Dinner in the Street 2025: Celebrating our M.Arch grads

“There’s been some really, truly phenomenal work on the walls over the past three days,” said Director Anne Bordeleau.  

“Many of you have been preoccupied with questions of land, of occupation, of power imbalances, systemic oppressions, but also many of you have been seeking ways to acknowledge past histories,” she noted.

“I’ve seen work engaging personal or collective trauma, work delving into the intangible, the mnemonic, the personal, the invisible, work that sought to mend, to link, to relate, to build, to open, or to bring together.”

“We hope that you all took this thesis as an opportunity to get a sense of what it feels like to deeply care about how, or what, or where your practice might take form — and that this awareness can fuel your belief and trust in the agency that you can have as a designer or an architect,” she added.

Images of the thesis work were projected in the Pit, together with photos of the graduate students as babies — another tradition at the school and one that symbolizes growth and transformation.

“Completing a thesis here is no small feat,” said Associate Professor Zachary Colbert, the thesis coordinator. “It asks everything of you, intellectually, emotionally, creatively, and still dares to ask for more.

 “You’ve met that challenge with tenacity, imagination, and heart,” he said. “It’s been a true privilege to witness your transformation. To watch you grow, not just as designers and thinkers, but as fuller humans, more curious, more critical, more generous, and with a more expansive sense of your responsibility as spatial and material agents in this world.”

Juan Ramirez was one of four students nominated by the Class of 2025 to deliver remarks. He looked back at his eight years at the school, starting with the undergraduate program.

“I remember the first time I took a tour here and I felt pretty confused about how the building was laid out,” he recalled. “I was excited and nervous to do the urbanism program at the time, not really knowing what urbanism was.”

By second year, he discovered a love for urbanism and “understood that I had a place at the school,” he said. “I’ve grown to know this place like home. I could probably go around this room and name everyone here, which I think is a special thing.”

Student Olive Lazarus announced — to loud cheers — that he was postponing his graduation because he recently became a parent.

“From what I’ve seen over the past three days, I can safely say that you’ve all just produced stunning, meticulous, thoughtful, and deeply, deeply personal artifacts that command ongoing reverence,” he told his classmates.

He also acknowledged the “unseen little traces of learning and labour” left behind over the past year. “The hundreds of hidden sketches, thousands of deleted words, countless scrapped iterations, misplaced models, and mismeasured cuts. The passionate pitches slashed by critics and the humble ones that just faded quietly into the background.”

Keagan Fowler recalled the group’s long hours spent in studio “sharing vast highs and lows, sharing thoughts, design, personality and approach and, importantly, being vulnerable with one another through an expression of something we all love.

“Thank you for sharing so much of yourselves,” he said. “For all the laughs, pain, sleepless nights, and following restful nights. Thank you for the passion, work ethic, effort, and stress.”

In his remarks, Josh Smith touched on the “annoyingly long time” it had taken him to get to architecture, including first obtaining an engineering degree. He observed that his first impressions of his classmates proved correct.

“You are all distinct and unique individuals with obvious passions for different things,” he said. “You guys have all exploded in your passions and interests and just gone down rabbit holes and pursued those things to their ultimate ends, or their temporary ends, which was the culmination shown on the wall today.

“I’m very happy to have learned who you are as people through your design work and through talking with you and sharing things with you,” he said. “I think you’re all very smart, intuitive, passionate, genuine, generous, wonderful people.”

Chef Toni Kadamani, of Carleton University’s Dining Services, prepared a delicious vegan and gluten-free meal, which consisted of fresh asparagus and wild mushroom soup with silky tofu, tofu crumbled polenta with spicy tomato sauce and leek crisp, eggplant confit with hearty bean ratatouille, and chickpea chocolate mousse with fresh berries.

The evening’s program featured a photo booth where graduates gathered in groups to capture the special moment with friends.

“This world needs your ideas,” said Prof. Colbert. “It needs your courage, your imagination, and your commitment to care. Be bold, speak your truths, keep asking difficult questions, and please keep teaching us as you already have through your thesis work this year.

“The generosity, vision, and talent of our students is what defines our school, and you’ve shown us what’s possible.”