BEAT is thrilled for the next edition in our Dinner Series!!

BEAT believes that every conversation counts and works to create inviting contexts that foster open dialogue. Each BEAT Dinner is hosted at a remarkable Toronto restaurant. A highlight of this event is that a different VIP guest of honour will be invited to each dinner.

We are honoured that the featured guest of the upcoming BEAT Dinner will be Elizabeth Whittaker.

BEAT is a volunteer-run organization made up of architects, designers, leaders, and entrepreneurs creating opportunities for community-building, advocacy, networking, and mentorship.

About Elizabeth Whittaker

Elizabeth Whittaker AIA
Founder/Principal, MERGE architects
Associate Professor in Practice of Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design

Elizabeth Whittaker is an Associate Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she has been teaching Core Architecture Studios since 2009, and was the Lead Faculty in Architecture in the Design Discovery Summer Program from 2011-2015.

Elizabeth is also founder and principal of MERGE architects, based in Boston since 2003. Her work at MERGE aims at developing contemporary craft, transforming typologies, and addressing social ecologies throughout the US. Her practice operates at multiple scales through commercial, institutional, retail, private residential, multi-family housing, graphic and furniture design. The office works side-by-side with teams of fabricators, artists, craftsmen and engineers to produce an architecture that embraces the art of making within a larger agenda: to re-define the urban and social boundaries in and around the city. The work combines both digital fabrication and the hand made by working through a cross-disciplinary as well a cross-production process.

The work of MERGE has been widely published both nationally and internationally and has received multiple awards including twenty-eight AIA/BSA awards. Elizabeth is the recipient of the AIA Young Architects Award, Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard, the Architectural League of New York ‘Emerging Voices’ Award, and the recipient of Architectural Record’s 2017 Women in Architecture ‘Next Generation Leader’ Award – an honor bestowed upon one female architect in the U.S. each year. She is currently serving as an Industry Advisory Group (IAG) member for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Building Operations (OBO), advising on U.S. architectural projects throughout the world. Elizabeth was recently nominated for election to the AIA College of Fellows, the American Institute of Architects’ highest honor for contributions to the profession.

Elizabeth graduated from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design with Distinction where she received numerous awards during her graduate studies including the Araldo A. Cossutta Prize/Core Studio Prize, the Faculty Design Award, and the John E. Thayer Award for overall academic achievement. Elizabeth approaches architecture as a discipline embedded in both practice and academia. She has taught design studios in several Architecture programs including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Northeastern University, and the Boston Architectural College. She is also a regular guest critic at several institutions including Columbia University, Yale University, MIT, University of Michigan, Rhode Island School of Design, and Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture.

About MERGE architects:

Merge is an architectural practice that uncovers opportunities for invention in the ordinary. Merge creates exuberant social spaces, experiment upon existing typologies, and develop contemporary craft methods to transform our cities, buildings, and interior worlds. Merge reimagines common materials, building types, and experiences through broad research and in-depth iteration. This method is applied across program, place, shape and scale; from master planning to furniture design, ground-up buildings to interior renovations. Merge engages a diverse team of designers, engineers, fabricators, clients, and communities to realize the latent potential of every project and site. Great design is distilled from a collective of many voices; it’s in their name.

Merge is driven by an unrelenting curiosity, optimism, and urgency to change our built environment for the better.

More about Merge at www.mergearchitects.com

Tickets

$90 - The ticket price is all inclusive. It includes wine, gratuity, and tax as well as any additional Eventbrite fees.

Location

Terroni Queen
720 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON

Event Schedule

7:00 - 10:00pm BEAT Dinner

Menu

APRISTOMACO
Served Family Style

Funghi Assoluti
oyster mushrooms baked with parmigiano, bread crumbs, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic,balsamic vinegar, arugula

Caprese
seasonal tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala, basil, extra-virgin olive oil, oregano

PIZZE
Served Family Style

Pizza di Sofia
tomato, mozzarella, sweet genoa salame

Da Dó a Dà
tomato, mozzarella, goat cheese, eggplant, roasted red peppers

PRIMI
Served Family Style

Garganelli al Limone
spinach, capers, Parmigiano Reggiano shavings, lemon, extra-virgin olive oil

Rigatoni alla Bolognese
traditional Bolognese ragù (pork & beef), parmigiana

DOLCI

Tiramisù
mini espresso soaked savoiardi, mascarpone

*all olives have their pits
*please advise of any allergies as not all ingredients are listed

BEAT dinner series is back!!  

BEAT believes that every conversation counts and works to create inviting contexts that foster open dialogue. Each BEAT Dinner is hosted at a remarkable Toronto restaurant. A highlight of this event is that a different VIP guest of honour will be invited to each dinner.

We are honoured that the featured guest of the upcoming BEAT Dinner will be Eladia Smoke.

About Eladia Smoke | KaaSheGaaBaaWeak

Eladia Smoke | KaaSheGaaBaaWeak
MArch | OAA | OAQ | MAA | FRAIC | LEED®AP
Principal Architect, Smoke Architecture Inc.

KaaSheGaaBaaWeak | Eladia Smoke is Anishinaabekwe from Obishikokaang | Lac Seul First Nation, with family roots in Alderville First Nation, Winnipeg, and Toronto. Eladia has worked in architecture since 2002, and founded Smoke Architecture as principal architect in 2014. She is the first Anishinabekwe architect in Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, as well as the third Indigenous woman licensed as an architect in Canada. She taught as a Master Lecturer at Laurentian’s McEwen School of Architecture from 2016 to 2022. She serves as a founding member of RAIC’s Indigenous Task Force. Eladia represented Canada at the 2018 Venice Biennale Unceded exhibition as part of an international team of Indigenous designers and architects. Current professional work includes community-based and institutional projects working alongside Indigenous stakeholders, collaborating with First Nation communities, and listening closely to our Elders.

About Smoke Architecture

Smoke Architecture is Anishinaabeg owned and operated. Providing complete architectural services since 2014, we focus on First Nation and Indigenous projects. Our clients, guided by Elders and community leaders, hold millenia of expertise on how and what to build in our traditional territories. Smoke Architecture exists to support your success.

Their design process is guided by and responsible to our clients. The path we take rediscovers Indigenous knowledge in contemporary contexts. This process of land-based learning applies to each project we undertake, using engagement tools, design techniques, and building systems crafted specifically for each community and each place.

More about Smoke Architecture at https://www.smokearchitecture.com/

Location

Terroni Queen, 720 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON

Event Schedule

8:00 PM  - 10:00 PM

Mark your calendars! Tickets will go on sale on Wednesday, November 1st at 12:00pm.

BEAT dinner series is bimonthly dinner with access to sensational food and stimulating conversation. BEAT believes that every conversation counts and works to create inviting contexts that foster open dialogue. Each BEAT dinner is hosted at a remarkable Toronto restaurant. A highlight of this event is that a different VIP guest of honour will be invited to each dinner.

We are honoured that the featured guest of the upcoming BEAT Dinner will be Tina Gregoric.

Tina Gregoric

Tina Gregoric co-founded the architectural practice Dekleva Gregoric Architects together with her partner Aljosa Dekleva in Ljubljana, Slovenia, soon after completing her education at the Architectural Association in London. Alongside their architectural practice they are both intensively involved in reshaping approaches to architectural education. She has been lecturing and teaching at the AA in London, the FA in Ljubljana and UIAV in Venice among others, prior to teaching architectural design at University of Technology Graz, Austria from 2002-2004. 

Since 2014 Tina has been a Full Professor of Architecture and Head of the Department of Architectural Typology at the Institute of Architecture and Design at University of Technology Vienna, Austria. Currently she is teaching in Toronto together with Aljosa as Frank Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architectural Designat  John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture Landscape and Design at University of Toronto, therefore they recently moved to Toronto together with their son.

Tina graduated from the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana (2000) and later received post-graduate Master degree in Architecture with Distinction at the AA (2002). She is the co-author of the book Negotiate my boundary!, published by AA Publications and Birkhauser exploring mass-customization of collective housing, user participation and novel social scenarios. The book received intense professional attention, related particularly to the social models of sharing and co-habitation. 

The award-winning practice Dekleva Gregoric architects attempts to pursue the concept of ‘research by design’ and ‘design by research’ through diverse projects, different scales and programs as well as diverse climates and localities. The Understanding of specific constrains and conditions of the context becomes the ultimate generative tool that aims to challenge the obvious. The user experience of architecture and participation continue to constitute the practice’s central objective.

Their built projects and research have received many international and national awards; among others, four nominations and one selection for the Mies van der Rohe Award, WAN House of the Year 2015 Award, Best architects 16 Award, and commendation in AR House Award 2015, by Architectural Review. In 2013 the practice was named Highly Commended at the 21 for 21 WAN AWARDS 2012 – a search for “the 21 architects for the 21st century. The initiative aims to highlight outstanding, forward-thinking people and organizations who have the demonstrable potential to be the next big thing in the architectural world.”

Since 2014 Tina and Aljosa are leading a distinctive design research defined as nanotourism, a participatory, locally oriented alternative to the current downsides of conventional tourism. Together with their research team at BIO50 - Biennial of Design they received the biennial’s highest honor – Best Collaboration Award. As curators of Slovenian national pavilion at Venice Architectural Biennale 2016 they addressed the topics of home and dwelling as current, critical social and environmental issues with [Home at Arsenale] - a curated library addressing the notions of home and dwelling performing within a 1:1 site-specific inhabitable spatial wooden structure. Alongside their architectural practice, they are intensively involved in reshaping approaches to architectural education. They lecture extensively presenting their practice and their research. They tend to continuously question the role of architecture in an attempt to improve our society.

Tickets will be available via Eventbrite starting November 7th.

BEAT dinner series is bimonthly dinner with access to sensational food and stimulating conversation. BEAT believes that every conversation counts and works to create inviting contexts that foster open dialogue. Each BEAT dinner is hosted at a remarkable Toronto restaurant. A highlight of this event is that a different VIP guest of honour will be invited to each dinner.

We are honoured that the featured guest of the upcoming BEAT Dinner will be Mariana Ibanez.

Mariana Ibanez

Mariana Ibañez is an Argentinian architect involved in practice, academia, and research. She is Associate Professor of Architecture at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, and co-founder of Ibañez Kim. Before joining MIT, Mariana taught at Harvard University Graduate School of Design for eleven years as Assistant and Associate Professor. She is an external examiner for the Architectural Association, and is on the awards jury of the Boston Society of Architects, the MacDowell Colony, and the Rotch foundation. 

As an academic and editor, Mariana’s research is in the disciplinary core of architecture and its growing periphery, with a focus on the relationship among technology, culture, and the environment. Her recent publications include Paradigms in Computing by ACTAR D, and Organization or Design, published by a + t. 

Mariana has a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Buenos Aires, and a Master of Architecture and Urbanism from the Architectural Association in London where she received thesis honours. Upon completing her graduate studies, she worked at the Advanced Geometry Unit at ARUP before joining Zaha Hadid Architects where she was Project Architect for the London Aquatic Centre for the 2012 Olympic Games, among other projects. 

Mariana has exhibited work at the MoMA New York, the MAXXI Museum in Rome, and The National Art Museum in Beijing, with projects for the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.

BEAT dinner series is bimonthly dinner with access to sensational food and stimulating conversation. BEAT believes that every conversation counts and works to create inviting contexts that foster open dialogue. Each BEAT dinner is hosted at a remarkable Toronto restaurant. A highlight of this event is that a different VIP guest of honour will be invited to each dinner.

We are honoured that our featured guests of the upcoming BEAT Dinner are Elisapeta (Peta) Heta and Jade Kake.

Elisapeta Heta

Elisapeta Heta is an engaged and politically active artist and graduate of architecture. Brought up in Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau, she was entrenched in the realities of urban Māori and second-generation diaspora Pacific Island families. She is now a Senior Associate at Jasmax, where she co-founded the Waka Maia collective, which works within design teams to embed a Māori world view into design outcomes, to facilitate political and cultural conversations, and to support in the upskilling of the office and its’ understanding of Te Ao Māori (the Māori world).

