Our Team
Pauline Thimm Director, Practice Ecosystem, Associate, Architect BA | BEDS | MArch | Architect BRA (Massachusetts) AIA | NCARB | MRAIC | LEED® AP Vancouver

Pauline has developed her wide-ranging campus and cultural projects portfolio over more than 15 years of practicing and teaching architecture. Through her role in DIALOG’s post-secondary education working group, her long-standing membership with SCUP, and her teaching at architectural design studios, Pauline has a keen awareness of student, instructor, and institutional perspectives. She works with and learns from diverse stakeholder groups at post-secondary institutions and the communities they serve and brings that understanding to the design of impactful spaces for living, teaching, and learning. She works to craft and deliver an inspired and attainable vision unique to each client. Pauline has led and been involved in post-secondary projects across North America, from programming and planning to renovation and rehabilitation to new construction. She has worked with Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, Dartmouth College, MIT, and Stanford. A LEED® accredited architect is deeply committed to understanding and informing the leading edge of learning environment design. 

In addition to her portfolio of cultural work, which includes a design competition proposal for the Winnipeg Market Lands, Pauline is a lifelong participant and supporter of the arts. She studied studio arts at Emily Carr University, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Pauline develops and teaches architecture and design classes for children, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra. 

What’s your favourite DIALOG project?
One of my favorite DIALOG projects is the UBC Exchange Residence – a vertically-integrated land-use program without precedent. It’s the region’s largest bus exchange and layover, student housing accommodations and amenities and new public realm. The project represents a tremendous collaborative effort and succeeds in demonstrating how teams can work together to solve complex problems.

Do you have a passion project outside of work?
I believe that arts education is a basic human right. I am passionate about supporting and contributing to this cause and have been continually involved in teaching architecture and design since my graduate student days. My approach to teaching is rooted in supporting students in developing their visual literacy while exploring concepts in architectural thinking.

What books are on your reading stack?
(1) Fly Trap, by Swedish entomologist Fredrik Sjöberg (2) Werner’s Nomenclature of Colour, by Scottish artist Patrick Syme (3) Leonardo da Vinci: the Biography, by US historian Walter Isaacson

Share creativity like there’s no tomorrow. Good design has the power to transform peoples’ lives for the better and this is an inherently collaborative act.
Education

Master of Architecture
Dalhousie University

Bachelor of Environmental Design
Dalhousie University

Bachelor of Arts, Economics and Urban Geography
University of British Columbia

Featured Work

Awards