Daniel Harland – Design Director

Daniel emigrated from England in 1989, and went on to study Zoology at the University of Guelph. Daniel’s studies in sciences and environmental issues lead to considerations about our place in the built and unbuilt environment, and he became interested in questions regarding the intersection between architecture, interiors, and landscape. He went on to study at the Ontario College of Art and Design, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Design.

Daniel continues to be involved at OCAD and teaches courses on building technologies. To feed his design imagination, Daniel enthusiastically absorbs new places and spaces. Travel is an important component in both his professional and private life. Conversely, he can just as often be found marvelling at something new, discovered underfoot. Daniel has an affinity for farmer’s markets and English footwear.

Gary Westwood- Managing Director

Gary graduated from University of Toronto in 1989 with a Bachelor of Commerce and English Major. He has spent his career applying sound financial and project management techniques to the business of architecture and design. He has provided consulting services and held managerial positions for a wide range of design firms in Toronto, including Bruce Mau Design, Alsop Architects, and Hahn Smith Design.

Gary serves on the Toronto Canstruction Committee. Each year teams of architects, engineers and designers build structures out of canned food. The entries are judged, put on display to the public for two weeks, and then disassembled, with the proceeds donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank. More information and photos are available at www.canstructiontoronto.com .

Gary also serves as an instructor for the Design Management programme at Ryerson University. He hopes someday they will let him teach indoors.

Heidi Phillips

Heidi graduated with a Master’s of Architecture from the University of Manitoba in 2007.

While completing her studies, Heidi worked in the field of community service, employed at safe houses, shelters and non-profits serving the poor and the marginalized. As a result, she has an ongoing interest in exploring how design can serve as a catalyst for positive social change.  Heidi believes good design = a better quality of life.

Heidi aspires to improve the lives of others by creating healthy, functional and warm spaces.  Imagining the life within is what inspires her the most.

Steffen Hugo

Steffen was born and raised in Germany where he graduated in Architecture in 1995. After several years of working as an architect he decided to expand his design skills, participated in numerous competitions, and did another degree in Exhibition and Trade Fair Design in 2004. He came to Vancouver in 2006, but decided to escape the rain and go to sunny Toronto instead.

Steffen believes the design of each project deserves a unique approach based on history, topography, built environment and functional requirements. He finds the aesthethic distinction between newly built contemporary architecture and the conservation of historical work to be the right approach for working in existing structures. Architects he admires are, among others, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Zaha Hadia, and Guenter Behnisch.

Claudia Bader

Born and raised in Germany, Claudia returned to Canada in 2008 after having lived in Toronto for one year while attending the Bachelor of Architectural Science Program at Ryerson University in 2000.  Her studies in Canada were made possible through a scholarship reward that she received while enrolled in the Master of Architecture Program at the Fachhochschule in Frankfurt, Germany, a program that she later completed in 2005. Trained as an Architect in Germany, Claudia developed her expertise working on various educational and institutional projects for the Government of Germany. Upon her return to Canada she has worked as an Architectural Designer in Toronto for several small and mid-size architectural offices on various institutional, recreational and residential projects.

In addition to her professional work Claudia has been involved in several adaptive reuse projects that emphasize environmentally conscious design. Focusing on found, discarded and reused objects, Claudia has helped develop a series of projects including a renovated 3-unit apartment house and a 70’s era Airstream Camping Trailer which has been repurposed into an exhibition space for Art and Architecture installations. Although Claudia relishes sifting through the clutter and chaos of finding unique objects in flea markets and yard sales, she prefers to create stark spaces with clean details and calming atmosphere, which allow one to relax and achieve an unobstructed mind.

Christopher Heinrich Fischer

Chris grew up on the west coast of Canada roaming among the mountains and forests, lakes and rivers.  During his time roaming he found time to be a park ranger, a bike mechanic, a cook, a bartender, a ski lift operator, a caddy, and a security guard, but it was only when he started to work for a carpenter that he began to understand the relationship between design and the built environment, and his future role in that relationship.  That led him to the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and then to OCAD University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Design with Distinction.  He was the 2011 recipient of the OCAD Medal for his thesis project on the use of passive energy sources to support urban farming.

Chris plans on a long career within the realm of design and building sciences, and hopes that he will contribute to making the world a better place, even if only in a small way.

Andrew Snow

Andrew was born in St. John’s and has lived on the Canadian east coast for most of his life. He graduated in 2010 from Dalhousie University with an undergraduate in Architecture and moved to Toronto shortly thereafter.

With a prior background in anthropology, Andrew uses design as a tool to understand the relationship of people to their surroundings. His interests manifest themselves not only in architecture, but also photography and graphic design. He sees a strong synthesis between these modes of creating and believes they all help to inform each other. A life of being called Snowman, Snowcone and Snow White has led Andrew to start introducing himself as “The Snowstorm.” He hopes to one day make this his legal name.

Frances Hahn

Frances studied English Literature and Art History before teaching for a year in Italy where she fell in love with design. A graduate of Environmental Design at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD U), Frances has worked in architectural offices since 2003, most recently at Quadrangle Architects. She consults for Roundabout Studio on materials and technical writing. Her devotion to textiles has grown over years of specifying fabric for clients and sewing for her daughter. Hue Fielding is her latest design/craft venture, which can be found on both Etsy and Ideacious.

New Positions

We’re not hiring at the moment, but we are always interested in hearing from people who want to be part of our team.  If you are invested in the conceptual development of a project but also recognize the crucial role of construction documents in the process; if you have a university degree/college diploma but life experiences as well, please send your CV and covering letter to jobs@roundaboutstudio.com.