Kelly is a father, architect and educator. His holistic approach to the design of the built environment has been shaped by his experiences working across the world - first in the resource development sector, and later as MASS Design Group’s East African Director where he led the design and implementation of several of MASS’s projects, notably the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture–winner of several international awards for sustainable design and construction. Working in these contexts brought about a profound sense of the scales of social and environmental impacts inherent to the built environment.
Kelly is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, a Senior Fellow of Architecture 2030, a founding member of the Bio-based Materials Collective, a winner of the Canada Council’s Prix de Rome for Emerging Practitioners, and a member of the RAIC’s Committee on Regenerative Environments.
Juliette is an intern architect, lecturer, and researcher. She brings a lifecycle lens to projects, evaluating these from the perspectives of embodied carbon, operational performance, cost, reuse potential, toxicity, labour, and more. At Ha/f, she leads carbon and circularity studies for cities, developers, and design teams across Canada. Her belief in materially literate, regenerative design is grounded in both research and practice.
Juliette teaches life cycle assessment and circularity at the University of Waterloo, and has previously taught a climate and material-focused housing studio at Parsons School of Design. Her role as a mother deepens her commitment to designing healthier futures.
Rashmi Sirkar is an architectural designer and expert in circular construction. Her commitment to the social and environmental aspect of materials is informed by her experience as a textile designer and entrepreneur in India where she worked extensively with natural materials and craft communities across the country. In 20XX Rashmi co-founded Mana Organics, a women-led organization that collectivised small farmers to facilitate organic farming at scale.
Rashmi’s focus has shifted towards similar forms of collective action in the built environment. Her research into material re-use practices included working with Re:Purpose Savannah and ReHousing.ca - experiences that have shaped her commitment to re-use as a first option. Rashmi currently teaches at the University of Toronto, leading research seminars in both the architecture and landscape architecture departments.
Ryan Bruer OAA
Ryan is an architect and artist passionate about the communal stories that connect people to materials and city-building. A McMaster Fine Arts graduate, his first solo exhibition explored printmaking through material circularity, local repair, and exchange in Hamilton.
Professionally, he has advanced life cycle assessment in architectural offices across Canada to drive immediate carbon reduction in residential construction. Ryan also leads the Ha/f Research Seminar at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture.