Issued For Construction
Long-form interview podcast hosted by Jonathan Jacobs. Each episode focuses on the careers and personal stories of people who shape the built environment, from architects to construction workers. The show explores the challenges, inspirations, and milestones that define their professional lives. It offers an in-depth look at how the physical spaces around us come to be.
Episodes
Issued For Construction ID: Tim Ng - ADHOC STUDIO & BLACKLINE
Tim Ng is the founder and CEO of AdHoc Studio, one of the top rendering and visualization companies in North America, and the founder of Blackline, a leading sales and marketing CRM platform built for the new development and pre-construction industry. Born and raised in Toronto's North York neighbourhood, Tim grew up immersed in real estate. His father was among the first pre-construction cond
Issued For Construction AD - NYC Series: Elaine Molinar - Snøhetta
Elaine Molinar is a Partner and Managing Director for the Americas at Snøhetta, the international architecture, landscape, and design practice. Born in El Paso, Texas, she grew up in a household shaped by craft and problem solving. Her father, a pharmacist, was also a self taught woodworker and photographer, and her grandfather had worked in a railroad steel yard, building his own tools. Her mothe
Issued For Construction ID: Colette Van Den Thillart Interior Design
Colette van den Thillart is an interior designer born in Orangeville, Ontario, who grew up in Mississauga. She traces her passion for design to childhood, including a bedroom she designed herself at six or seven, with grass green shag carpet, daisy wallpaper, and yellow curtains, later recreated and shared on Instagram. She began her career after a two year diploma at the International Academy in
Issued For Construction AD - NYC Series: Daniel Baumann & Vanessa Kassabian - Henning Larsen
Daniel Baumann and Vanessa Kassabian are the two leaders running Henning Larsen's New York studio, and their combined story runs from childhood living rooms all the way to construction sites around the world.Vanessa grew up in a matriarchal household in San Antonio and Houston, patching drywall and hanging blinds long before she ever set foot in a drafting class. That class, in middle school, was
Issued For Construction ID: Darcy Hanna & Emma Sims - &Daughters
Emma and Darcy are the founding principals of & Daughters, a Vancouver based architecture and interior design studio established nearly a decade ago. The two met during their first week in the Master of Architecture program at the University of British Columbia's School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, where a shared preference for desks near natural light placed them side by side i
Issued For Construction AD - NYC Series: Tom Gluck - Gluck+
Thomas Gluck was born in New York City and grew up immersed in architecture. His father, Peter Gluck, graduated from Yale in 1962 and founded the practice now known as GLUCK+ in 1972. As a child, Tom watched his father build models out of basswood and cardboard.His mother taught modern Japanese history at Columbia University, and the family lived in Tokyo for periods during his childhood. At sixt
Issued For Construction ID: Sheree Stuart - Sheree Stuart Design
Sheree Stuart is the founder and principal of Sheree Stuart Design, a boutique interior design studio based in Toronto. Raised in Kilworth, a small community outside London, Ontario, Sheree began her career as a Chartered Professional Accountant with Deloitte, where she spent years working in strategy for the firm's global middle market initiative, traveling extensively across Europe, Asia, and No
Issued For Construction AD - NYC Series: Adam Yarinsky & Kim Yao - Architecture Research Office
Kim Yao is a principal of Architecture Research Office, a New York City firm she joined in 1997, later becoming partner. Born in Portland, Oregon, she grew up in nearby Lake Oswego, the youngest of three children of a pediatric neurologist who immigrated from the Philippines and a nurse of Irish descent. She played soccer and basketball and rowed in college before discovering architecture at Colum
Issued For Construction ID: Kim Lambert - Kim Lambert Design
Born in Toronto and the eldest of three girls, Kim grew up between an orthopaedic surgeon father and an artist mother, a pairing she credits for both her creative instinct and her exacting standards. She earned an honours degree from Queen's University, where she studied politics and wrote a thesis on peacekeeping, then spent nine months travelling and diving through New Zealand, Australia and Sou
