One of Canada’s top architects will discuss the power of architecture as an agent of community transformation in a free public presentation Thursday, Jan. 30, in the SoCA Armouries.

Donald Schmitt, a principal of Diamond Schmitt Architects, is committed to the design of architecture that transcends convention and enriches everyday life. He is the founding chair of the Public Art Commission for the City of Toronto, a member of the University of Toronto design review panel, and served more than a decade on the design review panel of the National Capital Commission.

Schmitt’s recent designs include the transformation of the National Arts Centre and the Senate of Canada Building in Ottawa; the Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning at Sick Children’s Hospital; Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver; Lazaridis Hall at Wilfrid Laurier University; and the compact mixed-use, transit-connected, pedestrian-oriented SmartCentres Place in Vaughan. He is also the architect working on the renovations to the Ron W. Ianni Faculty of Law Building.

His lecture, entitled “Architecture as an Agent of Transformation,” is part of the ArchiLecture series celebrating the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Visual Arts and the Built Environment (VABE) program. It begins at 7 p.m. in the Performance Hall in the Armouries, located at 37 University Ave. East.