Victoria Taylor OALA, principal and founder of VTLA Studio, practices as an explorer, investigator, grower, builder, and experimenter; operating at the interface of built form and natural systems to make precise design moves. Combining artistic expression with functionality, public safety and infrastructural enhancement, and using the materials of the trade – stone, steel, soil, wood, plants, water, concrete, and light – her work dives deep to reveal new and hidden potentials to re-awaken and bring each site to life. A leader in the profession, Victoria explores design as a tool to bring new meaning to the outdoor spaces we share. Victoria is co-founder / co-curator of DeRAIL Platform for Art + Architecture, a curatorial project, launched in 2016, working with artists and audiences to animate public spaces along linear landscapes. She is also co-founder and inaugural curator of Grow Op, The Gladstone Hotel’s annual Urbanism, Landscape and Contemporary Art Exhibition in Toronto (2012-2019), is a sessional lecturer and critic at the John H. Daniels School of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto and at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture, and is a featured writer for GROUND Quarterly. Victoria holds a Master of Environmental Studies from York University and a Master of Landscape Architecture from John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto.

Bailey Austin-Macmillan, senior landscape designer with VTLA Studio, is a landscape/architectural designer with a professional interest in public spaces and their relationship to the built environment, within socio-historical contexts. With training in architecture and a personal interest in gardening and permaculture, Bailey studies the connections between plant knowledge and design, through a process that is both critical and thoughtful in its relationship to the natural environment. Bailey finds participatory community development to be a powerful tool for decision-making and has used this in her work, research and volunteering within the non-profit sector, with a focus on food justice, food security and urban farming at the Common Roots Urban Farm and Spryfield Urban Farm in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is committed to cross-pollinating the worlds of academia and grass-roots development in a multidisciplinary fashion and has completed a Permaculture Design Certification from P3 Permaculture. Bailey holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design Studies (BEDS) from Dalhousie’s School of Architecture, and a Bachelor of Arts, Honours, in Sustainability, minoring in Development Studies, from Dalhousie’s College of Sustainability.

Amelia Hartin joins VTLA Studio as landscape architectural intern. Trained as an artist and landscape researcher, Amelia endeavours to design in concert with the natural processes that shape and animate a site. To her position, Amelia brings two seasons working as lead designer for Ecoman Landscape Contractor and five years as a researcher for Professor Jane Wolff, recent recipient of the 2022 Margolese Design for Living Prize. This research focused on leveraging writing and drawing to help non-experts make sense of the landscapes they inhabit, with the goal of giving ordinary citizens a meaningful say in its future. Amelia’s foundational education in art and craft equips her with a capacity for lateral thinking and sensitivity to material. The delight of bringing work beyond the sketchbook has translated into an enduring interest in building, on-site exploration and collaboration with the tradespeople who bring drawings to life. 

Amelia holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Interdisciplinary, from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the John H. Daniels School of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto. She is currently working toward her OALA landscape architect professional license.