Issued For Construction AD: Chrinstine Lolley - Solares Architecture
Christine Lolley is the principal and co-founder of Solares Architecture, a residential architecture practice in Toronto. She grew up in Puslinch Township, south of Guelph, Ontario, the daughter of a family doctor and a father who built a software company for the equipment rental industry. She has an older sister, Sarah, and a younger brother, Peter.Christine studied architecture at the University
Issued For Construction ID: Clarisa Llaneza - Clarisa Llaneza Studio
Clarisa Llaneza is the founder and principal designer of Clarisa Llaneza Studio, a Toronto based interior design practice known for high end residential and commercial work.Born and raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in a family of eight siblings, Clarisa grew up immersed in nature and creativity, spending her early years sketching, painting, and building forts on her family's proper
Issued For Construction AD: Theodore Oyama - OYAMA
Theodore Oyama, also known as Theo or Ted, is a Montreal based architect and founder of oyama, an architecture and design practice established in early 2021. Born in 1989 and raised in Montreal's West Island suburbs, Theodore studied architecture at McGill University, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees. He spent a semester on exchange in Brussels and traveled through Romania on a schoo
Issued For Construction ID: Allen Chan, Anwar Mekhayech, & Matt Davis - DesignAgency Pt.2
Matt Davis, Allen Chan, and Anwar Mekhayech are the founding partners of DesignAgency, a multidisciplinary design studio based in Toronto with additional studios in Barcelona, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.The firm's European expansion began through a chance meeting in New York between Mekhayech and private equity investor Josh Wyatt, who was launching a hospitality fund in the United Kingd
Issued For Construction AD: Philip Evans - ERA Architects
Philip Evans is a Principal at ERA Architects, a Toronto based heritage and adaptive reuse practice with studios across Canada. He was born in Newfoundland, descended from generations of shipbuilders from the Notre Dame Bay and Greenspond areas, and moved with his family to Ontario as a young child, eventually settling in Brampton, where he attended Mayfield Secondary School's visual arts program.
Issued For Construction ID: Allen Chan, Anwar Mekhayech, & Matt Davis - DesignAgency Pt.1
Matt Davis, Allen Chan, and Anwar Mekhayech are the three co-founders of DesignAgency, a Toronto-based multidisciplinary studio they launched together in 1998 under the original name Precipice Studios.Matt grew up in Mount Zion, Ontario, on a twelve-acre hobby farm where he developed an early affinity for building and working with tools. He studied landscape architecture at the University of Toron
Issued For Construction AD: Kregg Fordyce - StudioDEEP
Kregg Fordyce is a Toronto-based architect, urban planner, and the founder of studioDEEP+, a multidisciplinary practice operating at the intersection of architecture and spatial planning. Born in Sudbury, Ontario, Kregg spent his earliest years in Capreol, a small community about an hour north of Sudbury, before his family relocated to the Niagara region, where he completed his schooling at E.L. C
Issued For Construction ID: Gabrielle Kozhukh-Joo - Mindwell Design
Gabrielle Kozhukh-Joo is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Mindwell Design, a Toronto based interior design studio recognized as the first neuroaesthetic design firm in Canada and the United States. She was born and raised in North York, Ontario, the daughter of Ukrainian immigrant parents who came to Canada in 1990. Her mother ran multiple small businesses, including a home daycare, whil
Issued For Construction AD: Alex Josephson - Partisans
Alex Josephson is a Toronto-born architect and the founder of PARTISANS, an award-winning architecture and design studio incorporated in Toronto in 2013. Growing up with an early affinity for tactile art and drawing, Josephson pursued architecture against the advice of those around him, treating it as a form of rebellion that ultimately gave him direction and purpose.He studied architecture at the
Issued For Construction ID: Rebecca Axler - RTG Designs
Rebecca Axler is a Toronto-based interior designer and the founder of RTG Designs, a full-service residential design firm specializing in projects ranging from renovations and new builds to room-by-room transformations.Born and raised in Toronto, Rebecca grew up in the North York area and attended York Mills Collegiate Institute. A lifelong curiosity about design and space, sparked during her pare
