Honouring Retiring Faculty: Decades of Impact at DAS
DAS Awards night celebration, 2014.
Professors Mark Gorgolewski, Jurij Leshchyshyn, and Edward Wójs are retiring after decades of service to TMU’s Department of Architectural Science (DAS). Their lasting impact – through teaching, practice, scholarship and leadership – will be remembered by generations of students, faculty, and staff.
Mark Gorgolewski
Mark Gorgolewski, Awards Night, 2022.
Past Department Chair and founding director of the graduate program in Building Science (est. 2008), Dr. Mark Gorgolewski joined DAS in 2003 after years of international experience and a PhD from Oxford Brookes University in the UK.
An expert in energy-efficiency, Mark has dedicated his career to minimizing the environmental impact of construction. His work has shaped the vision for sustainability at DAS. His leadership in sustainable design education has been recognized with accolades, including the Canada Green Building Council’s Inspired Educator Award (2018) and the CMHC Excellence in Education Award (2013) from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Former student Steph Tzanzis recalls Mark’s passion for reimagining the life cycle of materials:
He is a library of knowledge… As a mentor, he is thoughtful and encouraging—fostering curiosity by sharing extensive material, connecting me with industry professionals, and guiding the research process through inquiry. I felt immensely fortunate and proud to have him as my supervisor.
Mark Gorgolewski with a graduate student, 2014.
Mark’s many publications include Resource Salvation: The Architecture of Reuse (2017), and Carrot City: Creating Places for Urban Agriculture (2011), co-authored with June Komisar and Joe Nasr.
Mark Gorgolewski, June Komisar and Joe Nasr with their book, Carrot City, 2011.
Carrot City challenged conventional urban-rural divides and opened new possibilities for localized planning and design strategies, becoming a platform for rethinking how to plan, build, and inhabit cities. The initiative stemmed from an interdisciplinary symposium and grew to become a traveling exhibition to 20 cities, and a series of design studios exploring the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and food systems.
(external link)
2011 interview with the authors of Carrot City. (external link)
Reflecting on the success, Carrot City collaborator and DAS colleague, Dr. June Komisar, recalls, “Mark was a real driving force behind this entire initiative –
We had both moved from England. He was already a professor and had an established research agenda focused on sustainability. My research was just beginning as my PhD had just ended. Our research started to converge with students… So we created a working group to advance understanding of urban agriculture and its impact on the built environment. He is a visionary and has been an instrumental person for building a sustainability centred curriculum at DAS.
As Department Chair (2017-2023), Dr. Gorgolewski supported the development of Department’s first Equity, Diversity and Inclusion working group and EDI strategic plan and led DAS through a period of graduate academic expansion, creating the Master’s program in Project Management in the Built Environment (established in 2022), adding a PhD in Architecture (launched in 2024), and strengthening the Building Science lab.
Jurij Leshchyshyn
Jurij Leshchyshyn leading the 2015 Collaborative Exercise.
Professor Jurij Leshchyshyn’s ties to DAS span five decades, beginning in 1975 when he enrolled in what was then Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. With a prior BA in Geography and Urban Studies from York University, he earned a BTech from Ryerson/TMU in 1980 and a MArch from the University of Manitoba in 1984, before returning to Toronto. After three years of part-time teaching and practice, he transitioned to a full-time faculty member at DAS in 1989, becoming one of the longest-serving members of the department. Jurij has taught and coordinated design studios across all levels and made a lasting impact on students at formative stages of their architectural journey.
For Jurij, technical knowledge is never neutral—being shaped by public policy, and by political and social contexts. He has always encouraged students to critically engage with these broader realities, inventing projects to foster local and global perspectives.
Jurij Leshchyshyn leading the 2024 REAL/surReal Collaborative Exercise.
Jurij has shaped many definitive pedagogical experiences at DAS. He led several Collaborative Exercises, most recently the 2024 REAL/surReal (external link) adventure, in which students applied surrealistic techniques to real urban design challenges, while experiencing the power and satisfaction of meaningful collaboration.
For The Built World course (ASC102), he invented An Architectural Performance/aka The Tower Project (external link) , which challenged student teams to design and construct a multi-storey tower with minimal resources in the Architecture Building atrium. Like many of his assignments, it was designed to have students learn about the interconnectedness of materials, processes and socio-economic contexts in fun and engaging ways.
An Architectural Performance Celebrating Motion - Fall 2018.
As interim Chair (2014-2017), Jurij created a funded curator position for the Paul H. Cocker Gallery, initiated a student newsletter, and led renovations to the fourth floor David E. Handley Studios, supported by generous donations of alumni and industry partners.
Over the years, Jurij has contributed to several curricular enhancements, helped launch the department’s international exchange program, and served as Associate Chair of the Undergraduate Program and as Chair of several Departmental committees. At the University level, he served on the Academic Standards Committee, the Senate and the Academic Governance and Priorities Committee, and contributed to the drafting of the University’s first Statement on the Freedom of Speech.
Jurij Leshchyshyn at the 2024 DAS Bash, with former student, 1988 DAS Alumna Tania Bortolotto.
Jurij’s extensive knowledge of the program’s evolution—its people, pedagogy, and institutional history—makes his retirement a bittersweet milestone. Fortunately, he transferred much of this knowledge into the timeline of the 2024 DAS Bash, commemorating 75+ years of architectural education at DAS. Drawing on extensive archival research in the TMU library archives, he inaugurated and helped craft this detailed reflection on the people, projects, and program transformations that have shaped the Department over the years.
Carlo Parente, DAS colleague and gallery director at the time of the DAS Bash, recalls “Jurij always made time for meetings, to explore ideas, and to bring people into the process with good humour and generous spirit. His passion for the department and the program always came through. He is a true community builder”.
Edward Wójs
Jurij Leshchyshyn and Edward Wójs at TMU’s 2025 Convocation celebration.
An energizing figure of the Department for three decades, Professor Edward Wójs completed his Bachelor of Technology from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in 1978 – just two years ahead of former classmate and DAS colleague Jurij Leshchyshyn.
Even while a student, Ed’s life was grounded in architectural practice. He worked for Ron Thom Architect (under late Prof. Michael Miller) in 1975, and with I.M. Pei and Associates in New York City in 1984. After earning a professional Architecture degree from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1984, he returned to Toronto, working with Richard Williams/Mathers & Haldenby Architects, and other firms, before founding his own practice in 1991 Edward Wójs Architect (EWA) (external link) . EWA has been advancing the quality of design and construction ever since.
Edward Wójs at his EWA office, 2022.
Beginning his teaching career at Humber College in 1995, Ed was recruited by Ryerson/TMU in 1996, bringing to the curriculum a richly diversified hands-on understanding of the profession. An advocate of studio-based learning, Edward has contributed and led design studios at every level of the program and delivered key courses in architectural technology and theory (ASF015). These include The Building Project (ASC202), a core first year course introducing students to different methods and materials of building construction, as well as Tectonics and Materiality (ASC621) and a graduate elective in Advanced Construction Case Studies.
Edward Wójs addressing students at the 2025 convocation reception at DAS.
In recent years, Ed’s recurring fourth year advanced architecture studio on sacred architecture has opened students to spiritual dimensions of construction and innovative form-making.
Design work by student Cesar Rodriquez Perfeti and Muhammad Ghaffar, from Ed Wójs’s 2024 Advanced Architecture Studio in Sacred Architecture.
Ed is widely appreciated for his energetic and passionate teaching style, and his devoted mentorship, generously sharing advice and real-world stories about life as a practicing architect.
Edward Wójs with students, including Rob Coelho (Ryersonian, Feb 5, 1997).
Robert Coelho, a DAS Alumnus (M.Arch), former student and now business partner in architectural practice for the last 28 years, provided this recollection of his mentor and colleague:
Edward has always approached architectural education with a clear-eyed view of the profession’s complexity. He recognizes that architecture demands a wide range of skills—art, design, communication, project management, technical knowledge, and a solid grasp of contracts and construction processes. His philosophy has been to prepare students for the realities of practice by teaching as many of these facets as possible, helping to soften the steep learning curve graduates often face when they enter practice. As he often reminds us, 'Eighty percent of what we do in practice isn’t design.' While design remains central, his honest and comprehensive approach ensures students also cultivate the broader skill set essential to becoming successful architects.
Looking Forward
While retirement marks a time to celebrate individuals it is also an occasion to appreciate the trans-generational project of education and academic development.
DAS faculty at their May 2025 meeting: left to right (standing): John Cirka, Yew-Thong Leong, Russell Richman, Rob Coelho, Leila Farah, Ed Wójs, Terri Peters, Cheryl Atkinson, Lisa Landrum, Garth Norbraten, Marco Polo, Will Galloway, Dorothy Johns, Julia Jamrozik, Nova Tayona, Letzai Ruiz, Jurij Leshchyshyn, Ehsan Rezazadeh Azar; and (kneeling): Hitesh Doshi, Helen Stopps and Jennifer McArthur.
As DAS Chair, Lisa Landrum, notes:
Reflecting on the careers of these distinguished professors makes us deeply appreciative of their contributions and care – both for students and for the built environment we’re all working to improve. Their achievements highlight how a school is a perpetual work in progress – shaped and reshaped gradually by many individuals working together to adapt and enhance a curriculum, a culture, and a community of city-builders. How fortunate we are to have benefited from the participation, leadership and friendship of Professors Gorgolewski, Leshchyshyn, and Wójs. On behalf of the entire DAS community, we convey to them a hearty thank you, congratulations, and best wishes for your life’s next adventures.