Part-Time Instructors
At DAS, our part-time instructors are leaders in the architecture, building science and construction project management professions. They run active practices, consultancies and organizations, and are dedicated to providing you with an immersive, industry-relevant and leading-edge education.
Dr. Maziar Asefi, MArch, PhD, MRAIC, PMP
Asefi has over 17 years of experience in teaching design studios, transformable and interactive architecture, and advanced structures. He has authored seven books and has registered three patents in the field of transformable and kinetic architecture.
Reza Assasi, Ph.D., M.Arch2, M.Arch, OAA
Reza holds a PhD in Architecture History and Theory from McGill University and is a licensed architect in Ontario. He brings over two decades of experience in architectural practice and teaching, with expertise spanning architectural history, theory, design, practice, and architectural technology.
Marcin Kedzior
Marcin Kedzior is a writer, journal editor (external link) , hands-on studio coordinator (external link) , and experimental dancer (external link) focusing on rhythm, improvisation, and atmosphere. He is aided and inspired by warehouses of literary ghosts, tactical board games, scaffolding, shoelaces, John Cage’s experimental musical notation, railings, Simone Forti’s dance constructions, goat pastures, counter monuments, and shadows.
James K. Bird, M.Arch., Ph.D candidate in Architecture
James is a proud member of the Dënesųłiné Nation and affiliated with the Northwest Territories Métis Nation. He is also a residential survivor. James is a knowledge keeper and a Chapel Royal Tobacco keeper for Massey College; appointed by Chief and council of the Mississauga’s of the New Credit First Nations.
He holds an Honors B.A. and M.Arch and is a PhD candidate in Architecture, Landscape and Design at the John H. Daniels faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto. His current work examines the intersection between Indigenous languages and shape forming.
Victoria (Akpezi) Ikede, Bsc. MA MSc PMP
Victoria is the Artificial Intelligence Exploration (AIX) National Lead at Architecture49, where she leads the firm’s AI Change Initiative and serves as Project BIM Lead on large-scale rail and transit infrastructure projects in the GTA. She brings over 12 years of experience delivering large-scale residential and commercial projects through digital methods and curating design courses for leading organizations. A Certified PMP and Autodesk Expert Elite, she also runs ‘The BIM Mentor’ YouTube channel, sharing insights with 2,000+ subscribers.
Michael Wong, MASc
Michael Wong is a licensed Professional Engineer and graduate of the Masters of Applied Science in Building Science program at TMU. He has over seven years of experience in the field of building energy modelling using a range of software, specializing in new construction residential development. Michael’s previous work experience and focus of research is typically on supporting low-carbon housing projects considering measures such as high-performance prefabricated envelopes, geothermal systems, and improving building airtightness.
Megan Cassidy, B.Arch, MRAIC, OAA
As both a director at Casson Hardware and an architectural practitioner, Megan Cassidy is deeply committed to both the urban scale and the detailed intricacies of design objects. Megan is active in the local design community, contributing as an educator, mentor, and visiting guest critic at design schools throughout Canada. She is a registered architect in Ontario.
Tura Cousins Wilson
Tura Cousins Wilson is an architect and cofounding principal of the Studio of Contemporary Architecture (SOCA) (external link) . He is inspired by creating uplifting spaces of beauty and contends that architecture’s power lies in its ability to transform collective imaginations and narratives into reality. Tura’s design methodology leverages site and cultural research and is drawn towards the redemptive qualities of reconstituting existing buildings and overlooked communities.
Branislav Folic, MArch, PhD.
Branislav has nearly 20 years of experience integrating education, research, and practice. As co-founder of Folic Architects, he led diverse teams on residential and commercial projects in Belgrade, focusing on context, sustainability, and resilience. Now based in Ontario, he is collaborating to address the missing middle housing issue, drawing on his European experience.
Noheir Elgendy, MSc, PhD
Elgendy is an architect with 17 years of experience teaching architecture and urban design. Her areas of expertise include sustainable design, urban regeneration and participatory planning. Her research focuses on urban justice, forced migration and inclusive urban policies.
Javeriya Hasan, PhD
Dr. Javeriya Hasan's educational background spans the thematic areas of building science, building envelope assessments, civil and structural engineering. Her work in the industry involves investigations relating to building envelope and structural failures.
Julie Ourceau
Ourceau is an architectural designer, a landscape architectural intern, and part of the PLANT Architect Inc. studio. Her areas of expertise include institutional architecture, urban sustainable design, public realm landscape projects, and visual arts explorations. She has been teaching at TMU since 2008.
Michelle Grant, BSc, BArch, MArch, OAA, LEED BD+C
Grant is a partner at simonjames. Her design interests focus on phenomenology and the perceptual experience of built form.
Omar Ha-Redeye, PhD
Omar Ha-Redeye is an experienced lawyer who has worked in the not-for-profit, private, and public sectors. He has a wide range of corporate, litigation, and advisory experiences, and has taught at TMU for over a decades.
Stanislav Jurković, BES, MArch, OAA, MRAIC
Jurković is a principal at uoai, a multi-disciplinary practice with an emphasis on architectural design and public art projects.
Joanne Lam, BES, MArch, OAA, LEED AP
Lam is a founding partner of Picnic Design, a practice that ranges from interiors to architecture to master planning. She has a particular interest in mixed-use, multi-unit co-living projects.
Ted Landrum, MArch2, BArch, BSc (EnvDesign)
Ted Landrum has taught architecture since 2006, following many years professional architectural experience in New York City, Montréal and Ottawa. Ted has taught design studios at all levels, plus courses on lighting, masonry, drawing and theory. He is a frequent guest critic and widely published "Archi-Poet".
Pierre-Alexandre Le Lay, BSc, BArch, MArch, OAA
Le Lay is an architect with RAW Design. His work focuses on the design of urban, mixed-use developments and public art installations.
Robert Coelho, BTech, MArch, LEED AP, MRAIC
Coelho’s area of expertise is in cohousing and multi-unit, mixed-use design. He is a principal associate at Edward Wojs Architect.
Christine Leu, BES, MArch, OAA, MRAIC
Leu is an architect, educator, and founding partner of LeuWebb Projects, a creative endeavour that enriches public realms.
Scott Sørli, BASc, BArch, MArchSci, ICGG
Sørli’s transdisciplinary practice concerns itself with the moments when form and matter engage the political and economic forces that produce the city.
Vis Sankrithi, BArch, OAA, MRAIC
Sankrithi is an architect overseeing the planning, design and construction of several significant academic building and infrastructure projects at the University of Toronto. He is interested in understanding architecture in relation to broader social, political and environmental contexts.
Garth Norbraten
Norbraten has been a practicing architect since the 1990s, with experience in residential, cultural, industrial and institutional projects. His interests include the fit of the new with the existing, and the architecture of Japan, Finland and Sweden.
garth.norbraten@torontomu.ca
Ivan Martinovic, Dipl. Eng, Arch, OAA, FRAIC
Martinovic is a principal of Archdesign Architects. His expertise in practice is in the areas of contemporary residential design, production of contract documents and contract administration. His teaching interests concern the areas of design theory, universal design and principles of resilience.
Fan Zhang, OAA, M.Arch, B.Eng
Zhang is an architect and the founder of AwAwDe. Her diverse portfolio includes projects ranging from single-family homes to institutional complexes. Through her experience working and living in various countries and cultures, Zhang has developed a great passion for the cross-discipline of vernacular architecture and modern social communities.
Vlad Amiot
Vlad is a Calgary-based designer, award-winning educator, and PhD student researching in queer theory and feminist new materialism. He studies the emergence of collective embodiment in affectively charged queer spaces as a mode of performative resistance. Prior to his doctoral work, he founded Picostudio, a practice straddling architecture, installation, industrial design, and craft. Picostudio has collaborated with various Calgarian institutions, including Beakerhead, TELUS Spark, Alberta Ballet, and Lougheed House, as well as with private clients.
Reza Daneshazarian
Reza is an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto whose research advances indoor air quality, occupant sensing, energy-efficient building design, and renewable energy integration. Holding a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), he brings over a decade of experience in teaching, research, and driving innovations in renewable energy and decarbonization. He also serves on the youth editorial board members of leading Q1 research journals.
Shahrzad Soudian
Shahrzad Soudian is a Sustainability Analyst at KPMB Architects, working with architectural designers to solve complex problems and find strategies to meet project sustainability targets. She holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), with a focus on advanced building materials and adaptive facades. A former postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Architectural Science at TMU, she brings her experience and insights in teaching and research in materiality and designing climate-responsive buildings.
Letzai Ruiz, PhD
Dr. Letzai Ruiz is a researcher in the Building Energy and Indoor Environmental (BEIE) Lab and the Centre for the Sustainable Built Environment at the University of Toronto. She received her PhD in Construction and Architectural Technology from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) in Spain. She has over 15 years of experience teaching and conducting research. Her areas of expertise focus on sustainability, energy efficiency in buildings, indoor environment, co-benefits of residential retrofits, and life cycle assessment of housing and neighborhood.
Monica Hutton, SMArchS, MArch, BEnvD, MAA, MRAIC
Monica Hutton is an architect whose design, research, and critical engagement focuses on impacts of material building practices and land speculation across scales. She holds a Master of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT focused on contemporary urbanism. Her work seeks intersections between community organizing, science, urban policy, design and art to address legacies of material extraction, procurement, processing, and maintenance that jointly shape climate histories and futures. Monica has held teaching positions at University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, and Toronto Metropolitan University.