Issued For Construciton AD: Steve Euser - DEW (Dan Euser Waterarchitecture)
Steve Euser is a landscape architect and water feature designer based in Toronto, Ontario. Raised in the suburbs of Toronto, he was a creative and outdoors-oriented child, spending summers camping in Ontario's provincial parks, sketching, painting in watercolor, and building things by hand. His early aptitude for art led him to informally co-teach art classes at his school by grade seven, covering
Issued For Construction ID: Vanessa Eckstein - Blok Design
Vanessa Eckstein is the founder and creative director of Blok Design, a Toronto-based graphic design studio with a global reach. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Vanessa was immersed in the arts from an early age, studying painting as a child under a celebrated surrealist painter in the La Boca neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. She went on to earn her undergraduate degree in graphic design from the U
Issued For Construction AD: Nilton Forest - Office of Sustainable Design & Architecture (OSDA)
Nilton Forest is a licensed architect, Passive House consultant (PHIUS), and the founder of osda (Office for Sustainable Design Architecture), based in Saint John, New Brunswick. Raised in Taipei, Taiwan, by his mother, Nilton spent much of his formative years in the company of English neighbours from Carlisle who were visiting academics conducting research at the National Palace Museum. That earl
Issued For Construciton ID: Jorge Eckstein - El Zanjón
Jorge Eckstein is a Buenos Aires-born chemical engineer and entrepreneur whose unlikely second act has become one of Argentina's most celebrated acts of cultural preservation. Raised in Buenos Aires by Hungarian immigrant parents, he built a successful career spanning more than 30 years in the specialty oils and animal fats industry, supplying international companies including Shell, Exxon, Pfizer
Issued For Construction AD: Monica Adair & Stephen Kopp - Acre Architects
Monica Adair and Stephen Kopp are the founding partners of Acre Architects, an architectural practice with offices in Saint John, New Brunswick, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Raised in the prairie town of Morden, Manitoba, Stephen developed an early passion for art and mathematics, earning his undergraduate architecture degree from the University of Manitoba before practicing in Stuttgart, Germany. Mo
Issued For Construction ID: Gelanaz Hemati - Gelanaz & Associates
Gelanaz Hemati is a Toronto interior designer and founder of Gelanaz and Associates. Raised in Tehran, Iran, as the youngest of three siblings, her interest in construction was sparked by her businessman father, who built the family home and cottage. Though initially discouraged by a teacher, Gelanaz mastered painting step by step, eventually exhibiting her art and studying under the renowned Iran
Issued For Construction AD: Moran Olsha, Supreet Barhay, & Zenon Radewych - WZMH Architects
Established in 1961 as Webb Zerafa Menkès Housden, WZMH Architects is synonymous with the Canadian built environment and recognized as the architect of record for the iconic CN Tower. Originally defined by towering office developments, the firm diversified across retail, residential, master planning, and high security civic projects. Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, WZMH recently expanded its
Issued For Construction ID: François Roupinian - Lightemotion
François Roupinian is a globally recognized lighting designer and the founder of Lightemotion. Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, François discovered his passion for illumination during his youth. His early creative experiments included building custom concrete and metal lamps in his bedroom. Listeners can head over to Instagram this week to view exclusive story photos of these teenage creations
Issued For Construction AD: Alex Bozikovic - The Globe and Mail
Alex Bozikovic is the architecture critic for The Globe and Mail and a leading voice on urban design, city planning, and housing politics in Canada. Born and raised in the North York region of Toronto, he grew up exploring the varied built environments of the city. His early experiences visiting his immigrant grandparents in slab apartment towers across Toronto shaped his deep appreciation for urb
Issued For Construction ID: Jake Oliveira - Jake Oliveira Studio
Jake Olivera is a talented product and industrial designer based in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in Cambridge, Ontario, Jake was deeply influenced by his Portuguese heritage and a family environment that encouraged spirited debate, independence, and hands on learning.He holds a Bachelor of Design from the joint program between York University and Sheridan College. Early in his career, Jake in
Issued For Construction AD: Zoë Coombes - The Neptis Foundation
Zoë Coombes is an architectural designer and the Executive and Creative Director of the Neptis Foundation. Raised in her hometown of Toronto near Bathurst and Bloor, she was influenced by her father, Tony Coombes, who served as Chief Planner for Central Toronto. She completed a Foundation Year Program at the University of King's College in Halifax, an urban history degree, and a Master of Architec
Issued For Construction ID: Uarda Kellezi - Studio Kellezi
Born in Tirana, Albania, Uarda Kellezi is an architectural and interior designer whose professional journey is defined by a blend of European cultural immersion and rigorous technical training. The daughter of a diplomat, Uarda spent her formative years navigating a life between Italy, Albania, and Canada, a transition that fostered her deep appreciation for history, art, and the identity of built
Issued For Construction AD: Matthew Kennedy & Mark Erickson - Studio North
Matthew Kennedy and Mark Erickson are the founders of Studio North, an architectural design practice based in Calgary, Alberta.Matthew was born in Halifax and raised in Calgary. Encouraged by his entrepreneurial parents, he discovered a passion for woodworking early on and trained as a journeyman finishing carpenter. He studied urban design at the University of Calgary before completing his archit
Issued For Construction ID: Diego Burdi & Paul Filek - BURDIFILEK
Diego Burdi and Paul Filek are the cofounders of Burdifilek, a global interior design studio established in 1993.Diego Burdi, the firm's Creative Director, was born and raised in Scarborough. A first generation Canadian of Italian descent, he attended Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts before studying interior design at Toronto Metropolitan University.Paul Filek, the managing partner, grew
Issued For Construction AD: Carol Phillips - Moriyama Teshima Architects
Born in Georgetown, Guyana, Carol Phillips is a formidable leader in the Canadian architecture industry and a Partner at the renowned firm Moriyama Teshima Architects (MTA). Her design philosophy is deeply rooted in her upbringing in a "Demerara style" wooden home—a traditional structure raised on concrete piers with louvered "hopper" windows—in a country below sea level. This
Issued For Construction ID: Eva Healy - Avenue Design
Eva Healy is the founder and principal designer of Avenue Design, a premier interior design firm specializing in large scale residential new builds and major renovations. Born in Warsaw, Poland, Eva immigrated to Canada at age six and grew up in Toronto. After completing an honours double major in Psychology and Law and Society at York University, she pursued her true passion, graduating from an a
Issued For Construction AD: Kate Fox Whyte - Fox Whyte Landscape Architecture & Design
Kate Fox Whyte leads Fox Whyte Landscape Architecture and Design, a Toronto based firm specializing in residential and commercial spaces. Born in Calgary and raised in Peterborough, Kate moved to Toronto in grade four. She developed her creative skills at the Claude Watson School for the Arts and Earl Haig Secondary School before earning a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of
Issued For Construction ID: Natasha Popek-Konieczko - Common Good Studio
Natasha Popek-Konieczko is a Toronto based interior designer and the principal of Common Good Studio. Born in Newmarket and raised in Mississauga, Ontario, she grew up in a creative environment that prioritized imaginative play. Her upbringing, influenced by her father’s machinery business and her mother’s independent professional style, fostered the entrepreneurial spirit that defines her career
Issued For Construction AD: Michael Leckie - Leckie Studio
Michael Leckie is an architect whose career reflects a deep fascination with the poetry of organization and the intersection of artistry and invention. Born and raised in Toronto, specifically near Avenue Road and Wilson, Michael’s early creative impulses were shaped by studying the intricate cutaway illustrations of ancient structures and spending his youth drawing hideouts and pyramids.Before de
Issued For Construction ID: George Yabu & Glenn Pushelberg - Yabu Pushelberg
