DRC Members

Founding Partner, O.C., OAA, FRAIC, AIA, RIBA
Bruce Kuwabara is a founding partner of KPMB Architects and the Chair of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. In 2006, he was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal and in 2012 he was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada for shaping ‘our built landscape in lasting ways.’ Bruce was lead design partner on 13 of KPMB’s 16 Governor General’s Award-winning projects.
His portfolio encompasses cultural, civic, educational, hospitality, and healthcare projects. Notable cultural work includes Canada’s National Ballet School, the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, and the Remai Modern art gallery in Saskatoon. Educational projects include the Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building and Louis A. Simpson International Building at Princeton University, and the Destination Project at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta.

Dave joined the University as Chief, Planning, Design & Construction in March 2022. He comes to the University from Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) where he was the Canadian EVP and National Lead for JLL’s 100+ Project & Development Services (PDS) team of professionals focused on commercial office, hotels, retail, light industrial, education, and sports & entertainment projects. Prior to JLL, Dave spent 14 years at Stantec Consulting leading an 80-person Program & Project Management (P&PM) team in Ontario and eventually their 200-person National P&PM platform. Directly or indirectly, he has worked closely with project managers, engineers, architects, schedulers, cost estimators, cost controllers, risk managers, commissioning agents, energy & sustainability specialists, and management consultants. 

Always close to his love for projects, Dave has delivered large, complex programs such as Canada Post’s $2.5B Postal Transformation Program of  33 projects in 16 cities; the design and contract administration of 77 store renovations during Target’s aggressive retail expansion into Canada; CIBC’s Corporate Real Estate account; and, Nieuport Aviation Infrastructure Partners’ Billy Bishop Airport Terminal Expansion.  His other project experiences were in education, healthcare, rail, mining, hydroelectric dams, oil and gas, nuclear, and environmental sectors. 

Coming full circle, his first major capital project in 2004 was for the University, when he was the project manager during the construction of the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research before managing the design to construction award of the New Science Building at UTSC. 

Christine is the Assistant Vice-President of University Planning, University Operations and Real Estate Partnerships at the University of Toronto. She is responsible for university master planning, major capital project planning, securing entitlements and enabling redevelopment of the University’s lands to address institutional space shortage and deliver program needs in support of the academic mission.
With 25 years of international and Toronto-based experience in large scale master planning, planning and development, and urban design, Christine has overseen complex projects for public and private sector development clients. Prior to joining the University of Toronto, Christine managed development and planning initiatives for Toronto Community Housing on the Regent Park Revitalization, and developed projects focusing on neighbourhood regeneration and community-building, including Alexandra Park Revitalization in Toronto. She has also worked on large-scale development initiatives elsewhere in North America as well as in the UK and Asia delivering master plans for new housing and open spaces in mixed-use and mixed-income communities. By approaching each city-building assignment as a unique opportunity Christine seeks creative solutions that will result in the formation of great urban neighbourhoods and public spaces.
Christine holds a Masters degree in Planning and Development from Harvard Graduate School of Design, a Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Science in Architecture degrees from McGill University, and a real estate development and finance certificate from New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Renée Daoust, founding partner of Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker, is widely recognized for her commitment to high quality, well-considered architectural projects from the scale of the city to the object. Over more than 30 years of practice, Renée has built a reputation for mobilizing and inspiring leadership and has an unmatched ability to communicate ideas and engage stakeholders.

Trained as an architect and urban designer, Renée Daoust is interested in transformative signature projects encompassing architecture, urban design, landscape architecture, public art and innovative sustainability to formalize high quality significant city building statements.

In 2016, Renée Daoust and Réal Lestage were awarded the Prix Ernest-Cormier, the highest distinction awarded by the Government of Québec in the fields of Architecture and Design.

Indi Gopinathan is Vice President of Capital Markets and Business Development at Prime Mining, and board member and audit committee chair of Ascot Resources. She serves as a member of the University of Toronto’s Governing Council, Vice Chair of Business Board and member of the Elections Committee. Ms. Gopinathan started her professional career with the Falconbridge/Noranda group, before moving on to equity research, senior corporate roles, independent consulting and teaching. She has a range of experience across the mining industry life cycle: through the exploration, project development and operating stages, and from the perspectives of engineering, logistics, information technology, finance and capital markets. Ms. Gopinathan holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Queen’s University. She is a designated P.Eng. and CPA, CMA (both Ontario).