Elisapeta is interested in how space and place can have a positive impact on the lives of the communities in which they function, and takes every opportunity to mentor, support and run outreach programmes for Māori and Pacific Island youth. She has had significant involvement with many collectives, including Architecture+Women NZ and Ngā Aho – the national network of Māori design professionals. In 2016 she was co-opted to the Board of the New Zealand Institute of Architects to help implement Te Kawenata o Rata (a covenant) between Ngā Aho and the NZIA, recognising Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Jade Kake

Jade Kake (Ngāpuhi – Te Parawhau me Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Whakatōhea) is an architectural designer and writer. Through her studio Matakohe Architecture and Urbanism, she works with Māori organisations on marae, papakāinga and civic projects, and with mana whenua groups to express their cultural values and narratives through the design of their physical environments. She lives and works in Whangārei.

Jade is the producer and host of Indigenous Urbanism (available on iTunes and Spotify, or at www.indigenousurbanism.net), a place-based storytelling podcast about the spaces we inhabit, and the community drivers and practitioners who are shaping those environments and decolonising through design. She has written for a variety of housing and architecture magazines and contributed chapters to several books on architecture and urbanism. 

BEAT dinner series is bimonthly dinner with access to sensational food and stimulating conversation. BEAT believes that every conversation counts and works to create inviting contexts that foster open dialogue. Each BEAT dinner is hosted at a remarkable Toronto restaurant. A highlight of this event is that a different guest of honour will be invited to each dinner.

Erandi de Silva

Erandi de Silva is a British/Canadian architect and editor, currently based in Rwanda.

She is the founder of LOKÉ, a project that actively seeks to diversify architectural narratives. Her organization produces and sells design objects that raise funds to enable community building projects in low-income countries. Accompanying this work, she edits a design publication which examines the practice of making as an inclusive, international pursuit. Interviewees have included: Paris-based architect India Madhavi, artist Nick Cave, New Delhi-based fashion designers NorBlack NorWhite, design critic Alice Rawsthorn, Milan-based artist Nathalie du Pasquier, and many more.

She is a graduate of London's Architectural Association and is a registered architect in the United Kingdom. Her work has appeared in PIN-UP, Domus, Bidoun's With/Without, and is discussed in Keller Easterling's Extrastatecraft.

Limited tickets to the dinner will be available on Monday March 25, 2019 at noon.  All guests are required to be 19 years of age or older. See dinner menu below!

BEAT dinner series is bimonthly dinner with access to sensational food and stimulating conversation. BEAT believes that every conversation counts and works to create inviting contexts that foster open dialogue. Each BEAT dinner is hosted at a remarkable Toronto restaurant. A highlight of this event is that a different guest of honour will be invited to each dinner.

MARINA TABASSUM

We are honoured that our featured guest for the upcoming BEAT Dinner will be Marina Tabassum.

Marina Tabassum founded her firm in 2005 and is based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her practice is one that seeks to establish a language of architecture that is contemporary yet rooted in place. Her work is varied and focuses on community centres, public schools, museums and eco resorts.

Ms. Tabassum graduated from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 1995. The same year, she founded URBANA where she was a partner for 10 years. The most important project of this partnership is the Independence Monument of Bangladesh and the Museum of Independence designed in 1997 and completed in 2013.

Ms. Tabassum is the academic director of the Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements. She taught Design studio at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She taught Advanced Design Studio as visiting professor at the University of Texas in 2015 and in BRAC University from 2005 to 2010.

She is a member of the Steering Committee of Aga Khan Awards for Architecture. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Prokritee, a guaranteed Fare Trade organization that has empowered thousands of women and artisans of Bangladesh through export of handcrafted objects.

Ms. Tabassum won the Jameel Prize 5 in 2018. She is also a recipient of 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the Bait ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka. Her project the Pavilion Apartment was shortlisted for the Aga Khan Award in 2004. Ms. Tabassum received the AYA Award from India in 2004 for the project NEK10 located in Dhaka. She is a recipient of 2005 Ananya Shirshwa Dash Award, which recognizes women of Bangladesh with exceptional achievements.

Limited tickets to the dinner will be available. See dinner menu below!

MENU
SET PRIX-FIX MENU
Wine will be paired with the prix-fix dinner. Tea and/or coffee service will be offered with dessert.

--- ANTIPASTI ---
RED ROMAINE | avocado oil vinaigrette, pumpkin seeds
SOUP | daily soup choice
ARANCINI | provolone, truffle, mushrooms, tomato bomba

--- SECONDI ---
ARCTIC CHAR | cauliflower, chicory, fingerlings, almonds
POLLO ALLA DIAVOLA | spicy chicken, creamy fregola, kale
8oz BLACK ANGUS | roasted fingerlings, crispy brussels sprouts, panna fresca
RAVIOLI | spinach ricotta stuffed, zucchini, oven dried tomatoes, pecorino

--- DOLCE ---
CANNOLO | apricot-orange marmellata, mascarpone, white chocolate, pistachio
LEMON & VANILLA BUDINO | coconut shortbread, torched marshmallow, whipped cream
TIRAMISU | Italian cookies, espresso, mascarpone

BEAT dinner series is bimonthly dinner with access to sensational food and stimulating conversation. BEAT believes that every conversation counts and works to create inviting contexts that foster open dialogue.

KELLY BAIR

Kelly Bair is partner at BairBalliet (www.bairballiet.com).  BairBalliet is a joint design venture invested in architectural research in the form of both speculative and built projects. As designers we reference the current world around us, lean on a long history of precedents, and imagine what lies ahead in the form of two & three dimensional architectural projects. Bair’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including in the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial (2015), the 15th International Architecture Exhibition in the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2016) and MoMA PS1 as a Young Architects Program Finalist (2018) among others. 

Bair is the Director of Graduate Studies and an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Bair’s writing on architecture has been published in Project, Log, and Room One Thousand among others. She is also co-founder of Possible Mediums (www.possiblemediums.com), a collaborative of four architects and educators interested in shaking up the context and format in which architecture is taught, produced, and engaged. She is also co-author of the book, Possible Mediums published in 2018 by Actar.

We are honoured that our featured guest for the upcoming BEAT Dinner will be Joyce Hwang, Director of design office Ants of the Prairie.  BEAT successfully creates opportunities for local design community to network and foster open dialogue. Our dinners require an engagement with a delicious meal within a unique context and among incredible company.  

Joyce Hwang founded her Buffalo-based firm Ants of the Prairie in 2004 as an architecture and research practice “dedicated to developing creative approaches in confronting the pleasures and horrors of our contemporary ecologies.” Recent and ongoing projects such as Bat Tower (Ashford Hollow, New York), Bat Cloud (Tifft Nature Preserve, Buffalo, New York)—each in collaboration with biologist Katharina Dittmar and structural engineer Mark Bajorek—and bird and bat Habitat Wall realize her firm’s goal to “consider challenges posed by ecological conditions today, not as limitations, but rather as instigators for innovative practice.”

Hwang is also a Sessional Lecturer at University of Toronto John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

MENU

served family style

Martha Thorne

Dean of IE School of Architecture & Design

Martha Thorne is Dean of IE School of Architecture & Design, part of the innovative IE University in Madrid/Segovia, Spain. She also is Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, a position she has held since 2005. From 1995 to 2005, she worked as curator in Department of Architecture at The Art Institute of Chicago. She has written numerous articles for books and journals on contemporary architecture. She served on the Board of Directors of the International Archive of Women in Architecture and the Graham Foundation for Fine Arts. She has participated on juries for the new National Museum of Chinese Art, Zaryadye Park in Moscow and the international jury for ArcVision – Women and Architecture Prize.

Ms. Thorne received a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Affairs from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She undertook additional studies at the London School of Economics.

