Mohammad Reza Farasat, M.Arch completed his master’s degree in architecture from the National University of Iran (Now Shahid Beheshti University) in 1978. Along the way, he also studied engineering at Oregon State University and fine arts at the American University in Paris. After finishing his studies, Mohammad worked at IranArch, a prominent private architectural practice in Tehran. He also worked for a non-profit NGO, specialized in school construction in low income areas, as well as for a governmental organization Khaneh Sazi, where he collaborated on the design and project management of several small hospital in rural areas of Iran. Upon arriving in Montreal in 1988, Mohammad worked at the offices of Dennis Deskin, and Peter Falus architects, collaborating on numerous commercial projects, notably the Reader Digest building in Montreal, as well as several Bank of Montreal buildings. For the last forty years, he has also been the lead designer for several small-scale residential projects both in Iran and Montreal. With his breadth of work over the past four decades, Mohammad brings an invaluable experience to LOCUS both in the area of design and project management.

Yousef Farasat, OAQ, MRAIC graduated from the master’s program at the McGill School of Architecture in 2014. While completing his studies at McGill, he won Wilfred Truman Shaver Travelling Scholarship in 2012 as well as the Pekka H.M Erkilla Scholarship, and the McGill engineering award in 2011. In addition to his architectural studies, Yousef also has a master’s degree in computer science from McGill university in the field of computer vision. He completed his thesis, entitled the Motion of specularities on undulating surfaces, under the supervision of Professor Michael Langer in 2007. Professionally, over the last 20 years, in partnership with his brother, he has built a successful real estate development company that purchases, designs, and develops/redevelops residential and commercial buildings in several of Montreal’s central boroughs. Having simultaneously performed as both the lead architect and project manager for a vast majority of the company’s construction and redevelopment projects, he has developed a significant expertise both in design and construction details of residential and commercial buildings. Yousef’s interest in design lies primarily in the interface between individual buildings, the public realm, and the larger urban context. Following his background in computer science, he is also extremely interested in the potential of a parametric methods, both in design, and as tools in building construction.

Thomas Evans, OAQ completed his master’s thesis program at McGill University in 2013 for which he submitted his project “Une Architecture à l’enVERS”. He was the recipient of the Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC, Canada) and the Wilfred Truman Shaver Travelling Scholarship (McGill University) in 2012 as well as the American Institute of Architects Henry Adams Medal and Certificates of Merit (McGill University) and the Hugh McLennan Memorial Scholarship (McGill University) in 2013. After finishing his studies, Thomas worked at Les architectes FABG on several large residential, cultural, and institutional projects including the Formula 1 Espace Paddock building on Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, which won the OAQ’s Grand Prix d’excellence with a mention for innovation in 2020 as well as the Canadian Architect Award of Excellence in 2018. He also participated in the development of the McGill University generator building on Doctor-Penfield, the Carré 150 cultural center in Victoriaville, the Hexagone 2 apartment tower in Griffintown as well as the restoration of the Auditorium de Verdun and reconstruction of the Arena Denis-Savard. He has also worked overseas at Foster + Partners in London and at McGill University, Design Services. Before beginning his career in architecture, Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in performance classical clarinet from McGill University under the tutelage of Alain Desgagné and during which he was the principal clarinet in the McGill Symphony Orchestra.