Pat Hanson (Principal BFA MArch OAA AAA FRAIC) is the founding partner of gh3*. Under her leadership, the firm has established a reputation for design integrity across a range of building typologies and through all scales of practice. She is the architect of institutional, infrastructural and residential projects that create meaningful connections between architecture and landscape within the urban realm. Exemplary projects include the internationally-recognized June Callwood Park in Toronto, the Trinity College Quadrangle at the University of Toronto, and the Governor General’s Medal-awarded projects Borden Park Pavilion, the Borden Park Natural Swimming Pool.
Pat is an expert communicator of compelling design visions that are both environmentally and socially sustainable. She is a strong and insightful advocate for the potential for built form to rise above the merely functional, to integrate the pragmatic with the poetic, and to achieve an aesthetic impact that brings pleasure to everyday uses. For over 30 years, she has led clients and interdisciplinary design teams through complex programs, negotiating extensive public consultation processes to achieve internationally-recognized, award-winning projects, whether at the scale of infrastructure or the sheltering of a community programme.
She currently serves on the Toronto Waterfront Design Review Panel, and is a past senior advisor for Building Equality in Architecture Toronto (BEAT), which supports diversity and women in the design fields. She has lectured on the work of gh3* in Europe and North America, and has taught at University of Toronto and University of Waterloo. In 2016, Pat was recognized by the international arcVision Prize for Women and Architecture.

A Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and a member of the American Institute of Architects, Mr. Schmitt and his firm have won over 400 design awards including seven Governor General’s Awards.
Don’s recent notable projects include the transformation of the National Arts Centre, the Senate of Canada Building, the Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning at Sick Children’s Hospital and Geffen Hall at Lincoln Centre, New York City.
He is the Founding Chair of the Public Art Commission for the City of Toronto for which he was awarded the Civic Medal. He has been a member of several Design Review Panels including the National Capital Commission and Waterfront Toronto.
Donald Schmitt is a Member of the Order of Canada.

Richard Sommer is a Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, and Director of the Global Cities Institute at the University of Toronto. He was Dean of UofT’s Daniels Faculty from 2009-20, and during that time incorporated five new programs, led the design and construction of 1 Spadina Crescent, and ultimately more than quadrupled the size of the school. Before Toronto, Sommer was active in design practice, was a Professor and Director of Urban Design at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and held several visiting professorships and fellowships in Europe and the United States. In 2020 he received an Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Distinguished Professor Award. Sommer’s projects and writings on architecture, urbanism and monument-making have been published in Cabinet Magazine, Perspecta, and JAE, and the books Urban Design (U. Minnesota Press), and Commemoration and the American City: Monuments, Memorialization and Meaning (UVA Press), among others.

Mr. Wright is an Associate Professor in the Daniels Faculty. He has also been, The Interim Dean of the Daniels Faculty (1 yr.), the Dean of Forestry (2yrs), the Director of the Landscape Program (8 yrs.), Daniels Faculty Associate Dean of Research (4 yrs.) Daniels Faculty, and Daniels Associate Dean (4 yrs.)
Mr. Wright is a founding member and past Director of the Centre for Landscape Research (8 yrs.) and a Past Director of the Knowledge Media Design Institute (4 yrs.) His work focuses on Landscape and Urban design, bringing the University’s expertise together with Community, Industry, and government. He is a full member of the OALA and a Fellow of the CSLA.
Robert Wright has a BSc from the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in Open Space Planning, with a major in Ecology and an MLA from the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada

As Chief Administrative Officer at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), Andrew has spearheaded the development of the Campus’ Strategic and Master Plans. He has led teams in a wide range of business disciplines including operations, government relations, capital development and strategy. He has also fostered partnerships across the public and private sectors that have built innovative new opportunities including the creation of the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.

Before joining UTSC, Andrew was a key leader in the merger to create the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

Andrew is also an active board member for Ontario Shores and the Toronto Pan AM Sports Centre. He serves as a strategic advisor for the Toronto Zoo.

Andrew received his undergraduate in philosophy and psychology from York University and holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

Deborah Brown is Chief Administrative Officer at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Her team is responsible for major capital projects that are aligned with a new Campus Master Plan that was approved in 2022.

Previous to UTM, Deborah was the Vice-President at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), where her team developed the Campus Master Plan 2020-2030. She oversaw significant capital expansion including two new buildings –Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex and Centre for Urban Innovation.

Before her role at TMU, Deborah oversaw significant capital expansion at Mohawk College as Vice President, Corporate Services. Her team won several awards for the innovative, net-zero Joyce Centre For Partnership and Innovation, the first building in Canada to receive Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) Standard certification in both the Design and Performance categories from the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC).

Prior to her career in the post-secondary sector, Deborah held senior leadership positions within the Ontario government, most recently as the acting chief administrative officer and assistant deputy minister at Treasury Board Secretariat.

Costas Catsaros is the Director of Project Development, a department within the University Planning, Design and Construction group that specializes in costing, scheduling and logistical analysis of capital projects on all three campuses. Costas also oversees all consultant selection processes for major capital projects and is a primary liaison with the AEC community and their governing associations.

Costas holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Waterloo, is a registered architect with the Ontario Association of Architects and maintains affiliations with the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and the Canada Green Building Council. Prior to his current role at the University, Costas spent 14 years in the private sector an architect within a large Toronto architectural practice where he specialized in community, secondary and post-secondary design and construction.

Over the last twenty years at the University of Toronto, Robert Levit has combined roles as a professor of design, theory and history; a faculty administrator; a critic/theorist; and a creative practitioner. Levit has served as both Director of the Master of Urban Design Program and the Master of Architecture Program, and held the position of Associate Dean, Academic. He is currently serving as Acting Dean since September 2023.

His work includes extensive engagement in speculative design through a large body of competitions and numerous exhibitions and installations. He has also been active as a critic and writer, addressing individual projects, broader theoretical and historical questions of architecture and urbanism, and architectural pedagogy.

Levit’s design work has been both as a sole-practitioner until 2006, and since then in partnership with Rodolphe el-Khoury as his primary collaborator in the firm of Khoury Levit Fong. The firm’s projects are largely institutional and urban in scale and reflect a deep interest in shaping the public realm through buildings and broader urban design strategies. These interests were most clearly expressed in the exhibition design for Type-topia, which was shown at both the Chicago Architecture Biennial and the Meetingroom Gallery in Miami.

His recent publications include: “Architecture versus the Entropic City: An excerpt of a WhatsApp chat between Preston Scott Cohen and Robert Levit”, “Contemporary Ornament: The Return of the Symbolic Repressed”, which is among his most cited and influential, along with writings on Alvaro Siza. Other articles have explored the relationship between architectural rhetoric and ethical imperatives such as sustainability and performance—see “Design’s New Catechism,” “Beauty Through the Backdoor,” and “Design Will Save the World.” His work also addresses specific questions of architectural form, as in “Geometry’s Rule” and “The Arbitrary is Architecture.” A number of his essays discuss his own design work, including “Infrastructure as Leviathan” and “Refashioning the Roof.”

Levit’s teaching has been shaped by a strong interest in the formal languages of architecture and in specific structural forms, paired with a deep engagement with the historical contexts that shape and are shaped by architecture. He has long been committed to teaching introductory design studios, first in the Master of Urban Design Program during his early years at the University of Toronto, and later in the Master of Architecture Program. He has also taught core undergraduate and graduate courses on the histories and theories of architecture, led numerous seminars focused on contemporary theoretical concerns, and taught thesis and options studios at the University of Toronto, as well as in visiting roles at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, The Cooper Union, and the University of Miami. In these studio settings, he has been able to guide advanced students in developing synthetic perspectives on the city and the building through both studio instruction and theoretical inquiry.

Professor Mabury holds a PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry from the University of California, Davis. He first joined the University of Toronto in 1995 as the first faculty member in environmental chemistry and later helped lead the creation of undergraduate and graduate programs in this sub-discipline. Professor Mabury served as Chair of the Department of Chemistry from 2003 until 2009.
Professor Mabury was appointed as VP-University Operations January 1, 2012, and was reappointed in December 2016. In January 2019, he was appointed to the newly created position of Vice-President, Operations and Real Estate Partnerships, and his term was extended to June, 2023. Portfolios reporting to him include Information Technology Services, Facilities and Services, Ancillary Services, Real Estate, Office of Planning and Budget, and University Planning, Design & Construction encompassing University Planning, Project Development, Project Management, and Design & Engineering.