I’m an architect with 28 years of professional experience. As an undergraduate, I spent almost 2 years (combined time) working in award winning firms in Europe. I am a LEED accredited professional and have a passion for sustainable design and creating beautiful interiors. I have worked on all building types and sizes including commercial and institutional buildings, daycares and transit stations. Some highlights are the billion dollar (including FF&E) Fallsview Casino Niagara project (while with Zeidler Partnership Architects in joint venture with B+H Architects) and the award winning Hazel McCallion Campus Phase 2 building (HMC2) at Sheridan College (while working with George Friedman Architect). I started my own firm (HaNK) in 2019 specializing in residential and commercial sector work. I have been an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture and a guest critic at the University of Waterloo’s School of Planning. A proud Ontarian, I hold dual citizenship (Canadian and German) and am a woman of European and North American (Indigenous) background.

My experience on Council at the OAA includes the following:

• Chair of the Interns Committee (2020 and 2021)
  
• Member of the OAA’s Truth and Reconciliation Working Group (2020)
  
• Member of the OAA’s Executive Committee (2022 and 2023)
  
• Chair of the OAA’s Comprehensive Education Committee (2022 and 2023)
  
• OAA Councillor Liaison to the Toronto Society of Architects (2024 to present)
  

What do I want to do while on council?

• Start an Ontario chapter of ‘Architects Without Borders’ a not for profit organization to be supported by OAA members and which will bear social responsibility to OAA members. This organization would help disadvantaged communities at home in Ontario and abroad who either due to injustices or disaster live without adequate and accessible architecture and other infrastructure essential for human dignity and community autonomy. The proposed Ontario chapter would follow in the footsteps of the Quebec Order of Architects initiative ‘Architecture Sans Frontieres Quebec’ (ASFQ) founded in 2007.
  
  For more information, follow this link:
  https://www.asf-quebec.org/en/
  
  
• Support, help create awareness and encourage OAA members and the public to contribute to the work being done to create a National Policy for Architecture in Canada. Rise for Architecture is an initiative of the Regulatory Organizations of Architecture in Canada (ROAC) with support from the Canadian Council of University Schools of Architecture (CCUSA) and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).
  
  For more information about this initiative refer to the following:
  
  https://roac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Vision-for-the-Future_EN_comp.pdf
  www.canadianarchitect.com/an-architecture-policy-for-canada/
  
  
• Review and propose changes to public documents that govern much of the built environment in Ontario and also affect the way architects and architecture are perceived (or not) in society. The OAA can play a role to increase awareness that buildings are designed by architects, and that architecture is much more than the creation of buildings. ”The ultimate purpose of architecture is community.” – Bryan MacKay-Lyons (2017)
  
  
• Lobby municipalities to hire chief architects to help guide them through the next 10 years and beyond of growth in Ontario.
  
  
• Continue to suport the work done by the local architecture societies to create greater awareness about the importance of architecture and the built environment for the wellbeing of Ontarians (including the physical, social and psychological health of residents).
  
  These are some of the things I’d like to do if elected to council representing Ontarian architects. I hope you’ll vote for me and support Council in achieving these goals. “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” - Michelangelo Buonarroti
  
  https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-krickhan-91934b98/

Questions and Answers