We are honored to have the Women of LAMAS - Weihan Vivian Lee and Kara Verbeek - host an intimate BEAT Talk on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. This session will be held in-person at LAMAS’s office . Event schedule and location details below.

BEAToronto is a volunteer-run organization made up of architects, designers, leaders, and entrepreneurs creating opportunities for community-building, advocacy, networking, and mentorship.

BEAToronto Talks are a series of discussions held at the offices of Architects across the city. Hosts will share their learned experience.

BEAToronto Talks qualify for OAA Structured Learning hours

At this Talk, Vivian & Kara will discuss how architectural ideas develop across academia and professional practice. They will reflect on how research into history, craft, and local construction traditions informs their design process, and how ideas move between teaching, speculative work, and built projects. With a particular focus on rural work, the lecture will explore how vernacular form, typology, materiality, and sustainability connect academic research with contemporary construction.

About Weihan Vivian Lee:

Wei-Han Vivian Lee is a registered architect in the U.S. and Canada, and director of the Masters of Architecture program at the University of Toronto Daniels Faculty. As founding partner of LAMAS, Lee brings to the studio her research on the role of craft in the age of digital architecture as related to issues of craft, labor, vernacular traditions, and professional practice.

Prior to LAMAS, Lee practiced as a project manager at SHoP Architects and LTL Architects in New York City. While at SHoP Architects, she co-led her team to earn a P/A Award for the NYC East River Waterfront project in 2008.Lee received her masters of architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. She holds a B.A. in studio arts from Wesleyan University.

About Kara Verbeek:

Kara Verbeek is an Associate Partner at LAMAS, where she leads various research, residential, and commercial projects while teaching at the University of Toronto Daniels Faculty and the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture. She brings to the studio her research on rural architecture, agricultural vernacular, and the integration of emerging technological systems in food-production environments, as well as a strong interest in visual communication informed by her background in graphic design

Prior to joining LAMAS, Kara practiced at OMA in Rotterdam and worked in design studios across Vancouver and Copenhagen. She received her Master of Architecture from the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and holds a Bachelor of Design. Her work with LAMAS bridges architecture and graphic communication through research, teaching, and practice.

About LAMAS:

Lee and Macgillivray Architecture Studio (LAMAS) is an award-winning architecture office working across a range of scales, from ground-up residential houses to hospitality, manufacturing, and commercial spaces. We are practitioners and academics, equally invested in the pragmatics of construction and critical research in architectural history and technology. Together with our team, we explore ornament, colour, and craft traditions through both hands-on making and the advanced technologies of contemporary construction.

LAMAS operates at the intersection of practice and academia, with its leadership active at the University of Toronto’s Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. Vivian Lee serves as Graduate Program Director, James Macgillivray and Kara Verbeek are lecturers. This dual engagement fosters a reciprocal relationship between research and practice. The office’s work reflects this exchange, balancing pragmatic construction and practice knowledge with a deep engagement in architectural history, representation, and experimentation.

More about LAMAS: https://www.lamas.us/