Pina and Ralph have been partners in life and architecture since a prom date arranged by a cousin. Ralph showed up for that first date and mistook Pina's twin sister for her, a mix up that still gets retold. Both grew up in Italian Canadian families steeped in building and craft. Ralph comes from three generations of builders, and Pina spent childhood summers in Italy touring history with her father. Ralph led a student boycott at the University of Toronto that marched on Queen's Park, while Pina went on to Princeton and still teaches at U of T. Their wedding had an accordion player, a raw bar, and 250 guests, after they had planned for 100.

Their first commission arrived after a late night encounter on College Street, when the owner of Bar Italia asked Ralph for help. The fee was $4,250, and the job turned a neighbourhood institution into their calling card. A licensing body rejected the name Arena Architects, so they began under Ralph's own name and grew into Giannone Petricone Associates, founded in 1995. While the bar collected attention, Ralph quietly master planned a 26 acre lakefront site that became Port Credit Village and helped the young firm survive.

Today about 40 people work on projects that range from the Shops at Don Mills to The Royal Hotel in Picton, Volta Estate Winery in Prince Edward County, and the Snider House, a ribbon of curved glass wrapped around North Toronto's oldest surviving home. Hear how they design for gathering, plan a future beyond themselves, and why two of their three sons became architects anyway.

⁠⁠Giannone Petricone Associates⁠⁠

Upcoming Episode:

Michelle Mawby

Sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@issuedforconstruction.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Issued For Construction⁠⁠⁠⁠

At eight years old, Jonathan was driving a truck out to the fields with snacks for the crew on his grandparents' 400 acre Idaho farm. Garrett was a Newport Beach kid decorating his bedroom like a beach house inside a craftsman home. Today the married duo run BrewerSweet Co., a full service interior design studio in Southern California with a growing footprint in Park City, Utah.

Jonathan's Twin Falls childhood was pure adventure: bottle feeding calves, raising a litter of 25 puppies, building a tree house from a dying tree, and singing five part harmony on 24 hour road trips with two music teacher parents. Theater, choirs, and competitive ballroom followed, including a week of dance camp with choreographers from So You Think You Can Dance. After Bible college in England, he landed in California with about a thousand dollars, two suitcases, and a borrowed car.

Garrett studied business management, spent a semester in Madrid, worked the overnight shift at Disneyland, and hauled warehouse pallets to LA to turn into a bed frame. He also spent years at the pottery wheel, building a stock of 150 to 200 ceramic pieces that now show up in their projects.

Their first clients were three neighbors in matching condos during COVID. Designer Stephanie Hunt of Flairhunter took them under her wing, and a Park City log cabin remodel became their calling card.

⁠⁠Brewer Sweet Co.⁠⁠

Upcoming Episode:

Giannone Petricone Associates

Sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@issuedforconstruction.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Issued For Construction⁠⁠⁠⁠

David Arnott is the founder and principal of Stark Architecture and Interiors, a 24-person studio based in Squamish, BC. Originally from Peebles, a small town south of Edinburgh, Scotland, he grew up immersed in competitive cycling — his father was a Scottish national road racing champion — before discovering architecture through family trips to churches and buildings across mainland Europe. He completed a seven-year architecture program split between Edinburgh College of Art and KTH in Stockholm (via an Erasmus exchange), where he was introduced to parametric design and generative component modeling.

After graduating in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, David worked for a small residential firm in Edinburgh, then returned to Canada — first working in Vancouver and Whistler — before going independent as a sole proprietor and eventually incorporating Stark Architecture Limited on December 1, 2016. The firm's name means "strong" in Swedish, a nod to his time in Stockholm. Early projects were small renovations in Revelstoke and Whistler; a distinctive red-painted house in Revelstoke helped build word-of-mouth that grew into a steady stream of single-family home commissions.

Stark has built a reputation for technically ambitious, design-forward homes in mountain settings, often on steep or complex sites. The studio is deeply invested in Passive House building science — seven staff hold Passive House certification, and Stark designed North America's first certified Passive House commercial building (a bike shop in Revelstoke). A recent large residential project in Pemberton -fully net-zero, with dual Tesla battery banks and geothermal heating - became Passive House Premium Certified, a first for a Canadian project, along with recognition from Architizer and Canadian Interiors. The firm also won the AIBC Emerging Architect of the Year award.

About four years ago, Stark added interior design as a core discipline, now led by partner Josianne and a six-person team; the studio also does original furniture and lighting/product design. Of Stark's 24 staff, David describes the culture as built around "co-creation" rather than top-down direction, with incredible benefits, balance to the work-life and team trips like cat-skiing and heli-biking.

Outside Stark, David co-runs Alba Distribution with his brother, importing specialty bike components (Formula Forks, EXT, and similar). He lives in Squamish with his wife, Melissa, his two kids and is an enthusiastic mountain biker (I experienced this firsthand) - a throughline from childhood racing in Scotland to the studio's location and culture today.

⁠Stark Architecture + Interiors

Upcoming Episode:

Brewer Sweet Co.

Sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@issuedforconstruction.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Issued For Construction⁠⁠⁠⁠

Cynthia Soda is the founder and principal designer of Soda Pop Design, a multidisciplinary interior design and build firm serving mid to high end residential clients across the Greater Toronto Area. Cynthia is NCIDQ certified and registered with ARIDO, and studied interior design at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University).

Cynthia's path to design began early: she grew up watching her father tackle ambitious home projects, including an ICF foundation addition with radiant heated floors, well ahead of when either was common practice. That exposure to construction, paired with a lifelong pull toward design, shaped how she now approaches her work.

Before launching her own firm, Cynthia won the HGTV Canada series Design Interns, a competition hosted by Cecconi Simone's Anna Simone and Elaine Cecconi, and spent a year working at their studio afterward. She started Soda Pop Design in 2012, building the practice project by project through referrals. A few years in, she brought her father on to launch Soda Pop Construction, giving her a way to oversee the build side of her clients' projects alongside her design work rather than handing it off. Design remains the core of her practice, with that added oversight letting her carry projects through from concept to completion. Cynthia has since appeared as an interior designer on HGTV's Holmes Family Rescue, and her work has spanned residential renovations and additions throughout the GTA, along with projects in the US and abroad.

Cynthia's father remains one of her biggest influences, and the creative, problem solving mindset he brought to every project still shapes how she runs her business today. Working alongside him at Soda Pop Construction remains one of the most meaningful chapters of her career, and she continues to honour what he taught her in the way she approaches her work.

⁠⁠Soda Pop Design⁠⁠

Cynthia's Book: Lolly's Basement Crawlies

Upcoming Episode:

Stark Architecture + Interiors

Sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@issuedforconstruction.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Issued For Construction⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Susan and David Scott are the founders of Scott & Scott Architects, a Vancouver based practice launched in 2012. They met as architecture students at the Technical University of Nova Scotia, later Dalhousie University, completing a Bachelor of Environmental Design and a Master of Architecture in 2000.

Susan grew up in Vancouver's Kitsilano and Dunbar area, camping across British Columbia each summer; her mother is from Cornwall, England. She studied at the University of Victoria before moving into art history, drawn to the mathematics behind Islamic geometric art. A co-op took her to Montreal to work with Avi Friedman at McGill on an affordable housing project. She later spent over a decade at James Cheng Architects and macfarlane/green/biggar, working on projects including Vnukovo Airport in Moscow.

David grew up in a small British Columbia town shaped by a river, a highway and a railway, and spent his teens cross country ski racing. A co-op placed him as a structural inspector at the lead zinc smelter in Trail, BC. He then worked at Peter Cardew Architects as project manager on the Saturna Island House and other projects.

After graduating, the couple built a cabin for David's parents at Lac Le Jeune, then launched their practice with the Alpine Cabin, an off grid snowboard cabin on Vancouver Island that won a 2014 Architizer A+ Award. Restaurant commissions followed, including Torafuku, Kin Kao and Bestie, alongside cabins, houses and a barn across BC, the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii and Ontario. In 2016 they received the RAIC Young Architect Award.

Susan runs and gardens; David builds furniture in his workshop. They live in Vancouver with their two daughters.

⁠⁠Scott & Scott Architects⁠⁠

Upcoming Episode:

Soda Pop Design

Sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@issuedforconstruction.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Issued For Construction⁠⁠⁠⁠

Tara Fingold is the founder and principal designer of Tara Fingold Interiors (TFI Design Group), a Toronto residential design studio she established in the late 1990s. Tara grew up in the city, the daughter of an English immigrant who built his own contracting business from nothing, and she spent her childhood tagging along on his job sites, absorbing how he managed trades, clients, and a small team he treated like family.

