This fall, Toronto’s iconic Evergreen Brick Works will become a global hub for sustainable architecture and design, with the second annual edition of Azure’s Human/Nature conference taking place on October 29-30. Bringing together a wealth of thought leaders from across North America and around the world, the inter-disciplinary conference is devoted to sharing proven solutions and fostering dialogue between architects, urbanists, designers, activists, public servants, environmentalists and business leaders.

With early bird tickets now available, we look forward to announcing our full program of talks and events in the coming weeks. Below, we preview our four keynote talks for Human/Nature 2025:

Amale Andraos and Dan Wood

Co-founded by Amale Andraos and Dan Wood, WORKac believes in the power of architecture and design to engage environmental and social concerns, and to create new possibilities for the future. The New York-based firm was the recipient of the 2023 Arts and Letters Award in Architecture, has been named the #1 design firm in the US by Architect Magazine, and selected as the AIA New York State “Firm of the Year.” The practice has achieved international acclaim for projects such as the Edible Schoolyards in Brooklyn and Harlem, public libraries in Queens, Brooklyn, and North Boulder, Colorado, the Blaffer Museum Expansion and Renovation at the University of Houston, the Miami Museum Garage, the Student Success Center at the Rhode Island School of Design, and two community centres in Mexico City in collaboration with IUA. Current projects include the Beirut Museum of Art, the Sibley Dome Renovation at Cornell University, a strategic masterplan and library renovation for Vassar College, multiple renovations at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, The People’s Theatre: Centro Cultural Inmigrante in Washington Heights, and a new Cultural Center in Muscat, Oman.

Andraos is a Professor and Dean Emeritus of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), and the first woman to have become dean of the school. During her tenure as dean, Andraos also served as Architecture Advisor to the President and Special Advisor for the Climate School. Wood is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and the Former Vice President for Design Excellence of the New York Chapter of the AIA. Wood has taught extensively, most recently at Columbia’s GSAPP, and served as the William B. and Charlotte Shepherd Davenport Visiting Professor at Yale School of Architecture.

Pearson Lloyd

Luke Pearson and Tom Lloyd, co-founders of the award-winning design studio Pearson Lloyd, share a firm belief that their role as designers is to listen to the world for opportunities to improve lives. They met in 1993 when they crossed paths at the Royal College of Art in London, each pursuing a Master’s degree – one in furniture design and the other in industrial design. Since founding Pearson Lloyd in 1997, the duo has established a cross-sector position built on insights from the social, economic and environmental challenges facing people across home, work and travel. With a team of strategists and designers, they are focused on decoding complexity to create products and experiences that balance the rapidly changing needs of user, client and planet.

Pearson Lloyd partners with ambitious clients to use the scale of industry as a uniquely powerful tool for transformation. International design projects with Bene, Teknion, TAKT, Joseph Joseph, City of Bath and Lufthansa have defined new typologies and user behaviours that respond to our rapidly changing world. Luke and Tom were awarded the distinction of Royal Designers for Industry by The Royal Society of Arts in 2008; in 2012 they were named in the top 50 designers ‘Shaping the Future’ by Fast-Co Magazine in New York; and, in 2023, their studio Pearson Lloyd was awarded ‘Designer of the Year’ by Dezeen.

David Fortin

David Fortin is one of the first people of Indigenous heritage to direct a school of architecture in Canada, and he is the only person to twice co-curate Canada’s official entry to the Venice Biennale (2018, 2023). An architect and professor at the University of Waterloo, he has taught architectural history, theory, and design in the UK, U.S., and Canada and leads a boutique design practice primarily working with First Nations and Métis communities across Canada.

Fortin’s research investigates the intersections between Indigenous knowledge, design practice, pedagogy and speculative thinking, while his current teaching focuses on what reconciliation means for design. Born and raised in the Canadian prairies, Fortin is a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario.

Lisa Switkin

A Partner at Field Operations, New York-based Lisa Switkin is a leader within one of the world’s most renowned, innovative and paradigmatic landscape architecture and urban design practices. Renowned for bold, transformative design across a variety of project types and scales, her metier ranges from large urban districts and complex post-industrial sites to detailed design projects.

With a background in urban planning and landscape architecture, Switkin has helped to reshape public spaces for 25 years, including the design and delivery of the High Line since 2004, Domino Park in Brooklyn, Gansevoort Peninsula in Manhattan, Santa Monica’s Tongva Park, and the transformative master plans for Staten Island’s Freshkills Park, Seattle’s Central Waterfront, and The Underline in Miami.

Want to learn more? The Human/Nature 2025 website features additional information about this year’s conference — and early bird tickets are now available!

Thank you to our plenary panel sponsor Formica, and our workshop sponsors Creative Matters, Evergreen Brick Works and Scavolini. The Human/Nature conference is also supported by the City of Toronto.