News

Masterworks 2026: A Room of One’s Home, curated by Bianca Weeko Martin, is currently on display at the Riverside Gallery, showcasing the graduate thesis works of six Waterloo Architecture alumni. Through drawings, counter-archival projects, and artifacts, the exhibition explores the complex intersections of diasporic identity, spatial memory, and migration. Rather than romanticizing diaspora, the projects ask critical questions about cultural endurance and how the built environment helps individuals reconnect with generational histories. This compelling collection invites visitors to experience how the spaces we call home carry forward communities and stories, running until October 1, 2026.

University of Waterloo architecture and engineering students claimed the top three prizes at the 2025-2026 Canadian Institute of Steel Construction (CISC) Architectural Student Design Competition. James Miller and Luke Carone won the Award of Excellence for Resonance, while the teams behind Thirteen Ascents and UBC Tropical Conservatory secured second and third place, respectively. The national contest challenges students to creatively utilize exposed structural steel in ambitious architectural frameworks. Under the guidance of professors Terri Meyer Boake and Cory Zurell, the winning Waterloo projects were recognized for their unique interplay of scale, light, and natural greenery.

For nearly two decades, MSS Architects has played a steady and influential role in supporting students at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. Their commitment to hiring emerging talent has grown into a multifaceted partnership that continues to shape student experiences, professional pathways, and the culture of architectural education at Waterloo.

The School of Architecture is proud to celebrate the achievements of Elisia Neves (BArch ’08, MArch ’12), who was recognized with the Alumni Achievement Medal for Professional Achievement at this year’s University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering Awards Dinner.

Waterloo Architecture Professor Lola Sheppard is co-curator of Sikumit Aisimajugut / At Home on Ice, an exhibition that explores ideas of home and housing across Inuit Nunangat—from the intimate scale of domestic spaces to the broader forces of policy, logistics, and climate change.

What does it mean to belong? How do the spaces we inhabit reflect who we are? These questions lie at the heart of TO·BE·LONGING: Portraits of Queer Living, an ambitious exhibition curated by architect and educator Quan Thai opening at Design at Riverside on November 27, 2025.

Associate Professor Adrian Blackwell and Professor Dr. David Fortin are among the key organizers of a bold, collaborative initiative for the 2025–2026 academic year: a Superstudio focused on ending housing alienation. This nationwide effort brings together students and faculty from 14 institutions, including the University of Waterloo School of Architecture, to explore design solutions that address housing unaffordability, disrepair, precarity, and homelessness.

The University of Waterloo School of Architecture is proud to announce that Jordana Polera has been named the 2025 recipient of the Michael Evamy Scholarship. 

Peak, a proposal by a Waterloo Architecture student design team has been selected for Winter Stations 2025.

This edition of Alumni in the News includes Drew Mandel (BArch '95), Rick Galezowski (BES '97, BArch '98), Siamak Hariri (BES '82), Wanda Ely (BES '96, BArch '98), Amanda Large (BES '02, BArch '05), Anya Moryoussef (BES '04, MArch '06)Mona Dai (BAS '15, MArch '18), Niara van Gaalen (BArch '23), Tony Kogan (BAS '18, MArch '20), Nikē/Vic Baneberry (BAS '18, MArch '21) and Julia Nakanishi (BAS '18, MArch '20).