he continued designing government projects while working as a professor at the Department of Architecture at the University of Nigeria. He then made the move from Nigeria to Canada, where he worked with a few different firms in a few different cities before starting his own shop in Toronto in 1985. Shortly after forming Ph.D. Design, Peter also ended up back in teaching – he taught architecture for many years at the International Academy of Design’s Toronto campus, and then later spent even more years teaching architectural design at Mohawk College. Throughout his teaching career, however, he kept the firm going on the side, and he says the dual roles complemented each other. “It’s difficult to teach if you don’t know what you’re teaching,” he recalls. “Actually doing architecture was extremely helpful because it kept me fresh and it gave me real life examples to show the students. It made me a better architect and a better teacher.” Initially, Ph.D. design did mostly renovations and additions, but as the years progressed the projects got bigger and the firm got busier. About 10 years ago, the firm grew so large that Peter made the decision to retire from teaching and focus on it full-time. Since then, the company has continued to grow. Today, Ph.D. Design operates with a lean but highly experienced team of around six people, including an architect, a technologist, interior MAY 2026
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTYzNTg=