Events
Here you will find a directory of the events happening across the region, from lectures, exhibitions, tours, learning opportunities, networking events, committee meetings and everything else architecture and design.
Do you have an event to suggest? Contact us!
OAW - Building Tour: Delegation of Ismaili Imamat
Ottawa Architecture Week 2025 is happy to present a special tour of the Ismaili Imamat, catered to architecture enthusiasts.
To register, visit our Eventbrite.
Jane's Walk: Jacobs 101
For more info and to register, visit www.janeswalkottawa.ca.
Jane's Walk is offering walking tours as part of the 2025 edition of Ottawa Architecture Week. This year's theme is Mapping the Market: Spatial Anchors & Planned Histories. One of Ottawa’s oldest neighborhoods, the ByWard Market has long been a site of cultural exchange, architectural layering, and collective memory. Changes to Ottawa's downtown are upon us in light of the recent pandemic, city growth, and accelerated development; and changes are being proposed for the Market as part of that evolution: What should we be doing to honour the past while imagining a future that is inclusive, sustainable, and rooted in place?
We invite everyone—from long-time residents to first-time visitors—to join in re-imagining the ByWard Market not just as a historic site, but as a living, breathing urban landscape where memory and innovation can coexist
Jacobs 101: The ideas of Jane Jacobs---Examples from the ByWard Market
This walk will introduce the ideas of Jane Jacobs, using ByWard Market streetscapes, buildings, and landmarks to illustrate Jacobs' ideas about the features and characteristics of vibrant streets and neighbourhoods, as detailed in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. We'll explore the roles of short blocks, mixed use, ample sidewalks, parks, zoning regulations, and more as we make our way across the ByWard Market.
About Jane's Walk:
Our walks are led by volunteers and are free to attend. Check out Tips for Participants.
We are asking participants to sign up to give us an estimate of attendance. Sign-up instructions are provided on the walk page.
When you sign up for a walk, you will receive email confirming your reservation.
Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
While you walk, we encourage you to think about and acknowledge the land where we live, work, and walk. The Ottawa-Gatineau region is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people. The Algonquin People have inhabited and cared for these lands for millennia and we express our gratitude to and respect for them.
Ottawa Architecture Week 2025
Ottawa Architecture Week: Festival of Design and Imagination is an annual week-long festival that welcomes everyone to explore architecture, urbanism, art and design in Ottawa. It is presented by the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects (ORSA) with the help of local volunteers and businesses
Mapping the Market: Spatial Anchors & Planned Histories
The ByWard Market stands at the intersection of history and possibility. One of Ottawa’s oldest neighborhoods, it has long been a site of cultural exchange, architectural layering, and collective memory. But as the city grows and development accelerates, we are called to ask:
How do we honour the past while imagining a future that is inclusive, sustainable, and rooted in place?
This year’s Ottawa Architecture Week (OAW) explores the idea of mapping memories in the ByWard Market—not only as a way of preserving what was, but as a strategy for guiding what could be. Buildings, streets, and public spaces carry stories: of commerce and community, of migration and resistance, of celebration and loss. What happens when these physical anchors are altered or erased? And how can new design practices, planning approaches, and community engagement tools ensure that the future of the Market remains rich with meaning?
Bringing together architects, urbanists, artists, and storytellers, this conversation around the OAW events will reflect on the Market’s evolving identity and look ahead to what it might become. We invite everyone—from long-time residents to first-time visitors—to join in reimagining the ByWard Market not just as a historic site, but as a living, breathing urban landscape where memory and innovation can coexist.
Visit www.oawfest.com for more info and to register to our events.
Carleton Forum Lecture
Presented by the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism in collaboration with the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects. No registration required, open to all.
About the Forum Lecture Series
Since 1969, the Carleton Azrieli School of Architecture Forum Lecture Series has been an inspiring Ottawa staple, introducing architects, designers, and the general community to the leading architectural thinkers of the day.
In a typical Forum Lecture Series style, the 60–minute lecture will be followed by an informal Q&A session.
The Forum Lecture series is a long-held tradition of the school. First initiated in 1968 and popularized in the 1980s and early 1990s the lecture series is an inspiring event, introducing the Carleton community to leading architectural thinkers of the day. Held during the academic year, approximately one lecture is held per month from the end of September to March. — carleton.ca
Jane's Walk: The ByWard Market in Literature
For more info and to register, visit www.janeswalkottawa.ca.
