The SHIFT2025 Challenge, Reshaping Communities, explores how the profession can develop sustainable solutions that address the challenges posed by climate change and social shifts. From urban revitalization and reconceptualization to adaptations responding to climate change and other emergencies, it seeks ideas that enable all people to find stability, a sense of belonging, and hope. This year’s jury comprises five experts from the architecture profession or allied fields, led by a jury facilitator.
Dr. Elizabeth English
PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
Dr. Elizabeth English is professor of architecture at the University of Waterloo. She is the founder and director of the Buoyant Foundation Project, a not-for-profit research organization that works on the development of amphibious foundation systems as a low-cost, low-impact flood mitigation and climate adaptation strategy that supports the preservation of traditional housing forms and respects local cultural practices. Recent and current projects focus on flood-prone low-income communities in Vietnam, Bangladesh, the United States, and Canada, especially Indigenous communities. Her education, practice, teaching, and research are interdisciplinary, with degrees in architecture from Princeton and Penn, and in civil engineering from MIT.
Erica Gomirato
INTERN ARCHITECT, PERRY + PERRY ARCHITECTS
Erica Gomirato is an Intern Architect at Perry + Perry Architects in Sudbury. She graduated with her master's degree in architecture from Laurentian University's McEwen School of Architecture in 2023, and created one of the five selected projects for the OAA’s SHIFT Challenge in the same year with her submission, “Healthy Cities: Sustainable Adapting the Dominion Foundry Complex.”
Erica has a passion for sustainability and believes that the future of sustainable architecture lies in responsibly adapting existing resources in our communities. Erica hopes to encourage other designers and professionals in related fields to embrace sustainable design in Northern Ontario through her internship in Sudbury.
Shane Laptiste
ARCHITECT, LAPTISTE ARCHITECTURE INC. (STUDIO OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE [SOCA])
Shane Laptiste is a Toronto-based Architect and founder of the Studio of Contemporary Architecture (SOCA). As a principal of SOCA and a recipient of the 2023 Canadian Prix de Rome, he explores how communal narratives and spatial imaginaries can translate into built form, especially within Black communities. Licensed in Ontario and Quebec, Shane holds a BSc(Arch) and an M.Arch. degree from McGill University. He has recently worked as a studio instructor at both McGill and the University of Toronto. He also serves as a board member of the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB). Shane currently leads projects supporting art, gathering, and joy in marginalized communities across Canada.
Jean Philippe Larocque
PRINCIPAL/DIRECTOR OF DESIGN, LAROCQUE ELDER ARCHITECTS, ARCHITECTES INC.
Jean Philippe Larocque, OAA, OAQ, MRAIC, LEED AP BD+C, is the director of design and co-founder of LEA Architects, bringing more than 33 years of architectural experience to his role. A LEED Accredited Professional, he is dedicated to sustainable and culturally informed design. After gaining valuable experience in Ottawa and Toronto, he established LEA Architects with Architect Ruth Elder in North Bay in 1995. His diverse portfolio features such significant projects as the Canadian Ecology Centre, Collège Boréal’s main campus, and the Anishinabek Nation Administration Building, all reflecting his guiding principle of “living lightly on the land.” LEA’s award-winning designs, recognized with numerous WoodWORKS! and Ontario Association of Architects honours, demonstrate a commitment to innovation and environmental stewardship while honouring the unique cultural and ecological contexts of the communities they serve.
Jean Philippe chairs the North Bay Society of Architects (NBSA) and serves as a representative on the North Bay Municipal Heritage Committee.
Janet Rosenberg
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, JANET ROSENBERG & STUDIO INC.
Janet Rosenberg is one of Canada’s foremost landscape architects and a trailblazer in the profession. As founding principal of Janet Rosenberg & Studio Inc. (JRS), she has more than four decades of experience pushing the boundaries of landscape architecture, leading the design and implementation of complex and award-winning public and private landscapes across Canada.
Diarmuid Nash
PARTNER, MORIYAMA TESHIMA ARCHITECTS
Diarmuid Nash, a partner at Moriyama Teshima Architects, has held various leadership roles, including president of the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA), chair of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), and chancellor of the RAIC College of Fellows. He also teaches in the Master of Architecture program at the University of Toronto's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture. Moriyama Teshima's ongoing projects include Limberlost Place at George Brown College (a 10-storey mass-timber, net-zero building), Poplar Road Public School (a modular mass timber sustainable prototype for the Toronto District School Board), and, in the spirit of building less, the revitalization of the West Memorial Building, a designated federal heritage site in Ottawa.