JENNIFER ESPOSITO

Bio:

Jennifer Esposito is an architect, educator, and advocate. She is a principal at Place of Work (Halifax, NS/Toronto, ON) and an assistant professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. With over 40 houses in her portfolio, Jennifer's work invariably explores poetic and practical aspects of domesticity, narrative, scale, and placemaking across urban and rural contexts. Jennifer is a former executive board chair and current advisory board member of Building Equality in Architecture Toronto.

​

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

“Architecture” first appeared in my grandfather’s tool shed. A cabinet of curiosity. Boats and radios open and in repair. A place for making and remaking. A space where the “architect” also first appeared; a dreamer, tinkerer, and problem solver.

What do you do?

Observe. Imagine. Interpret. Synthesize. Draw. Make. Test. Build. Detail. Teach. Learn. Mentor. Advocate. Collaborate. Question. In no particular order. Sometimes in isolation. Often all at once.

​

What excites you in the work you do?

The profession and practice of architecture are changing. I am passionate about educating future practitioners and leaders to meet the opportunities and demands of our evolving discipline.

​

Who or what inspires you professionally?

Mentors, formal and informal. Not one voice, but many. Lessons accumulated over time. Not one way, but an attitude towards practice; grounded in care, craft, curiosity, and commitment.

​

What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?

Designing a home is a quiet exchange of technical requirements and dreams for the future. Translating how someone wants to live into space, light, and materiality. Returning years later and finding it gently absorbed into daily routines.

​

Featured Project Name: 

A House in a Meadow Between the Forest and the Sea

Featured Project Location: 

Dunvegan, Nova Scotia

Featured Project Completion Date: 

2026

​

Role in Featured Project: 

Principal

Featured Project Description:

Overlooking the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, this home responds to a request for solidity in a landscape shaped by the strong les suêtes winds on Cape Breton Island. Drawing on the shieling, a regional vernacular typology, the project pairs a stereotomic base clad in local stone with a sculptural cedar-shingled sawtooth roof. The roof angles to the south to capture light, while deep openings frame views to the adjacent forest, meadow, and cliff.

​

Photography Credit:

Doublespace Photography