Bio:

Ashish Gangwar is a great designer committed to shaping spaces that foster community, inclusivity, and social equity. Ashish approaches each project with a strong social agenda, aiming to empower diversity and cultivate vibrant urban life. His work emphasizes sustainability and resilience, actively contributing to the creation of cities that serve both present and future generations.

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How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?

In middle school, we did a popsicle stick bridge building competition, and I remember coming home being intrigued by the idea of playing a role in shaping a city. As time went on my love for the arts and science blended into a love for architecture.

 

What do you do?

I am a designer at Perkins & Will in Toronto. Since starting, I have been able to work Cultural and Civic work such as a Library and Wellness Centre, and most recently Sports and Recreation with a Community Centre.

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What excites you in the work you do?

What has always excited me about architecture is the opportunity to bring people together and provide a canvas for community. I am grateful to be able to actively engage and design public architecture.

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Who or what inspires you professionally?

Interacting with community members inspires me the most. People from different walks of life all trying to create lives of their own is inspiring. Being able to form human connections and participate in my own community is always rewarding.

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What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?

I would say the current community center I am working on in Pickering. It is rewarding to be designing spaces for a future community that will provide enrichment into the lives of so many, as well as push the needle forward on sustainable design.

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Featured Project Name: 

A Home for Many Houses, an Architecture of Queer Kinship

 

Featured Project Location: 

Toronto, ON

 

Featured Project Completion Date: 

N/A

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Role in Featured Project: 

Sole Designer, Thesis Project

 

Featured Project Description:

How might systems of support and care that exist in queer communities - namely ballroom culture and the act of choosing families and forming “houses” - reimagine and inform the architectural discourse of collective housing? This project produces housing based around the needs of unsupported and vulnerable queer and trans youth, highlighting the immense potential and need to design more specifically for the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

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Photography Credit:

Ashish Gangwar (Renders)