2018 National Urban Design Awards – Jury Members

 
Diane Matichuk, OALA, AAPQ
Diane Matichuk is Principal Landscape Architect at Civitas Group, an integrated architecture and landscape architecture practice based in Ottawa.  Ms. Matichuk is also a CAHP Landscape Heritage Professional.
Her career spans over 30 years beginning in the municipal sector, planning and designing parks and open spaces, followed by collaboration and leadership in the private sector realizing a diversity of built projects.   Her work has ranged from heritage conservation studies and trail development along waterways to public parks and plazas, school grounds, and green roofs.  Drawing on her creativity and the creative skills of her colleagues, Ms. Matichuk advocates for the bold, cohesive solution in each project, whether it is to re-work evolving landscapes or build new public places.
In 2017, Ms. Matichuk was recognized by her peers, receiving the OALA Carl Borgstrom Award for Service to the Environment.  In 2018, the firm’s Parliament Hill Escarpment Stairway and Site Rehabilitation Project was recognized nationally with a CSLA Award of Excellence.
Doug Leighton, RPP, MCIP
Doug Leighton has over thirty-five years’ international experience as a planner, architect, urban designer, consultant and development industry executive. A proponent of urban design and sustainable development, he has a record of successful projects, awards, innovation and leadership.
As VP Sustainability for Brookfield Residential Properties, Mr. Leighton created and executed the company’s strategy for North American leadership in sustainable homebuilding and land development. As Principal of a leading New Zealand consultancy he built its urban design practice and led major waterfront, airport, housing, community and resort projects. As founding Planning Director for Banff he led initiatives such as Banff’s downtown redevelopment, and as Whistler Senior Planner the creation of Village North and redevelopment of Whistler Creek.
Mr. Leighton holds undergraduate (BA Hons – Geography) and Masters (ME Des – Architecture) degrees from the University of Calgary with post-graduate studies at Harvard and Queens.
A co-founder of Urban Design Forum New Zealand, he helped develop that country’s national urban design policy. Mr. Leighton has served on the Whistler, Banff, Auckland, Victoria and Calgary design panels; and as a Director of the New Zealand, Alberta and British Columbia Planning Institutes.
He currently teaches urban design at the University of Calgary, serves on several boards and advises clients on urban design, planning and sustainable development.
Taymoore Balbaa, M.Arch, B.E.S, OAA, MRAIC, NCIDQ, TEE, LEED™ AP
Taymoore Balbaa is the recipient of 2 national awards, the Prix de Rome for Emerging Practitioners and the Young Architect Award (awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts and the RAIC respectively).  Mr. Balbaa received his Masters of Architecture from the University of Waterloo and won the 2004 RAIC Medal for his graduate thesis.  He holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from Waterloo, and also studied architecture at Universitá Gabrielle D’Annunzio in Pescara, Italy.  A licensed architect in Canada (OAA) and in the European Union with the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), he co-founded AXIA Design Associates (formerly Atelier3AM) in 2010, and is building a body of work that includes cultural centres, libraries, housing, and performance spaces.  Prior to this he worked in established firms in Italy, Spain, Greece, Canada, and the USA.  Mr, Balbaa has taught at the University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, and at Ryerson University, where he was appointed Associate Professor at the School of Interior Design (RSID) in the Faculty of Communication and Design (FCAD).