TIME: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
This lecture explores architecture's expanding role in addressing global challenges, focusing on climate action, social equity, and community impact. Beginning with the climate emergency, it introduces KPMB’s approach, which leverages innovative design and construction methods to significantly reduce carbon emissions.
The lecture then shifts to social equity, highlighting BEAT, an initiative advocating for gender equity in architecture, alongside affordable housing projects aimed at addressing inequity in Canada.
Finally, the presentation underscores KPMB’s commitment to enhancing public spaces and fostering community through projects including the Harrison McCain Pavilion addition to the Beaverbrook Gallery and the award-winning Montreal Holocaust Museum.
These examples illustrate how architecture can be a force for sustainability, inclusivity, and positive community transformation.
Shirley Blumberg is a founding partner of KPMB Architects and a Member of the Order of Canada for her contributions to architecture and community. She has designed many of the firm’s noteworthy and award-winning projects that range in scale, from interiors to architecture and planning. In addition to her academic and cultural projects, she has also focused on social justice work in affordable housing. She is currently working on such projects as the competition-winning Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, an affordable residential community in Toronto, and prototypical housing for the northern Indigenous community of Fort Severn in Ontario, Canada. Several years ago, Shirley began a conversation with like-minded colleagues that became BEAT - Building Equality in Architecture Toronto - a grassroots initiative to promote equality for women in the profession that has since grown to include chapters across Canada.