Kristofer Kelly-Frere
Kristofer Kelly-Frere is a Calgary-based systemic designer serving as Team Lead for Innovation Partnerships at the City of Calgary. Originally trained as an architect, he co-founded the City's Civic Innovation Lab and has worked across sectors—directing the Vivo Play Project, designing healthcare pathways with AHS, and leading creative practice at award-winning J5 Design studio. He teaches globally with the Erasmus Mundus MA in Service Design Strategies & Innovation and brings decades of facilitation experience to systems change work.
Jamie Fine
Jamie Fine is Co-Founder and Principal at WJS Energy, with over eight years in sustainable building analysis, commissioning, and design. He has led 80+ projects across climate zones, specializing in investment-ready design analysis and mechanical system optimization. Proficient in IES-VE, TRNSYS, and CONTAM, he delivers custom solutions to meet energy codes, certifications, and decarbonization goals. With a background in teaching and professional training, Jamie excels in communication, leadership, and project management.
Robert Raynor
Robert Raynor is a designer, researcher, maker, and amplifier of voices. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from UofT with a background in woodworking, life-cycle carbon analysis, and community engagement for chronically unhoused populations. His work has been featured in the Venice Biennale of Architecture and DesignTO. He is the director of shelter not-for-profit Two Steps Home, founder of TAS’s Circular Living Lab, design lead at BetterStreet, and cat dad to Jasper & Lumi.
Robin Ramcharan, MBA, MArch, AIA, OAA, NCARB, MRAIC, LEED AP
Robin is a real estate developer and architect with over 15 years of experience, managing high- rise residential, commercial and retail projects. He was previously a Director of Development for a large REIT and has managed landmark projects through the full cycle of development. Prior to working in real estate development Robin worked at award winning architecture firms in Toronto on prominent cultural and institutional buildings. Robin holds an MBA with a major in real estate from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, a Master of Architecture with honours from Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Architectural Science from Toronto Metropolitan University. Robin is a licensed architect in Ontario and New York State.
Joey Giaimo, B.Tech (Arch.Sci), M.Arch, OAA, MRAIC, CAHP
An architect and educator, Giaimo brings more than 25 years of experience in the architecture and heritage professions, including an extensive portfolio in integrating design and heritage conservation. He founded his eponymous practice (external link) in 2015 with an approach to architecture that sources the value of existing and heritage buildings and places. The practice’s work has been published, awarded, and presented at numerous conferences, including the National Trust for Canada, Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, and the Association for Preservation Technology.
Erik Skouris, M.Arch, OAA, MRAIC
Erik is Anishinaabe Ojibwe, member of the Michipicoten First Nation, and is registered with the Ontario Association of Architects. He is an architect with Two Row Architect (external link) and believes that Indigenous peoples have an important contribution to make with respect to how we engage the natural world through art, architecture, and planning.
Erik’s experience crosses many typologies and sectors, inclusive of healthcare, post-secondary education, urban based Indigenous not-for-profit housing providers, and chiefs and councils through their ‘on’ reserve developments.
He is a Member of The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Indigenous Task Force on Architecture, representing the Greater Toronto Area.
Dr. Celeste Alvaro, PhD
Dr. Celeste Alvaro is an experimental social environmental psychologist, Founder & Principal of Methologica (external link) – a collaborative architecture/design research and evaluation studio. Celeste holds an academic appointment at DAS TMU. She earned her doctorate in Experimental (Social) Psychology at Simon Fraser University (SFU), completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Atlantic Health Promotion Research Centre, Dalhousie University, and held previous faculty appointments at SFU, Dalhousie University, Bridgepoint Collaboratory for Research and Innovation, DAS TMU. Celeste has generated over $3.5M in tri-council research funding and independent contracts and is recognized for design research excellence and collaborations.
Lauren Black, BSc, BAH, LLB, LLM, CIPP/C
Lauren is a lawyer with over 2 decades of experience in the areas of legal compliance including risk management, governance and contracting, as well as legal strategy and the enforcement of rights in complex disputes - with a focus on achieving effective and positive resolution. Currently, Lauren works as the General Counsel at VHA and is a member of their senior management team.
In addition to her involvement with DAS, Lauren has also acted as the supervising lawyer for numerous students in TMU’s Law Practice Program.
Mark Tholen, BEDS M. Arch AKNW MRAIC DGC
Next to industrial design, movie set design and event space design, Mark has extensive experience in designing large scale award-winning institutional buildings with complex, innovative structural and phenomenological significance as well as residential projects from houses, tiny homes to school bus conversions. His teaching essentially exemplifies the comprehension of traditions and historic principles, always with a strong design-build vision from analog to digital and robotic fabrication; fundamentally combining art and science in architecture.
Kevin Stelzer, B.ES, B.Arch, OAA, MRAIC, LEED AP BD+C, BSSO, CPHD
Stelzer is a principal with ENFORM Architects. He focuses upon zero carbon design. He has worked extensively with industry leadership including the CaGBC, OBEC, WGBC, and the UN SBCI. He sits on the Waterfront Toronto Design Review Committee.