Website

Anne Whiston Spirn

Landscape Architect, Professor, Author and Photographer

Anne Whiston Spirn is the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning at MIT. The American Planning Association named her first book, The Granite Garden (1984), as one of the 100 most important books of the 20th century, crediting it with launching the ecological urbanism movement. Since 1987, Spirn has directed the West Philadelphia Landscape Project (www.wplp.net), whose mission is to restore nature and rebuild community through strategic design, planning, and education programs. WPLP employs landscape literacy as a cornerstone of community development and served as a laboratory for Spirn’s second book, The Language of Landscape (1998). Other award-winning books continued to develop the concept of landscape literacy as part of the larger subject of visual literacy and visual thinking: Daring to Look (2008), and The Eye Is a Door (2014). Before coming to MIT in 2000, Spirn taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard and before that worked at Wallace McHarg Roberts and Todd on diverse projects, including the Toronto Central Waterfront. Spirn is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim fellowship and Japan’s International Cosmos Prize for “contributions to the harmonious coexistence of nature and mankind.” Her homepage is a gateway to her work and activities: see www.annewhistonspirn.com.

Academic Website

Projects: MARNAS | West Philadelphia Landscape Project

Limited space event. Ticket sales begin on March 26th at 12:00 pm. 

*Wine and Tea included

BEAT is honoured to welcome Monica Adair as the next Dinner Series guest.   

Monica Adair  |  Acre Architects
 
ACRE ARCHITECTS IS A PRACTICE OF STORIED ARCHITECTURE - INSPIRING PEOPLE
TO LIVE GREAT STORIES. WE ARE COMMITTED TO CREATING ORIGINAL, PROVOCATIVE, CONTEXTUALLY DRIVEN DESIGN. AT THE CORE OF EVERY IDEA IS A UNIQUE STORY. 

Selected for Wallpaper magazines 2016 Architects’ directory of rising-star and breakthrough practices from around the globe, Acre Architects’ unique practice of Storied Architecture champions more meaningful ways of living, and through narrative help shape a vision that inspires people to embark on a process of discovery, defying convention and ultimately creating your own myth. 

Stephen Kopp & Monica Adair are recognized leaders through design, education, and community service. Master of Architecture graduates from the University of Toronto, they co-founded their award-winning firm Acre Architects of Saint John, New Brunswick. Studio lead, Monica was the 2015 recipient of the honored Royal Architecture Institute of Canada’s Young Architect Award and named one of the women of the year in Chatelaine Magazine’s 30 Canadians who rocked 2015. 

Acre Architects has been twice named one of the top emerging design firms in Canada by Twenty + Change, having garnered national and international exposure as a recipient of the prestigious Sheff Visiting Chair in Architecture at McGill University, as a member of ‘Team Canada’ for the 2012 Venice Biennale in Architecture, as well as with their role in the television series ‘Majumder Manor’ on the W Network and the National CBC documentary ‘City on Fire’. Stephen & Monica are currently sessional lecturers at the Daniels School of Architecture, Landscape & Design. Acre Architects are committed to expanding the role of contemporary architecture in Atlantic Canada. At its philosophical core, the Acre believes - we are what we create. 

website: www.theacre.ca
Instagram: theacre
Twitter: @acrearchitects \ @monica_acre
#AcreArchitects
#StoriedArchitecture

BEAT is honoured to welcome Omar Gandhi as the first male Dinner Series guest.  Omar was born and raised in Brampton, Ontario to parents who were born in India.  Omar was profiled within this year’s iteration of 'The A-List', a publication series featuring 49 eminent Indo-Canadians and friends of India.  Past recognition has gone to the Minister of Defense Harjit Singh Sajjan, acclaimed film director Deepa Mehta, author Rohinton Mistry and chef Vikram Vij.  In 2011, The Globe and Mail published one of the first articles about Omar’s (then fledgling) studio titled, “In Nova Scotia, a man and a woman walk into a house…”.  The article speaks to the studio’s collaborative approach and celebrates the diversity of Omar’s design and construction team.  Six years later, these points still ring true.  Supported by a diverse group of individuals, Omar is a role model for equality in the profession.  Omar is actively involved in community organizations including ISANS - Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia and Laing House - a drop-in centre aiming to empower youth living with mental illness through innovative youth engagement and peer support. BEAT is looking forward to having Omar join us for this exciting event!

