Region: Toronto Ontario
Generation:
Born 1935, British Columbia
Bio
“Gene Kinoshita is a retired architect who worked in the Toronto area. For forty years, he was a founding principal of Moffatt Kinoshita Architects. He got his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of British Columbia and his Master of Architecture at Yale University. He worked extensively on projects with the University of Western Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum, as well as the University of Toronto, Guelph University, the redevelopment of the Whitby Psychiatric Hospital, and Union Station in Ottawa. His firm has won over 55 regional, national, and international awards for innovation and excellence in design, including the Governor General’s Award in 1986, and in 2004, he was awarded the Order of Da Vinci from the Ontario Association of Architects, an award given to ‘the architect who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in the profession or in education, or has been of exemplary service to the profession and the community’.
Kinoshita sees his purpose as an architect as ‘to contribute towards human achievement in our interactions between society and the environment we create’ by ‘combining the diverse insights of architects, engineers, sociologists, economists, behavioral scientists and others’ to realize ‘architectural ideas that meet human and humane needs’.’ In tandem with his extensive work with universities and the Royal Ontario Museum, Kinoshita has also been a dedicated volunteer in many Ontario arts and academic organizations.
