Doors Open Toronto 2025 - Architects Talk: Spaces For Play

Alex Waffle, MLA, OALA, CSLA, is a Landscape Architect who currently oversees business development and project management at Earthscape Play. He has been involved in all aspects of playground design, development, and installation for hundreds of playground projects across North America and now, around the world. He was the site supervisor for some of Earthscape’s first large-scale destination playground projects including Grange Park. Having worked in multiple roles, he has the ability to foresee challenges and develop creative solutions, while managing teams and delivering projects smoothly and efficiently.

Bill Gurney is a lifelong skateboarding enthusiast and fully licensed landscape architect with over 25 years of experience working with a variety of multi-disciplinary team environments. Bill’s overall experience includes a variety of industrial, commercial and institutional landscape design projects, residential subdivisions, park / open space planning, and natural rehabilitation initiatives. His experience also includes 20 years of specialized practice working on municipal skatepark projects. Since 2005 Bill has provided design and project management services for over 200 skatepark development projects across North America.

Bill provides expertise with community outreach, design documentation, cost estimating, site inspection and contract administration services. In addition to his well-documented qualifications and personal interests, Bill brings a special energy, enthusiasm and dedication to the successful completion of all New Line Skateparks projects.

Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster are Toronto-based artists and designers who have collaborated since 2003. Together they create spaces and objects that interrupt everyday situations in critically engaging and playful ways. As a multi-disciplinary practice, they operate at a variety of scales, from temporary installations to permanent public artworks and architectural projects. Their practice focuses on ‘social infrastructures’ which seek to build community by fostering playful interactions in physical space. Their academic research focuses on the role of play in the built environment and alternative methods of documentation as a form of historic preservation. They are the authors of “Growing up Modern: Childhoods in Iconic Homes” (Birkhäuser, 2021). In 2018 the Architectural League of New York honored their work with the League Prize for Young Architects and Designers. Julia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architectural Science at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Ilana Altman is a cultural planner and designer who has a background in art and architecture. In her role as Co-Executive Director she works to unlock new public space opportunities, build strong civic partnerships and implement innovative and engaging programming, resulting in new inclusive experiences across the city.

Prior to joining The Bentway team, Ilana worked on a number of educational, residential and cultural projects for a series of notable architectural firms including Studio Daniel Libeskind and Diller Scofidio + Renfro in New York and KPMB Architects in Toronto. She has led the curation and design of exhibitions and installations at the SFMOMA, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Additionally, she has worked closely with artists to realize public art installations for Toronto’s Nuit Blanche.

In 2014 Ilana founded the Artful City, a Toronto collective that aims to advance public art research, policies, and imaginations. Additionally, Ilana founded and served as the Executive Director of the Pavilion Project from 2015-2017, an organization striving to advance the culture of architecture and activate local communities through construction of experimental temporary structures.

Shawn Micallef is the author of Frontier City: Toronto on the Verge of Greatness, Full Frontal TO: Exploring Toronto’s Vernacular Architecture and The Trouble With Brunch. The updated edition of Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto was released in May 2024. He’s a Toronto Star columnist, instructor at University of Toronto, a Senior Fellow at Massey College and a co-founder of Spacing magazine.

Elise Shelley is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream and the Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture Program at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto. She is also the Director of Landscape at the Toronto-based interdisciplinary firm gh3*. She is a registered landscape architect with over 20 years experience in projects of all scales. 

Elise’s background and training in both architecture and landscape enables a method of practice that focuses on the physical, experiential and functional connections between interior and exterior space. Elise’s award-winning professional work celebrates the interdisciplinary nature of urban places and integrates technical innovation, community outreach, and ecological resilience. Current projects include Warehouse Park in Edmonton and Olympic Plaza in Calgary, both collaborations between gh3* and CCxA.