Jane's Walk is offering walking tours as part of the 2025 edition of Ottawa Architecture Week. This year's theme is Mapping the Market: Spatial Anchors & Planned Histories. One of Ottawa’s oldest neighborhoods, the ByWard Market has long been a site of cultural exchange, architectural layering, and collective memory. Changes to Ottawa's downtown are upon us in light of the recent pandemic, city growth, and accelerated development; and changes are being proposed for the Market as part of that evolution: What should we be doing to honour the past while imagining a future that is inclusive, sustainable, and rooted in place?
We invite everyone—from long-time residents to first-time visitors—to join in re-imagining the ByWard Market not just as a historic site, but as a living, breathing urban landscape where memory and innovation can coexist
The ByWard Market in Literature
Join us for an interactive walk through Ottawa's ByWard Market area as we explore some familiar streets and landmarks through works of fiction and poetry. There are so many books we could explore, and so many neighbourhoods across Ottawa, but for this walk we'll stay in the area around the Byward Market.
We'll be doing some readings and/or discussing the choice of setting for selected works, and musing on what the location may be telling us about the meaning of the work as well as the cultural and sociological meaning of the location and of the ByWard Market in general, in the past and in the present.
The following are books we may touch on or read from ((there may be others):
Amy Tector — The Foulest Things
Andre Alexis — The Night Piece and Childhood
Ben Ladouceur — Otter
Brenda Chapman — Cold Mourning
Christopher Levenson — Duplicities
David Blaikie — A Seaon in Lowertown
Deborah-Anne Tunney — The View from the Lane & Other Stories
Elizabeth Hay — A Student of Weather
John Barton — Designs from the Interior: Poems
Joyce Wayne — Last Night of the World
Katie Tallo — Poison Lilies
Lea Graham — Calendar Girls
Nina Berkhout — The Gallery of Lost Species
Norman Levine — I Don't Want to Know Anyone Too Well and Other Stories
Rob Mclennan — On Beauty: Stories and The Ottawa City Project
Susan McMaster — Until the Light Bends
Terry Fallis — Operation Angus
Note: this is not an exhaustive list of work referencing, or set in, the Byward Market. There are lots more.
About Jane's Walk:
Our walks are led by volunteers and are free to attend. Check out Tips for Participants.
We are asking participants to sign up to give us an estimate of attendance. Sign-up instructions are provided on the walk page.
When you sign up for a walk, you will receive email confirming your reservation.
Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
While you walk, we encourage you to think about and acknowledge the land where we live, work, and walk. The Ottawa-Gatineau region is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people. The Algonquin People have inhabited and cared for these lands for millennia and we express our gratitude to and respect for them.
OAW - Architecture Trivia Night
OAW2025 Presents: Architecture Trivia Night!
Join ORSA as they host an evening to find out who can quiz their way to the top and be crowned the Architecture Trivia Night Champions! This year’s quiz will feature questions relating to this year’s theme, “Mapping the Market: Spatial Anchors + Planned Histories”, as well as topics on architecture, urban planning, the city and much more. Teams will compete in a standard pub quiz before the top three (3) teams are selected to participate in a final lightning round.
Does your office want to prove they are the smartest in the town? Or do you and your friends have the winning combination of architecture smarts to outscore your opponents? Then sign up NOW before spots are filled.
Where:
Lowertown Brewery, 73 York St.
When:
Monday, September 22nd, 2025, 6:00 - 8:00pm (Doors Open at 5:30pm)
Registration Required: Purchase the amount of tickets equal to the size of your team (maximum five (5) team members). You will be need to confirm your final team size one week before the day in the event we exceed capacity.
Doors Open Ottawa 2025
The City of Ottawa is proud to present the Doors Open Ottawa, a free annual architectural event that celebrates our community’s built heritage.
During the first full weekend in June, Doors Open Ottawa will be celebrating its 23rd anniversary, and we cordially invite residents and visitors alike to join us as we re-open the doors to some of the city's most beautiful buildings. That’s right…we are thrilled to be returning to a live, in-person event but with the added bonus of enhanced virtual content!
RAIC Conference 2025
RAIC is pleased to announce confirmed dates and venues for its future conferences from 2020 to 2030. Known until 2019 as the Festival of Architecture, the future RAIC Conference on Architecture will continue to be Canada’s premier annual gathering for leaders and emerging talents in architecture and design, students, faculty, and allied professionals. It is the place for industry thought leaders to engage, strengthen our profession, and keep up to date with continuing changes in practice, from sustainability to digital transformation.
Monthly Executive Meeting
Email us at Orsa@orsa.ca if you are interested in sitting in on a meeting.
OAA Conference 2025
For more information, including registration - please visit the OAA’s website here.