Omar Gandhi is a Canadian architect raised in Brampton, Ontario and currently practices and resides in both Toronto and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

After studying in the Regional Arts program at Mayfield Secondary School (Caledon), attending the inaugural year of the Architectural Studies Program at the University of Toronto, Omar moved to Halifax, where he earned his Master’s degree from Dalhousie University in 2005. After graduation, Omar worked for Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, Young + Wright Architects and more recently for MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects in Halifax. During his early experience, Omar worked on several key projects including Manitoba Hydro, Two Hulls, the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University and the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum- Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo. At the age of 30, Gandhi started his own design studio in Halifax and in 2012, Omar Gandhi Architect became a registered architectural practice. In early 2016, Omar opened his second studio which is located in the west end of Toronto.
 
Omar Gandhi Architect is the recipient of the 2014 Canada Council for the Arts Professional Prix de Rome. In the same year, the firm was listed in Wallpaper Magazine’s Architects Directory – their list of the top 20 Young Architects in the World. In 2016, Omar was named one of Monocle Magazine’s 20 most influential Canadians as well as The Architectural League of New York’s Emerging Voices – recognizing the studio as one with a distinct design “voice” in the discipline of architecture.
 
As a dedicated member of Canada’s architectural community, Omar has participated in local, national and international awards juries - most recently in both Copenhagen and Berlin for the Velux Student Design Competition, the largest of its kind globally. In addition, Gandhi has been a sessional instructor at Dalhousie University’s School of Architecture and Planning. Gandhi has presented lectures in New York, Toronto, Maine, Minnesota, (Bogota) Colombia, (Aberdeen) Scotland and across Canada. 
 
Omar’s studio takes an active role in both the architectural and broader community. Since 2012, the studio has volunteered with ISANS (Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia) to assist newcomers to Canada in the fields of architecture and engineering to find employment. Omar Gandhi is a member of the Board of Directors at Laing House which is a peer support organization for youth with mental illness in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Gandhi has also been a member of the Board of Directors at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and is currently on the advisory board for the Toronto Interior Design Show.
 
As Omar leads his studio into its 8th year, he and his teams continue their efforts to excel by embracing a self-critical mentality and pursuing a direction that explores new ways of integrating program, site and materials using contemporary technology to create critical architecture. Their dedication to outstanding client/architect/builder relationships allows them to keep firm architectural convictions in spatial organization, material palette and landscape integration.

Dinner Menu

Salumi E Formaggi

Artisanal cheeses and charcuterie with accompaniments upon arrival

Antipasti

A selection of hot and cold appetizers

Pasta

Four different pasta dishes

Dolce

One large dessert to share

UPDATE: THIS EVENT IS NOW FULL. PLEASE SIGN UP FOR OUR MAILING LIST TO HEAR ABOUT FUTURE EVENTS.

Petra Blaisse (1955) started her professional career in 1978 at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, in the Department of Applied Arts, where she worked as assistant curator until 1986.

From 1986 onwards, she worked as freelance exhibition designer and won distinction for her installations of sculptural and architectural works (Rotterdam ’88 ‘Sculpture Route’ and OMA exhibitions 1988-1992). Gradually her focus shifted to interior spaces where textiles, color, light and acoustic effects became her tools. At the same time the first commissions for garden designs were given.

In 1991, she founded Inside Outside, a one-man studio. From 1999 onward, the team grew to around twelve professionals of varied disciplines and nationalities, together working in a multitude of creative areas, including textile-, landscape- interior- and exhibition design. In collaboration with architects, planners, engineers and curators, Inside Outside gains international recognition with projects of increasing technical sophistication, ambition and scale. Public parks, interior interventions, large-scale curtains and gardens for cultural and commercial buildings, landscape master plans, small built structures and planting plans for roof- and private gardens fill their portfolio.

Blaisse has lectured and taught extensively at universities and schools in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the United States. She is regularly invited as (key-note) speaker at conferences and as jury-member internationally. Her work has been included in numerous international design- and architecture exhibits and publications. The first solo-exhibition on her work was organized in 2000, at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in Soho, New York. For this exhibit Dutch graphic designer Irma Boom created Blaisse’s booklet “Movements, 25%”, one of Boom’s most renowned conceptual works.

