Mark your calendars! The Ontario Association of Architects kicks off registration for the annual OAA Conference—coming this May to Niagara Falls—with a special FREE virtual Keynote to set the stage for this year's theme, Housing: Pushing the Envelope. On Tuesday, March 19, from 1 to 2 pm, international architect Vishaan Chakrabarti FAIA, will discuss his work in developing an understanding of the daily lives of a diverse spectrum of urban dwellers in order to create multi-functional spaces that stimulate civic delight, promote environmental justice, and cross-cultural pollination, and improve how people interact with the city and with each other. The goal is to inspire attendees in thinking about housing and living possibilities in Ontario cities and beyond.

The Zoom event offers OAA members 1.0 hours of Structured Learning for the mandatory Continuing Education Program. You can register here. Please note registration closes at 5 pm on Friday, March 15.

With more than 30 years of experience authoring and implementing visionary urban architecture around the world, Chakrabarti is the founder and creative director of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism | PAU, where he leads the firm’s growing global portfolio of cultural, institutional, and public projects, including the redesign of New York’s Penn Station, as well as the design of the FAA’s new sustainable air traffic control tower prototype, which will be adapted to replace over 100 aging towers in regional and municipal airports across the United States. Other projects include the expansion of Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Refinery, Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Yards, Ford Motor Company’s Michigan Central Station project in Detroit’s Corktown, Princeton's Hobson College, and a unique urban village in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Chakrabarti is the author of the highly acclaimed book, A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America (Metropolis Books, 2013), and is working on the upcoming The Architecture of Urbanity: Designing Cities for Pluralism and Planet. He has served as the William W. Wurster Dean of the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley and was a professor at Columbia University for a decade.

The OAA is pleased to announce Brampton Brick as the sponsor of this year’s Virtual Keynote.