TSA CONNECT Online 2023 – Session 2: Remote Work

Alberto Proserpio is an Italian architect and civil engineer from Politecnico di Milano.

In 2016, after working in different international architectural firms such as Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter in Oslo or Archea Associati in Milan, he moved to Warsaw to start the architectural department in Arup Poland. From 2022 he is a Senior Designer in the Arup Toronto office.

In 2021, after he received several prizes in Architectural competitions, he has been awarded as one of the Top10 Young Italian Architects.

Senior Designer, Canada Practice Leader, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)

Andrew Lee, OAA, AIA, is an architect with 10+ years of experience across a broad range of building typologies including commercial, cultural, institutional, residential and transportation projects.

Recently, Andrew was the Senior Designer for the award-winning Moynihan Train Hall, an extension of New York’s Pennsylvania Station into the former Farley Post Office building. Currently he is leading SOM’s efforts in Canada, building relationships across the industry and developing opportunities for new projects.

In addition to his work at SOM, Andrew is an active member in the architecture community, teaching and visiting as a guest critic at various universities, and serving on committees at NCARB and ULI.

David Campbell is a senior architect in Arup’s Toronto Architecture studio. David joined Arup’s London UK office in 2015, and since relocating to Toronto in 2017, has been involved in a variety of major public transportation and transit-oriented development projects in the America’s region. Drawing on project experience ranging from commercial, residential, and cultural developments to community engagement work with non-profit organizations, David strives to achieve integrated, sustainable places that enhance people’s daily experiences.

David also serves as Arup’s Architecture Skills Leader for the Americas region. Arup’s skills networks are an internal skills-based research, learning, and development groups and his role is to drive excellence for architecture through collaboration with professionals across the Region.

Jon Cicconi is a Principal and Architecture Practice Leader based in Arup’s New York office. In his role, Jon is establishing Arup’s architecture capability in New York and catalyzing its growth across the Americas region with a focus on the rail, transit, and infrastructure markets. He believes that interdisciplinary design has the potential to make architecture more pure, powerful, impactful, efficient, and sustainable. At the helm of Arup’s architecture practice in the United States, Jon is creating enhanced opportunities for innovative and sustainable development central to the firm’s mission of designing cities of the future.

Prior to joining Arup in 2022, Jon was a New York Design Studio Leader at SOM. Jon has decades of experience working on award-winning projects, including Moynihan Train Hall in Manhattan and Denver Union Station, and brings extensive knowledge of the transportation market. He holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia.

Ramy Bakir, B.Sci. M.Sci, PhD, has 19 years of experience in design, management, and education. As a Senior Team Lead at Syllable Inc. he is currently working on management and design projects being designed/constructed in Toronto and Niagara, collaborating with team members and stakeholders located in different parts of Canada and Europe.

Before that, and for more than 10 years, he ran his own design firm, based in Cairo, Egypt, where he worked for years with design partners and clients, from different parts of the world, designing projects in the MENA region and Canada. As a younger architect, he worked in multinational consultancy firms where he remotely teamed up with design partners from Europe and Asia designing large projects of different typologies. As an experienced teacher, he taught architectural and interior design courses helping students develop their complex design ideas and solutions throughout the different design phases.

Ruth A. Mora is an artist and architect and co-founder of SUMO project. She likes creativity as a force for change and uses human centric design and art to build bridges between spaces and communities, focusing on the contributions of art in public spaces and communal engagement. Some of these visions are collected in her book, ‘Borders and Bonds, Art as a mediator.”

As an immigrant, Ruth maintained a distant connection with her country’s diaspora which, aided by technology and the multicultural aspect of Toronto, has expanded to other common-minded people, creating opportunities to collaborate remotely and globally. This has contributed to creating an inclusive environment in which varied experiences and interdisciplinary thinking are the creative force behind the work her studio creates. As an example, the studio is co-leading a research project meant to help integrate novices and newcomers artists into public art in Toronto called “Inclusive Mentorship: Integration of New Artists to Public Art.”

Photo by Devon Little.

Queenie has been a leader in Toronto’s Architecture industry for almost 20 years. She graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2003 and joined Zeidler Architecture the same year, where she became a vital part of how the firm expands through their business practices, hiring and project resourcing. Her role as partner at the firm has led to continuous growth and improvement, as she champions a team culture rooted in mentorship, and dedicated to fostering a stimulating, enjoyable environment for all. Even during the extensive lockdown, Queenie focused on maintaining team connection and relationship building to secure the mental health and well-being of her team as well as the strength of the firm at large.

Her enthusiastic and cooperative approach to all her assignments make Queenie an ideal design team leader and project manager. She has excellent capabilities across all phases of project development and industry sectors, positioning her as the leader of a wide range of projects where she balances technical proficiency with design creativity through strategic problem solving.

Eliyahu Margulis is an Design Lead and Project Manager with Arcadis IBI Group working on challenging architectural projects since 2017. He has eight years of experience in the design of various projects ranging from residential to large-scale transportation projects. He has played pivotal roles in Arcadis IBI Group projects in Israel & Canada. Eliyahu gained invaluable skills in the early stages of the Tel Aviv Red Line, taking a leading role in the project from design development all the way through construction phases. With a fundamental understanding of design principles, real-world transit experience, and full design-cycle, Eliyahu tackles technical challenges, project constraints, and stakeholder need to achieve project goals in all types of projects.

Currently, Eliyahu is the Facilities Manager for the underground segment for the Yonge St. Subway Extension in Toronto. The Yonge North Subway Extension (YNSE) will extend TTV’s Line 1 subway service aprox. 8km from Finch Station into the City of Richmond Hill. Eliyahu’s role manages Architectural design & coordination across disciplines for all underground facilities in the YNSE project scope, as well as interfacing with the Client & key Stakeholders in the project. Eliyahu has been working on the YNSE project remotely from Arcadis IBI’s offices in Tel Aviv Israel for the past 8 months.