I am not Michael; I am his eldest daughter Alice. This section is from my lens as I grew up. My father has never been big on “About” pages.  He says if people want to know more about him, to take a look at the work. This site is more about him than his work. Visit ArchitectHere.com if you would like to see more of “the work”.

My grandparents created an equal mix of science and artistic influence throughout my father’s upbringing. Dad’s mother was a pianist and a clinical psychologist. Though I never did meet her, Dad says they would indulge in arguments over the influence of colour, light, space, and the importance of having control over one’s environment. Grandpa was a journalist for the Financial Post in Ottawa. Grandpa’s parents were both geologists and PHDs of philosophy.

I think my dad became an architect because of his love of art and science. He has remarkably skilled hands and he could make or fix anything. Dad would rave about trades when they demonstrated exceptional results; or when they would at least do the work well or properly. His fascination and eventual mastery in woodwork began in the world of music. Handmade guitars line his studio walls, including some with three necks. There will undoubtedly be a loud record playing Hendrix or Clapton as you enter his workspace. Inspiration comes from organic shapes in nature, Classical design, and icons in the art and architecture space; my toddler lexicon included names like Le Corbusier, Gaudi and Frank Lloyd Wright, and sketches of amphitheatre stairs and curving statues were used as wrapping paper for birthday gifts.

On a practical note, Michael graduated in 1984 from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Architecture. He first worked in Toronto for a number of years, and then established his own practice here in Stratford, Ontario. Setting up his own practice in 1993, he worked in close collaboration with Joszef Kokot, freshly from Poland, and mentored him through the arduous OAA apprenticeship. They were very close in fact Joszef is Godfather of myself and my two sisters. They grew in friendship and worked as equal partners in crime for the next 15 years, competing together in numerous international design competitions and completing numerous private sector projects. The days leading up to those entry deadlines, I would not see him often until the next day.

Joszef eventually joined the Walter Fedy Partnership, one of the firms the two did design work for.  It was only a few years later that, Rita Osypa Fishman began working with Michael. She sought him out to learn the practical side of building and the climatic differences. Rita was educated in Israel, where concrete was often the inside and outside material. Not unlike with Jozsef, Rita’s and my Dad’s skills were very different but complementary. Rita and Michael also became very close, and their work at times was symbiotic. I think they did a few Canadian “firsts” in regards to energy conservation with Net Zero and Passive House buildings. Better ask him. This year (2022) Rita and her family moved to Ottawa and now works at N45. 

As for the team at the moment, though my Dad has helped numerous students and younger architects gain their experience, he mentioned that with “adaptive re-use projects” he is done with letting others measure the building; it is a skill, doing it by himself as it gives chance to absorb the details that one has to deal with later. Same with doing construction drawings — he is a control freak and I mean that in the nicest possible way, but says his engineer colleagues and other architectural firms are his team.  If a project will go beyond feasibility and lead to a build, if the building requires a team to do the drawings, he reaches out to one of those.

Today, Dad only takes on projects that “light him up” and make him excited to leap out of bed in the morning. This is something I myself, in my early 20s, aspire to achieve. I would classify my Dad as both an expert and eternal student. He has over 4 decades years of experience, however seems to have endless childlike eagerness to expand his repertoire and follow his curiosities; oftentimes via motorbike. Above all, he values partnerships, with mutual trust, communication and creative inspiration. He loves working with people who are open to collaboration……and tells me that his best work has yet to be done!