The AZURE Talks lecture series returns on March 21, with “What Matters Now” – an exploration of the issues and hot topics facing the architecture and design industries in 2017.

Current and past AZ Awards jurors will gather in Toronto to share insight and perspectives on what they think is driving architecture and design today.

Experts in their respective fields of landscape architecture, interior design, architecture and graphic design, the AZURE Talks panelists are:

Nina-Marie Lister
Through her studio, Plandform, Lister works with public and private sector clients to integrate ecology with planning and design. She’s currently the associate professor of the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson University in Toronto. She’s penned over 40 professional practice and scholarly publications and is an honourary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Nader Tehrani
Tehrani is the principal at NADAAA, the Boston/New York firm currently wrapping up a much anticipated renovation to One Spadina Crescent, a Toronto landmark that will serve as the new home of the University of Toronto’s architecture faculty.

John Tong
The Toronto architectural interior designer’s work includes the Drake Hotel Toronto and its hip rural counterpart, the Drake Devonshire Inn. Tong has received honours in the U.K.’s Restaurant & Bar Design Awards and his work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the MoMA, the CCA and the Design Exchange.

Michael Vanderbyl
The multidisciplinary designer’s practice incorporates print and digital communications; interior, showroom and retail design; signage and identity; textiles and fashion; and furniture and product design. An inductee of the Interior Design Hall of Fame (2012), Vanderbyl’s work resides in the permanent collection of a number of museums, including the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

George Yabu
Co-founder of acclaimed interior design firm Yabu Pushelberg, Yabu is known for luxury interior designs for spots like Tiffany’s on Wall Street and Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel. Yabu, along with partner Glenn Pushelberg, is an Officer of the Order of Canada – the country’s highest recognition of achievement.

Tickets for AZURE Talks are available here for $20 and include a complimentary one-year digital subscription to Azure. This lecture qualifies for one ConEd structured learning hour (a certificate will be provided upon request, post-event, by email).

This AZURE Talk is presented by Scavolini in partnership with George Brown College’s School of Design.