ERA Architects is proud to announce our firm’s three new principals and the latest staff promotions and hirings. ERA is committed to connecting heritage to wider considerations of urban design and city building, while providing our staff with opportunities to grow their professional careers.
PRINCIPALS
We’re proud to announce Victoria Angel (Ottawa), Jan Kubanek (Montreal), and Ya’el Santopinto (Toronto) as the newest Principals at ERA.
Victoria heads up our Ottawa office and is a practice lead, with expertise in cultural landscape analysis and values-based conservation planning. An art historian with a graduate degree in heritage conservation, Victoria has experience in the private, public, and academic sectors.
Jan leads our Montreal office and specializes in adaptive reuse, preservation and restoration projects. With 20 years of experience, Jan has worked on a large number of projects including the McGill New Vic Project in Montreal, the Senate of Canada in Ottawa (formerly Ottawa’s Union Station), Ilot Bonsecours in Old Montréal and a number of heritage studies for the Société québécoise des infrastructures.
Ya’el is a practice lead at ERA in Toronto who specializes in affordable housing retrofit and the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. Ya’el is ERA’s lead Tower Renewal Architect, overseeing a team of specialists to execute complex, holistic and resilient energy retrofits on post-war apartment towers across the region.
SENIOR ASSOCIATES
In our Toronto office, we’re pleased to introduce Alexis Cohen, Douglas DeGannes, Dan Eylon, Jessie Grebenc, Samantha Irvine, Daniel Lewis, Ryan Love, Shelley Ludman, Janice Quieta, and David Winterton as Senior Associates.
Alexis works collaboratively with complex project teams using historical research and analysis to inform the conservation of evolving urban environments. Alexis manages a wide-range of heritage projects involving extensive historic research, planning studies, commemoration strategies, and public consultation.
Douglas is engaged in a number of ERA’s significant conservation and restoration projects. He leads Approvals, Schematic and Design Developments, and Contract Documents for numerous projects.
Dan works on a broad range of heritage conservation and planning projects and has experience working collaboratively on projects at various levels of government. Dan strives to find common interests is an asset when facilitating with stakeholders and securing heritage approvals.
Jessie has a special interest in the conservation of masonry structures, and has gained extensive experience in building analysis, field review, contract documents production, and project administration for a range of complex masonry projects.
Samantha Irvine is part of the heritage planning team at ERA, where she oversees projects that impact culturally significant buildings, neighbourhoods, and landscapes. She has a special interest in the role that heritage plays in city building and is committed to creating opportunities for historic buildings to enrich urban life.
Daniel’s focus at ERA has been on urban regeneration and the relationship between interior architecture and building reuse. His interests lie in the design of new buildings, public heritage spaces, and the interventions within the existing structures.
Ryan is a registered architect and LEED accredited professional. His academic and vocational explorations in regionalism, critical tectonics, and adaptive reuse have informed a considered approach to design that seeks a mixture of new-build and restorative models.
Shelley’s work focuses on the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings and sites, primarily in the early stages of the development process, with a strong focus on strategic thinking and cultural value.
Janice’s work focuses on restoration, renovation, and new construction, with a particular interest in sustainable technology at the intersection of new and existing materials. She is a registered architect and a LEED Green Associate.
David provides senior leadership and is actively involved in all aspects of ERA’s diverse practice including design and architectural services, office and studio management, mentoring, research, scholarship, and writing.
ASSOCIATES
We’re pleased to introduce Ève Wertheimer and Lyndsey Sneddon as Associates.
Ève leads our Montreal office with Jan Kubanek. Ève focuses on the conservation of buildings and landscapes on a range of projects throughout Eastern Canada in both the public and private sectors. Her work explores the relationship between theory and practice as it manifests itself both in heritage and planning policy, as well as through specific projects.
Lyndsey‘s primary role at ERA has been engaged with the residential sector including new build and additions to single family dwellings, cottage compounds, country house design, and the rehabilitation of existing structures for private clients. Sensitive, responsive and sustainable techniques are always at the core of her design sensibility.
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGERS
We want to introduce Emma Abramowicz, Rui Felix, Carolina Streber, Angela Garvey, and Mikael Sydor as Senior Project Managers.
Emma’s work centers on the identification and analysis of cultural heritage value, and its potential to drive creative development strategies. She leads the development of statements of cultural heritage value, thematic frameworks, and heritage parameters for redevelopment and adaptive reuse.
Rui is a landscape architect involved in a number of landscape and urban design projects ranging from development and open space master plans to community design led projects.
Carolina brings to ERA a hands-on approach in designing new and adaptive reuse of spaces, through her passion for community-centered architecture, inspired by her contact with complex social conditions in Canada and Nicaragua. Under her leadership, participatory design processes strengthened the capacity of vulnerable and multicultural communities.
Angela provides site research and coordinates various heritage assessment projects at ERA. Her specific interest lies in how we incorporate community understanding into cultural heritage evaluations and the interpretation of our environment.
Mikael focuses on the documentation and conservation of historic buildings and materials. Notable projects include the masonry restoration of the King Edward Hotel, the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of Casey House Hospice, and research towards Tower Neighbourhood Renewal.
PROJECT MANAGERS
We’re also pleased to introduce Kurt Kraler, Daniel Rotsztain, Leah Gibling, Brendan McCabe, Hallie Church, Brittney Anne Bos, and Adam Krop as Project Managers.
Kurt’s work focuses on adaptive reuse projects, new construction in a heritage context, and signage preservation and restoration. He is currently writing and editing a book examining the history of Toronto’s commercial signage.
Daniel’s interest in social infrastructure and cultural heritage guides his research, such as the establishment of plazaPOPS, a community-lead approach to creating low-cost, high-impact and accessible gathering spaces within the parking lots of strip mall parking lots.
Leah interests lie in community-centered design, building technologies, materiality, and adaptive reuse. She has Master of Architecture from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Environmental Design Studies from Dalhousie, where she also studied engineering.
Brendan takes an interdisciplinary approach to the complex issues of city-building and sustainability. His work spans a variety of mediums, including photography, film, mixed media, and writing.
Hallie’s research focuses on urban sustainability and community-based learning. She has worked locally and internationally on numerous conservation and residential construction projects with an emphasis on traditional building methods and materials.
Brittney is a historian with high-level expertise in conducting research, performing analyses of findings, and writing for an array of audiences. Her work includes a focus on built heritage, commemoration, public history, social histories, and BIPOC and Indigenous contexts.
Adam is a designer and intern architect with a strong interest in materials, community, health and the natural environment. His passion for architecture environmental science is complimented by intensive on-site experience and research in landscape restoration and contemporary, traditional, and natural building practices.
