Architect behind Toronto’s most iconic buildings on his art-filled wedding, Canada Reviews

Design by design, architect Siamak Hariri has been slowly building up Toronto as we know it today — including upcoming expansions at the ROM and The McMichael Canadian Art Collection. We asked the founding partner of Hariri Pontarini Architects on the art of building almost 40 years of love with his wife, painter Sasha Rogers. 

How they met

We first met in 1985 at a conference where we were both presenting. We attended each other’s talks and were immediately drawn to a shared interest in beauty, spirituality and the arts. We were both intrigued, but each assumed the other wouldn’t be interested. I was quite serious and formal. Sasha was more bohemian and free-spirited.

At the time, we were living in different countries. I was working as an architect on the Guggenheim addition in New York, and Sasha was teaching painting at a university while finishing her thesis. We didn’t see each other again for two years, until we ran into each other in a hotel lobby in Toronto. I had been meant to be in New York that day but changed my plans the night before — and ended up in that lobby that morning.

The first date

We went for coffee in that hotel lobby, which turned into a 16-hour day together, eventually closing down the Courtyard café in the Windsor Arms at midnight. 

We agreed to meet again in the spring — to see Sasha’s thesis exhibition in Alberta and spend time travelling through the mountains together. In the months leading up to that, we wrote long letters and had the occasional long-distance phone calls, which were expensive and felt rare and precious. We still have all of those handwritten letters.

The wedding

We married two years after our first meeting and six months after reconnecting in that hotel lobby. Our wedding took place in the studio of Canadian artist Otto Rogers, in the backyard of Sasha’s childhood home in Saskatoon. Her father painted the floor a luminous turquoise blue using a wide brush and broom, like the surface of the sea; it was spectacular. The studio was filled with blue chairs, Persian carpets and a simple red couch for us to marry on. Sasha’s paintings hung on the walls, and baskets of flowers were suspended from the ceiling. It was simple, elegant and steeped in beauty and love. Later that night, the chairs were moved aside, Persian music filled the space, and everyone danced.

We spent our honeymoon in Italy, travelling for three weeks through Rome, Florence and Ischia. It could not have been more wonderful.

The kids

We have three children: David, an AI company founder; Yasmin, a teacher in British Columbia; and Lua, a jeweller and goldsmith. We also have three young grandchildren.

Shared interests and hobbies

In our downtime, we love being up north at our lake house and studios, which I designed. We have adjoining studios and often paint alongside one another, moving in and out of each other’s spaces, sharing experiments and insights.

The secret to success

We are quite different people in many ways, but we deeply respect — and even rely on — those differences. And because we are both deeply engaged in creative processes, we understand that a marriage, like any meaningful work, evolves over time. That shared understanding helps us remain open, patient and responsive to one another.

The future together

Seven years ago we designed and built a shared studio in the woods, at the edge of a lake that backs onto Crown land in the Kawarthas. It’s a quiet, contemplative place for creativity. In our later years we hope simply to continue growing in our love and work. I have been painting more in recent years, and we hope I’ll have even more time for that ahead.