Brigitte Shim was born in Kingston Jamaica and lives in Toronto, Canada which is her home. She studied architecture and environmental studies at the University of Waterloo, Canada. In 1980, Brigitte Shim worked in the Laurel Street office of Arthur Erickson in Vancouver BC on public and private projects. In 1994, Shim and her partner A. Howard Sutcliffe founded Shim-Sutcliffe Architects in Toronto, Canada. Their design practice explores the integration and interrelated scales of architecture, landscape, furniture and fittings. Shim-Sutcliffe have realized built work in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia focusing on place-making. To date, Shim and Sutcliffe have received sixteen Governor General’s Medals for Architecture from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) along with many other professional accolades for their built work.

Professor Brigitte Shim is a faculty member at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto. She has served on numerous international, national and local design juries as an unwavering advocate for design excellence.