It is our pleasure to announce the jury members for the 26th annual Best of Canada Awards competition. They are:
Products
- Reza Aliabadi – Atelier RZLBD
- Heather Dubbeldam – Dubbeldam Architecture + Design
- Jimmy Rogers – 39 Design + Engineering Inc. / ACIDO
Projects
- Fraser Greenberg – Milky’s Coffee / Relative Space
- Joanne Lam – Picnic Design
- Viz Saraby – George Brown College
- Paul Sapounzi – +VG Architects
Reza Aliabadi
Founder & Principal, Atelier RZLBD
Atelier RZLBD is a boutique art and architecture practice based in Toronto founded by Reza Aliabadi, whose work extends to making arts, crafting objects, designing buildings, curating installations, and publishing a zine called rzlbdPOST. RZLBD works have been exhibited in many venues locally and globally, including the Sir Joan Soane’s Museum in London, England (2018), the World Architecture festival (Berlin 2017, Amsterdam 2018), and Toronto Harbourfront Centre (2012).
Heather Dubbeldam
Principal, Dubbeldam Architecture + Design
Heather Dubbeldam is a fourth-generation architect and the principal of Dubbeldam Architecture + Design, a multi-disciplinary studio in Toronto with a diverse portfolio of built work including hospitality, workspaces, residential, adaptive reuse and mixed-use projects, as well as installation and landscape design. Recipient of over 80 awards including the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture, her studio has also been widely published. Heather is known as a leading advocate for sustainable design and the betterment of our built environment.
Jimmy Rogers
Principal, 39 Design + Engineering Inc. / President, Association of Chartered Industrial Designers of Ontario (ACIDO)
With an educational and professional background in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Design, Jimmy has more than 20 years of insight into how people interact with objects. With a passion rooted in the engineering world and combined with the creative process, 39 Design + Engineering provides personal service through concept, design, engineering and execution.
Joanne Lam
Principal & co-founder, Picnic Design
Joanne Lam is a co-founder of Picnic Design, an architecture and design firm based in Toronto. She has over 20 years in the industry, leading projects with a wide range of scale from millwork and interiors, to architecture and urban planning. She has extensive experience working abroad in South Africa, Ghana, Jordan and United States. She is currently based in Canada focusing on small-scale mixed-use projects in downtown Toronto with a particular interest in co-living and shared spaces.
Fraser Greenberg
Owner, Milky’s Coffee / Marketing Director, Relative Space
Milky’s is an award-winning purveyor of coffee and a venture from Fraser Greenberg, who also co-owns eco-friendly, design-focused hardwood flooring company Relative Space. The uniquely designed stores are known for their distinct interior experiences, with moving light and interpretations of their elongated diamond pattern.
Viz Saraby
Professor & Coordinator of Interior Design, George Brown College
With over 30 years of experience in interior design, both as senior designer in the hospitality industry and as a design educator, Viz Saraby has a well-developed approach to design thinking and concept development. She is the most recent winner of the Distinguished Faculty Award at George Brown College and is coordinator of the Interior Design Diploma program, a program she was actively involved with developing and growing. The course prepares students to be valuable members of their design teams for interior renovations and new construction.
Paul Sapounzi
President and Managing Principal, +VG Architects (The Ventin Group Ltd.)
Paul Sapounzi works primarily on complex high-profile, public sector and institutional projects, such as Ontario’s Huntsville Performing Arts Centre, Milton Town Hall, Milton Library, Arts Centre and Theatre, Township of Wilmot Administration Centre, Meaford Museum and Theatre, Guelph Civic Museum, Oakville Museum, Bridgepoint Hospital Heritage Restoration and the Kincardine Arts Centre. In his 32 years of placemaking, he has designed over 100 academic facilities, 20 community centres, nine courthouses, 20 healthcare centres, 250 heritage sites, 30 libraries, 90 municipal facilities, 25 museums and galleries, 12 police detachments, 17 recreation facilities and 16 theatres and performance centres across Ontario and in Bermuda. He recently converted Brantford’s federal building into the new City Hall.
