BEAT Dinner with Elizabeth Whittaker

BEAT is thrilled for the next edition in our Dinner Series!!

BEAT believes that every conversation counts and works to create inviting contexts that foster open dialogue. Each BEAT Dinner is hosted at a remarkable Toronto restaurant. A highlight of this event is that a different VIP guest of honour will be invited to each dinner.

We are honoured that the featured guest of the upcoming BEAT Dinner will be Elizabeth Whittaker.

BEAT is a volunteer-run organization made up of architects, designers, leaders, and entrepreneurs creating opportunities for community-building, advocacy, networking, and mentorship.

The ticket price is all inclusive. It includes wine, gratuity, and tax as well as any additional Eventbrite fees.

About Elizabeth Whittaker:

Elizabeth Whittaker AIA

Founder/Principal, MERGE architects

Associate Professor in Practice of Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design

Elizabeth Whittaker is an Associate Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she has been teaching Core Architecture Studios since 2009, and was the Lead Faculty in Architecture in the Design Discovery Summer Program from 2011-2015.

Elizabeth is also founder and principal of MERGE architects, based in Boston since 2003. Her work at MERGE aims at developing contemporary craft, transforming typologies, and addressing social ecologies throughout the US. Her practice operates at multiple scales through commercial, institutional, retail, private residential, multi-family housing, graphic and furniture design. The office works side-by-side with teams of fabricators, artists, craftsmen and engineers to produce an architecture that embraces the art of making within a larger agenda: to re-define the urban and social boundaries in and around the city. The work combines both digital fabrication and the hand made by working through a cross-disciplinary as well a cross-production process.

The work of MERGE has been widely published both nationally and internationally and has received multiple awards including twenty-eight AIA/BSA awards. Elizabeth is the recipient of the AIA Young Architects Award, Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard, the Architectural League of New York ‘Emerging Voices’ Award, and the recipient of Architectural Record’s 2017 Women in Architecture ‘Next Generation Leader’ Award – an honor bestowed upon one female architect in the U.S. each year. She is currently serving as an Industry Advisory Group (IAG) member for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Building Operations (OBO), advising on U.S. architectural projects throughout the world. Elizabeth was recently nominated for election to the AIA College of Fellows, the American Institute of Architects’ highest honor for contributions to the profession.

Elizabeth graduated from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design with Distinction where she received numerous awards during her graduate studies including the Araldo A. Cossutta Prize/Core Studio Prize, the Faculty Design Award, and the John E. Thayer Award for overall academic achievement. Elizabeth approaches architecture as a discipline embedded in both practice and academia. She has taught design studios in several Architecture programs including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Northeastern University, and the Boston Architectural College. She is also a regular guest critic at several institutions including Columbia University, Yale University, MIT, University of Michigan, Rhode Island School of Design, and Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture.

About MERGE architects:

We are an architectural practice that uncovers opportunities for invention in the ordinary.

We create exuberant social spaces, experiment upon existing typologies, and develop contemporary craft methods to transform our cities, buildings, and interior worlds.

We reimagine common materials, building types, and experiences through broad research and in-depth iteration. This method is applied across program, place, shape and scale; from master planning to furniture design, ground-up buildings to interior renovations.

We engage a diverse team of designers, engineers, fabricators, clients, and communities to realize the latent potential of every project and site. Great design is distilled from a collective of many voices; it’s in our name.

We are driven by an unrelenting curiosity, optimism, and urgency to change our built environment for the better.

More about MERGE at www.mergearchitects.com

Price of ticket includes wine, gratuity, and tax. Please include any allergies or dietary restrictions when ordering a ticket.

Location

Terroni Queen, 720 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON

Event Schedule

7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Host or Publisher BEAT Building Equality in Architecture Toronto