“I love the field of design because it offers both an immense latitude of application and a focused sense of purpose—it allows me to leverage my social, intellectual, and aesthetic interests to shape cultural change. It gives me the opportunity to not only theorize the anatomy of better public institutions, but to help realize them as built realities.”
Steve’s route to the design profession was an indirect one: he first attained a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and then went to art school for two years, before realizing architecture might be the perfect union of visual imagination and an agenda for social change.
He thus brings to the discipline of design a broad scope of concern—he has found as much inspiration in his work on large-scale architecture projects (Jasper Place Library, Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre), and small-scale urban interventions (More Awesome Now Laneway Activations, JAX in the Tilt Artist in Residence program), as he has working with artists, scholars, and activists to help hcma convene dialogue and host community events.
As Design Lead on architectural projects, Steve exhibits a keen vision for a complementary, integrated relationship between landscape and architecture, and has most recently brought this sensitivity to the design of the Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Innovation building at UBC’s Okanagan campus.
A creative omnivore by nature, Steve enjoys spending his off-hours on the fringes of design culture—writing critical accounts of the built environment, making public art, and playing and performing music. He will also talk about food for as many hours as you like.