These Are the Women Who Changed Modern Architecture

Meg Graham, born in 1971, traces her commitment to sustainable design back to her time at the University of Waterloo. While working on her thesis, she was awarded the AIA Award for Excellence for the design of a therapeutic bath complex. Later, in 2003, Graham graduated with distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, she worked as project designer for the firm KPMB, where she met her husband and future collaborator, Andre D’Elia. In 2005, she joined D’Elia as coprincipal of Superkül, a Toronto architecture practice founded on the criteria of ease of construction, durability, and sustainability. More recently, however, Graham and D’Elia have been concerned with questions of affordability. Graham recognizes that advocacy is a critical component of transforming the built environment and insists on incorporating design at the level of city policy. Between 2005 and 2006, Graham acted as a special advisor to the mayor’s Beautiful City initiative to improve Toronto’s green standards. Currently, she’s working with the city to improve its built environment.