George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg are the visionary founders of Yabu Pushelberg, a holistic design practice celebrated globally for its evocative and multidisciplinary approach. Since establishing their firm in 1980, the duo has expanded from a shared studio in Toronto to a world-renowned practice with offices in Toronto and New York, and a growing presence in Milan. With a career spanning over fou
Issued For Construction AD: Omar Gandhi - Omar Gandhi Architects
With the launch of the rebrand, it is only fitting to start off with a name synonymous with Canadian Architecture...Omar Gandhi is the principal and founder of Omar Gandhi Architects. Born in Toronto and raised in Brampton, Ontario, his passion for the arts was cultivated at Mayfield Secondary School in Caledon. Supported by his father and educators, Omar pursued architecture, beginning his studie
Behind the Build: Goli Basiri - Harmen Design
Goli Basiri is a co-founder and principal designer of Harmen Design, an architecture and interior design studio based in Oakville, Ontario, serving clients across the Greater Toronto Area. Born and raised in Mashhad, Iran, she developed an early sensitivity to the emotional impact of space, shaped by childhood experiences visiting family homes and observing how the environment influences comfort a
Behind the Build AD: Brad Abbott - Abbott Design
Brad Abbott is the founder and principal designer of Abbott Design, based in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he grew up in a family of physicians and was a lifelong sketcher, known in school for being pulled from class to draw murals for community and holiday events. He played hockey and became an avid skier early on, spending weekends in Manitoba’s Pembina River Valley in
Behind the Build ID: Carly Nemtean - Collective Workspace & Carriage Lane Design Build
Carly Nemtean is a Toronto born interior designer and entrepreneur, and the co-owner of Carriage Lane Design Build, a residential design and construction firm she has led for more than seventeen years. Her interest in spatial planning began early, through hands on experimentation with building, room layouts, and material changes at home, and later developed into a clear professional path. While st
Behind the Build AD: Luigi Ferrara - Conifer Futures Group
Luigi Ferrara is an architect, urbanist, designer, and design strategist based in Toronto, where he was born and raised in the Downsview area of North York. He is the son of Italian parents from Abruzzo who immigrated to Canada after the Second World War, and he grew up in a close knit extended family community that blended agrarian traditions with postwar industrial life. Early exposure to art, m
Behind the Build ID: Brooke Michelsen - Brooke Michelsen Design
Brooke Michelsen is an interior designer and the founder of Brooke Michelsen Design, based in Vermont. Born and raised in southern Vermont, she grew up in Manchester and later Dorset, where she spent her childhood immersed in the outdoors. She is the third of four children, with two older sisters and a younger brother. Her early life was shaped by a strong connection to nature, including cross cou
Behind the Build AD: Ludwig Godefroy - Ludwig Godefroy Architect
Ludwig Godefroy is a French architect born in Gouville-sur-Mer, a small fishing village of roughly 1,000 inhabitants on the Normandy coast, facing the Atlantic Ocean. Raised in a rural environment shaped by craftsmanship, tides, and the honesty of manual labor, his early life was deeply influenced by place. He later moved to Paris to study architecture and graduated from the École d’Architecture d
Behind the Build ID: Meg Cassidy - Studio Meg Cassidy
Meg Cassidy is a Toronto based interior designer and the founder of Studio Meg Cassidy, which she established in 2017. She grew up in Waterloo, Ontario, in a family shaped by both academic and entrepreneurial influences. Her father played professional hockey before becoming a teacher, and her mother owned a modeling agency. Cassidy was a competitive dancer for 13 years, attended an arts focused hi
Behind the Build AD: Anya Moryoussef - Anya Moryoussef Architect
Anya Moryoussef is an architect based in Toronto, where she was born and raised. She is the child of immigrant parents, with her mother arriving from South Africa and her father from Morocco in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Growing up, she was deeply introspective and drawn to solitary creative pursuits, including drawing, making objects, and extended imaginative play. Her early interest in art
Behind the Build ID: Dyonne Fashina - Denizens of Design
