On February 20, the OAA Headquarters hosted Jury Day for the SHIFT2025 Challenge, with experts coming together to review the submissions for this year’s iteration of the aspirational design ideas competition.

The theme of SHIFT2025, Reshaping Communities, mirrors that of this year’s Conference, with participants asked to show how architectural thinking can play a role in in evolving how our built environments respond to today’s most pressing challenges.
SHIFT 2025 Jury and  Facilitator and reviewing the SHIFT Reshaping Communities submissions.                                                                                                                 Photography by Andrew Grinton

Assisted by OAA staff and facilitator Diarmuid Nash—partner at Moriyama Teshima Architects, professor, former OAA president, and recipient of the 2022 OAA award for Lifetime Design Achievement—the jury came together to discuss their favourite submissions and review the various texts, images, and videos sent in by Architects, Intern Architects, Retired Members, and Student Associates.

Janet Rosenberg, founding principal of Janet Rosenberg & Studio, and a renowned landscape architect with more than 40 years of experience and award-winning public and private projects, joined virtually.
Janet Rosenberg joins the discussions virtually. 

Gathering in Toronto was the rest of the jury:

Dr. Elizabeth English, professor at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and founder of the Buoyant Foundation Project, focused on low-cost, amphibious foundations for flood mitigation and climate adaptation;
Erica Gomirato, Intern Architect at Perry + Perry Architects in Sudbury, where she earned her master’s from Laurentian University in 2023—her submission was a SHIFT2023 Challenge selection that same year;
Shane Laptiste, architect and founder of the Studio of Contemporary Architecture (SOCA) and 2023 Canadian Prix de Rome recipient, and leader of projects supporting marginalized communities; and
Jean Philippe Larocque, co-founder of Larocque Elder Architects with more than three decades of experience on sustainable, culturally informed design, and chair of the North Bay Society of Architects (NBSA)

Jury Facilitator Diarmuid Nash and Elizabeth English engage in discussion. 

Jurors Jean Phillipe Larocque and Erica Gomirato, with OAA Architectural Graduate Elif Efe. 

With the jury having made its choices, the OAA will proudly announce the selections later this month. The teams behind the projects will then be celebrated at the Conference in Ottawa this May, as well as be featured in an upcoming publication. 

To learn more about the individual jurors, click here.