC International Prize.

In June 2013, Raymond Moriyama received an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary.

Raymond Moriyama had it built in 1969, incorporating Confuciuan philosophies into the design, building on the ideas of tactile and experiential learning.

Raymond Moriyama's intention was to enable a place of social connection and welcoming for all those visiting the Embassy: Moriyama replicated the feeling of youthfulness and magic of the treehouse he first built while in camp.