At the 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in June, the Association honoured its newest Members of Long Standing—individuals who have reached the milestone of 50 years of membership with the OAA as part of Ontario’s architecture profession. Among the recipients this year was Malcolm A. Freeman.

Freeman was born in Chesterfield, England, but has made Canada his home. During his youth, he became interested in architecture and was fortunate enough to work in several practices during school holidays. While at university, he worked on a construction site as an assistant to a site engineer on a multi-storey concrete building.

After graduating from Nottingham University School of Architecture, Freeman spent some time travelling around Europe, eventually moving to Canada in 1965. As a new immigrant, he gained experience working in several smaller practices where he was exposed to many of the differing aspects of practice in Canada.

Freeman entered a joint practice with Gerry Mason, a civil engineer with whom he has had the opportunity to work on many different building forms that evolved over time. This work includes small residential projects, combined industrial office developments, tenant improvements, building repair and renovations, non-profit housing projects as well as commercial and municipal work.

Freeman finds running his own practice to be a very rewarding and fulfilling experience. He says he has tried his best to avoid compulsory retirement and been fortunate enough to be able to continue his profession to this day.