Dyonne Fashina is the founder of Denizens of Design, a Toronto based interior design practice working across hospitality, commercial, and cultural projects. She grew up in Hockley Valley, just north of Orangeville, on a seven acre property with a creek connected to the Nottawasaga River. Her earliest creative experiences came from working with clay found along the creek, forming objects by hand, w
Behind the Build AD: Stefano Pujatti - ElasticoSPA (ElasticoFARM)
Stefano Pujatti is an Italian architect and designer, born in Budoia near Pordenone in northeastern Italy, north of Venice. He grew up in a rural environment close to a NATO base, an experience that exposed him early to international culture and different perspectives. From a young age he was drawn to construction, farming, and horses, beginning to ride early and maintaining a lifelong connection
Behind the Build ID: Ashley Botten - Ashley Botten Design
Ashley Botten is a Toronto based interior designer and the founder of Ashley Botten Design. Raised in Toronto’s Lawrence Park neighbourhood, her earliest connection to design began in childhood through an intuitive relationship with space, furniture arrangement, and atmosphere. That sensitivity was shaped by time spent rearranging her bedroom, careful attention to objects and materials, and freque
Behind the Build AD: Robert Micacchi - Micacchi Architecture
Robert Micacchi is an architect from Woodstock, Ontario, and the founder of Micacchi Architecture, based in Toronto. The son of an engineer in the forestry equipment industry and a kindergarten teacher, he was drawing floor plans from an early age, inspired by technical drawings brought home from work and by the modernist home of a local architect in his neighbourhood. With Italian family roots an
Behind the Build ID: Tommy Smythe - TOM Design Collective
Tommy Smythe is a Toronto born interior designer and former television host whose work is defined by authenticity, personal narrative, and a deep belief in the power of environment to shape daily life. Raised in Toronto, he spent his school years in the city, summers in the Muskoka Lakes, and winter holidays largely in Palm Beach, experiences that exposed him early to contrasting lifestyles, archi
Behind the Build AD: Brad Bradford - City Councilor
Brad Bradford is a Toronto city councillor and an urban planner by training. He grew up in suburban Hamilton, raised by his single mother alongside two siblings, and later moved to Hespeler, a community within Cambridge, Ontario, where he finished high school. An active kid, he spent much of his childhood figure skating at the Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena and Skating Centre, training and competi
Behind the Build ID: Jessica Nakanishi & Jonathan Sabine - MSDS Studio
Jessica Nakanishi and Jonathan Sabine are the founders and principals of MSDS Studio, a Toronto based multidisciplinary design practice working across interiors, furniture, lighting, and product design. Jessica grew up in Mississauga, Ontario, and traces her early material curiosity to building alongside her father in millwork settings. She later worked at the skate shop West 49, where assembling
Behind the Build AD: Jon Cummings - JC-A
Jon Cummings is a Toronto based architect and educator who grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario. After early interests in drawing, painting, sculpture, and ceramics, his path toward architecture deepened through travel and close study of the built environment, including formative time in Italy and exposure to historic and contemporary works.He studied architecture at the University of Waterl
Behind the Build ID: Laura Stein - Laura Stein Consulting & Interiors
Toronto based interior designer Laura Stein grew up in the city and is the founder of Laura Stein Interiors and LSI Workshop, a business she created to mentor and support interior decorators and designers. A lifelong creative, she discovered her love of spaces at twelve when she was allowed to redesign her childhood bedroom, sparking a lasting fascination with textiles, colour, and the way rooms f
Behind the Build AD: Jason Fung - Jason Fung Architects
Jason Fung is the founder and principal of Jason Fung Architect, a boutique architecture practice based in Toronto, Canada. He grew up in Markham, Ontario, in a middle income household where his parents encouraged both academic rigor and creative exploration. Alongside strong grounding in math and science at school, he spent weekends in visual art classes and piano lessons, developing early skills
Behind the Build ID: Marti Gallucci - Mason Studio
