Diamond Schmitt Architects announced several promotions and appointments among its staff earlier this month.

Four of its architects—Walton Chan, Cecily Eckhart, Eric Lucassen and Jessica Shifman—have been promoted to senior associates, while the firm has named 10 new associates: Elena Chernyshov, Jessica Cheung, Chris Hughes, Dieter Janssen, Wen-Ying Lu, Giuseppe Mandarino, Judith Martin, Fernanda Rubin, Arne Suraga and Jose Trinidad.

New directors are Claudia Cozzitorto, Design Technologies Director and Rod Maas, Technical Director.

“These promotions acknowledge the talent, breadth of experience and design depth in our studio across a wide range of projects,” said Donald Schmitt, principal, Diamond Schmitt Architects. 

The announcements are significant for the role played by several of the key personnel on prominent Ontario construction projects.

• Chan is working on the design of seven stations for Ottawa’s LRT Confederation Line expansion and condominium projects in Toronto. He recently completed the York Region bus terminal at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.

• Eckhart is guiding the Laboratory Modernization for Environment and Climate Change at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters in Burlington, Ontario.

• Lucassen is leading work on the National Research Council of Canada Centre for Advanced Material Manufacturing in Mississauga and a residential tower in Etobicoke.

• Shifman, who recently completed phase one of renewal at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, is contributing to design competitions and work on the Ottawa LRT expansion.

• Cheung is currently project manager for the York University Markham Campus Centre.

• Hughes is working on the new Security Centre for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Toronto.

• Janssen is the project architect for the University of Guelph's MacKinnon Building renovation for their College of Arts and IICSI program.

• Suraga is working on a Passive Haus residential project for Toronto Community Housing, the Carleton University Engineering Design Centre in Ottawa, and Transit City residential towers in Vaughan.

Diamond Schmitt Architects, which is based in Toronto and operates studios in Vancouver and New York City, employs more than 280 people.