MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects is a firm offering architectural and urban design services. The firm was originally founded in 1985 by Brian MacKay-Lyons who formed a partnership with Talbot Sweetapple in 2005. The office of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects is a design-oriented firm that thrives in its studio culture. MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Limited is a leading proponent of critical regionalist architecture worldwide. This recognition has led to a transition in the practice toward increased public and international commissions, involving increased complexity in both design and project delivery. The firm has built an international reputation for design excellence confirmed by over 150+ awards, including the prestigious 2017 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Firm Award in 2014. Additionally, eight Governor General Medals, six American Institute of Architects National and International Honor Awards or Architecture, fifteen Lieutenant Governor’s Medals of Excellence, eight Canadian Architect Awards, four Architectural Record Houses Awards, and thirteen North American Wood Design Awards. A fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC), and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA), Brian was named Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (Hon FAIA) in 2001. In 2015 Brian was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal and became a Member of the Order of Canada in 2022. The work of the firm has been recognized in 700+ publications including six monographs: Seven Stories from a Village Architect (1996); Brian MacKay-Lyons: Selected Works 1986i 1997 (1998); Plain Modern: The Architecture of Brian MacKay-Lyons by Malcolm Quantrill (2005); Ghost: Building an Architectural Vision (2008); Local Architecture: Building Place, Craft, and Community (2014); and Economy as Ethic: The Work of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects (2017), authored by Historian and Architect, Robert McCarter. In addition to these monographs, the work of the firm has been featured in 100+ exhibitions internationally. As a recently retired full professor of architecture at Dalhousie University, Brian has contributed to architectural education in the region for 37 years. Talbot Sweetapple has been an instructor at Dalhousie since 1997, first as an Adjunct Professor and now as a Professor of Practice. Brian and Talbot have held numerous endowed academic chairs and visiting professorships at leading universities including: The Peter Behrens School of Architecture in Düsseldorf, Washington University in St. Louis, and Harvard University, to name a few. They have also given more than 220 public lectures on their work worldwide.