The first extensive monograph on the work of Petra Blaisse|Inside Outside (called Inside Outside Petra Blaisse) has been published in February 2007 by NAi Publishers (with Birckhauser, Berlin) and was reprinted by The Monacelli Press (a division of Random House Inc.) in New York, October 2009. Book design by Irma Boom Studio, Amsterdam; edit by Kayoko Ota, Tokyo.

Dinner Menu

Salad

speck, gorgonzola, spiced walnut, brussel sprouts

Share

formaggi, charcuterie

Pizza

potato, sweet potato, rosemary

Main

pork roast or gnocchi

Dolce

Sweet table & coffee

Janna Levitt (Principal, B.A., B. Arch., OAA,  FRAIC)  has a background in the visual arts which continues to distinguished her architectural career and is known in the office for her curiosity and commitment.  She seeks opportunities to integrate art into the firms projects and to collaborate with artists on installation based work. Her current projects include the new School of Architecture of the North in Sudbury for Laurentian University; Market 707- the first pop up shipping container market in Toronto and 100th branch of the Toronto Public Library.  

In addition to her architecture practice, Janna is an active lecturer, critic, adjunct professor (at the University of Waterloo and Halifax, Schools of Architecture) and jury member.  Until recently she was a member of both the National Steering Committee for the Canadian Pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale and Cape Farewell Canada advisory group, -a North American NGO promoting a cultural response to climate change by establishing long-term collaborations with international artists and architects.  Janna is a member of the Principles of Excellence for LRT Projects Advisory Panel for Metrolinx. With a keen interest in apiary culture, she is also a member of Ontario’s Bee Keepers Association. 

Tania Bortolotto is an architect and interior designer and the founder and president of the Toronto-based design firm Bortolotto, established in 1999. Under Tania’s leadership, Bortolotto has steadily grown and has been recognized nationally and internationally, receiving numerous design distinctions and awards. Her firm has enjoyed a string of accomplishments recently, most notably plans to re-imagine the Rosalie Sharp Pavilion at OCAD University. A design advocate, Tania lends her time to numerous design and academic committees, panels, juries and speaking engagements. Tania is currently a Program Advisory Committee member assisting the Department of Architecture at Ryerson University. Tania is also a member of the Design Review Panel for the City of Markham and served as an inaugural member of Waterfront Toronto’s Design Review Panel. 

Dinner Menu

INSALATE

selection of hot and cold appetisers

PRIMI

two different pasta dishes

DOLCI

desert from the Terroni bakery

Heather Dubbeldam is the principal of DUBBELDAM Architecture + Design, a multi-disciplinary design studio recognized as one of the leading young practices in Toronto. The studio has received numerous awards for both design and practice, and wide recognition in national and international publications. In addition to managing a full-time practice, Heather is active as a leader and advocate for the profession. She is the Vice Chair of the Design Industry Advisory Committee (DIAC), the past Chair of the Toronto Society of Architects, and Co-Director of Twenty + Change, a national organization dedicated to exposing the work of emerging Canadian architects. She is the co-editor and co-author of several architecture and design publications, and regularly makes time to mentor architecture interns.

Dinner Menu

First Course

Citrus Mixed Olives

Chili + Preserved Lemon + Cilanto

Roasted Red Beets

Pistachio + Caraway + Labneh + Barbari Bread

Second Course

Duck Kibbeh

Dried Fig + Date Molasses + Tahini

Local Roma Salad

Pomegranate + Persian Feta + Pickled Red Onion + Hand Pestle Basil

Seared Cauliflower

Duck Fat + Tahini Sauce + Sesame + Coriander

Third Course

Char-Grilled Cornish Hen

Sabzi Sauce + Toum + Fried Leek

Mejadra Basmati Rice

Lentil + Hung Yogurt + Fried Shallots

Dessert

Crispy Qatayef

Ashta Cream + Honey Syrup + Sumac Muddled Strawberry