After an undergraduate degree at Western and design and drafting courses at Ryerson and Sheridan, Tara cut her teeth doing store fixturing and visual merchandising for Calvin Klein Canada, traveling the country to set up shops for the brand's major retail accounts. She then apprenticed under a Toronto residential designer, learning the trade from sourcing fabric to hand drafting floor plans, before opening her own studio.

Today, Tara leads a team of designers on projects across Ontario, New York, and Florida, ranging from kitchen renovations to ground-up new builds, including one of the more unusual commissions of her career: a residential mikvah room, built under rabbinic supervision. She now shares an office with her husband, architect Richard Librach, and the two collaborate daily across their practices. Tara has two adult children and has built her business around the same instinct that first drew her to the industry: a deep respect for client relationships and the people who help deliver on them.

⁠⁠Tara Fingold Interiors⁠⁠

Upcoming Episode:

Scott & Scott Architects

Sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@issuedforconstruction.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Issued For Construction⁠⁠⁠⁠

Greg is a partner at Patkau Architects in Vancouver, one of Canada's most internationally recognized architecture practices. Born and raised on Vancouver's North Shore, Greg came to architecture by an unconventional path: he first completed a philosophy degree, worked through a career counseling process, and only decided to pursue architecture after visiting the Seabird Island School and speaking with practitioners he found in the yellow pages, including Patkau's own John and Patricia Patkau. He studied architecture at UBC, working during school for Acton Ostry Architects under Russell Acton, where he learned the discipline of rigorous, detail driven drawing.

Greg joined Patkau Architects in 1997, cutting his teeth on the Oakdale Community Centre in Toronto, a design build project awarded under the former City of North York. From there he grew alongside the practice through a dramatic shift in scale, becoming part of the team behind the Grande Bibliothèque du Québec, a project he credits with teaching him how organizational clarity can define a building's relationship to a city.

More recently, Greg has led work on Kìwekì Point in Ottawa, a landscape and architecture collaboration that reimagined the former Nepean Point, and the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering, a 150,000 square foot lab and teaching building designed and delivered almost entirely through the pandemic.

Outside the studio, Greg plays double bass, having come up through Vancouver's jazz scene in bands like Video Barbecue and the Jazzmanian Devils. He runs the seawall several times a week, bakes sourdough weekly, and hosts regular dinner parties with his wife Allison.

Patkau Architects

Upcoming Episode:

Tara Fingold Interiors

Sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@issuedforconstruction.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Issued For Construction⁠⁠⁠⁠

Joel Loblaw is the founder and principal of Joel Loblaw Inc., a Toronto based landscape design and build studio launched in 2011, and a longtime friend of the show. Born in Chicago, Joel moved to Toronto with his family at age five and grew up in the city's Beaches neighbourhood, where camping trips to Algonquin Park starting at age ten rooted a lifelong connection to the outdoors, one he still returns to through backcountry canoe trips and portages. He ran a student lawn cutting business as a teenager and backpacked around Europe after high school before entering landscape architecture at what was then Ryerson University as a mature student, drawing on prior construction work in stonework.

Joel built his early career at Park Lane, led by Landscape Ontario founding figure Casey van Maris, before becoming a founding principal of Earth Inc., a Toronto landscape firm he helped lead for thirteen years with colleagues James Dale and Kennedy McRae, shaped on design by Lorne Hancock, the trio behind the HGTV series Dirty Business. In 2011 he launched his own studio, later joined by his sister and business partner, Lindsy Gregory. His work is grounded in balance, scale and proportion, evolving from traditional design toward a modern practice shaped by travel to gardens across Europe, including the model gardens of Piet Oudolf and Mien Ruys in the Netherlands. Lighting and the integration of art and sculpture, drawn from his own painting practice, recur throughout his work, recently informed by Italian architect Stefano Pujatti of ElasticoSPA.

Joel lives with his wife, Michelle, a fine arts graduate and furniture designer, and their two sons near Meaford, Ontario, on a ten acre property with a trout pond and a home designed by architect Brian O'Brian. He recently bought an adobe house in West Texas, driving home in a manual transmission 1993 Ford F-150, a trip we talked about doing together - but timing didn't work out. Beyond the work, Joel is known as a steady confidant, someone turned to for honest conversation about business and the pull of the outdoors, and above all a devoted family man, and a friendship built over years of shared stories and mutual respect.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Joel Loblaw⁠⁠⁠⁠

Upcoming Episode:

Patkau Architects

Sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@issuedforconstruction.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Issued For Construction⁠⁠⁠⁠