Marti Gallucci is a Partner and Design Director at Mason Studio, where she has been a key part of the firm’s evolution for over 13 years. She joined the studio as an intern during her fourth year of university, became its first employee, and has grown alongside the practice as it expanded into a multidisciplinary team of approximately 25 people. Her work spans hospitality, restaurants, hotels, pri
Behind the Build AD: Nicolas Koff, Sebastien Bartnicki, Uros Novakovic - Office Ou
Nicolas Koff, Uros Novakovic, and Sebastian Bartnicki are the founding partners of Office Ou, a practice shaped as much by lived experience and cultural memory as by formal architectural training. Each arrived at architecture indirectly, carrying with them deep impressions of place, history, and making that would later converge into a shared way of working.Nico grew up in Paris, fascinated by arch
Behind the Build ID: Lara Nancy - LN Studio
Lara Nancy Cupido is a Toronto born interior designer and the founder and principal of LN Studio, a full service firm based in Caledon, Ontario. Raised just north of Toronto in an Italian family with an artistic mother and entrepreneurial father, she grew up with a natural blend of creativity and business sense that now underpins her practice.Lara discovered design at the University of Toronto, wh
Behind the Build AD: Kevin Weiss - Weiss Architecture & Urbanism
Born in Medicine Hat and raised across the Prairies, Kevin Weiss grew up moving from city to city, an experience that shaped his appreciation for stability and place. A competitive 1500-metre runner in his youth, he also spent countless hours drawing, experimenting with printmaking, and silkscreening at home. Those creative roots eventually steered him toward architecture, where mentors like Barry
Behind the Build ID: Jane Lockhart - Jane Lockhart Design
Jane Lockhart is a Toronto-based interior designer, television personality, author, and colour expert whose career spans nearly three decades. She founded Jane Lockhart Design in 1997, building on technical training, hands-on work, and a formative early career with Benjamin Moore, where she developed deep expertise in colour, materials, and store planning.Raised in Etobicoke, Toronto, Jane’s passi
Behind the Build Roundtable Series: The Missing Middle - ft. Naama Blonder, Sue-Jean Chung, Evan Saskin & Gabriel Fain
The first roundtable series: The Missing Middle, is a candid conversation on how cities can deliver more housing at a scale between single family homes and towers. The talented panel brings together Naama Blonder of Smart Density, Sue-Jean Chung of Studio JCI, Evan Saskin of Blue Lion Building, and Gabriel Fain of Gabriel Fain Architects. Together they unpack what the missing middle means, why it
Behind the Build: Arancha González Bernardo & Michael Fohring - Odami
Arancha González Bernardo and Michael Fohring are the co-founders of Odami, a Toronto-based architecture and design studio shaped by their international backgrounds and complementary creative perspectives. Arancha, originally from Avilés in Asturias, Spain, grew up surrounded by her family’s fabric and clothing shops, where her early interest in making and material exploration first took form. She
Behind the Build: Murray Legge - Murray Legge Architecture
Murray Legge is an award-winning architect based in Austin, Texas, originally from Whitevale, Ontario, a rural community outside Toronto. Growing up surrounded by farmland while his father worked as an aeronautical engineer and his mother as a nurse, Murray developed an appreciation for craft, structure, and precision early in life.Initially drawn to art and photography with ambitions of becoming
Behind the Build: Jeff Cogliati - Bloom Architects
Jeff Cogliati is a Canadian architect and the founder of Bloom Architects, an emerging Toronto-based studio recognized as one of the country’s first fully AI driven architecture practices. Born and raised in Windsor, 1Ontario, Jeff’s early exposure to Detroit’s rich Art Deco skyline shaped his lifelong interest in design. He began his architectural education at St. Clair College and later transfer
Behind the Build: Aleris Rodgers & Francesco Valente-Gorjup - Studio Vaaro
Aleris Rodgers and Francesco Valente-Gorjup are the co-founders of Studio VAARO, a Toronto architecture practice focused on thoughtful, holistic design from concept through construction. They met while completing their Master of Architecture at UCLA and later worked in Europe and Asia, including several years with Herzog & de Meuron. There, Francesco developed deep expertise in façades and bui
Behind the Build: Jason Halter - Wonder Inc.
