"Don’t try to do it alone – only as part of a community can we create real, lasting change. Happily, it’s more fun that way."
Robert Ferguson
- Degree:
- Master of Architecture and Master of Landscape Architecture
- Grad year: 2026
- Program:
- Campus: Vancouver
I was born in Scotland and immigrated to Canada at the age of eight. Since then, I’ve lived across the country — Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Halifax and a few places in between. Moving this much, home was never something I could take for granted. Instead, new places, new people and new climates have inspired continued personal, academic and professional reinvention – from engineering to architecture and landscape architecture, from student government to community, art and advocacy.
Now, with degrees in architecture and landscape architecture from UBC, and a particular interest in the emancipatory potential of the home, I plan to build my practice across architecture, research, housing advocacy and service.
What did you learn that you didn't expect to learn as part of your degree?
SALA encourages creative risk-taking and experimentation alongside the craft and technical rigour you would expect from a professional degree program. This tirelessly unconventional approach to design is a skill I value above all else, and one that I believe is critical if we are to build just and sustainable cities.
In one studio, Bill Pechet encouraged experimentation with media, representation, and performance as a means of ideological exploration: In LUCINIUM, I used poetic narration, dramatic 2x3’ charcoal drawings, and an electronically-illuminated, 7’ tall, burnished graphite scale model to convey the cultural charge of financialized housing and real estate speculation (pictured above). In another, with Professor Matthew Soules, I pushed radical housing affordability and social collectivity to the limit with SUPERCOMMON. The project, a collaboration with Victor Sarzynski, sparked a passion for community equity and liberatory domesticity that inspired my graduate thesis and still motivates my professional interests today.
What advice would you give a student entering SALA?
You don’t have to do it on your own.
Design is a uniquely collaborative discipline; we learn and achieve the most when working closely with others. As much as you can, immerse yourself in the social life of your cohort. Be generous with your time, knowledge and resources — not just when it’s convenient, but every time it is needed. You will get back more than you put in.
Plus, you never know — your best ideas might come at 7AM, trudging back up the stairs with your classmates after an early morning dip at Wreck Beach.
What is next for you?
I recently joined D’Arcy Jones Architects as a designer. There, as I work toward professional licensure in architecture, I hope to grow the craft and construction knowledge I need to achieve the beautiful and functional spaces I dreamt of while at school.
At the same time, I plan to remain an active member of the design community through service and research. Since graduating, I have co-authored a landscape architecture pedagogy paper with Professor Daniel Roehr, and built the Bug Bed, a 6-legged, flat-pack bed frame. Next, I hope to expand and publish my thesis research for a general audience — advocating sociable, liberated and affordable housing in Vancouver, in Canada, and beyond.