ORSA Annual General Meeting 2025
Please join us for the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects Annual General Meeting 2025.
We’re excited to welcome Alain Miguelez, Vice-President of Capital Planning and Chief Planner of the National Capital Commission, as our special guest speaker. Alain will share a talk titled:
“Architecture and Style: How Context and Choice Should Frame Best Practices”
He will explore how the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada are interpreted when designing in heritage contexts, referencing the “Philadelphia Approach” and its potential fit within the NCC’s planning framework. He’ll also reflect on best practices from other jurisdictions and their relevance to Canada's capital.
More event details and ticket information please connect to our Eventbrite page here.
Jane’s Walk - NAC
National Arts Centre - Art Installations since 1969
Guided by Robert VanderBerg
This event requires registration. For details and registration please visit Jane’s Walk page here.
Ottawa Architects Milestone Party
We’re inviting all those celebrating industry milestones, along with their family, friends, and colleagues, to join us for out Ottawa Milestone Party! You’ll get the chance to connect with other emerging professionals navigating the paths to licensure and practice, and celebrate each other’s achievements.
This is a collaborative event between ORSA (Ottawa Society of Architects) and BAC-DAC (Becoming Architects Canada).
BEA.CAP Launch Party
We are pleased to invite you to the first Building Equality in Architecture Capital Region's (BEACAP) Kickoff Meeting on Wednesday April 9th at 6pm. This first event will be hosted at The Pit, Architecture Building 22, Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University.
Forum Lecture: Advocating Country – Indigenizing Practice
2024-2025 Forum Lecture Series
Speaker: Jack Gillmer-Lilley, SJB Architecture, Sydney, Australia
Free and open to the public
Presented by the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism
Jack Gillmer-Lilley is an architect, an associate at SJB Architecture, and a proud Worimi and Biripi Guri who advocates for Country in an architectural and relational response to promote a sustainable and equitable future for generations ahead.
Click event for more info.
Canadian Architecture Visionaries Showcase Award-Winning Projects at Free Public Lecture
The work of the country's most innovative architects and landscape architects take center stage in a free public presentation that promises to reshape our understanding of built environments.
On Wednesday, February 12, from 6 pm to 8 pm, presentations on behalf the winners of the 2024 Governor General's Medals in Architecture and the 2024 Governor General’s Medal in Landscape Architecture—will break down the walls between creative vision and public understanding. Happening at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the event, titled “12 Architects on Architecture, and One Landscape Architect on Landscape Architecture,” will be a visually inspiring walk-through of the award-winning architectural projects and lifetime achievements of an exceptional landscape architect.
Forum Lecture: DRAA (Del Rio Arquitectos Asociados) — Recent Work
2024-2025 Forum Lecture Series
Speakers: Nicolas del Rio and Felipe Camus Dávila, Santiago, Chile
Free and open to the public
Presented by the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism
DRAA is an award-winning architecture practice founded in Chile by Nicolas del Rio in 2012. The office has worked from bases in Frutillar in Chile’s Lake District, in the Santiago studio led by Felipe Camus, and in collaboration with Matthias J Götz in Berlin.
DRAA stems from mountain architecture design as their first field of interest and area of work. Since then, the firm has expanded to other typologies such as private dwellings, museums, apartments, social housing, and interior design.
A typical day at the office includes conversations about efficiency, proportionality, structure, and beauty, involving the main classical tasks from a contemporary perspective.
Ottawa Architecture Week 2024: Vacant City
Ottawa Architecture Week: Festival of Design and Imagination is an annual week-long festival that welcomes everyone to explore architecture, urbanism, art and design in Ottawa. It is presented by the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects (ORSA) with the help of local volunteers and businesses.
Annual General Meeting 2024
ORSA invites it's members to the Mill Street Pub at 5.30p for our Annual General Meeting followed by a presentation of the Limberlost Place presented by Moriyama Teshima | Architects' Will Klassen OAA.
Monthly Executive Meeting
Email us at Orsa@orsa.ca if you are interested in sitting in on a meeting.
Ottawa Architecture Week
Ottawa Architecture Week (OAW) is an annual week-long festival that welcomes everyone to explore architecture, urbanism, art and design in Ottawa. It is presented by ORSA with the help of local volunteers and businesses. OAW typically takes place to coincide with World Architecture Day.
Doors Open Ottawa
Doors Open Ottawa is an annual event organized by the City of Ottawa that gives the public access to many of the city's unique and historically significant buildings. Among the buildings included are government offices, museums, radio stations, places of worship, embassies, and historical landmarks.