Jason Halter is a Toronto-based designer and founder of Wonder Inc, an interdisciplinary studio known for its explorations in modular and prefabricated construction, small-scale architectural design, and graphic and spatial design. Raised in Winnipeg in a creative family surrounded by books, art, and discussions of building, he developed an early fascination with design while spending time on cons
Behind the Build: Pat Hanson - gh3*
Pat Hanson is a founding principal of gh3*, a Toronto-based architecture, landscape, and urban design practice recognized for its clarity, precision, and integration of natural and built form. Raised in a Norwegian-Italian farming community near Regina, Saskatchewan, she developed an early affinity for making and exploring the outdoors before studying fine art and later discovering architecture at
Behind the Build: Robert Davidov - Davidov Architects
Robert Davidov is the founder and director of Davidov Architects, a Melbourne-based architecture and interiors practice established in 2011. His studio focuses on residential work across metropolitan Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula, from new homes and multi-residential developments to heritage alterations and additions, applying a pared-back, materially expressive approach.Raised in Melbour
Behind the Build: Marianne McKenna, Shirley Blumberg, Bruce Kuwabara - KPMB The Founders
For the first time ever, Bruce Kuwabara, Marianne McKenna, and Shirley Blumberg sit down together to share the story of founding KPMB and shaping it into one of Canada’s most influential architectural practices. Established in 1987, KPMB has earned more than 400 awards, including 18 Governor General Medals in Architecture, and completed over 31 million square feet of projects spanning education, h
Behind the Build: Kelly Alvarez Doran - Ha/f Climate Design
In this episode of Behind the Build, Kelly Alvarez Doran joins, both architect and co-founder of Ha/f Climate Design. Based in London and working internationally, Kelly shares the journey that led him from growing up in Winnipeg, studying at the University of Manitoba and the University of Toronto, to practicing across Africa and Europe before launching his practice.Ha/f Climate Design emerged fro
Behind the Build: Magnus Ström - Ström Architects
Magnus Ström is the founder and Principal Architect of Ström Architects, a UK-based practice internationally recognized for its refined, modernist approach to residential design. Originally from Sweden, Magnus was surrounded by functionalist architecture from an early age—drawn to clean lines and minimalist forms that would later define his work. His parents’ hands-on building projects and honest
Behind the Build: Andrew Kline - Workshop APD
Andrew Kline, Principal at Workshop APD, joins Behind the Build to share a career built on craft, risk, and mentorship. Raised in rural Ohio, his creativity was first inspired by his grandfather, a graphic artist, and nurtured by art teacher Lois Bachman, who encouraged him to pursue art school. After studying at Columbus College of Art & Design and completing a master’s at Cranbrook Academy o
Behind the Build: Waterloo University Alumni - Carol Phillips, Robert Kastelic, Lisa D'Abbondanza, & Drew Mandel
This episode was recorded live at the University of Waterloo before an audience of students, alumni, and colleagues. Four graduates returned to share their journeys: Carol Phillips (Moriyama Teshima Architects), Lisa D’Abbondanza (Arcadis), Robert Kastelic (Atelier Kastelic Buffey—AKB), and Drew Mandel (Drew Mandel Architects—DMA). Together they reflected on choosing Waterloo, the impact of its cu
Behind the Build: Katherine Chia - Desai Chia Architecture
Katherine Chia, FAIA, is the co-founder and co-principal of Desai | Chia Architecture, a New York City practice she leads with her husband and partner, Arjun Desai.Her path to architecture began with a childhood immersed in creativity. Inspired by her grandfather’s woodworking and Chinese brush painting, Kathy developed an early love of making. At Amherst College she pursued a liberal arts educati
Behind the Build: Evan Saskin - Blue Lion Building
Evan Saskin is an architect, builder, and founder of Blue Lion Building, an architect-led design-build practice in Toronto and now, Halifax, Nova Scotia, dedicated to creating thoughtful infill housing. Raised in a family steeped in construction—his grandfather an engineer and his father a McGill-trained architect and builder—Evan grew up surrounded by drafting tables and construction sites. Child
Behind the Build: Gordon Magnin - Magnin Architecture
Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, Gordon Magnin discovered his creative spark early through visits to an architect’s studio where renderings and model building captivated his imagination, his interest in art, drawing and technical design guiding him through middle and high school. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Structural Engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno, then practiced as a str
Behind the Build: Matthew Bishop & Lucas McDowell: Bishop McDowell
Bishop McDowell is a design-forward architecture practice based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, co-founded by Matthew Bishop and Lucas McDowell in May 2024. Long-time collaborators, the two met while working at a Halifax-based architecture firm, where they spent years refining their skills on residential projects and developing a mutual respect for each other’s approach to design, detail, and constructio
