News

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.

Material Syntax: 3D Printed Masonry Façade Systems is on view at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery from January 16 – March 27, 2026

A team of students from the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and the Department of Architectural Engineering has been selected as a winner in the 2026 Winter Stations international design competition. Their installation, Crest, is now on public exhibition at Woodbine Beach in Toronto from February 16 to March 30, 2026.

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.

Earlier this month, students from the University of Waterloo School of Architecture showcased innovative housing concepts in Toronto’s Kensington Market as part of an exhibition titled “What Could a Community Land Trust Neighbourhood Look Like?” The exhibition, held December 13 - 21, featured work from the studio course “Architectures of Relation: Infilling Affordable Housing in Kensington Market,” led by Associate Professor Adrian Blackwell.

Assistant Professor Anwar Jaber presented the paper "Tegart Forts: Materializing Palestinian Statehood in Military Structures" in November at the Architectural Humanities Research Association's 22nd Annual International Conference at the University of Liverpool, UK.

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.

Students from the University of Waterloo School of Architecture have earned top recognition in the 4th Annual GVSA Student Competition, an event that celebrates innovation and creativity in architectural design.

School of Architecture Associate Professor Marie-Paule Macdonald contributed her expertise to a recent Toronto Star feature: “Is Toronto’s design bad for our health? How urban spaces affect well-being and how we compare to others.”

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.