OAA Building Committee members - from left to right: Thomas Yeung and Susan Speigel (absent: Sheena Sharp), OAA President Lara McKendrick, OAA Executive Director Kristi Doyle, and Client Advisor Joe Lobko.
On June 26, 2026, the OAA held a groundbreaking ceremony for The Grounding Meadow project at its Toronto headquarters at 111 Moatfield Drive, marking the start of construction on the winning design from the Association’s 2024 Landscape Design Competition. The project extends the OAA’s broader Renew + Refresh retrofit work beyond the building itself, reimagining the surrounding site as a more sustainable, accessible, and welcoming landscape.
Opening the ceremony, OAA President Lara McKendrick reflected on the project’s significance and its connection to the Association’s broader goals for the site.
“Architecture does not stop at the exterior face of a building—it includes the site,” she said, emphasizing that the spaces around buildings are “an essential part of architecture deserving of the same care and attention.” She also noted that the project was shaped by a desire to create a landscape that matches the quality and ambition of the headquarters itself.
OAA President Lara McKendrick welcomes the crowd and introduces Nima Javidi and Behnaz Assadi of Ja Architecture Studio.
The project is led by Nima Javidi and Behnaz Assadi of JA Architecture Studio, with Todd Douglas of Janet Rosenberg & Studio and Kayam Ramsewak of MTE Consultants part of the team that won a 2024 competition. (See the full project team and learn more about the jurying and competition process.)
In her remarks at the ceremony, Assadi spoke about the ideas that helped shape the project from the outset.
“The ground is not simply a surface to build upon. It carries ecology, history, memory, and water,” she said, explaining the team approached the site with the belief that, “if this project was going to address climate change and Reconciliation, it had to begin by listening to the site itself and working with the land rather than on it.”
This mindset informs a design intended to create space for “water, habitat, and people” through a series of careful, restrained interventions. While the new pedestrian bridge will be one of the site’s most visible features, Assadi noted that “the heart of the project is the living landscape itself.” Native meadow planting, improved stormwater management, and a more accessible entry sequence are all intended to reconnect the property to the wider ecology of the Don River valley and support a better relationship between the headquarters and its surrounding environment.
Javidi then reflected on the architectural thinking behind the project, describing it as an endeavour to work thoughtfully within practical constraints while producing a “strong and generous” gesture. He said the team used “the economy of means at the heart of the project as a generative framework,” and transformed “a simple everyday problem, getting from the sidewalk to the door, into a comfortable, contemplative, and quietly uplifting experience.”
Nima Javidi from JA Architecture Studio shares a concise overview of the project's design and key ideas.
Following the remarks, guests gathered for commemorative photos and were invited to view an onsite exhibit with details on the design.
Despite the rainy weather, the ceremony carried a light and celebratory spirit, with guests embracing the moment and enjoying a bit of fun in the rain. The wet conditions felt especially fitting for a project so closely tied to landscape, water, and ecology.
With construction now underway, the landscape project moves from concept to reality as a project rooted in accessibility, ecological repair, and a renewed connection to place.
Group image of OAA Council, the Building Committee and the Landscape Design Project team.